The Color Of Grace (8 page)

It puzzled me why high school boys tried to grow facial
hair. I’ve only ever seen a limited few manage anything past peach fuzz. Todd,
Ryder’s staring friend, did not belong in the limited few.

“My mom got married,” I said, trying not to concentrate on
the pimple embedded in his chin he was probably growing his peach fuzz to
cover. “My new stepdad lives here so we moved in with him.”

He nodded. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

I blinked, taken aback by his question.
I’m sure some teens really resent the fact their parents remarry, but it startled
me he was so open about questioning whether I was one of them.

I shrugged. “It’s good. I guess. I mean, my mom’s happy. And
my stepdad’s nice. He bought me a new laptop for school, so I can’t complain.”

“Yeah? That’s cool.”

“Oh, and he gave me this,” I added. I wasn’t sure why I put
in that information, just to keep the conversation going, I guess. From the
corner of my eye, I noticed Ryder lift his face to see what I was showing off.
And as soon as he did, I glanced his way. I’d been holding out the heart
necklace for Todd to examine, but my eyes slid toward Ryder.

As soon as I caught his gaze, he immediately lowered his
face again and went to scratch the back of his head as if he wasn’t at all
interested in seeing what I showed his friend.

Across the aisle from me, Todd leaned closer to take hold of
the necklace, surprising me with how easily and thoughtlessly he invaded my
personal space.

“Pretty,” he said.

“I think so,” I told him with a smile in my voice, though I
knotted my fingers with anxiety because he had yet to back off.

To avoid thinking about the nerves rattling around in my
abdomen, I lowered my chin to examine the necklace too. I was so busy gazing
down at the gold, I didn’t notice how Todd had hooked his thumb over his
shoulder and was pointing out the guy sitting behind him until he said, “This
is Ryder, by the way.”

I zipped my head up, my eyes wide with shock, only to
discover Ryder lifting his face with the same mortified expression I knew I had
to be presenting.

He scowled at Todd. Then he slid his gaze to me. “Hey,” he
said quickly and returned his attention to his homework.

Far cry from the chatty, personable ball player he’d been at
the basketball game only a few short weeks ago. Made me wonder what had
changed. Maybe he worried I’d tell his girlfriend how he’d flirted with some
stranger from Hillsburg. Except, oops, I wasn’t from Hillsburg anymore, was I?

I managed a quiet, mumbled, “Hi.”

“But I guess you’ve already met him, haven’t you?” Todd
said. His eyes glittered with glee, the kind of evil glee only a high school
boy who had just goofed on his best friend could muster.

I wanted to send him some kind of dirty hand gesture or tell
him off for bringing Ryder into the conversation. But I chickened out and
looked down at my assignment as I gave a negligent one-shouldered shrug. “Sort
of.”

Todd snickered. “You know, you’ve become my hero.”

I lifted my face, utterly befuddled. “Huh?”

He motioned behind him toward Ryder again. “For putting him
in his place that night at the Hillsburg game. I love it when a girl turns him
down.”

Ryder lifted his head to glare at Todd and sneer. “Thanks a
lot, bud. I love you too.”

Todd only laughed harder.

I cleared my throat, clutched my pen tighter, and sank a
little lower in my seat as I pressed the tip of my Bic against the sheet of
paper.

As I added the date next to my name, Todd kept talking,
changing gears. “So, how do you like it here at Southeast so far?”

I wasn’t sure how to answer. More than anything, I just
wanted to return to Hillsburg. Especially now that I knew Ryder Yates wasn’t
what I’d hoped he’d be.

“No one’s been mean to me,” I said tactfully, moving my pen
down to the first problem on the page. My vision blurred and I couldn’t
concentrate on one word, let alone an entire question. “But I haven’t really
gotten to know anyone yet.”

“Well, I could help you with that.” Todd’s grin was mischievous
when I glanced curiously at him. “Best way to get to know people around here is
by going to our basketball games. We’re having one tonight, actually. A home
game. Usually a group of us gets together afterward. Want to join us?”

Just as my face heated from his question, Ryder snorted
behind him. Both Todd and I swiveled around. He seared me with a bitter smirk
before he lifted his eyebrows Todd’s way. “Don’t you know? She’s not interested.”

My jaw dropped. What had crawled into his Wheaties and died?
He
was the one who had a girlfriend,
who’d flirted with me while his perky cheerleader had been across the gymnasium
doing back flips and playing around with their stupid Barney mascot. I was the
one who was supposed to be bitter here.

Todd didn’t seem to appreciate his smart-mouthed comment
either. He scowled at Ryder as if he wanted to choke him.

I politely cleared my throat and sent my own small glare to
Ryder before turning back to Todd and lifting my chin. “What time?” I said
before I could stop myself.

And there came my mistake number two. One being the fact
that I turned down Ryder Yates the first time he asked for my name. Two being
that I did
not
turn down his friend.

But honestly, how could I say no? Ryder Yates had just issued
me the ultimate challenge. This seemed like my way to get back at him. He had
to have a girlfriend, so I felt forced to go hang out with his friend. Plus, if
I wanted to be totally honest with myself, a part of me wanted to be around him
just a little longer. I had to know what I was missing by initially telling him
I wasn’t interested: a total jerk or my dream come true? And if a bunch of them
were going to hang out, then I had to guess Ryder would be included in that
number, so I should be able to aptly appease my curiosity.

At my response, Todd’s eyes briefly flared in surprise. Then
he smiled—or maybe
preened
would be a
better word to describe the expression that crossed his face. Glancing mockingly
at Ryder, he said, “Game starts at seven. It’ll probably go on ’til nine or
nine-thirty. So ten o’clock? We meet out behind the gymnasium at the benches
and then usually go somewhere and stay out until midnight or so.”

I bit my lip. “My mom usually doesn’t like me out any later
than eleven.” Actually, my curfew was eleven on weekends only, ten on a weekday
night. But I couldn’t mention that and look like a complete dud.

Todd shrugged. “I could take you home whenever.”

“Okay.” I shrugged too like it was no big deal, when all the
while, my pulse kept pumping faster and my palms kept growing sweatier. My skin
went all pale and cold as I hoped and prayed my mother didn’t say no, yet hoped
and prayed that’s kind of exactly what she’d say.

Did I really want to go to a Southeast basketball game and
hang out with a bunch of people I didn’t know? Heck, no. But could I risk
turning them down and being an outsider for another year and half before I
graduated? Heck, no.

Rock and hard place. Guess where I stood?

The bell rang and I nearly shouted in relief. Thank goodness
I could finally get out of this class so I wouldn’t let someone talk me into
donating a kidney or something.

I leapt to my feet and hurled myself toward the exit. Todd,
curse him, kept pace, entering the flooded hallway right behind me with Ryder
piling in behind us.

“Let me introduce you around,” Todd offered, setting his
hand on my shoulder and redirecting me with a nudge. His familiarity with me
was shocking, but I didn’t shrug off his uncomfortable arm. Didn’t want to be
rude.

“That’s Cory,” he started, pointing toward a dark-haired boy
walking hand-in-hand with a longhaired girl. Cory paused to slap a high-five
with Ryder.

“And that’s Melinda,” Todd continued, motioning toward the
pretty girl with Cory.

She smiled at me and held out a hand. “Call me Mindy.”

We shook, and I felt comforted by her presence. Had I
perchance just made another friend? I hoped so.

“Those two are Wendi and Vance. And—”

“
Ryder
!” A shrill
squeal blocked out anything else Todd was about to say.

I looked up and spotted the cheerleader with number forty-two
stenciled on her cheek sprinting toward him. When she was a foot away, she
leapt, forcing him to scramble in order to catch her.

My jaw dropped as I watched the face-painted cheerleader
splash her lips all over Ryder’s jaw before she cupped his face in both hands
and gave him a big wet one right on the mouth.

“And that’s Kiera,” Todd finished as the couple continued to
suck face. “Yates’s woman.” He caught my eye and wrinkled his brows as if
sharing an inside joke to let me know he thought
Yates’s woman
 
was a bit over
the top.

I managed a feeble grin, glad at least Todd wasn’t so impressed
by the pretty cheerleader.

“What? Did I hear my name?” Kiera asked when she finally
came up for air. She looped her arms around Ryder’s neck as he let her slide
back down to the ground from where he’d been holding her off her feet around
the waist.

I forced myself to look away. My cheeks burned with
embarrassment for watching such a private moment that had been so openly
displayed.

I have no idea why seeing Ryder Yates kiss another girl hurt
so much. I didn’t even know him. He’d asked for my name once, and that was it,
our entire history described in one sentence. But I’d been so hopeful and the
deflated little balloon of wishful thinking seemed to take up more space inside
me than when it had been fully expanded and full of optimism.

“This is Grace.” Todd introducing me to Ryder’s girlfriend
dragged me back to the horrible moment. “She just transferred here from
Hillsburg.”

I don’t know if it was the mention of Hillsburg or just
plain me that turned her off, but Kiera wrinkled her nose in disgust. “So
what’re you doing
here
?”

I opened my mouth but Todd answered for me. “Her mom got
remarried. Her new stepdad lives in town.”

That seemed to perk Kiera’s attention. “New stepdad? From
Osage? Who’d your mom marry?” She seemed highly insulted to learn something had
happened in her town without her knowledge.

“Barry Struder. He’s a den—”

Kiera’s gasp cut me off. “Dr.
Struder
?” She almost gagged on the name as her entire face pinched
into a grimace. “Eww. Your new
stepdad
is that creepy dentist who lives over on the west edge of town?”

Ryder and I spoke together. “Kiera,” he hissed in a reprimanding
undertone just as I clutched my rose necklace to my throat.

“He’s not creepy,” I railed.

“What?” Kiera asked her boyfriend, completely ignoring me.

“I doubt she appreciates you calling her new
dad
creepy,” Ryder gritted out from
between his teeth.

“Well, he
is
. He
comes to every home game and doesn’t have any kids in school. Not until now
anyway,” she added, sending me a condemning look for causing that fact.

“A lot of adults in town come to our games without having
children in school,” Ryder argued. “It’s called local support.”

“Yeah, but those people actually watch the
game
. Dr. Struder sits by the students
and stares at us cheerleaders the entire time.” She shivered and distorted her
face again. “He’s a total perv. One time I couldn’t find my money fast enough
to buy what I ordered at the concession stand, and suddenly he was right there
behind me, offering to pay for my food.”

“How does that make him a pervert?” I demanded. “Sounds like
a nice, charitable action to me.”

Kiera snorted. “Charitable? Yeah, right. Who knows what he
would’ve asked me to do to pay him back. I said, ‘No, thanks,’ and escaped with
my life intact.”

I could not believe my ears. Ryder Yates’s girlfriend was a
total witch. I gawked at her a moment longer, waiting for the horns, tail,
forked tongue and cloven hooves to make an appearance. When I realized she
could keep them cleverly hidden, I spun away and stalked off.

“Way to go, Kiera,” I heard Todd admonish. A second later,
he appeared at my side, taking hold of my elbow. “Wait up, Grace.”

I didn’t pause but kept right on storming toward my next
class, wherever
that
was. “I don’t
care what she says. Barry’s a nice guy. He treats my mom right and has been
nothing but kind to me.”

Todd winced and scratched his goatee. “Yeah. I’m sorry about
Kiera. She’s…well, she’s Kiera.”

I softened and offered him a smile, though I still wanted to
go back to Miss Perky Cheerleader and scratch out her eyes. “You don’t have to
apologize for her.” The witch should apologize for herself.

He looked like he wanted to grovel some more, yet the whole
incident had nothing to do with him, so I cut him off before he could start.