“Like what?”
?
??I’ll tell you on the way home,” I told her, “as long as you tell me what Crystal said to get you so fired up.”
Nicole promised to stay in the car while I went back to the field to grab my soccer bag and my practice jersey from the ground. I looked up in the stands and was glad to see exactly whom I wanted to talk to at the moment. But first, a quick call.
“Hey, Malone.”
“Everything you can find on Harry Lloyd in the next five minutes. Call me back.”
“Will do.”
I hung up and stared at my phone for a minute as I collected myself. I tapped the app store, found a set of ringtones that sounded like meowing kittens, and set my phone to use them. I tested it out, snickered to myself, and then took a few leaping steps up into the bleachers.
The scrimmage was obviously over, and everyone was either milling around the field with Gatorade bottles in their hands or had moved off to the bleachers. Mika and Jeremy had Heather and Lisa off to one side, and Crystal was standing near them with her hands on her hips. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I wasn’t looking for them right now anyway.
“Hey, Ben!”
He looked over at me with his eyes narrowed a little. Ben was a midfielder, and though there was nothing flashy about him, he was a decent player. He was a quiet guy with a quiet, shy girlfriend. She was in the bleachers with him, silently reading a book while he rehydrated.
“Hey, Thomas,” he said with his usual, soft tone.
“I need a favor.”
Just like Shakespeare wrote in The Merchant of Venice, I was going to have all of this fixed “in the twinkling of an eye.” I’d promised Rumple everything was going to work out, and I intended to keep that promise. I just needed a little assistance from my teammates. I hoped this would get Nicole to trust me—this was my school, after all, and I was in charge. I only needed to secure some backup.
“Ben, you and Maria are about to get some steady company.”
My phone rang on my way back to the parking lot, making little kitten sounds that were realistic enough people were looking at my soccer bag like it had a litter in it. I snickered again, dropped my soccer bag to the ground, and fished the phone out.
“What do you have on Lloyd?”
“A couple things. One, he’s trying to get a school loan.”
Ah, yes…I had a pretty good idea who would need such a loan, too.
“That’s a good one.”
“He’s also on heart medication—sounds like he had a mild heart attack last winter.”
“Okay—anything else?”
“That’s all I got for now. I’ll see what else I can find.”
“Good deal.”
I hung up and turned back around, searching. No time like the present.
“Hey, Crystal!” I yelled. She was walking back toward the school with Heather and Lisa. Mika and Jeremy were still near the stands, watching them walk away. “Get over here!”
She turned her head toward the other girls, who snickered, then tossed her hair over her shoulder and walked toward me.
“Ready to see some reason, Thomas?” she said with a sly little smile.
“Funny,” I replied with a hint of sarcasm, “I was going to ask you the same thing.”
“It’s not my fault if she can’t handle the truth.” The snarky little bitch bobbed her head at me as she raised her eyebrows, challenging.