Beauty and the Baller(71)

He grins. “It might start a riot anyway.”

“Technically, you aren’t champions yet,” Sabine says from the floor, where she and Toby sit working on a poster that says FREE LAMBERT!

Toby looks up. “True that. We don’t want to jinx ourselves.”

“If you’re stuck on Queen, a better song would be ‘We Will Rock You.’ The beat is bloody great,” Sonia says as she eats her salad next to me.

“We did ‘We Will Rock You’ last year,” Milo says. “Might be bad luck.”

The players nod. Superstition and bad luck are a real thing in football. Since we lost to them last year, we must do everything different this time.

“What about ‘Eye of the Tiger’?” another player says as he chows down on a sandwich.

“We aren’t tigers. We’re Bobcats,” Bruno mutters. “There is a difference.”

Leaning against a desk, I run a hand through my hair, twisting it up with a rubber band into a messy bun. It’s important they make decisions themselves. They weren’t given much leeway before with Melinda, and I want them to feel as if they’re creating something that’s all theirs.

“We need a routine, y’all! Something lit!” Bruno says to them as he faces his team and lifts his hands up. “Hit me with the ideas!”

“A line dance?” Milo offers. “I can boot scoot and boogie. Granny taught me.”

“I’m not wearing cowboy boots,” Bruno says. “Texas isn’t a stereotype.”

“It’s early November. Maybe dress up like turkeys? Flap some wings, then do the chicken dance,” a player says.

Bruno heaves out an exhale. “Whoever said that . . . what the fu—heck no!”

“The Macarena?” another player says. “It’s fun.”

“No,” Bruno says and crosses his arms. “I’m in charge of this, and it has to be right!”

“It’s important to listen to everyone’s ideas,” I remind him.

“I like the Carlton or the ‘Y.M.C.A.’ Old school,” Sonia offers.

“Eh, I don’t know,” Bruno says, scrubbing his face. “We want them foaming at the mouth for us. Toby, you’re our captain. Thoughts?”

Toby is currently laughing at something Sabine is saying. After I supercleaned the house from the Great Lice Debacle, they had their first date. We had pasta and watched Clueless. He’s been over to do homework a few times. I met his mom when the four of us got together at the bookstore and had dinner.

She’s not allowed to be alone with him. I’ve told her she must wait until she’s sixteen. My own love life is the pits, but when it comes to Sabine, I’m doing what Mama would want. Protect her. Guide her.

Feeling all eyes on him, Toby glances up. “Oh. Um, I’m not really a dancer, but maybe a country song? We could walk around and pump our fists. Maybe lip-synch?”

Bruno winces. “We don’t want some sad ‘Let me go drive my truck and drink a beer’ song.”

Toby’s lips quirk. “Ms. Morgan, what do you think?”

I tap my chin. “‘Boom Boom Pow’ by the Black Eyed Peas is upbeat.”

Bruno nods. “It’s not terrible, but . . . I don’t know . . .”

“Bullocks. You’re hard to please,” Sonia tells him.

Bruno runs his eyes over the team that came to the meeting. “I have high expectations. We’re gonna beat those bast—I mean Rams, and I want to jump-start it good.” He heaves out a sigh. “We need the perfect song.”

“‘Gangnam Style,’” says a voice from the door. Caleb. There’s a burrito in his hands as he leans against the doorjamb. “It gets people on their feet.”

“Hey!” I say with a smile.

Caleb gives me a jerky nod. “Hey. I—I was just coming by to chat and overheard you guys.”

He’s been by twice since he came back to school, Just to say hi, he says, but I think he needs people. Grief can isolate a person. “Come in and help us,” I say.

Bruno waves him in. “Yo! I like it, dude. It’s got smooth moves.” He proceeds to shake his butt and wave his arms like he’s riding a horse. “It’s fresh, a little country with the horse move, and the rest is sexy—which will drive the girls crazy. I love it! Yeah, yeah!” He turns to the players and pumps his fist. “Can we do this, guys?!”

They mumble among themselves while I bring up the song on my phone and play it.

A few heads start nodding at the electric beat. Bruno does the horse-riding move, then a lasso one as a few of the guys get up and attempt to dance. Sonia tosses her salad in the trash and gets out there with them.

Caleb sets his burrito down and stands in front of them and does all the moves, adding some popping, spins, and robot moves.

I shake my hips and twirl my finger in the air. “Go, Caleb!”

He smirks, then finishes the song by dropping to the floor and break-dancing as the guys cheer him on.

“You’re really good. You think you can help us get that together?” Toby asks Caleb after they’ve finished.

Caleb shrugs.

“We’re meeting in here for lunch this week to figure it out.” I pause, recalling seeing his school record with the counselor. “Didn’t you do drama last year?”