Putting Boys on the Ledge (6 page)

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Authors: Stephanie Rowe

Tags: #Romance, #teen romance, #Team captain, #Sports, #Rowe, #Dating, #teen, #Sex, #first love, #Geek, #Boys, #kiss, #Boyfriend, #love triangle, #Girl power, #Drama, #high school, #First Kiss, #teenage, #Love, #young adult romance, #Fake boyfriend, #Coming of Age, #Singing, #Stephanie Rowe

BOOK: Putting Boys on the Ledge
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My stomach dropped. "I didn't realize I looked that bad." Not that I was listening. Because I wasn't.

"Oh, no, no, no." Allie patted my knee. "You looked fine. But at the football game you looked hot. Like you were sixteen."

"Really? I looked sixteen? Even with no boobs?"

Frances rolled her eyes. "Not all older women have big boobs."

"I know, but it sure helps," I said.

"Anyway..." Allie waved her hands to get our attention. "It wasn't that he hadn't noticed Blue at the auditions. It was just that he didn't recognize her because she looked different, older, and there were so many distractions she didn't have time to woo him."

"Woo him? How do you woo?" I didn't know I was supposed to woo. I'd been focusing on trying to have an intelligible phrase come out of my mouth.

"Yes, what's wooing?" Natalie asked.

"It means making a guy realize how completely awesome you are, and that he will die a horrible, suffering death if he doesn't get you as his girlfriend within the next thirty seconds," Allie explained.

I groaned and pulled a pillow onto my face. "Oh, because that will be easy to do, of course."

"Of course it will be. You just need a better environment so he can focus on you." She pointed at me. "You just watch, Blue. We'll get you all decked out before your first rehearsal and then he'll fall at your feet when he realizes the gorgeous girl from the football game is also the same charming Blue he met at tryouts."

I wanted to believe that. I really did. "You really think so?" I wasn't too sure, but Frances nodded her agreement.

"You know, I think Allie has a point. You did look different at the football game. That cute top really showed off your figure." Frances grinned. "He was probably too busy looking at your chest to notice your face."

"Wow. That would be fantastic." No one had ever looked at my chest instead of my face.

Allie scooted to the edge of my bed, where she'd spread out all her homework. "So where was he looking? Did you notice?"

"He…um…well…" I tried to convince myself that he'd been staring at my breasts, but there was no hope of delusions of that magnitude. "I think he was looking past me. Into the crowd."

"Oh." Allie frowned. "Then I guess we'll have to go with my original conclusion. He just didn't recognize you."

"Because you looked so hot," Natalie added.

I scanned the faces of my devoted friends and decided they were all insane. Except I really, really wanted to believe them. I needed to believe that it had simply been a matter of non-recognition because I looked so hot. If the truth was that Heath had simply forgotten I even existed, I would never recover. "My first rehearsal is on Tuesday. At five-thirty."

Allie nodded. "We'll meet you in the locker room at five. I'll bring supplies from Louisa's room."

Natalie grinned and clapped her hands. "I'll just be getting done with practice then. I can meet you guys."

Just then my bedroom door swung open and my mom popped her head in. She was wearing a blue shirt and baggy white pants. No black at all. Hurrah! "You girls are supposed to be studying, not chatting."

"We were discussing Blue's first rehearsal." Natalie said. "She's a little nervous."

"Oh…" That was all it took to get my mom going. She walked into the room and sat down on the bed next to Allie.

Therapy by Mom.

Just what I need to get my mind off Heath. Not.

 

* * *

Monday after school I flung open the door to the barn and announced my life to the animals. "My first rehearsal is tomorrow night. I'm so nervous."

"Rehearsal for what?" A boy popped up from the feed bins and I screamed.

Okay, I can admit it: I screamed. Maybe a little undignified, but I really hadn't been expecting anything human to be in the barn. At least I didn't faint, though Allie would probably recommend it under certain circumstances.

"Who are you and what do you want?" I grabbed a feed bucket and held it up as if I knew how to cause serious bodily harm with it. What was he doing here? There should be no strangers in our barn!

He didn't look too scared, unfortunately. He smiled instead of screaming and running for his life. "I'm Colin Bradshaw. Are you Blue?"

How did he know my name? Did I have a stalker? Hmmm...he was sorta cute for a stalker, even though his blue jeans were faded and baggy, and his boots were pretty beat-up. His smile was nice and friendly, and I liked the way his hair was sort of spiky in the front. His body was lean and relaxed, like he was totally at ease with being in someone else's barn. Honestly, he was kind of appealing in a careless sort of way. Nothing like Heath, though.

"What are you doing in my bam?" I demanded, still wielding the bucket. I would not be distracted by the good looks of my soon-to-be murderer.

"Waiting for you."

"Me?" Wow. Maybe he really was after me. Should I be panicked? Run away? "Why?"

"You're supposed to show me what to do." He leaned against the food bins, wedging his hip against the wood. "Didn't your parents tell you they'd hired me?"

"Oh...No, my parents didn't tell me." Alas, no stalker. Too bad. Maybe it would have brought out Heath's protective instincts. When he recognized me, that is. "You're my replacement."

"For the next three months." He folded his arms across his chest. "You're in a play?"

"A musical." Hey, nothing wrong with letting people think I could sing. I casually set the bucket back down, pretending that I'd simply been relocating it to a more appropriate place.

"You're a singer?"

Fine. Let me bask in my delusions for only one second. "No, actually, I can't sing. It's a non-singing part."

He nodded approvingly. "Cool."

Cool? What did he mean by that?

"I can't sing either," he said.

Oh, my gosh. Was he trying to bond? Did he have a crush on me? Unacceptable. I was taken. Must nip this in the bud. "Heath can sing," I said loftily.

Colin lifted his brow. "Who's Heath?"

"A boy," I said vaguely.

"A boyfriend?"

I wanted to say yes, but I couldn't quite manage the lie. Lying was what helped to contribute to the downfall of society. Negotiating adjusted dinnertimes is one thing. Lying? Something else entirely. My mom would wear black for a year. And she would definitely find out. She's a mom. They're psychic. "I hope so."

Colin nodded. "Ah. A guy you like?"

"I play his mother in the musical."

"Interesting."

"I'm not really his mother," I said. "It wouldn't be weird or anything in real life."

Colin just stood there grinning, like he knew I was getting myself all tangled up and stuff.

Jerk.

"What's this boy's name?" he asked.

"Heath Cavendish."

Colin tilted his head. "Heath Cavendish, huh?" He said it like there was something wrong with the name.

"I'm sure you wouldn't know him. He's a senior."

"So am I."

"Oh." Well, fine, then. "He plays basketball, too, you know."

Colin held up his hands. "I concede defeat. Heath Cavendish may have you. I step aside."

Step aside? He hadn't been in the race, had he? Of course not. He was here to clean the barn. Heath had probably never cleaned a barn in his life. Much too uncool. "So you want to learn how to do the feed or what?"

"It's what your parents are paying me for."

"At least they pay you. I was doing it for free." I headed toward the feed bin Colin was leaning against so I could start showing him what to do.

A faint smiled curved Colin's mouth, and I noticed it was sort of a nice mouth. "Kids get taken advantage of sometimes, don't you think?"

"Definitely."

He moved aside so I could open the bin. "So if you weren't working for free for your parents, where would you be working?"

Working? I never thought about working. I'm fourteen. I guess when you're seventeen, you think about those kinds of things, but I could come up with something, right? "Um..." Think! "With kids. I'd want to work with kids."

"Like a teacher?"

Hmm...that sounded sort of wimpy. "Gang youth." My mom had been talking just the other day about how gangs were a substitute for families, and that if the nuclear family hadn't broken down, then there would be no kids in gangs. I thought it actually sounded pretty interesting.

Colin lifted an eyebrow. "Gang youth?"

"Yes. You know, go into the inner cities and help those kids. I'd get to carry a gun and everything." Oops. My mom wouldn't be too high on the gun thing. Better not be telling her that little detail.

He grinned. "I wouldn't have thought you were the gun-toting type."

Hold everything! Allie would kill me for announcing I wanted to carry a gun! That wasn't the way to attract a boy. You attract boys by wearing tight shirts, flipping your hair, and laughing at the right times. Not telling them you want to carry a gun.

There was no way I was ever going to put a guy on The Ledge. Ever! I was a total loser when it came to guys.

Except I wasn't trying to get Colin's attention. Maybe my subconscious knew that, and would have behaved much more appropriately if it had been Heath I'd been talking to.

Definitely. That was it. I wasn't hopeless. I would never be myself in front of a guy I wanted to impress. Just with guys I didn't. Phew! I still had a chance!

"Blue? Are you in here?" Allie shouted from the driveway.

Ah! My support team! "In here," I shouted. Colin looked at me in confusion, so I explained. "Those are my friends. They're coming for dinner tonight to help prepare for my rehearsal tomorrow."

He nodded knowingly. "Need to pick your outfit, huh?"

What? Did he have sisters or something? Or a serious girlfriend? And why did that second thought bum me out just a little bit?

Allie swooshed around the corner, trailed by Natalie and Frances, all three of whom stopped instantly at the sight of Colin. "Helloooo," Allie crooned, giving him a delighted smile as she hopped up onto the counter by the sink and crossed her legs so you couldn't help but notice how short her skirt was. "And who might you be?"

I almost laughed at Allie's obvious flirtation.
Almost
laughed, because a part of me wanted to ever-so-nicely tip her off the counter and into a wheelbarrow for looking at Colin like that. I mean, yes, I wasn't interested in him, but he was the first boy of note that I'd ever had a real conversation with, and I kinda felt like he should be off limits to Allie's flirtations. Which was silly, of course, right? So I helpfully pointed out each of my friends to him. "Colin, this is Allie, Frances, and Natalie. Guys, this is Colin. He's in charge of the barn while I'm at rehearsal."

"Hey." Natalie plopped down on a hay bale and began chewing on a piece of straw, and Frances wandered over to the equine first aid books and began to leaf through one of them.

"So what are we talking about?" Allie asked ultra-casually.

Leave it to my friends to latch onto a boy. Any boy. I met him first. He was my boy to ignore. "We don't have time to chat," I explained. "Dinner is in a half hour."

"Great. We'll all help with the chores." Natalie hopped up and grabbed the hose. "I'll water."

"I'll check the chickens," Allie said.

"And I'll make sure the goat hasn't eaten anything deadly today," Frances said.

The three of them disappeared almost instantly, leaving me with Colin. Um, okay, so I guess Allie hadn't been making a move on him after all, seeing as how she took off so we could be alone. Which made me a little nervous, and a little excited. I could practice my "remembering how to speak coherently to a seventeen-year-old guy" skills on Colin. "So, I guess I'll show you how to feed everyone. And then clean the stalls?"

"Sounds good."

As I pulled open a feed bin, I thought about Colin's response to Heath. He hadn't actually admitted he knew or didn't know Heath. They were both seniors. The school wasn't that big. Maybe I could get some insight into Heath that would help me woo him. Woo. That word just made me laugh. "Do you go to Mapleville High?"

"Yep." He leaned over my shoulder to watch how much I was scooping. I caught a whiff, and realized he smelled really good. Different than Heath; not as intense. But still really good.

Heath, right. That's who I was supposed to be thinking about it. "So do you know Heath?"

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