Without trying to be obvious, I take several glances at my guy and concentrate. Go talk to the girl with the blue stripe in her hair, I say in my mind and then try to push it into his. He meets my eyes once and then looks away. I try again, but by this time Laila’s guy is already walking toward us. I let out a low growl, and she laughs. “Ha! I picked a guy with less impulse control. You have to look for the wild ones, Addie, not the conservative ones.”
Ah, so that was her criteria this time.
He takes a seat two rows behind us. Does he think he’s being subtle? Poor guy is being told he wants to come over here and has no idea what to do now that he’s here.
“I told him he wanted to sit by us. That’s not really by us.” Laila turns around, looks up at him, and says, “Really? Are you that much of a wimp?”
“He’s probably intimidated by you,” I say, but he walks down the cement steps.
“What’s your name?” Laila asks, when he sits down next to her.
“Rowan.”
“I’m Laila. This is Addie.”
“Hi,” I say.
“You guys here with the visiting team?” he asks.
“That’s kind of why we’re sitting in this section.”
“This is a long way to come for a game. You must be friends with some of the players.”
“As a matter of fact, that’s Addie’s boyfriend.” She points to the field, where Duke is dropping back for a pass.
“The quarterback?”
“Yeah, his name’s Duke Rivers. Have you heard of him?”
“He’s up for All-American this year, isn’t he?”
I shrug my shoulders, but Laila says, “Yes. Is he up against any of your players?”
“No. Our quarterback sustained a major injury.”
“That’s too bad,” I say.
“It really is. He was awesome. He might’ve beat Duke this year.” He points back to where he had been sitting. “That’s him right there—Trevor.”
Laila laughs, and I know exactly why she’s laughing—Rowan’s pointing at the guy I had done Thought Placement on. Was that why he looked so familiar? Had I seen his picture in some of Duke’s football albums?
“What’s so funny?” Rowan asks.
“Nothing, my friend just thought he was cute. And my friend swears she doesn’t like football players.”
“Ah, well, he’s sort of taken.” He points to a gorgeous cheerleader waving her pom-poms around down on the field. Just the kind of girl I would expect a guy like Trevor to be with.
“How can someone be ‘sort of’ taken?” Laila asks.
“He broke up with her about a month ago, but she keeps coming around, and he’s too nice to tell her not to.”
“Wow,” Laila says. “We just have to put a quarter in you, and you spit out all kinds of information.”
Rowan’s face reddens. “What about you guys? What’s your school like?”
Laila shrugs. “Just your average high school.”
“Then how come you never host sports there?”
“Because our stadium is a piece of crap. And our school would rather spend the money busing us all over the place instead of fixing it. The school is run by a bunch of idiots.” We had been trained by the Containment Committee the day before on what we were and were not allowed to say to outsiders. This is an example of an acceptable answer. Well, close to acceptable. Laila probably found the irony of her last sentence hilarious.
Rowan tilts his head and seems to be studying her sincerity.
“Wait?” she says with a gasp. “Has our real secret been blown? This guy’s good. He found out we’re all superheroes-in-training and that we’re hiding out so no one will know our secret identities.”
I barely hold back the laugh that wants to exit through my nose.
“Funny.” He laughs.
“You’re adorable,” Laila says. “I bet you’re feeling the desire to buy me a soda right about now, aren’t you?”
His eyes widen a little and I know Laila had probably made him think that right before she said it. “Yes. I’d love to.”
“You going to be okay for a minute alone, Addie?”
“Yeah, of course. Be nice to the boy.” When she leaves, I turn my attention back to the field and notice Duke on the sidelines looking up at me. He waves, then blows me a kiss, and my cheeks go red. A few girls behind me let out a dreamy sigh. I lift my hand in a half wave. When Duke goes back to his game, I self-consciously glance toward the Norm student section. Trevor is gone.
CHAPTER 24
NO[R]M-i-nal: adj. being true in name only but not in reality
After doing our round in enemy territory—Lincoln High’s student section—and finding nothing except some friends to chat with, Laila and I settle in for the second half of the game. When the whistle blows, indicating the start of the quarter, I’m surprised Trevor isn’t in his seat, watching intently. I scan the sidelines to see if he’s talking to Stephanie. He’s not. Stephanie’s in the middle of a high kick.
“Hey,” I say to Laila. “I’m going to see if I can find Trevor. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.”
Now that the game has started again, the blacktop behind the stadium is deserted. The lights from the lone building—the snack hut—create a glowing island in the otherwise dark alley. I immediately see the broad back of Trevor, standing at the counter, giving the cashier some money. When she hands him his soda, he turns away from the stadium steps where I stand and walks into the darkness. I have to run to catch up to him.