Page 6

Sharon, Debs, and I were there, cheering on just like everyone else. With Debs’s encouragement—she was always far more outgoing than Sharon and me—we headed down the bleachers to cheer the guys on. We stood there, next to the rest of the crowd,the cheerleaders still jumping around like they had springs in their shoes.
When the team began running towards us, we were surrounded by a bunch of other girls, and Ryan, being Ryan, welcomed them with open arms. Back then, I thought he was charming, the confident bad boy who just loved the attention. He started grabbing girls and, to their delight, lightly kissing them. One after another he went, his teammates cheering him on. But as he got to me, he slowed a little, and giving me a strange glance as he kissed the girl to my right, he hesitated.
“Kiss her,” one of the guys said.
But he just stood there, looking at me. And then he shook his head. “Nah. She’s the geek. If I kiss her, she might run off screaming.”
I mean, he wasn’t wrong. I was pretty studious at school. In fact, I took my studies pretty seriously. Back then, I wanted to leave Maple Springs and make a name for myself.
But at that moment, as his friends laughed along with him, I had never been so humiliated in my life. Some of the other girls laughed; some looked sorry for me. I hadn’t realized I was frozen to the spot until Debs and Sharon grabbed me and dragged me away. Later, they tried to comfort me, but the damage was done.
It’s funny how life works.
Now he needs my geekiness, my expertise, my knowledge. Well, he can just go and find his help from someone else.
3
Ryan
Well, that didn’t exactlygo as planned.
Maybe I should have taken Steve’s advice and not gone at all, but my curiosity got the better of me. After what John was saying about her, I couldn’t stop myself from looking her up while we were still in the coffee shop.
At first, I didn’t tell Steve and John that I was checking out her website. I figured they’d only try and talk me out of it. It was only when I saw her photograph that I remembered who she was. Not that the picture on her website looked anything like the girl I went to school with. Gone were the geeky glasses she used to wear. Also missing was the shy appearance I remember her having.
And the guys were right. She had accolade after accolade listed, with some pretty hefty recommendations from athletes with names even I recognized. Some of these guys might be amateurs now, but it’ll only be a couple of years before they’re playing with the big boys.
“What are you looking at?” Steve said. “One of your many girls texting you?”
“Nope.”
I’d then turned my phone around so he could see.
His face crumpled, and he shook his head. “Don’t do it, Ryan. I’m telling you. You’ll regret it.”
John grinned. “You should go and see her. Honestly, she really knows her stuff.”
“Don’t encourage him,” Steve growled.
“How about we make a bet?” I said. “Who’s up for winning a few dollars?”
Steve huffed a sigh. “I thought you didn’t like to lose?”
“You don’t think I can win her over?” I mocked. “Steve, your lack of faith in me is insulting.”
“Listen. I’m married. You forget, I know what it feels like to live with a woman scorned. They never forget, man. They’re like elephants.”
“Did you just call your wife an elephant?” John chuckled.
Steve tilted his head and gave John a snarl.
“Alright, ladies. Quit your domestics,” I said, pushing myself up from the chair.
“You’re going now?” Steve balked, looking like he was going to have a seizure.
“Sure,” I shrugged. “Why not?”
He raised his hands in surrender. “Okay. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”