Summer's Desire (7 page)

I quickly tug Marcie away and tease,
"So you don't like my style? Why ever not?"

She smiles brightly again. "My best
friend Dana and I can help you out with that, no problem." Throwing a
quick glance at the schedule I'm holding in my hand, she says, "Hey,
you're in Lunch C too! Neat. You should come sit with me and my friends."

I open my mouth to refuse but she speaks
before I can. "Oh crapety, look at the time! If we don't hurry, we'll so
get a tardy slip. Know where to go for your next class?"

I nod, though I have no idea.

"Okay, see you at lunch!" She's
already moving away with the flow of students.

I head in the opposite direction and arrive
late for French. Fortunately, the teacher takes mercy on me on account of my
being a new student and lets me off without a tardy slip.

* * *

It's finally lunchtime and I'm walking
on shaky legs in the direction of the cafeteria. Normally, I wouldn't be caught
dead in that crazy hub of student activity; I'd just spend my lunch period
hiding out in isolated spots where I'd be sure to be left alone. Today however,
I don't have a choice.

To my mingled relief and frustration, I
have yet to catch a single glimpse of Seth even though after each bell, heading
for my various classes, I observed the student traffic with avid eyes. I know
I'll pay for not sticking to my usual routine of keeping my gaze on the floor
to avoid eye contact with other people—I've definitely attracted more than a
few curious glances—but right now I really can't bring myself to care about
this.

I enter the cafeteria, careful this time
to keep my head lowered, and discreetly look around. I spot Marcie sitting at a
table just a few steps to my left and approach her hesitatingly; I'm still not
sure this is a good idea. She sees me before I reach the table and smiles her
wide, friendly smile. How alien it is to me, this constant cheerfulness shining
so brightly on her face!

"Hey Summer, so glad you could make
it!" She sounds genuinely excited at seeing me. Then she introduces the three
other people at her table. "These are my friends Dana and Robbie, and
Will, my boyfriend. We're all Juniors. Everyone, this is Summer, also a Junior.
She'll join us for lunch. Summer, sit down already!"

Muttering an awkward, "Hello,
everyone", I sit down next to Marcie, with my back half-turned to the cafeteria's
entrance. Marcie's friends all mumble hellos as well and proceed to study me with
open curiosity. I do the same to them.

Dana is a very attractive girl. She has
strong, exotic features, though maybe just a bit too irregular for true beauty,
and thick red hair. She's a real knockout and the complete opposite of Marcie in
physical appearance; I hope she's not too stuck-up to be a good friend to her.

Marcie's boyfriend, Will, is a lanky boy
with messy blond hair and a lively expression. His sharp eyes seem to miss
little, if anything.

Finally, Robbie is a smallish guy
sporting an even worse dress style than I do currently. I meet his gaze, and he
instantly blushes and looks away. He must be the shy type.

Dana seems to have finished analyzing me.
"So, Summer, what brings you to our wild, exciting mega-city?" She
grins at her irony.

I keep my face noncommittal. "I'm in
foster care, and my current placement is in Rockford, with the Andersons."

The girls both groan.

"The Andersons? So you're sharing
the same roof with Jessica Anderson?" Dana asks with wide eyes.
"Girl, I pity you!"

My lips twitch in reluctant amusement.
"I gather Jessica is not very well-liked?"

"Well, it depends by who," mutters
Marcie. "Her cheerleader gang and the jocks, or... well, the rest of the free
world?"

"Come on, girls, she's not that
bad!" says Will, but with sarcasm infusing his voice.

"You're right, Will. She's not just
bad, she's the worst!" Dana agrees acidly. "She's a total bitch who's
made it her mission to make life miserable for every pretty girl outside her posse.
And don't even get me started on her posse—total airheads, the bunch of
them."

"Mean, too," whispers Marcie.
The way she says it, it sounds as if she's experienced some of that meanness
first-hand.

"Besides,"—Dana again—"Jessica's
a total man-eater." She wrinkles her nose in apparent disgust. "Anyone
left in the football team she hasn't banged yet?"

"Doubt it," says Robbie.
"Doesn't matter, anyways. The one she really wants is still Lewis."

The name hits me like a punch to the stomach,
knocking the breath out of me. I lower my head to hide my reaction.

Luckily, Dana is all fired up to offer
her opinion and draws everyone's focus on herself. "Yeah, Robbie, everyone
knows
that
. As if! Jessica has not a chance with him! He's already had
her for, like, two weeks Sophomore year, and far as I know, he never goes back
for seconds. And seriously, why would he? And with
Jessica
? He can have
anyone else he wants, in and out of this school!"

I am barely listening to her anymore.

The door had opened a few seconds ago, letting
through a group of five tall, athletic-looking boys. They're now heading for a
table at the other end of the cafeteria, where all the other beautiful (and
probably most popular) students are sitting—Jessica included, I notice in a
daze.

Helplessly, I return my gaze to the five
guys as a force stronger than gravity draws my eyes to the boy walking in the
middle of the group.

Seth
.

My first, somewhat incoherent thought
upon seeing him is:
Good God, he's hot!
He's always been beautiful, but
maturity seems to have further refined his features and given them an air of
aloof distinction. His face is beyond gorgeous and it is perfectly matched by
his body.

Which brings me to my second thought:
Good
God, he's tall!
He is at least 6'3'', at a considered guess, and moves with
predatory grace. He's leanly muscled, not as bulky as some of his companions
but stronger than any of them, I'd wager. Not to mention faster. In a fight
against the others, I have no doubt that he would be the winner without
breaking much of a sweat. He just exudes that kind of confident ease and self-assuredness.
And an unmistakable edge of danger.

He has the face of a fallen angel, the
body of a warrior and the presence of a prince. And, I instantly realize, he is
now utterly unreachable to me. At this thought my heart jerks painfully inside
my chest.

Seth has arrived at his table and sat
down with his friends, turned in profile to me. I let myself stare at him
unashamedly; all the other girls in the cafeteria seem to be doing the same
thing, and with so many eyes trained on him, one extra pair will hardly matter.

Following the direction of my gaze,
Marcie smiles at me, a little sadly. "Yep, that's him, all right. Seth
Lewis, Senior, star quarterback of the Rockford Rams, and pretty much the king
of R.-High."

"Lewis is an awesome quarterback for
sure," Will confirms in a half-admiring, half-envious tone. "He's had
scouts looking at him since his Sophomore year, and I heard he was offered at
least ten football scholarships at colleges all over the US."

"Shit," says Robbie sotto
voce. "Why can't we ever have lunch without football talk, for freak's
sake?" Then, at normal volume: "All right, Will, so Lewis is okay at
football. Whatever. Other than that, what's so damn special about him? I don't
see why everyone keeps singing his praises!"

Will gawks at him in disbelief.
"Jeez, Robbie, did you hit your head hard when you fell out of bed this
morning?! Lewis is a hell lot more than just 'okay' at football! Dude, he's the
linchpin who's won our team the state championship these last two years!"

"Yeah, yeah, and for that he can
get away with anything here in school short of blowing up the whole damn building!"
says Robbie, aggravated. And I thought this guy was shy? "Even then, probably
the principal would just pat Lewis on the back and go, 'That's all right, son,
we're insured. You just go on making us proud on the field.'"

Marcie grins. "That's funny, but
you may be kinda right too!" She turns to me to explain. "Principal
Adams is, well... pretty much a football fanatic, and while Seth was captain of
the team, it just so happens that the Rams had the most awesome seasons of the last
twenty years. The principal all but bows and scrapes whenever he sees
Seth."

"And the other teachers are just
about the same!" Robbie adds explosively. "Like, Lewis used to skip
school a lot. But did the administration or anyone, really, ever give him any
flak for it? Hell no, they didn't, not to their damn golden boy! Then there's most
of the students here; they're the worst with their stupid, star-struck awe of
Lewis!" Robbie aims a meaningful stare at his friends.

"Hey, why are you looking at me?"
Marcie whines laughingly. "I don't hero worship Seth Lewis!... I
might
be tempted to worship his body—but that would be, say, my constitutional right
as a free American citizen." She twinkles at Will, who shakes his head in
amusement.

Dana gives her a playful shove and
smirks at Robbie. "Yeah, it's unbelievable how things sometimes happen!
Like, take this A-mazing quarterback who's done the school and the whole town
proud by leading his team to win state championship. Twice! Plus, he's gorgeous
and smart besides. But instead of people hating him for all that—you know, like
they obviously should—his teachers like him, and gasp, he's even the most
popular guy at his school! What total unfairness!"

Robbie practically skewers her with his
glare. "Like I said, I'll never understand why Lewis is so damn popular. The
guy's scary! Like, weren't there rumors at one time about him having gangbanger
connections? And everyone knows how he used to get into those God-awful brawls
and beat everyone who challenged him to a pulp. These days, no one would dare
take on Lewis in a fight—they'd be too damn scared! For freak's sake, there
were even some rumors about him being in underground fights!"

"Uh... I don't think those were
just rumors," says Will excitedly. "I mean, Lewis has been supporting
himself for at least four years, right? He has no family to help him or anything
like that. And don't tell me that, on his not-worth-talking-about salary as a part-time
mechanic at Joe's Garage, he could've afforded that sweet BMW he drives."

"Besides," says Dana, "he
dresses well. Not designer stuff but definitely nice clothes. Still, he could
probably wear a sack and still look hot. Seriously, just
look
at that body...
yum, yummy!" She licks her lips mischievously while eyeing Seth. I stare
at her—hard—until she stops undressing him mentally, but judging by her grin,
she's completely unrepentant.

Meanwhile, I try to process everything
I've just found out.

Seth plays football—exceptionally well,
it seems. No shocker there; the boy I used to know definitely had the physical
attributes and the drive to be an amazing athlete (unlike me). And yes, he was
always popular (again, unlike me), so the fact that he's grown even more so and
that Rockford High is apparently his playing ground or "kingdom" or
whatever doesn't come as a surprise either. I'm also not surprised that Seth works
as a mechanic. He always did like cars and was good at tinkering with them
(yep—unlike me; I'm also mechanically/technologically challenged).

But what about the rest: the alleged
gangbanger connections and the second "job", as a fighter? Can those
be discounted as no more than malicious gossip? His car, for example, he
could've simply gotten on a good deal.

"Come on, guys," says Will, "let's
not fill Summer's head with thoughts of Lewis being some underground fighting champion."
Then, winking at me: "He doesn't need the extra boost to his
reputation."

"Speaking of reputation..."
Marcie meets and holds my gaze. She isn't smiling anymore. "Seth is pretty
well known as a heartless player. He's had the most beautiful girls—more, I'm
sure, than he can even remember—but he's never been in a real relationship. And
he's never been exclusive. None of his girls kept his interest for longer than,
say, a couple of weeks."

The ache in my chest grows sharper. Has
he really become such an utterly rotten guy, seducing and abandoning girls all
around?

"Oh, Marcie, don't be dramatic!"
Dana snorts. "More girls than he can remember? Please! Seth hasn't had
nearly as many girls as he could've, he's much too selective! And he may be a
player but he's not heartless. He never leads girls on and he's made it
perfectly clear that he's not, like, in the market for a relationship. So if,
knowing this, girls still want to be with him—you know, deluding themselves
that they will be
the one
to melt his frozen heart, or God knows what
romantic bullshit... That's on their heads alone. It's not his fault that girls
are always throwing themselves at him."

"Riiight, Dana," says Will,
almost chocking on his sandwich. "Dude has it so bad!"

She grins ironically. "I know,
right? But seriously, just look at that skank Jessica just now: she's almost
falling out of her halter top—if that scrap of material can even be called a top—leaning
into him! And on his left, Elle is practically trying to climb on his lap."