In Your Arms (10 page)

“Uh-huh, how do you not know that your girlfriend is behind you—especially with one like Tracy?” The minute the words came out of her mouth she regretted saying them. Why couldn’t she hold her tongue? Or better, why couldn’t she think before she spoke? “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.”

Phillip smiled. “It’s okay, Sam. I know she can be a little overbearing sometimes.”

“Sometimes?” There she went again. “Oh, God, I did it again.”

Phillip couldn’t help but laugh a little. “You ready for Ms. Hatchet?” Phillip said, obviously sensing their joint discomfort talking about Tracy.

Sam eyed him. How did he know? How could he sense that she wanted to change the subject? How did he always know what to say, and when to say it? Sam smiled at Phillip. “Ready as I’ll ever be,” she retorted.

Phillip opened the door and Sam walked into the classroom, taking her usual seat in the back next to Alex.

“I almost forgot. I have your notebook,” Phillip said, sitting down in front of Sam.

“Oh, great, thanks,” she said as she grabbed the notebook. Phillip pulled it back just as she was about to grab it. “Come on, Phillip. Give it to me.”

“Why? What will I get in return?” Phillip said.

Why was he playing with her? Why couldn’t he just hand her the notebook? What did he expect to get?

Sam paused for a minute, unsure what exactly he meant. “Well, I’ll give you—”

“Ms. Baker and Mr. Corinodi, you are talking after the bell has rung. Get your things and go to detention immediately.”

Sam heaved a big sigh, took the purple slip from Ms. Hatchet and began to make her way out the door, closely followed by Phillip. They walked to detention in silence. Sam wasn’t sure what she was going to say in reply to Phillip’s question.

Sam opened the door to detention. “Hey, Mrs. H.”

“Sam, what are you doing here? I thought you were trying to stay out of trouble in Ms. Hatchet’s class.”

“Don’t look at me,” Sam said, handing her the slip. “It was his fault.” She pointed at Phillip.

“What? This wasn’t my fault,” Phillip said with a laugh.

“You wouldn’t give me my notebook,” Sam said. “Well, he wouldn’t,” Sam said to Mrs. Hutchinson.

“All right, kids, take a seat.” Mrs. Hutchinson rolled her eyes.

Sam walked toward the back of the classroom, followed by Phillip.

“It wasn’t my fault,” Phillip said again.

“Yes, it was. If you had given me my notebook, we wouldn’t be in this mess. I was trying not to get any more detentions in her class.”

“Well, if you had remembered to pick up your notebook yesterday, I wouldn’t have had to give it back to you.”

“If you would have given me my notebook earlier, we wouldn’t have been sent here for talking.”

“Have you gotten it all out?” Phillip asked.

Sam furrowed her brow. “What?”

“I think we’ve ripped at each other enough, don’t you think?”

“Well, if you—” Sam began then paused. “I have nothing.”

“Coach is going to kill me for being late to practice.”

“I’m sure you won’t be late.”

“Sam, we’re in detention. We have to stay here an hour after class ends.”

“Believe me, we’re the only ones in here, we’ll get out early.”

“I see. You and Mrs. Hutchinson have a deal going on.”

“Not really a deal, she just knows how unfair Ms. Hatchet can be. I’ve just been here so many times…” Sam trailed off. “Okay, I’m not making any sense.”

“I understand what you mean, though. So what do you normally do in detention?”

“Draw,” Sam said, blushing at the thought of the picture he’d seen.

“That’s right, I forgot.”

“I’ve never actually been in detention with somebody I know. This is actually kind of strange.”

“Well, I can go over the particulars of football so you’ll understand what’s happening Friday.”

“Yeah, sounds great. I really do need to learn how that game is played. I don’t know why my parents never taught me. I mean, my brother played the game—why wouldn’t I know how to play?” Sam felt her cheeks heat as she realized she was babbling. “I’ll stop now and let you explain. I have a tendency to ramble sometimes.”

“Sometimes?” Phillip smiled, mocking Sam’s statement before class.

“Ha ha, handsome, just tell me how to play the game,” Sam sneered.

Phillip smiled at the mention of his nickname and began to tell Sam how to play the game. The whole class had gone by before Phillip had finished explaining the particulars.

“Do you understand?” Phillip asked.

“Uh, yeah, sure I do,” Sam lied.

“You know, you’re not a very good liar.”

“I understood some of it, maybe not a hundred percent but I understood some. Like kicking the ball to start the play—then throwing it to your teammate and the whole point is to get the ball to the other side of the field and score a touchdown or a field goal.”

“Sam, that’s how much you knew when I first started explaining the game,” Phillip said.

“Okay, so I retained none of it. I have enough to go to the game, I think, and I’ll just cheer when everyone else does, no biggie.” Sam smiled at him, hoping he wasn’t mad.

“You know, you’re pretty cute when you smile,” Phillip said softly.

“Hey, kids,” Mrs. Hutchinson said. “I think you two can leave, if you’d like.”

“Great, thanks, Mrs. H. Hopefully I won’t be seeing you around,” Sam joked, deciding not to read too much into Phillip’s sweet comment. He had a girlfriend, she reminded herself.

A cheating whore of a girlfriend he’d probably break up with if I just told him what I knew…

“And I don’t want to see you either, missy,” Mrs. Hutchinson said as Sam and Phillip were leaving.

The door closed behind them. “You two really do know each other well,” Phillip commented with a grin.

“I have been in there multiple times. You would know, we are in the same class.”

“Sam,” Alex said, coming up behind her. “Mrs. Hutchinson let you out early?”

“Yeah, we were the only ones in there.”

“Cool, so you’re still going ice-skating on Saturday, right?” Alex asked purposefully.

Sam knew what her friend was doing. “Yes, I’m still going.”

“You’re going too, right, Phillip?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, if that’s all right with you,” he said.

“Of course, Sam was the one who invited you. We’ll probably go there around sevenish?” Alex said, and Sam wanted to kill her.

“Sure, sounds great. Is that a good time for you?” Sam turned to Phillip

“Yeah, that’s fine. I better go, though, or I’ll be late for practice. The game is at six, you can make it right?”

“Definitely, Alex and Michael will be coming too.”

“Great, I’ll see you later,” he said as he rushed off to practice.

* * *

“Alex, what am I supposed to wear?” Sam asked frantically. She was shouting across to Alex out of her bedroom window.

“I don’t know, Sam. Just wear anything. It’s a football game, for goodness sakes.”

“But Phillip invited me. I should at least dress nicely. I mean, I can’t just wear what I normally do.”

“Why not? He didn’t invite you on a date, just to a football game.”

“What do people wear to football games?”

“I don’t know, it’s not like I’ve been to any football games. Well, I went to one when I was younger, but I don’t remember what anyone wore,” Alex clarified.

“Okay, this is not helping me. We have to leave by 5:30. Is Michael on his way?”

“Yeah, he’s coming. Don’t worry so much, Sam. You’ll be in the bleachers, Phillip’s going to be on the field. He probably won’t even get to say anything to you.”

“Great, way to make me feel better.”

“Well, you’ll get to tell him tomorrow how it was, and how amazing he played. I mean that has to be something. Besides you’ll be ice skating with him tomorrow. That’s when you really have to figure out what you’re wearing, cuz tomorrow is when it really counts.”

“Fine, I think I figured it out. I’ll walk over to your house. Are we taking my car or his or should I drive myself?”

“We’ll drive you, don’t worry.”

“Great, I’ll be over there in a bit,” Sam called as she shut her window.

Sam made her way to her closet and began to rummage through her clothes. What was she going to wear? Did it really matter what she was wearing? Yes, of course. She had to look good, right? Alex said he wouldn’t even notice her, though. After what seemed like hours, Sam finally made a decision.

She emerged from her room wearing dark blue jeans and an embroidered white halter top, which tied around the back of her neck. Wrapped around her waist, acting as a belt, was a striped-green sash that hung down at her side. Sam grabbed her purse and made her way downstairs.

“Bye, Mom,” Sam called. “I’ll be back before ten.”

“I don’t know why you chose to go to that football game,” her mother said.

“Alex and I just thought that we’d try and be a little more socially outgoing. Besides, I need a break from everything that’s happened.”

“All right, but I expect you to be back by ten.”

“Okay, Mom, I’m walking over to Alex’s house, we’re going to drive together,” Sam said. “Bye.”

Sam walked out the door and made her way over to Alex’s house, seeing Michael’s car in the driveway. Sam walked up the stairs and made her way to Alex’s bedroom. She opened the door, only to find Michael and Alex making out on her bed.

“Oh my God,” Sam said, dropping her purse and putting her hands over her eyes, as though she had seen something far worse than just Michael and Alex kissing. “I am so sorry.”

Naturally, Alex and Michael sprang apart, Alex going to grab her purse and Michael pulling out his keys.

“Is it safe to look?” Sam asked.

“Sam, it’s not like we were having sex,” Alex said, smiling.

“I know, but I couldn’t help it.” Sam laughed, causing all three of them to break out into laughter. “I mean come on, guys, you knew I was coming over here, yet you still decided to make out.”

“Okay, okay, we’re running late as it is. Let’s just go,” Alex said.

All three made their way downstairs and into Michael’s car.

“By the way, Al, that mini skirt you have on, can we say—”

“Hey, it’s not that short, okay? Besides, I wouldn’t be talking, Miss Cleavage-Showing-Halter-Top,” Alex retorted.

“Whoa, it does not show my cleavage. Well, okay, it barely shows it. I had to give a little something to be desired,” Sam said with a cheeky smile

“Samantha Baker! I would never have imagined.”

“Oh, really? You, who is wearing the tightest shirt known to man?”

“Fine, it is a bit tight, but I’m still shocked that your mother let you wear that out of the house.”

“She was in the kitchen and didn’t see me.”

“I didn’t even know your mother would buy something like that for you,” Alex said.

“I bought it myself. She doesn’t really know about it.” Sam smiled. “And what about that skirt?”

“You would know, I bought it with you, when you bought your shirt,” Alex laughed.

“Wait a minute,” Michael interjected. “You guys bought them together, so you knew about it before. So why is it such a big deal?” Michael looked confused.

“Oh, honey, we were just joking with each other.” Alex laughed and kissed his cheek. “So you ready for the big game, Sam?”

“Very funny. I won’t even know what’s going on half the time,” Sam said.

“I can tell you, Sam,” Michael said. “I played on a club team before I moved.”

“So that’s why you’re so muscular,” Sam blurted out loud.

“Sam,” Alex said, hitting her on the arm.

“Ouch. That really hurt,” Sam said, rubbing her arm. “I didn’t mean to say it, it just came out. Well, you said you wanted to know.”

“I know, but I didn’t want you to blurt it out in front of him,” Alex said.

“You know I can hear you,” Michael said, looking over at the girls.

“We’re such idiots,” Sam laughed.

“Correction,
you
are the idiot. I happen to be one of the smartedest girls in this car,” Alex claimed.

“‘Smartedest’? That’s not even a word,” Sam said.

“Oh, just shut up,” Alex joked.

“Hate to break up the love fest you two have going on over there, but we’re here,” Michael interjected as he pulled into the school parking lot.

“Oh, my God, what am I going to do? I’m actually here, at the game. Why?” Sam moaned.

“Calm down, Sam. We’ll sit down together and everything will be fine,” Alex said.

“Yeah, but I’ve never gone to a game in my life, neither have you. What is everyone going to say?”

“They won’t say anything,” Alex assured her.

All three of them made their way through the crowded parking lot and to the field, spotting fellow classmates in the bleachers. The teams weren’t on the field at the moment, they were probably in the locker rooms getting their pep talk.

“Wow, there are so many people here,” Sam said.

“Yeah, this is crazy. Oh, look, we can sit over there.” Alex pointed to an empty spot in the bleachers.

As they made their way up the bleachers, Sam spotted Tracy and her gang sitting down in front, all wearing mini-mini skirts, even shorter than Alex’s and tube tops.

“Sluts,” Alex mumbled under her breath.

“Who, them? Let's not stoop to their level” Sam said.

The Knights, Birchwood High’s football team, ran out onto the field. The crowd went wild.

“Knights! Knights! Knights!” they shouted as Sam, Alex, and Michael joined in on the excitement.

“Who knew a game could be so exciting?” Sam said as the crowd died down.

“Sam, they haven’t even started playing,” Alex pointed out.

“Whatever, it’s still exciting.”

Both teams took the field, every player knowing exactly where to be. One of the referees blew a whistle and the game began.

For the next hour, Sam constantly turned to Michael, asking him questions.

“What’s he doing with the ball? What’s going on? Is he supposed to do that? Isn’t that a foul? Why is the ref not doing anything? Shouldn’t he be called for that? What are they doing now? What does that call mean? How come it’s their ball?”

“Sam, enough with the incessant questions, we can only take a little bit at a time,” Alex said.