Playing to Win

Asher nodded. “I’m sure that could be arranged. Let me talk to the guys.” He glanced down at his empty hand and stopped. “Dang. I left my guitar in my car. I better go get it before the bell rings.” He turned to me, his warm brown eyes melting my heart a little. He was so very hot. “See you later?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.” He kissed me quickly before smiling at my friends and hurrying back the way we came.

Natalie and Kelly flanked me, one on either side, as we watched him go.

“I can’t believe you get to kiss him.” A comment I might have expected from Natalie, but it came from Kelly.

“You better watch your back, Jordan. Every girl in this school’s crushing on your new boyfriend.”

I cringed, knowing she was right. “We better get to class.”

“He must be pretty good if Jarom asked him to be in their band. I’ve heard them a few times and they’re not bad,” Kelly said.

“Really? I didn’t know that. When did you hear them?” I asked.

Kelly shrugged. “At the concert in the park thing they do over the summer. I went with Angie. Jarom, I can’t remember what their band is called, but Bash and Adam are good, too.”

“Well, Asher’s amazing.” My friends knew all about me listening to Asher out my bedroom window by now. “And guess what else?” I told them about Asher mentoring Payton, teaching him to play the guitar and sing.

“Wow, that’s really awesome,” Kelly said.

We’d stopped outside my first period class. They both had classes close by and the bell would ring any second.

“It will be if it helps keep him out of trouble.”

Asher

A week later I still couldn’t believe Jordan agreed to be my girlfriend. And even though we tried to keep things on the down low, especially at hockey, I couldn’t deny how crazy I felt about her.

Her brother, Payton, on the other hand, was a whole different story. I wasn’t crazy about him at all.

“Dude, why are you even doing this?” I asked him after our third day working together. I hadn’t told Jordan what a little turd her brother could be, but that’s exactly the word I would use to describe him. She probably knew, anyway.

Payton slumped down in his seat, one of the school’s guitars held haphazardly in his grip. The kid had no respect. “What do you care? Let’s just do the time, man. It’s not like anyone’s checking on us or anything.”

Bingo.

Everyone had something to motivate them. I had no idea what motivated Payton, but with one little sentence he revealed it to me.

“Oh, really. Is that what you think?”

Payton frowned, his eyes meeting mine for the first time since I walked into the middle school band room. “What do you mean?”

“Do you really think Ms. Jackson and Mr. Hooper are going to just let us mess around in here for an hour everyday without any kind of accountability?” I made a scoffing noise. “You’re crazy.” I sat back in my chair with my arms crossed over my chest and waited.

Payton sat forward. I tried not to cringe at the careless way he handled the instrument in his hands. “What are you talking about? No one said anything to me. What do I have to do, take a test or something?”

That would have been easier to plan than what I had in mind, but the stakes weren’t high enough. If Payton had an ounce of his sister’s competitiveness, a test wouldn’t cut it.

“A test? Dude, no.” I shook my head and sighed. “Man, you have to perform. In front of the whole school.” I hoped I wasn’t lying to him. As soon as I finished with Payton, I’d have to pay a little visit to Mr. Hooper. And then I’d have to convince Jordan to help me pull this off.

Payton’s face turned pale. “I have to what?”

“Yeah, there’s gonna be a school talent show and you have to perform. That’s part of the program. They don’t want us to just sit in here and do nothing. And to prove we haven’t been-” I clapped my hand down on his shoulder. “You have to perform what you’ve learned.”

“No. No. I’m not doing it.” Payton shook his head, looking dazed.