“And yet Trevor’s not watching her; he’s staring at the boys throwing around a football.”
“I didn’t say that was Trevor.”
“Is it?”
I laugh. “Yes.”
“That’s what I thought.” Laila fluffs her hair, laughs, and then says, “Let’s do this.”
We arrive at the group. “Hey, guys,” I say.
“Addison.” Rowan jumps up. He’s holding a foam hand, and he pokes my shoulder with it. “Who’s your hot friend?”
“You must be Rowan,” Laila says.
“Rowan, this is Laila, my best friend from back home.”
Rowan raises one eyebrow at me. “Welcome, best friend from back home. You can sit next to me.”
I shake my head. “Rowan, have I taught you nothing?”
His fake smile turns into a real one. “I’m a slow learner.”
I point out everyone else, saying their names, and they each give Laila a wave.
“Holy crap, Addie, you have friends. Lots of them.” We work our way down the aisle, past Daniel, Katie, Lisa, and Brandon to Trevor. He stands. “Hey, Addison.”
“Hi, this is Laila.”
“Good to meet you, Laila.”
Laila takes his outstretched hand and shakes it. “I heard you’re my competition.”
Trevor looks at me with a furrowed brow.
I throw her the thanks-a-lot look. “I told her you were my future best friend. But with a mouth like hers, that future is getting closer.”
“Oh, I see,” he says. “I didn’t realize I was competing for that title.” His emphasis on the word that makes me give him a double take. When he maintains his normal expression, I decide I must’ve imagined it.
“I still think I have the advantage, despite my big mouth,” Laila says. “You may be just as good-looking as I am, but I’m tougher. Plus I’ve known her for ten years longer. So I don’t think we need to fight yet.”
“That’s good.”
“Are these for us?” I ask, pointing to the two empty spots beside him.
“Yeah, I didn’t want to be put on any more death lists, so I thought I’d save you seats.”
We all sit down, Trevor on my left, Laila on my right. Laila leans forward. “Don’t worry, Addie is more bark than bite.”
When Laila leans back, Rowan is there, squatting by her legs and looking at the three of us with a serious expression. “Operation Lincoln High School is about to start.”
Next to me, Trevor sighs as if he honestly thought Rowan wouldn’t go through with this and just realized he thought wrong. I try not to laugh and nudge his shoulder with mine.
“We will be infiltrating their student section in shifts,” Rowan continues. “So, Addie, work on your flirting, it’s lacking.”
“Hey,” I object, even though it’s true.
“Laila,” he continues, unfazed, “just walk over there, and any male with eyes will notice you.”
Laila laughs. “I like this one.” She takes his face in her hands and kisses his cheek. “He’s adorable.”
When she lets go, Rowan loses his balance and lands on his backside, a goofy grin on his face, and a red lip print on his cheek. “So we’ll start after kickoff.” Instead of taking a seat next to Laila, like I expect him to do at this point, he scurries off.
“Speaking of all bark and no bite,” Trevor says.
“Well, Laila is both, so he’d better watch out.”
The band starts to play, and I turn to Laila and say in her ear, “Rowan may want to do his infiltrate-the-student-section mission that we both know is going to result in nothing.…”
She nods.
“But I want to do some real digging. Later I’m going to sneak into the locker room and spy on some conversations. You think you can cover for me?”
“Of course.”
“Thanks.” The band’s tune changes to a marching beat, and the football team runs out.
Laila claps her hands and whispers, “Duke’s almost here.”
After our team runs through a banner and the tunnel of cheerleaders to loud cheers from the crowd, Lincoln High’s football players barrel out. Duke runs to midfield, points up at the stands like he’s some sort of rock star, and then bows. Bows!
“Oh, brother,” I mutter.
“Not a fan?” Trevor asks.
“Not at all.”
“He’s actually a pretty nice guy.”
My head whips toward Trevor. “You know him? I mean, off-the-field know him?”
“Yeah, we were both at this All-American awards banquet thing. They sat us at the same table. We spent like four hours together making fun of all the awards. To ourselves, of course.” He nods down to the field. The teams are now at their own benches, getting ready for the first play of the game. “He’s really good. I understand why he’d bow.”
No amount of greatness can make me understand that level of cockiness. “Did you ever bow?”
“I was never that good.”
“But you were at the same awards banquet. You must’ve been one of the best. Maybe this year you would’ve been better than him.”
He shrugs. “Doesn’t help to waste my time thinking about would’ve-beens.”
Laila whispers, “He says to the girl with a mind full of them.”
CHAPTER 23