Silver (8 page)

“They were,” she said, shuddering.

It reminded her of how close she had come to living in Buffalo full-time. Probably the coldest place in the continental United States.

Stacia smacked the back of his head as he threw the football on the video game and made him miss. “What the fuck did I tell you about not calling me Stacy anymore?”

“Back the fuck off,
Stacy
,” he teased. “If you make me mess up my game again, I’ll get out an ad in the LoserVille State newspaper with your real name in it.”

Stacia rolled her eyes. Derek had taken to calling LV State that ever since she decided to go to USC’s biggest rival school. Derek, of course, was the golden boy and would be the starting quarterback at USC this year. Not that she cared. Going to LV State was the best choice she had ever made.

“It’s Stacia now. Stacy was the mousy girl with glasses and braces who was made fun of so bad that her only friends were losers two years younger than her,” she said, swatting at him again.

“Hey, those loser friends got you through high school and are still pretty fucking awesome,” he said.

“Most of them at least,” she said under her breath.

“What’s that?”

“Why did Madison and Woods have to break up anyway?”

“Because long-distance blows. I don’t know why the fuck she decided to go to LoserVille State, like you, instead of USC, like me and Woods.”

“It makes shit awkward,” Stacia said. Like how their group from home was now demolished because they’d broken up. And how, if they’d still been together, Madison wouldn’t have slept with Pace.

“Whatever. It’ll be fine. They’ll figure their shit out. It’s been, like, six months now.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Stacia shrugged, wanting to change the subject. Madison was just about her least favorite person on the planet right now. “Is Dad going to come home tonight?”

Derek noncommittally lifted his shoulders.

“I need to talk to him about some stuff.”

“About your big breakup?” Derek asked with a laugh.

“How do you know about that already?” Stacia demanded.

“News travels quick.” Derek paused his game and pulled out his cell phone. He scrolled for a minute and then passed it to Stacia. “Someone reported on it.”

Stacia’s eyes rounded as she saw the images on the screen. Apparently, people had taken pictures of them at Posse and sold them to some online trash site.
Great.
Now, the world knew that Marshall was single.

“Well, this gets it wrong. I broke up with him. Not that it matters.”

“He sucked anyway,” Derek said, restarting his game and leaning sideways with the controller.

“Yeah, he kind of did,” she agreed.

Stacia sprawled out on the couch next to her brother and watched him finish up his game.

By the time their dad got home later that night, they were in a fierce competition to see who would win at Donkey Kong, and his hello went unnoticed. Stacia stood and shrieked as she rounded the corner of the last leg of their race and then plopped back down as Derek beat her at the last second.

“I will get you next time,” she groaned.

“Yeah, right. That’s four of the last six games. I win. You lose.”

“Whatever.”

A soft chuckle emanated from behind them, and they both whipped around.

“Dad!” Stacia cried.

“It never gets old. Come here, sweetheart,” her father, Curt Palmer, said.

Stacia launched herself into her dad’s arms, and he hugged her close. “It’s good to be home.”

“Good to have you here. You’re going to have to tell me all the trouble you’ve been getting into,” he said, releasing her. “Over steaks?”

Stacia nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Great. I’ll fire up the grill. Derek, you pull together some sides in the kitchen.”

“Yes, sir.”

Curt wrapped his arm around his daughter, and they walked into the kitchen as a family to scrounge up some dinner. Her father was an excellent cook and always had been. It had been surprisingly easy, having a single father while she was growing up. Her mother had left them when they were young. And, while he had dated other women, he’d never been serious about anyone since Mom. Not that Stacia knew much about her mom. She hadn’t seen her mother since she was in elementary school. Good riddance. Stacia didn’t know what a woman had to do to completely lose custody of her two kids, but she always assumed it had to have been pretty bad.

“Now, tell me about what happened,” her dad said as he started grilling.

“Well, I broke up with Marshall.”

Her dad’s eyes widened as he looked at her. “You did? Honey, are you all right?”

“Wait…you didn’t already know?”

“I was more curious as to why a tuition bill just came into my email, but I’m concerned about what happened with Marshall as well. I thought you liked him.”

Stacia frowned. Her father didn’t know the girl she had become after leaving his house, and it was for the better. For all he knew, she was still a virgin. Little did he know what she’d done behind his back the summer after high school.

“Um…I did like him. I just…he wasn’t the one, I guess. I mean, you knew Mom was the one, right?” Stacia asked.

“I did,” he agreed, flipping a steak.

Her father would still get this look in his eyes when she brought up her mom. It was like he was still in love with her after all this time. Stacia wondered now if it was just the memory of her. How could he still love someone who had left him and their two small children?

“So, he wasn’t it.”

“Okay,” he agreed. Just like that, he let it drop. Man, she loved her dad. No matter how overprotective he was. “Now, the tuition bill?”

“I’m taking summer classes for journalism requirements.”

“Journalism? That’s new.”

She nodded. “I thought I’d try it. I still have to apply and be accepted to the school. And then there’s no guarantee I’d do well in the classes or get a job related to it after graduation.”

“You’ll do fine. You can do anything you put your mind to,” he said with a grin before putting the steaks on the plate and ushering her back inside.

Derek was back at his video game, the sides he’d scrounged up forgotten. But she and their dad got him away again, and they had a family dinner together. It was nice to just be at home and not have to worry about anything. To them, she was just family. Not Stacy, the loser. Or Stacia, the cheer slut. It was relaxing and proved to be just what she needed.

Before she would have to return to LV State to prepare for her summer classes, Stacia spent the next two weeks hanging out with Derek and her dad as much as she could. They both had to be back at USC for camp starting nearly at the same time as her classes, so it worked out.

Every day, she and Derek would go to Santa Monica to hang out on the beach together, meeting up with old friends and enjoying the weather.

“We should go back. It’s hot as fuck out here,” Derek complained on her last day.

The beach was crowded, and Stacia could just make out the iconic pier from where they’d been camped out since morning.

“It’s my last day. I’m not going back yet,” Stacia told him.

“Yeah, Derek. Listen to your sister. She has the brains in the family,” Woods said with a grin.

Stacia assessed him. Woods seemed to have lived at the gym with her brother during the last year. She’d never understood what Madison saw in him, as he’d always been two years younger than her, but she saw it now. He was hot with messy dark hair and olive-toned tan skin.

“Woods can just take me home later,” Stacia said with a wink at Derek.

“Oh, fuck me,” Derek groaned, plopping back down. “That’s never fucking happening.”

Hooking up with Madison’s ex-boyfriend would be poetic justice after she’d slept with Pace. And it would probably even be fun.

But she wouldn’t do it. The number of people she’d actually slept with was a lot lower than she made everyone believe it to be. Quarterbacks had always been an exception to her rule; she always found time for them.

Woods wasn’t a quarterback. And he was her younger brother’s best friend. And her ex-best friend’s ex-boyfriend. Triple whammy.

No matter how much Madison had broken girl code, Stacia wasn’t going to do that. She’d already done enough damage with Bryna when she had found out that Stacia was dating Pace their freshman year. She couldn’t bring herself to do more damage to something that was already so fractured.

At Stacia’s insistence, they relaxed back onto the beach, and she took a beer from the cooler. Woods cast her a skeptical look, and when she winked up at him, he returned the gesture.

“Look, Derek, just because she’s your sister doesn’t mean I can’t flirt with her,” Woods said, continuing to antagonize him.

“That’s disgusting,” Derek said promptly.

Stacia laughed at her brother and leaned into Woods for good measure. “What? You’re not okay with your sister dating your best friend?” she joked.

“I will murder both of you,” Derek grumbled.

Woods threw an arm around Stacia’s shoulders. “I’d like to see you try. I’ve bulked up this year. I can take you.”

Derek didn’t even dignify that with an answer. He just laughed in Woods’s face, which seemed fair. Derek was a starting college quarterback for a Division I school. Woods could never compete with that.

“Oh, fuck,” Derek said instead. His eyes rounded, and he looked like he’d just seen a ghost. “Madison?”

“WHAT?” STACIA ASKED
, whipping around. It was her turn for shock to register all over her face.

Woods glanced back with them and jumped nearly a foot in the air, hastily pushing himself away from Stacia. “Madison,” he practically squeaked.

“What are you doing here?” Stacia demanded.

She might not like Madison right now, but she did feel guilty that Madison had seen her with Woods like that. They’d just been joking, but the look of hurt and horror on Madison’s face said she didn’t know that.

“Hey, guys,” Madison said. Her voice was small and pained. “Derek.”

“Mads,” he said, tipping his head at her.

“S”—Madison straightened her shoulders, seemingly deciding to push forward—“I heard you were home.”

“From who?” Stacia asked.

“I…what? Why does it matter?” she asked carefully.

“Well, I suppose it depends on who you’re talking to about me.”

Okay, not liking Madison might have been the understatement of the century. Just seeing her made Stacia want to rip the dark hair off the girl’s head and storm away. She didn’t care if that would be a tantrum. She had no idea how she’d survived the last cheer season around Madison. She must have been so invested in winning that she’d put it out of her mind. It was impossible to ignore now.

“I just spoke to Lindsay about the team.”

Stacia froze.

Of course Lindsay knew what had happened. She was the new cheer captain. She had taken the position that would have been Stacia’s had she stayed on the team. But Stacia hadn’t told Derek or her father or anyone else really that she wasn’t back on the team. Madison bringing it up right now was a low move.

And what was worse…was Stacia had been able to push the idea of not cheering next year out of her mind for a solid two weeks. Now, the nauseating thought rushed back to her.

“What happened?” Derek asked. “Who’s Lindsay?”

“So, you’re here to gloat then,” Stacia snapped at her, standing irritably. “Is that it?”

“No!” Madison cried desperately. “No, that’s not it at all, Stacia!”

“Yeah, I’m sure. Come on, Derek. I think you were right. I don’t want to be here anymore.” Stacia grabbed her things off her towel and shoved them into her beach bag.

No one else moved a muscle.

“God, S, please!” Madison cried. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry about the team. Coach was so in the wrong. She definitely should have let you back. And then we lost Bri, too.”

Stacia whirled on her. “It’s Bryna.” She eyed her up and down with disgust. “Only her friends can call her Bri.”

Madison’s shoulders sagged, as if she realized she wasn’t about to get anywhere. “I’m sorry, S.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t need your pity.”

“It’s not pity. I really just came to apologize. I wanted to talk to you.” Madison reached for Stacia. “Do you think we can ever move past this? Do you think you’ll ever forgive me? We’ve been friends for so long.”