Playing to Win

“And the transfer student?” I asked.

Kelly shook her head and rose from her seat. “I’ll see you later.”

What the heck was going on around here?

Asher

Thank goodness for Jarom. Because of him, I didn’t have to be the loser with no one to sit with during lunch. He introduced me to the other two guys in his band, Bash and Adam and then proceeded to give me the who’s who of the senior class in his unique and hilarious way.

“Who you starin’ at, bro?” he asked out of the blue.

“What do you mean?” I replied, startled. Of course, I’d been watching Jordan, not at all realizing I’d been so obvious about it. I felt bad for the way things went down earlier and wondered exactly what I could do to fix it. Other than parking as far away from her ‘spot’ as possible.

Jarom sat back in his chair with a smirk. “I knew you had your eyes on someone.”

“Who?” Jarom’s friend, Adam, spoke up. Adam was kind of quiet and looked exactly like you would think a guy in a high school garage band would. He played the guitar and wore dark skinny jeans, black shirt, and a leather jacket. His dark hair hung low over his brow making so he constantly reached up to brush it out of his eyes.

“Nobody.” No way I’d admit anything to these clowns.

Jarom squinted at the table where Jordan sat with her two friends. They seemed to be having an intense discussion and I kind of wished we were close enough for me to eavesdrop.

“Jordan?” he guessed.

I snorted. “Jordan? Yeah, right. She’s on my hockey team.”

Jarom’s brows pulled low and he leaned onto the back two legs of his chair to peer around the table beside us to get a look at Jordan where she sat with Kelly and Natalie across the room.

“Seriously?” he asked.

I kicked his chair almost making him lose his balance. “Dude! What are you doing? Stop staring.”

Jarom sat forward and grinned. “You do like her.”

I shook my head, ready to deny it to the death.

“Good luck with that,” Adam said.

“Yeah, man,” Bash agreed. Bash played the drums and where Adam was all things dark, Bash looked like he just stepped off the plane from California. Bleach blonde hair, blue eyes, white shorts and a baby blue shirt. Since he sat down, he’d been tapping out rhythms non-stop using pencils, utensils, even his fingers.

“What do you mean? Not that he’s right.” I jabbed my thumb at Jarom who just smiled.

Bash sat forward, leaning his elbows on the table. “Jordan Parks may be smokin’, but I’ve never seen her with a single guy at this school. Not once.”

“I don’t think she’s ever had a boyfriend,” Adam added.

Jarom glanced Jordan’s way again. “It’s a real tragedy.”

I didn’t know how I felt about these guys talking about Jordan being hot, but it wasn’t good. “Why not?” I hesitated to ask, but only for about a split second. These guys had information and I wanted it.

Jarom shrugged. “I’m not sure. But I think it might have something to do with the fact she’s hella intimidating. Have you seen that girl? Her biceps are bigger than mine.”

I glanced at Jarom’s arms and figured it didn’t take much.

He followed the direction of my gaze and frowned. “Not cool, man.”

I grinned, already knowing him well enough to know I hadn’t offended him.

“Not only is she intimidating, so are her brothers. Bobby Parks is a freaking legend at this school. Nobody messes with him or his.” Adam shuddered.

Of course, I knew about Jordan’s brothers. Bobby was twenty-one and played in the minors. Joe was nineteen and played on the same team as Jordan and I. Joe seemed cool, but then, I’d never given him reason to hate me.

Yeah, I guess I understood what my friends were getting at.

“Okay, so dudes are too chicken to ask her out, but hasn’t she ever liked anyone?” It kind of slayed me she’d never dated anyone. A girl like Jordan should have guys hanging all around her. Not that it hurt my feelings she didn’t.

All three guys shook their heads.

“Not that I’ve ever heard,” Bash said.

Jarom narrowed his gaze at me. “What about you, man? If you don’t have a thing for Jordan, then what? You got a girl back where you came from?”