Somethin' About That Boy

Chapter 3

Pizza slut.

-Perry’s secret thoughts

Perry

“Did you see them watching us?” Blue asked as she stripped out of her sweaty shirt.

I snorted.

“They weren’t watching us,” I grumbled to her retreating back before she disappeared.

At least, I hoped they weren’t watching us.

“They so were,” Rebel admitted. “I had plenty of bench time today. Trust me when I say, the new guy couldn’t take his eyes off of you.”

I blushed profusely at the idea, wondering if it was a good thing or a bad thing to have his attention.

“He looks bad,” I admitted. “As if he gets in trouble. And trouble is the last thing that I need, and you know it.”

Rebel shrugged her shoulder unrepentantly.

“I know,” she said. “That doesn’t mean that I can’t find him attractive.”

I snickered and reached for the hem of my own shirt, pulling it up and over my head as I tossed the dirty clothes into the large hamper near the door.

Our clothes were laundered by someone, and I was honestly glad that I didn’t have to wash it myself, because three-quarters of the time I would find myself with no clothes to work out in.

Which would really suck, because I loved working out.

I loved volleyball even more, and I was extremely bummed that I wouldn’t be playing at Kilgore High next year.

This had been my life for three years now.

I just hoped that when next year rolled around, I could find a volleyball team at the college that I chose to play for.

“Whoa,” Echo said, walking up to me and poking me in the hip bone. “That’s gonna be a good one.”

I looked down at the bruise forming on my hip from my dive to stop a ball from hitting the floor, and grimaced.

“No joke,” I murmured. “It already hurts.”

Like a bitch, actually.

It hurt so bad that I was considering putting ice on it instead of running to the cafeteria for lunch like I usually did.

“I say fuck it,” Blue said, arriving back to hear the tail end of our conversation and echoing my thoughts. “It’s gonna hurt whether you put ice on it or not. And today is pizza day.”

I turned and stared at her.

“It’s not Friday. Only Fridays are pizza days!” I cried out.

She grinned and shrugged into her shirt, followed shortly by her pants.

I looked down at my sweats that were on the floor, my bra covering my breasts, and yanked my t-shirt off the top of the pile.

After shoving my feet into my shoes, I picked up my sweats, my backpack, followed by my phone.

Then I hauled ass.

Rebel, Echo, and Blue’s laughter followed me out.

It didn’t take long for them to catch up, and before long they were all running right along with me to the cafeteria.

In fact, we were running so fast and hard that even when the bell rang, we didn’t slow down.

There were a couple of really awesome things that kicked ass about being in cross-country as well as multiple sports—and one of those was having the ability to run to lunch from all the way across campus and not get winded.

By the time we arrived in the cafeteria, we were one of the first kids in the entire large room.

And, like normal Flo and Tempy arrived hot on our heels.

Breathing slightly heavy, I smiled at my favorite cafeteria lady and waved.

“I’d love to have four pieces of pizza.” I smiled.

I got my four pieces of pizza and moved until I was behind the rather large guy in line in front of me.

At first, I didn’t notice who he was because I was too busy eating my first slice of pizza to care.

And when I got to the end and heard his voice as he talked to the cafeteria lady taking payment, I stilled.

That voice sent shivers down my spine.

Even worse, I wanted to reach out and touch him to see if he was real.

I looked down at my plate, a blush lighting up my face like a Christmas Tree.

Banner moved and walked to a table that was in my peripheral vision.

“Four slices today?” the lunch lady snickered. “Nice.”

I shrugged and typed in my code, smiling at one of my favorite people in the world.

“You’re gonna need a check tomorrow, dear,” my mom said. “Don’t forget to remind me, okay?”

I winked. “Okay, Mom. Love you.”

My mom winked. “Love you, too, baby.”

Then I was moving to my usual table in the back corner of the room.

Only, my usual table was now filled with… men. Guys. Boys.

Big high school seniors.

What. The. Fuck.

I stared in shock as six sets of eyes watched me walk toward them.

I shook my head, wondering if I was seeing things.

“What the fuck?” Blue said. “This is our table.”

There were amused snorts that filled the air.

“New year, new table,” Titus said. “Unless you care to join us.”

I knew the moment that Blue took the challenge.