Shark Bait (The Grab Your Pole Series) (27 page)

After dance, I scurried back into the locker room, changed, and then I thoughtfully typed out my reply.

Me:
wont jeff b jealous about u using your pet name 4 him 4 someone else? o and make up your mind…am i a tease or a chicken? :-p

Ah, the joy of flirting from afar…

When Kate pulled up to a stop sign in front of school on our way to my house, she looked at me sitting in the passenger seat and asked rather suddenly, “Did you reply to Tristan when you were in the locker room?”

I was wondering by her tone if I should’ve waited for her to help me with it. “Yeah, why?”

“Because I saw him come out of the boys’ locker room looking at his phone and laughing his ass off. What did you say?”

Obviously I did fine on my own. Yes I’m flattered, but please, hold your applause.

Just as I was pulling my phone back out to show her my reply, though, it went off again.

Tristan:
both :-*

Oh my God!! My first text kiss! Heehee!

“Kate! I just got my first text kiss!” I squealed. Then bouncing up and down, I showed her the screen.

Kate glanced at the surrounding cars looking for any of Tristan’s possible spies and finding none, she then got giddy with me. I probably should’ve thought about the possibility of being watched, but come on! No way was I going to be able to hold in my glee. I’m also really glad Tristan had bailed from school before he sent it or that could’ve been problematic. I don’t need him seeing my goofy reactions to him. That’s also probably why I got the text kiss when I did. He wasn’t at school anymore and he probably figured I was out of the public eye as well. I don’t think he really considers Kate as part of the public, not after last weekend anyway.

“Hey Kate? Do you think he knows I tell you all this stuff?”

“I’m sure he probably assumes you do. He knows I’m your best friend and naturally, that’s what girls do. I don’t think he cares though. Besides, he’s the one responsible for the way you guys were sitting together when the bonfire started. Even though he eventually went on his merry way when other people started arriving, he still showed something of his intent to the rest of us sitting there. Plus, he answered your phone when I called…he totally knows that I know.”

“Do you think he’ll be more careful around you then? You know, like what if he suspects you’re helping me.” If so, that might be bad for me. Even though I did okay patching things up with him the other night, I feel like I still need Kate as an interpreter.

“Nah. He’s still totally clueless that I ever put it together weeks ago and have been coaching you ever since then. Hell, he might even be hoping that I’ll encourage you at this point. I don’t know though, I’ve never really involved myself in his life like this. However, Jeff did mention to me how cranky Tristan was about having to help unload the wood and how weird you both were on the phone before that, plus he still doesn’t know what happened on Monday so it seems that Tristan isn’t telling
him
everything,” Kate said thoughtfully as she turned onto my street.

“Huh. That’s kinda odd actually…you’d think he’d be telling Jeff everything.
Unless
he likes you way more than he wants to admit right now… Jeff would totally pick up on it and point it out, not to be mean or anything, but to tease him. Hmm, I think this means Tristan might be trying to save himself from my jackass’s jokes.”

“Huh. That is interesting. Hey, how are things going with you guys anyway? It seems like all we talk about is Tristan and me,” I said, thinking about how she hasn’t really said much about Jeff. I mean, they look happy and I haven’t wanted to be nosey, but she
is
my best friend. Plus, I don’t want everything to always be about me, you know?

“Oh, things are really good. It’s funny that I don’t quite realize how terribly unhappy I am when I’m apart from him until we’re together again. It’s like I have nothing to look forward to without him and my life is just sorta blah when I’m not with him, you know? Like everything just lacks luster and seems kind of pointless.

“But, he brightens up my whole world and I feel like there’s a purpose to life when I’m living it with him, so, I’m glad you gave me a reason to take him back. I just have to remember that he’s gonna screw up and make dumb decisions, probably more often than not, and then I need to try to be forgiving when he does. I’m not perfect either and he does a really good job of overlooking the things I do that irritate him.”

“What can you possibly do to irritate
Jeff
? He seems so kickback about everything, I can’t picture him ever being upset.” Really, aside from Pete who’s practically invisible, Jeff is the most laidback guy I’ve ever met.

“Um, well…oh! He really doesn’t like it when I lecture him. It doesn’t matter what it’s about, it just bugs the crap outta him and I tend to do that without even realizing I’m doing it. I know there has to be other stuff but I can’t think of anything else off the top of my head. Maybe I’m more perfect than I thought…I’ll get back to you on that.” She started laughing.

“You crack me up…I’m glad you guys are doing so good though, I’d hate to think you were suffering through all of his love and affection for you on my behalf.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s torture! Please, Camie, tell me I can dump him so I can stop being treated like a queen,” Kate said, feigning distress by throwing the back of her hand onto her forehead and fluttering her eyelashes.

“Nah, I think you deserve to do a little more time for your bad behavior. Oh! That reminds me, what should I do now? Should I kiss Tristan back?” I asked, getting out of the car.

“Oh, totally! I wouldn’t instigate anything, but if he’s gonna start it then there’s no reason for you not to finish it… HA! How funny would it be if neither of you stopped? It could end up being like one long, text make-out session! That would be hysterical… See you tomorrow!” She called out her window and waved as she pulled away.

Grinning to myself about that idea, I walked into my house to tell Jillian everything that’d happened today and gave her the green light for anything she might want to do to Teresa. Then I waited another hour—which totally killed me to do—and replied to Tristan.

Me:
back at ya :-*

14.

In Totally Uncharted Waters

I made it through Thursday with dignity and without hiding in the library like I had yesterday. I’ll admit it had been my intention to do just that, but walking through the library door after fifth period, I received two texts that essentially forced me to face the music.

Jillian:
you are better than this…out of library now!
(You know you suck when your twelve-year-old sister knows what you’re doing without being there and then proceeds to tell you that you’re being childish.)

Tristan:
c’mon champ…get in the ring. eye of the tiger baby, eye of the tiger :-*
(Oh wow! This is the first text from Tristan today and apparently we’re text kissing at
school
now too. I wonder what Kate will make of this…)

Two web links for song lyrics accompanied Tristan’s text, the first being “Get In The Ring” by Guns N’ Roses. I imagine he’s trying to tell me that if I stand tall and “get in the ring,” Teresa won’t be willing to antagonize me openly because she’s a coward. The second was for Survivor’s “Eye Of The Tiger.” That one was easy to figure out. If you’ve never seen
Rocky 3
, you might not get it but it’s about having a fighting spirit.

Thus having been chastised in one text and encouraged in the other, I made my way to the stage for lunch. Hearing the
Rocky
theme song in my head, I even went one better than just showing my face; I made it a point to walk right through the lunch group the Trollop Triplets were a part of that day. Feeling empowered by the show of support I could see from my friends ahead and some of the lyrics, I then stopped, turned around to look Teresa in the face and said, “Hey Teresa, just so you’ll know where to find me, I’m usually over by the stage during lunch. You know, on the off chance you suddenly grow a spine and decide to confront me face-to-face.” And then without waiting for a response or looking back, I continued my way over to my ever-growing circle of friends.

By Friday morning when Kate picked me up for school, I was completely over Teresa’s stab at ruining my reputation. The rumor mill had come to a grinding halt when it hit the well mortared brick wall of my friends…and their friends, and in turn, their friends, and so on. However, now that my anxiety over that piece of drama is gone, a new nervousness has taken up residence in me… My date with Tristan is
tonight
. I don’t know why, but I’m kind of freaking out.

“So what are you guys doing tonight?” Kate asked as we headed to school.

“I have no idea.” I shook my head to emphasize my words. Seriously, I don’t have a clue. That could be why I’m nervous…

“You guys
are
still going out tonight, right? I mean you did make plans, didn’t you?”

“Uh, yeah...sort of, but I have no details aside from what time he’s picking me up. I was just so relieved our date was back on that I didn’t think to ask and now I’m kinda wishing I would’ve,” I explained and pulled out my cell phone. Maybe I’m nervous because this is my first date ever…

“Are you asking him?” Kate asked, watching my thumbs fly over the Qwerty keyboard of my phone as she turned the engine off.

“Yeah. I didn’t care what we were gonna do before, but now I wanna know.” … Or maybe it’s because I don’t feel like I have anything to wear…

“No way, are you guys
still
kissing?” She asked in astonishment after reading what I wrote and seeing my kiss.

“Yep, even at school now. I forgot to ask your opinion on that when it first happened yesterday. What do you make of it?” … Huh. Not knowing what to wear could definitely be the cause of my anxiety. I wonder if Tristan would let me rummage through his closet for something suitable, seeing as how I seem to end up in his clothes more often than not anyway. Who knows, it might be a nice change to just start out in them for once.

Kate was shaking her head in disbelief. “Camie, I gotta tell ya…I have no clue what to make of that. You’re in totally uncharted waters here. I’ll see you later, okay?”

With that, she left me by my geometry class and swiftly headed towards her own first period class as the warning bell rang. I swear, eventually Kate and I will have to figure out how to get to school early enough so that we’re not rushing to make it to class on time.

I didn’t hear back from Tristan until I was walking down the hall to fifth period. The little stinker was actually typing it out as he passed me too. This is what he said:

Tristan:
2 late. u should’ve asked days ago. :-*

He’s a total brat, isn’t he? Because of that I decided to break my rule of not replying right away, so after I got settled on the ground I typed:

Me:
hint? :-*

I watched him read it and was kind of surprised to see that he was replying right next to me—well, across from me. The four of us are in a circle on our stomachs preparing to play hangman. It
is
Friday after all and unlike “Bland Tuesday” and “Topsy-Turvey Wednesday”; Friday is most commonly known for its frivolity.

Tristan:
k. pay attn 2 game :-*

Huh. It’s his turn to pick the word or phrase for us to guess, so I suppose whatever it is will be my hint. After three rounds of guessing this is what the phrase looked like:

nitt_
ritt
irt
an_

I was studying it, trying to figure out what letter to guess next when Kate guessed ‘y’. Filling in two more blanks, it read like this:

nitty _ritty
irt
an_

Having a hunch—if I’m right, he’s cheating…you’re not supposed to use proper nouns—I guessed ‘d’ and lo and behold it turned into this:

nitty
ritty dirt
and

I knew it, the big cheater. So, I decided to call him on it. I didn’t actually call, though, that would just be silly. I sent him a text…

Me:
cheater :-*

I can tell by the looks on both Kate’s and Jeff’s faces that neither of them know what it is yet, but I’m not sure if it’s because they aren’t thinking he’d break the rules—which isn’t likely as they know him better than I do—or if they just aren’t familiar with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Still in my hand from sending the text, my phone vibrated with a new message from Tristan.

Tristan:
sue me. have a guess? :-*

The only well known song I can think of by them that he might be referring to is called “Fishing In The Dark”—which I happen to think is a really great song—so I replied:

Me:
fishing? :-*
(I know. Not what you’d expect for a first date activity, but who knows? Maybe I’m totally wrong.)

I solved the puzzle on my turn and from then on, there really weren’t too many pauses in between texts so I’ll just transcribe the conversation for you:

Tristan:
ya hopefully :-*

Me:
y hopefully? :-*

Tristan:
depends :-*

Me:
on? :-*

Tristan:
if dad sees mountain lion trax 2day :-*

Me:
O. good reason. what should i wear? :-*

You’ll understand why we spent the rest of class trying to one up each other with some pretty ruthless teasing when you see how he replied…

Tristan:
clothes…or not. up 2 u but i vote not :-*
(Yeah, not only did he go there, but he did it with a straight face too.)

I narrowed my eyes at his blank expression and replied.

Me:
might b 2 chilly 4 nudity… should i bring a change of clothes? :-*

Tristan:
not unless u want 2 sleep over. :-*

When I read that, I couldn’t keep myself from looking at him in question again. The answer I got more than validated my need to figure out when he’s joking; the reprobate actually had the nerve to raise his eyebrows as if he was challenging me to accept his—if I’m totally honest—highly intimidating, yet mighty tempting invitation.