7 Clues to Winning You (25 page)

The week ticked by. The highlights were that Luke and I chatted online a lot and hung out briefly after school a few times. We just couldn’t get our schedules to mesh very well. No kissing to report, but there were some “almost” moments. Something always happened to spoil it.
Spoil
is actually the wrong word, because every time we couldn’t kiss, it made the magnetic tension between us even stronger. I wanted so badly to bring him to the Meriton game Friday night, but there was no way I could handle that kind of distraction, and get the picture, and hang with Tara, and see all my old friends again. So Luke and I made rock-solid plans for Saturday night. Rock solid.

On the home front, the negotiations with the buyers hit a snag over the inspection report, and closing got pushed back a week. So my April Fools’ Day was wide open. I was actually kind of bummed, because I figured closer proximity to Ash Grove would equal closer proximity to Luke. Even so, I was grateful for the extra time in my perfect pink bedroom.

In BFF news, Tara and I had met at the Daily Grind on Wednesday. Cerise, Veronica, and Melissa were there, and it was like we never missed a beat. We talked about school, gossip, and guys. I told them about Luke. Melissa had gone out a few times with a guy in her Spanish class. Tara reported significant progress with her crush, James Forsberg, a senior and the captain of the basketball team. I marked that down in my mental notebook because I thought it might come in handy Friday night. That afternoon at the Daily Grind was
the first time since stepping foot in Ash Grove High School that I felt like one of the popular girls. I couldn’t wait to see them all again at the game.

An hour before tip-off on Friday night, I was getting ready for the game. I couldn’t decide between a trapeze top with leggings or a tiered mini with layered tanks. The whole time, Zach kept nagging me to take him with me to the game. “Come on, Blythe. My old friends are going to be there too,” he said with just a tinge of a whine.

“Then get them to take you.” It wasn’t very charitable of me to say that, but he’d been pestering me for two hours straight. When Zach sets his mind on something, he won’t let go until he gets what he wants. He’ll make a great salesman one day. Or a hostage negotiator.

“I won’t bug you,” he said. “I won’t get in your space. I won’t talk to your friends. I’ll totally disappear.”

“Oh, sure. Mom and Dad would love that.”

“So don’t tell them. Jeez, I’m almost thirteen. I can handle a high school basketball game. I don’t need a babysitter.”

“I’d still be responsible for you.”

Zach stretched himself across the clothes strewn on my bed and tried a new tactic. “Think about Mom and Dad. One more night … alone in the house. You know they’d appreciate it.”

If Mom and Dad hadn’t been so on edge lately, I would’ve thought this argument was a stretch, even for Zach. But the fact was, he had a point. I yanked a silk top out from under his butt. “Get off my clothes! See? You can’t even lie on a bed responsibly.”

Zach bounded to his feet. “I’m off! Look! I’m off. I’ll do whatever you say tonight. Unless I’m not cool with it. But even then, I’ll strongly consider your opinion.”

I made the mistake of laughing, and Zach knew he had me. I sighed and said, “Fine.” He clapped, jumped in a circle, and raced out of my room. I shouted after him, “I’m leaving in exactly twenty-three minutes whether you’re in the car or not!” I hoped this wasn’t a huge mistake. I also hoped Mom and Dad didn’t waste the night arguing.

Zach was waiting in the car for me, so I let him pick the music for the drive. When we got to Meriton, I told him to meet me no later than twenty minutes after the final buzzer, and he took off to find his friends. I spotted Tara and waved. On my way to her, people right and left came up to me to say hi or give me a hug. Jenny Pritzkey raced over and threw her arms around me. “I’m so glad to see you!” she squealed. “It’s not the same without you here. I wish you were back!”

Being there was the total inverse of my first walk into Ash Grove.

Tara and I found seats just behind the bench so she could stare at the back of James Forsberg’s head for the five whole seconds he wasn’t out on the court. I had a good view of the Blue Stallion mascot pumping up the crowd. There was pre-game music blaring, and he was doing the robot beside one of the refs. I couldn’t remember the name of the guy inside the costume. In fact, I don’t think I ever bothered to learn it.

Meriton was playing East Valley, yet during the game I noticed a bunch of Ash Grove juniors scattered around the gym. They must’ve been there to get their hands on the
mascot costume. I should’ve seen that coming. Luckily, most of them were gone by the second half. Either they ambushed the Blue Stallion during halftime or they gave up and crawled home.

The score was tied up, but James Forsberg sank a three-pointer at the final buzzer. The crowd erupted. Tara was freaking out, screaming for James. The Blue Stallion somehow did a back handspring, which had to be difficult with a horse head. The team shook hands with East Valley and jogged into the locker room, high-fiving each other and everyone they passed. Time to set my plan in motion.

“James’s going to be in a good mood tonight,” I said to Tara over the noise of the crowd.

“No doubt,” she said. “God, he was so hot out there.”

“You know what?” I said.

“What?”

“I think you should wait outside the locker room and jump him when he comes out.”

Tara gaped at me. “What?”

“Why not?” I cried. “You said yourself things were going in that direction anyway, right?”

“Yeah, I guess.” She ran her hand through the short points of her razor-cut hair and glanced toward the locker room.

Meriton had a kind of honor code. The captain of any sports team was the last to leave the locker room. Like the captain of a sinking ship being the last one off. So I knew that once James left, the locker room would be empty. Did I mention that they keep the Blue Stallion costume in the locker room? That was a little tidbit of information that no
one else at Ash Grove knew about, but everyone at Meriton did.

All I needed to do was find something to distract James when he came out of the locker room so he wouldn’t see me slip inside before the door shut and locked behind him. Tara was going to be my distraction. At the same time, she was finally going to take her shot with James. They were perfect for each other. I knew it, and she knew it, and it was time to give her a nudge. Or a shove.

“So make it happen!” I said to her. “Since when do you wait around for something? God, it’s not like he’s going to punch you and run away. He likes you. You like him.”

She laughed and shouted, “Ugh, you are such a pain in the ass!” She wasn’t really mad. “Why do I listen to you?”

“Because you know I’m right,” I said. “Come on.” I grabbed her hand and dragged her through the crowd to the spot where the players exited the locker room. I needed to be near the door, but Tara didn’t like it so close.

“Not right outside the door!” she said, retreating a few feet. “I don’t want to look like some crazy, desperate stalker. What am I supposed to say? You were kidding about me jumping him, right? I’ll talk to him. I’m not jumping him.” She tugged on the V-neck of her top so that more of her cleavage showed.

Talking wouldn’t be quite as distracting as grabbing James and planting her face on his, but I didn’t want to push Tara any more than I had. She could easily change her mind and bolt. I’d have to make the best of the situation. I checked my watch. I had to meet Zach at the gym door in fifteen
minutes. When were these guys going to leave? Five minutes later, the players finally started streaming out of the locker room, showered and fully dressed in the shirts and ties they were required to wear to home games. I hadn’t accounted for showers. I checked my watch again. Nine minutes. A couple of girls from my old French class walked up and started babbling and gabbing to Tara and me. Another variable I hadn’t planned on! If these two ditzy femmes were still hanging around when James came out, I’d have to abort. They’d notice me going into the locker room for sure.

“Pardon?” I asked. One of them had asked me a question. “Um, yeah, I miss Meriton. It’s way better here.” Who were these girls anyway? I didn’t remember them. Thank God they splintered off before James came out. I checked the time. Crap, four minutes until I had to meet Zach. If James didn’t come out in the next sixty seconds, there’d be no way I could make it.

As if on cue, James opened the locker room door and stepped out. He spotted Tara immediately, as if I wasn’t even there. “Tara,” he said right away. “Hey. What’s up?”

It was all the encouragement Tara needed. She stepped over to him, ran her hand up his arm, and started complimenting him on the game. I stuck my foot in the door and waited. When Tara and James’s heads inclined toward each other so they could say some more private things, I slipped inside without notice.

Wow, I had been wrong about Meriton not having any kind of smell, because the boys’ locker room definitely had one. And it wasn’t pleasant. I searched around quickly for
the mascot costume and found it in a jumbo locker in the corner. I also found out that it smelled even worse than the locker room. There was no way to wash it, so there must’ve been years of sweat and guy funk and other nastiness embedded in this blue horse. I hauled it out, trying to touch it as little as possible. I could only think of one X-rated position, which was to lie the horse on his back and make one of his hooves … well … pleasure himself. I know it sounds bad, but take my word, it looked much worse. The head had even tipped back a bit so it seemed like it was arching its back with ecstasy.

I took a quick picture along with a couple of extra shots to be sure and then hauled the stench-soaked costume back to the jumbo locker. Once it was safely inside, I dashed to the locker room door, opened it a crack to make sure the coast was clear, and then sneaked out. Tara and James were nowhere in sight, which was great. I’d have to call Tara in the morning to get details, but right now I was late for meeting Zach.

“Where have you been, young lady?” he said in his best Principal McKenna voice as I jogged up to him. “You’re thirty-seven seconds late. Detention for a week.”

I had to stop and catch my breath. Subterfuge was exhausting. “Hey, you didn’t happen to see Tara go by, did you?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said, hitching his thumb behind him. “She walked out of here with the team captain. Jealous?”

“Ha!” I said. “As if.”

I wasn’t jealous. I had my Senior Scramble picture. Tara could keep her captain.

“HOW CAN SO MANY PEOPLE BE AHEAD OF ME?” I cried. “You have to tell me!”

Luke sipped his soda, smiled, and shook his head. “Nope.”

I had spent most of my date with Luke grilling him about the shock I got when I uploaded my Blue Stallion picture—thinking I was in the lead—and saw that over a dozen people were already on to the next clue.

“There’s no way so many could have gotten the mascot picture before I did,” I said. “They had to be cheating. Photoshop or something.”

“No Photoshop,” Luke said. “No cheating. All the pictures were legit.” He was enjoying this way too much.

“You’re enjoying this way too much.”

Luke leaned back, laced his arms behind his head, and said, “Actually, I’m enjoying it exactly the right amount.”

I threw a French fry at his glasses, but he lobbed it back to me, laughing.

“Tell me!” I cried.

“I’ll tell you this much,” Luke said. “The mascot was doing some pretty nasty, raunchy things in the pictures.”

I’d barely been able to get the bulky costume laid out flat on the locker room floor. How did they … ?

“Wait!” I cried. “Somebody was wearing the costume in those pictures? How is that possible? There’s no way thirteen people could have stolen the costume, put it on, taken a picture, and returned it without being seen.”

“I never said they did,” Luke said pointedly.

My mind spun. There was only one answer. “Oh my God, are you saying that it was the actual Blue Stallion mascot guy in the pictures?”

Luke winked at me. He popped a French fry in his mouth and grinned.

“No! How … ? Why would he do that?”

Luke shrugged. “Maybe people found a way to …
persuade
him.”

Loud music with a heavy bass beat pulsated through the restaurant and made it hard for me to puzzle out what Luke meant. At last, I got it. I dropped my face into my hands. “Ugh! They PAID him! During halftime!” I smacked the table with both hands. “Why didn’t I think of that? Do you have any idea what machinations I went through to get that picture? I’m so stupid.”

Luke scooped up my hands with his. “No, you’re not. You’re honest. Your picture was definitely the most genuine. Although, it was by far the least X-rated. Maybe PG-13 at the outside.”

“Well, I worked with what I had,” I said. “The horse was obviously exhausted by the time I got to him since he spent the entire halftime intermission doing porn.”

Luke laughed so loud that the people in the booth next to us stared. I blushed, even though I wasn’t embarrassed at all, because making Luke laugh felt like the greatest victory in the world.

“So did you get the sixth clue?” he asked.

“Yeah, but I have definite suspicions about it.” I narrowed my eyes and scanned Luke’s face for any hint of information about the clue. It had read:

“It’s too easy,” I said. “Something’s up.”

Luke took a long sip of iced tea while I eyed him. Finally, he said, “It says that it’s a rest stop.” His voice and demeanor were overly innocent. Was he sending me a message? Or was he messing with me?

“Mmm-hmm,” I said, just like Ms. Eulalie. “I remain suspicious.”

“I guess you’ll just have to solve the clue and find out,” he said, swirling his straw around his glass with diabolical glee.