Complete Nothing (True Love #2)(55)

True


“And now, your Lake Carmody High School marching band!”

There was a smattering of applause across the depleted crowd in the bleachers. The band had formed the letters M and J out on the field, and now launched into a barely recognizable version of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” Fortunately, I was hardly paying attention. I couldn’t stop thinking about Orion.

Orion, who had run over the other team’s defense throughout the first half, leaping and spinning and slamming through guys twice his size. Orion, who had never looked hotter than when he’d pulled off his helmet on the sidelines and dumped a cup of water over his head. Orion, who I swear had almost kissed me before the game. He’d been thinking about it. I was sure of it.

I took a deep breath and gritted my teeth. That was it. After the game I was going to find him and ask him out on a proper date. Why not? What did I have to lose? I’d already been forced to give him up once. If he said no, I could handle it.

Maybe.

But he wouldn’t say no. He was my soul mate. He couldn’t say no.

“So, you’re friends with Lauren, and Lauren is friends with that girl Mia Ross . . . right?”

I glanced at Wallace, who had materialized as if from nowhere. He was standing next to my bench, wearing an LCHS T-shirt over a white thermal, trying to act casual. Instead he looked kind of like the Tin Man in need of a good oiling. His right hand leaned into the bleacher’s railing, the arm perfectly straight, his legs crossed at the ankle, and he was tilting sideways. Definitely trying too hard.

Out on the field, the marching band moved through their formation changes as they stumbled their way into their next Michael Jackson song, “Black or White.” I narrowed my eyes as the drum major moonwalked across the pockmarked field.

“Why? Do you like Mia Ross?”

“She’s the fourth-shortest girl in the sophomore class,” he said, dead seriously.

“And that appeals to you?”

He looked across the bleachers, where Mia sat gossiping with some friends. She had a pretty face. Light-blue eyes, soft features, and a melodious laugh.

“She’s like an elfin princess,” Wallace said with a sigh.

I grinned. This was perfect. If I could hook Wallace up with his elfin princess, and Claudia and Peter could get their act together, then Orion and I could be out of here before next weekend.

“I’ll see what I can do,” I assured him.

“Hey, True. Can we talk?”

I turned to squint up at Lauren, whose curls were framed by the sun. “Actually, we were just going to come find you,” I said. “What do you think of introducing Wallace to Mia?”

Lauren eyed Wallace, who stood up straight, shoulders back like an Elizabethan-era butler awaiting his lady’s inspection.

“Later,” Lauren pronounced, shoving her hands into the pockets of her denim jacket. “Right now I need to tell you about how your brilliant plan is backfiring.”

She cast a glance over her shoulder at Claudia, who was standing near the Snack Shack with Casey, watching something on a phone screen. Instantly my shoulders went tense. My plan could not be backfiring. I’d kept an eye on Peter Marrott throughout the first half, and he’d spent a good 80 percent of his time on the sidelines blatantly longing for Claudia. My plan was as good as gold.

“Wallace, will you excuse me for a second?” I asked.

“Sure.”

As Lauren and I walked down the bleachers, he pulled out his own phone and fired up a game of Angry Birds. If he wanted to meet Mia Ross so badly, why didn’t he just go over there and introduce himself? If only I had my golden arrows. That coupling would be done and done.

I wondered if I could conjure them. Not that I would have ever tried. If I started shooting people in the heart with magical arrows, Zeus would definitely notice. Not to mention everyone in a ten-mile radius and their camera phones.

“What’s going on?” I asked Lauren as I leaned against the guardrail at the bottom of the steps. A group of rowdy guys in football T-shirts jostled by, looking us up and down.

“Put your tongues back in your mouths, frosh,” Lauren griped at them. She rolled her eyes, then sighed. “Look. I know my best friend pretty well, and I’m, like, ninety-nine percent sure that she’s falling for Keegan Traylor.”

My heart dropped, seeing my grand plans for couple number two go up in smoke. Keegan the cocky player was not worthy of Claudia’s love, and I could tell just by looking at him that he wasn’t the type to get serious in high school. Lauren was right. This was not good.

“No. She wouldn’t,” I said. “She knows that Keegan isn’t for her. She knows he’s just a means to an end.”

“I’m not so sure. You should see the way her face lights up when she talks about him. He’s going to break her heart. That boy is a player with no conscience, who plows through girls like he’s harvesting them for grain.”

We were both silent for a second, pondering whether that metaphor made any sense. I shook my head.

“Well . . . maybe it won’t end badly. Maybe he’ll fall in love with her,” I suggested hopefully. “There’s a first time for everything.”

“Not for this guy,” Lauren said, shaking her head glumly. “Last year, my sister’s best friend, Felicity, went out with him, and he told her he loved her, then hooked up with her other best friend before dumping her because she wasn’t, quote, ‘Keegan Traylor material.’?”