Shucked (10 page)

“Wait!” I called out before he could
leave the room.

Alex pivoted on one foot, spinning
around gracefully, almost like he was in slow motion. His hair floated, and
then flopped down over one almond eye. “Yeah?” A smile blossomed, his perfect
white teeth winking at me.

“Um, if you don’t mind, I’ll take
that ride home. But I have to go to my locker first. Is that okay?” I stood
with my hip out to one side, my books balanced carefully. I was trying my best
to look nonchalant, uncaring whether or not he’d say yes, to balance the
chaotic churning going on inside my body. Yin and yang.

“Sure. I’ll walk you to your locker.”
Alex held out an arm toward the doorway. “Ladies first.”

There was that charm again. It was
like he couldn’t turn it off unless there was an adult in the room. And it was
working. Too well. No wonder all the girls in school had given into him at one
point or another.

I’d have to fight hard not to be so
easy. If there was one thing I’d learned in South America, getting caught meant
nothing but trouble. I had to be smarter and faster than my predator. A
jaguar’s low growl echoed in my mind, reminding me of the nights I’d lay in my
tent in the jungle, listening in fascinated terror as they called to each other
in the night. The villagers said the big cats were kilometers away. I wanted to
see one in the worst way, even though I knew it would be a life-or-death
situation.

That was kind of how I felt about
Alex. I knew he wanted to eat me for breakfast. Somehow I needed to figure out
how to get him eating out my hand instead.

I mentally took a deep breath and
swept past him into the hallway. Instead of slowing down, so we could walk side
by side, I kept up my pace. I didn’t turn back to see how close he was behind
me. If he wanted to walk with me, he could catch up.

For the torturous thirty seconds it
took me to get to my locker, Alex never did catch up. I spun the combination,
praying to every deity my mother had exposed me to that I would get it open on
the first try. A small click proclaimed my victory. I opened the gray metal
door, acting like I’d known all along it would work.

Alex leaned up against the lockers
with one shoulder, his back to me. He whistled quietly under his breath,
stopping every few seconds to say hi to someone passing in the hallway. I dropped
a couple of books in my backpack and zipped it shut.

“Okay, I’m ready.” I stood on my
tiptoes and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Let’s go.” He cocked two fingers at
me over his shoulder and walked off, not even looking to see if I was
following.

Jerk
, I
muttered in my mind.
Walking away without
me.
That’s when the shame hit. I’d done the same thing to him when we left
the math room. He was good, too good. I jogged up next to him and bumped him on
the arm. “I give up.”

His eyebrows popped up, wrinkling his
beautiful forehead. “Give up on what?”

“Playing games. It’s stupid and,
quite frankly, I don’t know how. Can we just be friends for now? No crocodile
and buffalo game, okay?”

Alex’s jaw dropped and he laughed so
hard he doubled over, holding his stomach with his free hand.

“What?” I stopped next to him, my
hands on my hips. “What’s so funny?”

“Crocodile and buffalo?” He spit the
words out between laughs.

The blush returned, tearing across my
face with ferocity. “Sorry. What do you say here?” I meant to say it strongly,
but instead it came out as a mumble. I was highly ignorant when it came to
dealing with these primates.

“Cat and mouse, usually, but crocodile
and buffalo gives a much more violent image.” He stood up straight, heaving erratically
as he regained his breath.

“Forget I said it. Can we just go?”
People were starting to stare. I didn’t want them all to know what an idiot I
was.

“Hey,” Alex said, “it’s okay.
Actually, it’s kind of cute. People usually think I’m exotic because I’m the
only Asian guy for miles. But you’re the real thing. It’s cool.” He smiled, I
think genuinely, since the first time I’d met him. “Let’s get you home, okay? I
think you have a lot of homework.”

Alex eyed my bulging backpack. I
nodded, totally unable to respond. We’d had a moment there, a real moment where
we’d both just been ourselves. How often did that happen in high school? I’m
betting almost never.

We started walking toward the parking
lot exit, not saying anything to each other. Alex continued to say hi to
everyone he passed, sometimes getting a high five, and other times a fist bump.
He really was as popular as Becky said. And he was with me.

I pulled my hoodie up over my hair as
we stepped outside, hiding a small grin behind the thick cotton.

On the drive home we talked about
music we had in common. He peppered me with questions about my time in Korea a
couple of years ago. I asked him what it was like growing up in a place where
everyone else was whiter than bleached underwear. He dropped me off with a
smile and a promise that we’d talk again soon. I left his car knowing I’d
finally made a real connection with him, instead of jumping into his arms
because he was so freaking hot. Of course, all of that only made him more
irresistible.

That night I chewed on the end of my
pencil, staring at the math problems I’d been assigned. They didn’t make any
sense. I could hear Alex’s voice in my head, explaining how it worked, but all
I comprehended was, “Blah, blah, blah, Tabitha, blah, blah.” None of it made
any sense.

Knowing I couldn’t turn in a blank
paper, or admit to Illinois Jon that I hadn’t listened to a word Alex had said,
because that would not only show how dumb I was, but also that I was hopelessly
falling for my tutor, I Googled the answers.

Okay, so it wasn’t the brightest
idea. I had no idea what I’d do by the time a test came around, but maybe I’d
figure it out by then. Or get sick. Or hurt myself in cheerleading, injuring
the part of my brain that would forever render me unable to complete algebra
problems.

When I finished, I changed into my pajamas
and lay down on my bed. It was embarrassing to admit it, but I spent an hour
daydreaming about Alex, imagining every moment in our afternoon together, taking
each word and analyzing it, wondering how things would be different if he’d
tried to kiss me. Agonizing over whether I would have let him. Kissing him that
soon would have meant giving in to the chase. That wasn’t part of my plan. Not
then. But soon, very soon…

Chapter Fourteen

I woke up the next morning, lying in
bed with the dogu clutched in my hand. It was embarrassing, getting so attached
to a fake artifact. Most girls my age probably had a stuffed animal, and here I
was snuggling up to a voluptuous alien made out of some pretty convincing
plastic. Whoever manufactured it did such a good job. They didn’t even add a
mark to the bottom. I laughed as I set it back on my shelf. Somewhere someone
was probably trying to pawn off an identical one as a real artifact.

I decided to start watching Pawn
Stars and see if my little buddy showed up.

I got into my clean workout clothes,
nabbed a quick bacon-filled breakfast, and got a lift from Mimi to school for
cheerleading practice, but this time I was excited instead of scared. I’d asked
Mimi to check with Mrs. Jordan to be sure Callie was telling the truth. I
wasn’t going to trust anything until an adult checked it out. Thankfully,
Callie was honest. Kailey really had broken her ankle and I was in, as long as
I promised never to try to take out another cheerleader again.

“I don’t think I need to say any kind
of warning to you, Tabitha,” Mimi said. She sat ramrod straight in the driver’s
seat, her massive hands covering a good third of the steering wheel. “I know
you’ll behave. You’ll keep your promise or you’ll be up at the crack of dawn
with your grandfather milking the cows.”

I nodded. “I swear I’ll be good. I’m
actually kind of excited. Callie said they want to integrate some taekwondo
moves into the cheers. The other schools will be terrified!” I imagined their eyes,
growing wider as they cowered behind their pompons, little yellow streamers
shivering.

“Tabitha!” Mimi barked. “You are not
a cheerleader to scare people. A good cheerleader has spirit, helps the boys on
the team win their game.”

I tossed my head back against the
headrest. “It’s not the 1950’s anymore, Mimi. Cheerleading is a real sport now.
They compete and sometimes they’re even on ESPN.” I hadn’t known that until I
Googled cheerleading the night before the first disastrous practice. I was
surprised how athletic some of those girls were. It really helped to convince
me cheerleading might not be the root of all evil.

“Oh, I don’t think Springdale High goes
to competitions like that.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. I
hadn’t asked yet, but I had some hope. “Maybe they should start.”

“Tabitha, you’ve only been at the
school a few days. Why don’t you give it some time before you try to change it
into something it’s not? Maybe try accepting them first and then asking for
more? Those girls may not be ready for something like that.”

I had to agree she was right. I
hadn’t even seen any of them cheer yet. I didn’t even know if they could do
basic gymnastics or if they just bopped around on the sidelines, waving their
pompons in the air.

“They do pyramids,” I said. “Callie
and Tallie showed me the first day.” I held back a snort. I still didn’t
understand why someone would do that to their children. I understood names that
matched or sounded good together, but rhyming with only one letter different was
some form of child abuse.

Mimi reached over and patted my hand.
“Just see what they do before you push them into something else.” She never
said please. It was implied, and assumed I’d automatically do what she said.

She was right, though. If the girls
didn’t have decent skills then it would be impossible to turn them into
internationally competitive athletes.

We pulled up in front of the school’s
double doors in the back by the gym. The tractor from the other day was there
too. I leaned over and gave Mimi a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks!”

Before she could answer, I jumped out
of the car and headed toward the doors. She didn’t like outward displays of
affection any more than I did. I can’t even say for sure what made me do it. Probably
all of those mushy feelings surfacing from my interest in Alex. I had to keep
an eye on myself to make sure I didn’t turn into a quivering pile of goo.

I jogged into the gym and everything
was exactly the same as it was the other morning. Except this time, Callie was
waving to me with a smile on her face. “As soon as Kelly gets here, we’re going
to start practice. Just warm up for now.”

“Won’t Kelly need to warm up too?”
The last thing I wanted was for someone to get hurt because they didn’t take
the time to warm up. I’d seen it too many times at the dojang in Korea. Some
cocky guy would come in, prancing around like he owned the place. But without
warm ups, there was no flexibility, and soon enough he’d be hobbling off to the
nearest hospital, nursing an injured ankle or shoulder.

“She runs to school. She’ll be just
fine.” Callie waved a hand in the air. “Now get on the mat and warm up. Do you
need some ideas of what to do or are you good?”

“I’m good, thanks.” I pulled my
hoodie over my head, tossing it onto the nearby bleachers. I smoothed out my tank
top, pulled tight over my sports bra. My bare midriff shivered a bit in the cool
gym, but I knew in a few minutes, I’d be sweating like a pig. A few of the
girls eyed my belly ring, but no one said anything about it.

I went into a warm up routine I’d used
every time I was ready to practice my taekwondo. Even though it had been a year
since I got my black belt, I still did my forms every day, along with some sparring,
but it was hard to spar by myself. My poor pillows had seen too much action. Mimi
shook her head every time I asked for a new one, but over the years she’d
become accustomed to it. When she realized I’d be staying with them for the
whole school year, she left a stack of new, fluffy pillows in my room. She
didn’t have to say what they were for, I knew. After the events of the last few
days, I’d already destroyed half of them.

Closing my eyes, I launched into a
series of jumping jacks, pushups, squats, and punching exercises. After about
ten dizzying, but exhilarating minutes, I opened my eyes. All of the girls were
staring at me.

“What?” I asked. I wiped my forehead
with the back of my hand, keeping the sweat from streaming into my eyes.

Tallie rolled her eyes and walked
over to her gym bag. The other girls busied themselves with stupid tasks.
Callie walked over to me, a big grin on her face. “You just scared them. Here
we all were just stretching our legs and arms while you’re defeating an entire
army by yourself.”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize. I mean,
I can do all of that stuff too. This is just what I do to get ready to
workout.”

Callie laughed. “Tabitha, you’ve done
more in the last ten minutes than some of the girls have done in their whole
lives. We’re not exactly as, um, high energy as you.”