Somethin' About That Boy

Titus snorted beside me.

My gaze went to him, then back to Coach.

“I’ll try out just like the rest of them did,” I suggested. “That way, I earn the spot. Not have it given to me.”

Coach grinned and gestured toward the bleachers. “Come sit with me and talk. You, too, Titus.”

We all went to the bleachers and sat near the top, keeping our voices low so we didn’t interrupt practice.

And when Coach Beasley’s wife came out, I was more than a bit surprised to see her so heavily pregnant.

“How much longer she got?” I questioned, wondering if she was in danger of popping one out right then and there in the middle of the court.

“She still has about a little less than two months to go,” Coach Beasley snorted. “Sadly for her, babies in my side of the family run big. They’re measuring my boy in at nearly six pounds. And they say that they gain a half a pound a week toward the end of the pregnancy.”

I winced.

If she still had two months to go, that meant the baby might weigh in at ten pounds. If not more.

I shook my head, a grin tilting up the corner of my mouth.

“I was ten pounds myself,” I admitted. “My mom said that I was by far her worst birth.”

Coach Beasley grimaced, his concerned eyes going to his wife.

“That’s what makes me worried,” he admitted.

My eyes took in the gym, stopping on the banner that declared the Lady Bulldog volleyball team as two-year running state champs.

On the banner was an entire list of girls. Perry and Blue being at the top.

“They good?” I asked, gesturing to the team.

“The best in the area,” Coach said.

“Right on,” Titus said. “My sister played for them last year. She said her college team isn’t nearly as good as her high school team was. And luckily for us, we have all but two players back this year.”

“My wife is quite happy about that,” Coach said. “Especially when it comes to Echo, Blue, and Perry.”

Titus made a grunting noise that could’ve been agreement or disagreement.

My mind was preoccupied, however, as I kept my eyes on Perry as she expertly passed the ball, then spiked it from the back row.

“She’s good,” I said. “I’ve watched a few volleyball games in my time, but none of them had someone of her caliber.”

“Just wait until Perry and Echo get onto the same side,” Titus said.

I watched the girls practice, but a red shirt caught my eyes.

“What’s the red jersey mean?” I asked as I watched another girl come onto the court.

“That’s Rebel Allen,” Titus answered. “She’s the libero. The girl that comes in and only plays defense.”

“What’s so special about them?” I questioned.

The coach and Titus then taught me about the libero’s special set of skills, and when she could and couldn’t enter the game.

But, eventually, not even their rather interesting explanation could keep me from staring once again at Perry.

“Well, boys.” Coach stood up. “I gotta get to the football field. It was good talking to you, kid. I’ll see you after school.”

Coach left, leaving the two of us.

“We should probably go, too,” Titus admitted. “Make sure there’s nothing we need to do.”

Reluctantly I got up, still keeping my eyes on Perry as I climbed the bleachers.

It was only as I was leaving that she finally looked up and spotted me.

Even when she wasn’t paying attention to what was going on in front of her, she managed to make a save.

“Tell me about Perry,” I said as I walked sedately through the halls with him.

“Perry’s the leader of her band of misfits,” Titus answered. “Her, Rebel, Echo, Blue, Flo, and Temperance.”

“I haven’t heard the names Flo and Temperance,” I said.

“They’re on the cross-country team with them,” he said. “The six of them are the jocks of the girl world. And the cheerleaders hate them.”

I snorted.

“Sounds like typical high school life,” I said as we turned the corner of the hallway that would lead to the office. “Why don’t they like them, though?”

“Perry shunned the cheerleaders when she first moved here,” he said. “She tried out, made the team, and then found out that they were a bunch of douchebags to her new uncool friends, so she quit.”

Perry sounded like my kind of girl.

I didn’t like bullies. Not at all.

Especially now that Vance had turned into the asshole that his father was.

The office door opened and Titus announced us loudly to Mrs. Procell once again.

She looked up with a smile on her face.

“I don’t have anything for you,” she said. “Feel free to head to lunch early, boys.”

Titus grinned and turned us around. “Let’s go.”

Shoving my hands into my leather jacket, I walked through the nearly empty halls of the school and kept up with Titus as he gave me a rundown of the school.