Helens-of-Troy (12 page)

“Well, she didn’t want us calling her
Goth-Chic,” Ryan shrugged. “She’s always in black. That’s all I
meant. I am a man of irony. I’ll just call her GC. Come on up front
with me, GC.”

Sitting in the front with Ryan was not
what Ellie had been thinking about all afternoon. She was hoping
that Tom would come to her rescue and insist she sit in the back
with him.

“GC is too much like Jacey,” Tom said.
“We can’t have two Jacey’s. I’ll go mental. Ow! Watch where you’re
elbowing me.”

Ellie looked at Tom and then at Ryan.
Ryan’s hands were firmly on the steering wheel. He couldn’t have
elbowed Tom even if he had wanted to.

“Erm, and wot is wrong with the name
Jacey?” a new voice said.

“No, no, no,” Ellie said to herself.
There couldn’t be a female voice in the car. There couldn’t be a
female with a perfect little British accent, sitting in the back
with Tom. Her Tom. Nan hadn’t mentioned anything about a girl. Nan
had mentioned some other guy, “J.C.” somebody or other.

“Right,” the voice said. “So this is
the new girl you’ve been talking about.” The girl reached around
Tom, and looked out the window at Ellie. “Hello, El,” she said, her
voice sounding softer and sexier than Ellie had ever heard someone
her age sound. Not that Ellie spent a lot of time thinking about
the sexiness of a female voice. She did however, spend a lot of
time sizing up her competition when necessary. This would be one of
those times.

“I’m Jacey Sumner. It's nice to meet
you. I’m getting rather tired of having to keep these two in line
all by myself,” she smiled. The perfect little smile. The perfect
little smile to go with her perfect blonde hair.

Ellie wanted to rip her perfect little
face off.

“Would you be more comfy sitting back
here with me?” she asked. “Tom, go sit in the front with
Ryan.”

Was she out of her perfect little mind?
Apparently not. Apparently she had Tom wrapped around her perfect
little thumb. He was already half way out of the car.

“You know, it’s really okay,” Ellie
insisted, her stomach knotting the whole time, “I can get in the
front with Ryan. It’s no big deal.”

Tom didn’t help. With what could only
be described as an awkward expression of chivalry he held the rear
door open for Ellie. It would have almost been romantic if she
hadn’t almost wanted to throw up. Her dream boy, was holding the
car door open so she could sit beside what could only be described
as his dream girl.

“Get in the car, Ellie,” he said. He
sounded eerily like her mom. She walked around to the front
passenger side of the car and got in beside Ryan instead. Tom
shrugged and went back to his original spot.

“Are we done with the musical chairs?”
Ryan demanded. “I’m going to be late for the game.” He threw the
car into gear and hit the accelerator. His three passengers
immediately fastened their seatbelts as he took the corner a little
too fast.

“If I look straight ahead,” Ellie
thought to herself, “I’ll get a last glimpse of life if we crash,
and better yet, I’m not going to have to look at her.”

Jacey leaned forward and tapped her on
the shoulder, forcing Ellie to turn around. Some people just didn’t
pull their lap belts tight enough.

“Erm, I was just wondering,” Jacey
began, “if you are a devil worshiper. Because you’re really, really
pretty, but really… I can’t put my finger on it.” She gazed at
Ellie intently.

Tom and Ryan burst out
laughing.

“I was just wondering,” Ellie began,
“if you were a cheerleader. Because you’re really, really pretty,
but your rah-rahs are really...I can’t put my finger on it.” Ellie
turned her head away from Jacey.

“Chic fight!” Ryan said
delightedly.

“Sorry, El,” Jacey tried to explain, “I
didn’t mean to tick you off. It’s just that there were some boys
from Manchester, where I’m from, who were into that sort of thing
and they turned out to be very scary lads. That’s all. Not that
you’re scary. You’re not. I think really fit.”

If this girl could put her foot any
further into her own mouth, she’d be choking, Ellie thought. “Look,
for the record, I’m not a devil worshipper. I’m not a worshipper at
all.”

Jacey sat back in her seat, playing
with the cross that hung from her necklace. The five-minute drive
to the high school suddenly became very, very quiet.

“This is it, Goth-Chic.” Ryan finally
declared, as they arrived at the school. “All you need to know
about this place is there is one kick-ass football team here. Look
around. Do you see this many people here on a regular school day?
No. I rest my case.”

The parking lot was already full but
that didn’t pose too much of a problem for Ryan, as he calmly
pulled the Toyota up beside the garbage dumpster. “Reserved
parking,” he said, as he got out, moved the dumpster onto the lawn
single handedly, returned to the car and parked it where the
dumpster had been. “Works every time,” he said with a
smirk.

“Just once I’d like to get here early
and smell, oh, I don’t know, fresh air?” Jacey complained as they
all got out of the Toyota.

“I’ll catch ya all later,” Ryan said,
ignoring her. “You just look for the guy making all the plays,
Goth-Chic. That’ll be me. Number 12. The last of the
dozen.”

Ellie started to roll her
eyes.

“Easy, Goth-Chic,” Tom assured her.
“The scary part is he really will be guy making all the plays. He’s
a demon on the field.”

The bleachers were almost full by the
time the three spectators wished Ryan a good game and headed for
their seats. Ellie saw empty spots in the first row, but as she
turned towards them Jacey gave her sweater a tug from
behind.

“It’s kind of like church, El,” Jacey
explained. “We want to sit at the back. The front rows are where
the parents sit.” She started up the stairs with Tom following,
puppy-dog like, behind her.

“How about there?” Ellie asked,
pointing to empty seats beside another girl who was also dressed in
black from head to toe. Thank God there was at least one other girl
in Troy that didn’t look like she had stepped out of a photo shoot
for Prom Queens-R-Us.

“Erm, no. Let’s keep on going, shall
we?” Jacey replied, dragging Tom by the hand. “I see some empty
seats up at the back.”

Ellie reluctantly followed as Jacey
found a spot big enough for two and a half people. True, it was the
only other available spot, but Ellie already knew how this was
going to play out. Jacey would be forced to cuddle with Tom, or
even worse, sit on his lap, and there wasn’t a whole lot she could
do about it. This night was beginning to really suck.

“Why can’t we sit down there with that
other girl?” Ellie asked Tom.

“Tara and Jacey. They don’t really get
along,” he whispered to Ellie. “They’ve got this love-hate thing
going. Tonight it’s hate. I’ll tell you about it some
time.”

“Is there a problem?” Jacey asked,
sitting down on the metal bench.

Tom slunk beside Jacey and patted the
seat beside him, motioning for Ellie to sit down. “Not when I’m
sitting with the hottest girls in town,” he said, putting his arms
around both of them.

Jacey grinned.

Ellie wanted to die.

Football was not her thing to begin
with. To her, it was right up there with golf under the Jeopardy
category “stupid games you play in the rain.” So to divert her
attention away from Jacey, and unbelievably from Tom, she turned
and studied the crowd.

Ryan had been right about the turnout.
It looked like half of the town had shown up to watch the game, if
her quick math count had been right. Either there wasn’t much else
to do in Troy on a Friday night, or football was a really big deal
here.

“Is it always this crowded?” she
asked.

“They’re on a winning streak,” Tom told
her. “As long as that continues, everybody will show up no matter
how cold it gets. Everyone loves a winner, and I don’t think these
guys are planning on loosing anytime soon.”

“Unfortunately,” Jacey sighed. “You
might want to bring a blanket next time, El. And ask for some hand
warmers for Christmas. It’ll be spring before the season is over
and we get our Friday nights back.”

“Weather is part of the game,” Tom
insisted.

Ellie saw Helena and her mom arriving
at the field. Helen would never have gone to a football game at her
old school, she knew. She wondered what secret power Helena had
over her to get her mom to do things she didn’t enjoy.

“Look,” Tom noticed, “the Helens have
shown up.” He watched as the LaRose women took the empty seats down
front. “It’s like your Nan has season tickets. She always sits at
the 30 yard line.”

“Really?” Ellie pondered as the teams
took to the field. She was learning something new about her
grandmother every day.

A minute later the starting whistle
blew, sending a hush over the crowd. Troy had won the coin toss,
and elected to receive. Ellie saw Ryan taking his position. He was
a linebacker. She knew that much.

“Did you hear about the girl that’s
missing?” Jacey asked innocently.

“Ellie wouldn’t know her,” Tom reminded
Jacey, momentarily letting Ellie off the hook. “My Dad said there
might be a town-wide search tomorrow. Do you want to come if there
is one?”

“Erm, I don’t know,” Jacey hesitated.
“I’ll think about it.”

“What about you, Ellie?” Tom asked.
“Are you up for a little search and rescue?”

“Maybe,” Ellie offered up. Her head was
beginning to pound. She wished they’d get off the subject. She was
trying as hard as she could to get the image of the little girl out
of her head, not in it. She turned her attention back to the game.
Ryan, she couldn’t help but notice, was pretty agile for his size.
That surprised her.

She wasn’t the only one noticing him.
She could see a man in the front row videotaping his every move.
She watched as his camera followed Ryan up and down the
field.

“What’s going on?” she asked Tom,
pointing to the videographer.

“Scout,” Tom replied. “Ryan’s up for a
ticket out of town.”

“That’s pretty cool,” she said. She
could hear the tone of the crowd change as the other team took
possession of the ball.

“Get ‘em,” Tom screamed, following the
play. “Run, Lachey run. Yeeeee.....sss!” He threw his arms into the
air, accidentally smacking Ellie across the head.
“Sacked!”

“Ow!”

“Sorry, Ellie,” Tom apologized. “I got
a little carried away.”

“You should see him when there’s a
touchdown,” Jacey laughed. “He does a little thing with his
booty.”

“You know,” Ellie said, thinking this
might be a good time for the third-wheel to bail. “As much as I
would love to see him do that, I think he’s going to need a little
more room, so I’m going to move.” She grabbed her purse and stood
up. “I’ll catch up with you guys later.”

“Don’t go, Ellie.”

It had been Jacey who said that, not
Tom, Ellie noted with disappointment.

“It’s okay. I’ll meet you by the car
after the game,” Ellie tried to say like it was no big deal. She
glanced around and noticed that a seat beside that other girl,
Tara, was still unoccupied. She gave Tom and Jacey a half-hearted
adios wave as she turned into the aisle.

“Tom, you hurt her feelings. Go after
her and apologize,” Jacey said.

“Let her go,” Tom said, putting his arm
around Jacey.

She removed his arm from her shoulder.
She had a pretty good idea where Ellie was going. “Tom Williams,
look what you have done. You’ve forced her to go to the dark
side.”

Ellie made her way down the rows until
she reached the seat beside the girl Jacey apparently hated. She
was lucky to find that it was still unoccupied.

“Do you mind?” Ellie asked
politely.

“Actually, I do,” the girl
snipped.

“Sorry?” Ellie queried in
disbelief.

“Yes, you are,” the girl
said.

“Do you have an issue with me or
something?” Ellie prodded. “I mean the seat is empty, and I
thought, judged on your clothing, that maybe we’d have something in
common. I almost bought that jacket at the Undercurrent. That’s
such a hot store, don’t you think?”

The girl glared at her. “Oh, we have
issues all right. Lay off my boyfriend, for starters.”

“Your boyfriend?”

“Ryan Lachey. The football star. He’s
mine.”

The picture started to become clearer
for Ellie. “Um, okay...I’m not quite sure how we got off to a bad
start, but I’m willing to try again. My name is Ellie LaRose. I’m
Ryan’s next door neighbor. That’s all. He gave me a ride over here
tonight because I’m new, and I don’t know my way
around.”

“I know your type,” the girl snarled.
“You know your way around better than anyone.”

“Excuse me?”

“There is no excuse for
you.”