The Queen B* and the Homecoming King (2 page)

“I hope you can, too,” I replied, even though it sounded like something Brett would think of, not Sanchez.

“So you’re not upset that I can’t hang out with you before practice this week?” He shuffled his weight from foot to foot while waiting for my response.

“Why should I be?” If I’d been the
jealous type, I might’ve been upset. Or if I didn’t trust him. But I did. I knew him well enough now to know he’d be in some dark room with a notepad in hand watching footage of Skylake’s previous games all afternoon, not hooking up with Summer or some other girl. As much as he loved the game of football, he was also strangely devoted to me.

At least, I was pretty sure. The only things he seemed
more devoted to were his family and football.

“Just that most girls are kind of clingy, from my experience.”

“Did you forget rule number one?” I teased.

“No, but I might forget rule number two.” He swooped in and placed a kiss on my cheek.

If I’d reacted more quickly, I might’ve been able to smack him before he darted away from me with a huge grin. As it was, I suffered a tiny moment of
shock. Despite my warnings about PDAs, Brett had no qualms about playing the part of smitten boyfriend in front of everyone.

Including Sanchez, who stood in the doorway with his mouth hanging open. “Dude, are you mental?”

“Nope,” Brett replied and gave his teammate a playful thump on the back. “Ready to go over some films and come up with some new routes?”

“I owe the team that much after last
week.” He cast one more glance at me, his brows furrowed in confusion, before turning back to Brett.

I didn’t hear the rest of Sanchez’s reply as they slipped out into the hallway. But I suspected most of the school would react the same way once word got out about me and Brett dating.

I’d barely managed to travel three feet down the hall before Richard Wang, one of my best friends, ambushed
me. “We need to talk.”

I assumed he wanted to know all about this weekend’s drama—from my hasty exit from Friday night’s party to the disastrous date with a frat-boy douchebag that nearly ended with me being raped to my heavenly day with Brett. But instead, he steered me to a poster in the hall.

At first, I thought he was pointing at one of the many
Vote for Summer Hoyt for Homecoming Queen!
posters that already littered the hallways, but then I realized he was actually pointing at the small flyer next to it.

Debate Team Tryouts This Week!

He gulped hard as though he was trying not to puke. “Please tell me you’re still pissed off at Brett so I don’t have to keep my end of our bargain.”

“Tough luck, buttercup.”

He let loose a sting of whispered cusswords before catching himself.
“Wait a minute. Did I hear you correctly? You and Brett—”

I clamped my hand over his mouth before he announced it to the entire school. “Let’s take this outside.”

It was lunch, and students streamed out of the building to venture to some of the off-campus dining options that were a short walk away. Richard loved the local fried chicken fast-food joint, so I steered him toward it. The greasy
goods would calm him down.

However, we’d barely crossed campus before he bombarded me with questions. “Tell me everything. What happened Friday? Is it true that you caught Summer trying to make a move on him? I mean, the whole party was talking about it, but I can’t believe half the things people say. But then what happened? Because obviously something happened if you two ended up together.”

It would take way longer than the forty-five minutes Richard was allotted for lunch. Unlike me, he had to stay the full day. “Do you really want to hear about my weekend, or would you rather prep for the tryouts this afternoon?”

“Is there an option for me to say both?” he asked with a sheepish grin.

“Can I give you a raincheck on the juicy details?” As it was, I wasn’t in the mood to relive
half my weekend. And I definitely wanted to talk with Morgan first. Something Gavin had said while he was pawing at my shirt bothered me. He’d said I was as easy as my friend, and even though Morgan had no qualms about hooking up with random guys, I still couldn’t squash that annoying niggle of doubt that plagued me.

“Absolutely!” He looped his arm through mine. “I’m so excited for you, Alexis.
Any plans for Homecoming yet?”

“Not going.”

He stopped and jerked me back when I tried to keep walking. “Hold on here a minute, honey. You’re dating Brett Pederson, and you’re not going to Homecoming with him?”

“It’s just a stupid dance.”

“When you’re dateless, it’s just a stupid dance. But you are dating the hottest guy in school. If it were me, I’d be all over him on that dance floor.”

“Well, he might still be looking for a date,” I joked.

“Sorry, but I don’t think he swings my way.” If I was the school’s Mean Girl and Brett was the Golden Boy, Richard was the Token Gay Guy. He had no problem letting the world know about his sexuality, but he purposely played up the flamboyancy to put others at ease. “Besides, I think I might be getting close to having a date for Homecoming
myself, which was why I didn’t check in with you sooner.”

“A date?”

He held his finger up to his lips. “Shh! I’ll let you in on my secret if you let me in on yours.”

“Later. Right now, I need to make sure you show up for tryouts with your best game face on.”

“Which means I’d better tone down all the fabulousness that is me.” He wiggled while he ran his hands down his skinny body. “Okay. Let’s
be serious. We already know Kelsey and Ajay are the team captains, so I already have one strike against me.”

Kelsey Buchannan was extremely vocal about her conservative Christian values and had more than once condemned gay rights in her debate arguments. “Kelsey can go screw herself.”

“At least she could still technically claim to be a virgin if she did,” Richard snickered. “I already know she’ll
vote against letting me on the team.”

“But Ajay will remember you coming to his defense, so hopefully, he’ll balance out Kelsey.” He’d been the victim of Sanchez’s bullying last week, and Richard had rushed in to intervene.

“He’s so cute with his little bow ties.” Richard let his game face drop long enough to release a dreamy sigh. “But you’re right. He might be on my side.”

“So let your debate
skills do the rest.” I paused long enough to let him order his lunch and studied his outfit. His faded blue jeans and boy band T-shirt hardly proclaimed him to be debate team material. “And if you want, I can swing by your house and grab a change of clothes for you.”

“You would? Oh, thank you!” He then gave me precise directions on where to find the items he needed. “If I’d known the tryouts
were today, I would’ve been more prepared. The poster this morning was the first announcement I’ve seen.”

“I suspect they probably emailed their inner circle last week.” It fit Kelsey’s M.O.

“That’s fine because this dark horse is on it.” He puffed out his chest like a warrior preparing to charge into battle. “And I’m more than ready to earn my spot on the debate team.”

I couldn’t agree more.
I’d helped him prep a few times since school started, and his contributions to
The Eastline Spy
demonstrated his skill in delivering a solid argument. I knew he could take on anyone on the team.

And if he didn’t make it, then I’d just found the next exposé for my blog.

Chapter Two

I spent the next hour and a half running over to Richard’s house and looking for the items he wanted in his bedroom. His grandmother was home, and although she barely spoke English, she seemed to understand when I explained that I was picking up clothes for Richard’s tryout. The mess inside could rival the one in Taylor’s room, but after sorting through the piles of clothes, I
found all the articles of clothing he needed.

Of course, the moment his grandmother saw them, she started going off in Chinese and wouldn’t let up until I handed the clothes to her. I followed her into the laundry room, where she ironed out all the wrinkles and pressed neat creases into the fabric. She slipped the clothing onto hangers and handed them to me. “Tell him kick ass,” she said with
a grin.

I almost busted out laughing. Richard’s grandmother may have been old school, but she seemed to have a good grasp on modern slang. “I certainly will.”

I got to school just as the final period was letting out and found Richard by his locker. He grabbed the clothes. “You are an angel.”

“Thank your grandmother. She wouldn’t let me leave until she pressed everything and made sure you’d
look your best.” I also repeated her message.

Richard snorted with laughter and took a small leather toiletry bag out of his locker. “Gotta love Grams. Give me a moment to change, and I’ll be ready.”

A moment in Richard standard time is equivalent to a moment in Taylor standard time—approximately half an hour. I waited outside one of the boys’ restrooms, pretending to play a game on my phone
while keeping my ears open for anything to use on my blog. One of the first things I noticed was that all the posters in the hallway were
Vote for Summer!
Was anyone running against her? And if not, was it because she’d threatened them if they did? I almost had the entire story idea ready to investigate when Richard emerged, looking like something straight out of
GQ
.

I approved. “You know, if
you dressed like that every day, you wouldn’t have to play the Token Gay Guy to put everyone at ease.”

“I know, but it takes a lot of work to look this good, and I’d rather sleep than primp.” He ran his hands along the lapels of his navy blazer, straightened his blue-and-green striped tie, and smoothed his rock-hard gelled hair. “Do I look like a debate team member?”

“Absolutely.”

Doubt flickered
across his face. “Can you stay during the tryout? It’d help if I saw a friendly face out there.”

“Sure.” It wasn’t like I had tons of stuff to do this afternoon. What little bit of homework I had would be a snap to finish tonight, and my boyfriend was out on the field with his team, completely focused on how to beat Skylake on Friday. Besides, I might enjoy watching Richard wow everyone.

The
tryouts were being held in Ms. Rothstein’s classroom. As the debate team’s faculty sponsor, she sat at the center desk of the front row, flanked by Kelsey and Ajay. She shuffled through a stack of papers as about twenty students milled around the periphery of the room, all of them dressed as seriously as Richard.

At least he’d blend in on the surface.

But when he barely moved from the doorway,
I gave him an impatient shove toward the sign-in sheet on Kelsey’s desk. He adjusted his tie one more time and approached her.

Kelsey was the epitome of prep school fashion. A navy headband held back her perfectly coiffed blond hair, and an expertly matched cardigan complemented a knee-length plaid dress. Knee socks and Mary Janes completed the ensemble. But when Richard stepped in front of
her, she wrinkled her nose as through he emitted some kind of foul stench. Which, of course, to someone like Kelsey, he did. “What are you doing here?” she asked with a sneer.

“Trying out for the debate team.” He took a pen and added his name to the list, completely ignoring her reaction.

“Just like you tried out for the cheerleading squad last year?”

“That was for fun,” he replied with a
flippant wave of his hand, slipping back into the flamboyant façade he used whenever he sensed hostility. “I’m actually serious about this.”

“And what if we don’t want someone like you turning every debate into some kind of gay pride rally?”

My temper snapped and I whipped out my phone, holding it out in front of me like a recorder. “As opposed to your consistent right-wing, conservative slant
on every issue? Tell me, Kelsey, are you already discriminating against Richard because of his sexuality?”

Even though I wasn’t actually recording anything, Kelsey didn’t need to know that. All she needed to know was that she was on my radar and the wrong thing could end up on my blog.

She glanced down at my phone, leaning away from it, her chest rising and falling faster than before. “No,
I didn’t say that.”

“No, you just said you didn’t want someone ‘like’ Richard and then mentioned his sexuality.” I gave her one of my trademark Queen B* eat-shit-and-die grins. “I think it’s pretty obvious you’re discriminating against him because he’s gay, and I believe most of my readers will see it the same way.”

Ms. Rothstein cleared her throat. “Alexis, I believe Kelsey misspoke. Richard
is more than welcome to try out, and if his skills are of the appropriate caliber, then he might have a place on the team.”

I didn’t miss the way Ajay squirmed in his seat and tugged on the bow tie he always wore to school, something that frequently made him the target of bullies like Sanchez. If Richard’s gay-dar was accurate, then the debate team co-captain’s discomfort stemmed from something
more than just his accessories.

Richard gave Ms. Rothstein a gracious smile. “Thank you.”

Then he upped the wattage as he turned to Kelsey. “Prepare to be wowed.”