Read Crushing On The Geek (Crushing On You) Online
Authors: Sarah Adams
Crushing On The Geek (Crushing On You) (14 page)
“Nothing.”
“God, Hayden! Quit being such a girl. That's my job. If something's wrong then tell me.”
“Let's just get this done first. Do you have the rest of the stuff?”
“No, I'm just carrying around a brown paper sack because I think it's a cute accessory.”
Hayden laughed and the tension dissolved. Tamara poured the lemon drop rocket ships into the empty bowls that had previously held the milk and honey before setting the other items around the bowls.
“How's it look?” she asked, turning to Hayden.
“Nice,” he nodded.
“Are we cool?”
“Why wouldn't we be?” he asked.
“You're acting weird this morning,” Tamara said.
After a moment of silence Tamara took his hand, “Come on, we can go hang out with Amber and Josh. Maybe go somewhere for a quick breakfast, I was too nervous to eat this morning.”
When he hesitated to follow her, Tamara turned and pressed her lips against his, looking him in eye. He grinned against her lips.
“You okay, now?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he chuckled.
“Come on, back to normal life we go,” she laughed, leading him down the stairs.
Life wasn't back to normal yet, but Tamara was willing to fake it until it was. She chose to ignore the dirty looks of her ex-volleyball team mates and the vicious looks Cindy shot her way whenever they passed in the hall. She quietly enjoyed her first faerie-free week since the mess began when she and Hayden ate Sir Bedivere's apples.
“Come on, we've got to go or we'll be late and Amber might leave us,” Tamara whispered to Hayden towards the end of Friday's chess practice.
“Ah, let Greg give his speech, at least,” Hayden chuckled, “I have a car, remember. If we have to we can meet them at the restaurant.”
“Fine,” Tamara sighed, sliding back into her seat.
“This is it guys,” Greg said grimly. “Tommorrow's tournament will make or break our team. You heard the announcement at lunch today, if we don't kick butt tomorrow the school doesn't get a Halloween dance. We've pulled ourselves out of tight spots before. True, none of them were this tight, but I think we can do this. I do. We just have to put aside our personal problems and right now we all have plenty of them. They'll be time after the tournament to bicker and rant. For tonight, everyone get a good night of sleep and eat a good breakfast in the morning. Let's give Sir Bedivere his sweets and get out of here. Thank you, whoever retrieved the knight pieces.”
The pair were the first to leave their things for the faeries. Hayden left another package of lemon drop rocket ships and Tamara left a tube of the peach mango lip gloss, after all, even faerie girls need variety in their lives. Tamara grinned at Cindy's narrow eyed 'bitch' look as they left.
“My phone's vibrating,” Hayden said, at the bottom of the stairs, flipping his phone open, “Hey, Dad.”
“No, Gilligan was there when I left,” he spoke again after a moment of silence, “Yes, Dad, I'm sure.” “Fine, I'll be home after I drop Tamara off.”
“Is every thing okay?” Tamara asked, after he ended the call.
“Yeah, Dad thinks Gilligan is missing again,” he sighed.
“Do you want me to help look for him?”
“No,” Hayden shook his head, “He's most likely hiding under my Dad's writing desk.”
“Okay,” Tamara nodded, “Do you want to meet up after you find him?”
“If it's still early enough, yeah,” Hayden nodded, wrapping his arms around Tamara and stepping closer to her.
“Get a room,” Greg laughed, leading the rest of the club down the stairs.
“Let's go,” Hayden sighed.
“See you tomorrow,” Tamara called to the others.
Chapter Fourteen
“Did you find Gilligan?” Tamara asked, as she slid into the passenger's seat of Hayden's car.
“Yeah, I was right, he was hiding under Dad's desk. Sorry, I didn't call or text last night, Dad was looking through old photos,” Hayden said.
“It's all right,” she smiled, “Is everything okay?”
“Oh, he's always this way around Halloween. Mom died of breast cancer when I was young and someone told him something about the dead being closer than ever around that time. He's never been able to shake it.”
“It's sorta sweet,” Tamara looked at him in the rear-view mirror.
“Maybe,” he shrugged, “Still normal?”
“Yep. No sign of them,” she shook her head, grinning, “I've even put my mirror back up.”
“Now all we have to do is win the tournament,” Hayden laughed.
“There's still hope,” Tamara said.
“Maybe.”
“There is, and if I think so, there must be, because you know how bad of a player I am,” Tamara laughed.
“I'm just happy we're hosting the tournament this time and I didn't have to wake up early enough to drive for an hour, just to get there.”
“Me too.”
“Won't you miss your nap?”
“Nah, I went to bed early last night,” she laughed, leaning her head on Hayden's shoulder as they pulled into Central Glade's parking lot, “Maybe they'll give us some extra help.”
“I wouldn't count on it,” Hayden laughed.
“Well, a girl can dream, right?” Tamara laughed as she got out of the car.
The front lobby was packed with students from other schools waiting for the registration to begin. Greg and the others stood near the back and waved them over.
“We're from the host school so we don't have to register. We were just waiting on you guys before we went up.”
“Where are they having it?” Hayden asked.
“Room five eighty five,” Greg said, “We had it in the gym last year, but they're holding a teachers' conference in there right now, so we all get to sardine ourselves into room five eighty five.”
“Let's get this party started!” Tamara said, running toward the stairs, pulling Hayden along with her.
“Show off!” Cindy muttered, but Tamara ignored her.
Tamara studied the board before her when she sat down across from her first opponent, a bespectacled kid who insisted on wiping his nose of his sleeve before making a move. The pieces were the same as always, but Tamara was trying to look as if she knew what she was doing. After his seventh move the kid broke into a violent sneezing fit. He managed to cover his nose, saving Tamara from a snot shower, but his sudden movements knocked the board and its pieces to the floor.
“You win by default, Tamara,” the judge said, not looking at her but writing on a bright green clipboard, “This way.”
Tamara followed the judge and sat down at the table she stopped at. Her new opponent was a tall lanky blonde girl.
“Good luck,” she smiled at Tamara.
“You too,” Tamara said.
“Don't worry about me. I don't need luck.”
The girl was right. Only seven minutes into the game she called checkmate. Tamara paced the hallway outside of room five eighty five, waiting for the others. She was too anxious to remain with the crowd, watching scores move up and down, and listening to the constant babble of geeks and judges alike.
Cindy and another girl came out not too long after Tamara, but they sat down at the far end of the hall, leaning against the lockers. Tamara wanted to asked them how the team was faring, but was too afraid to know. She peaked in the room, searching for Hayden. He was concentrating on the board and didn't notice her. On his shoulder a small blue ball of light hovered. Couldn't anyone else see it?
As the day wore on the team trickled into the hall one by one. By noon only Hayden and Greg remained in the tournament. Lunch was a quiet affair. The team was in second place, which under normal circumstances would have been great. It wasn't enough to save the Halloween dance, though.
“Between us,” Tamara listened to Greg talking to Hayden, “we need to win ten more. If we win ten more, we should have it.”
Hayden nodded, “We'll see what happens. We're getting down to the nitty-gritty.”
“You'll be fine,” Tamara interrupted startling both of them, as she wrapped her arms around Hayden's neck. Greg disappeared leaving them alone for the final minutes of their lunch break.
“I'll make you a deal,” Tamara whispered, after giving him a quick kiss, “If our team wins and we save the dance, I'll let you take me to the dance.”
“Time!” the intercom announced, “Players who are still active in the tournament please return to your stations.”
Hayden pulled Tamara in for a quick kiss before heading back into room five-eighty-five. Tamara followed on his heels and stood by the back wall. The hands on the clock seemed to get stuck when she was waiting for someone to make a move. Small crowds formed around each table and Tamara half-expected them to begin to cheer and chant, like at sporting events.
Seven o'clock was the end of the tournament. Whatever games were in progress were allowed to finish and then points would be tallied. Seven o'clock found Tamara biting her tongue not to scream and cheer like she were a cheerleader instead of an athlete.
“If I added right, we've won!” she said, pulling Hayden into a quick hug.
“That's what I was about to say!” he laughed.
“Attention players!” Mrs. Kelly's voice sounded from the intercom, “Thank you all for attending today's tournament. We hope you've all had lots of fun and made new friends.”
“Whatever,” Tamara sighed, “Just get to announcing the points.”
“I will be annocuing winners now. In third place, with twenty seven points is Heartsville High School. Congratulations, Heartsville. In second place with thirty eight points is Nearvalley Senior High School. Congratulations, Nearvalley. It's with a lot of pride I tournament and the chess season the first place winner of this tournament and the chess season. In first place, with thirty nine points: Congratulations, Central Glade High!”
Applause roared around her, but Tamara turned to Hayden and pulled him into a quick kiss.
“So will you go to the dance with me?” she grinned.
“Only if you don't make me go as a faerie.”
Tamara laughed and kissed him again, “No, I think we've had enough encounters with faeries to last awhile.”
~ END ~
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