Sighing, I passed the math building, started up the cement ramp that led to the sports and art building's foyer doors...and nearly dropped my thermos and keys.
Tristan was leaning against the doors, his hands tucked into the pockets of his faded jeans. In the early-morning light, made gray by the shadow of the building, he looked surreal against the royal-blue painted doors. Maybe I was still half-asleep and imagining him. I yanked off my headphones.
"Good morning, Savannah."
I stumbled but quickly recovered. Nope, he was definitely here. "Um, good morning, Tristan."
"You use the old-style headphones. Interesting choice." He nodded at the hot-pink and black headphones still dangling from my hand.
Blinking fast, I jerked open the zipper on my duffel bag and shoved my iPod inside. "Uh, yeah. My ears are too small for those earbud things to stay in." Plus the old-style headphones stayed on better when I danced. "What are you doing here?" I winced. That came out ruder than I'd intended, but it was better than showing how I really felt about him. "I mean, if you're here about the escort thing-"
"Yes and no."
Okay. That cleared it all up. "Are you here to talk to Mrs. Daniels?"
"No, I already talked to her on Saturday. I gave her a call and explained my situation."
Even walking as slowly as I could, I still wound up at the doors. And much too close to him. I fumbled through the team keys one-handed, trying to hurry up and get the doors unlocked so I could move away from the temptation as quickly as possible.
"Here, let me." He eased the thermos from my hand, his fingers sliding over mine in the process. A tiny shiver rippled up my spine. I froze for a few seconds then recovered and focused on unlocking the doors. He held open the door for me and offered me the thermos.
"And what did Mrs. Daniels say?" I took the thermos back, careful not to touch his fingers, then darted under his arm and through the doorway. But not fast enough to miss catching the tiniest hint of his cologne.
"She and I came up with a better idea." He followed me inside, the heavy door slamming shut behind him. The sound echoed, emphasizing how empty the building was. How alone we were together.
Why, oh, why, did he have to be a descendant?
I had work to do. I should remember that and stay focused on my duties. I headed down the length of the shadowed foyer, pausing at the base of the stairs. Was he going to follow me around?
Oh, good Lord. I could not handle being this close to him much longer. He needed to leave so I could breathe right again. "So are you going to tell me why you're here?"
"You're looking at the newest Charmers manager." He gave a wry smile.
I couldn't help it; I snorted. Like the dancers, the Charmers managers had always been females since the team's founding in 1984. "Yeah, right. You? A manager for the dance team? What happened to being an escort?"
"I'll be doing that, too. But I needed something to replace football first period and cover my P.E. credit this year. The Charmers team class will do both. And Mrs. Daniels mentioned you were short on managers. So I figured, why not?"
Why not? I could think of a million reasons why not. "Uh, hate to break it to you, but I don't think we have a manager's suit in your size."
Laughter burst out of him, and I felt a ridiculous thrill in response. "Not a problem. I'll be in escort clothing at the games. I'll only be helping out as a manager at the practices."
He'd be with us at every practice and game?
Oh, no no no no no. This was so not good. Ignoring him in history class was hard enough. How in the world would I manage to hide how I felt about him if I had to spend hours with him, alone, every morning and afternoon?
To cover my dismay, I started up the stairs but had to stop halfway as another thought hit me. My family. They would make me quit the Charmers for sure. No way would they be okay with my spending time alone with any descendant. Especially not with the leader's son. Not to mention what the vampire council might assume if they found out about it, too.
I already wasn't allowed to dance. Now I would lose even the right to be the head manager.
"Uh, Savannah?" he asked, making me realize I was still frozen on the stairs.
Twisting slowly, I frowned down at him. "Why are you really joining the Charmers? I mean, is this because of...you know, what you said after that fight with Greg?"
"After five weeks?"
Huh. He had a point. Even as bad as Greg had been affected by the gaze daze, it had still taken him less than a week to recover.
"So you're really doing this for the P.E. credit?" I searched his face.
He shrugged. "It seemed like a good solution, since my parents banned all sports as part of my punishment."
I cringed as the question I hadn't been able to stop thinking about all weekend returned to me now. Why had he and Dylan fought? Logic said it couldn't possibly have been because of me. But logic also couldn't explain my dreaming about his being pulled from the football team before I should have known about it.
Chewing the inside corner of my lips, I continued up the stairs, my mind and heartbeat racing. Okay, I needed to chill out and think clearly here. So what if my subconscious or imagination or whatever had gotten one thing right in a dream? That didn't mean the rest of it was true. And Tristan showing up here to become a Charmers manager...well, that didn't have to be about me, either. He just needed something that would fill first period every day. Only the sports and spirit teams took up first period on both A and B days. And if his parents banned him from all sports for the rest of the year, that would only leave cheerleading or Charmers.
He could have asked his sister to let him be a male cheerleader for a while, my mind whispered.
I tried to picture Tristan in a male cheer uniform yelling on the sidelines. Hot, but unlikely. He'd never be happy having to take orders from his older sister all the time. Not to mention having to cheer for the football team he used to play for.
So that left Charmers as the last option available. Nothing to do with me, no reason to think I was the cause behind his fight with Dylan or his volunteering to help the Charmers. Right?
Unfortunately, Mom and Nanna were still going to have a fit and make me quit the team, no matter what his reasons were for joining. Unless...they never found out. And why would they? Neither of them came to any of the games or team performances since I wasn't an actual performer.