Not Another Jock

Chapter Three

I stared at Caz, his familiar smile from less than an hour ago still on his face, his eyes trained on the floor.

"We've met." I said, a small smile pulling my lips upwards. He looked up, briefly, his smile widening.

Lauren looked surprised, glancing back at her son for answers. He shrugged simply, as though to say 'It was nothing'.

"Well, you haven't met Tyler yet." She continued, shaking off the surprise. "Ty, why don't you say hi to Harper?"

He nodded, stepping forward. I stood up, ready to greet him.

"Tyler, nice to meet you." He said, holding out a hand for me to shake.

"Harper." I said, taking his offered hand and giving it a small shake.

There was an uneasy silence for a minute, even after we withdrew our hands. Lauren seemed to sense the unease because she clapped her hands together, making me jump slightly.

"Boys, why don't you show Harper around?" She suggested. I could see that both the mothers were silently begging us to leave so they could catch up, but they didn't want to say it.

Caz nodded, and I watched Tyler as I went past. He offered me a grin, but didn't move from his spot beside the couch. I shrugged it off, following Caz into the kitchen and through another door into a second living room.

"This is nice." I said, looking around the room. "The room, I mean."

"Yeah, Dad built it a year or two ago." He said, sitting down onto the couch, crossing his legs. "Mom nearly had a fit when we tried to paint it blue."

I laughed slightly, sitting down on the same couch as him, but on the opposite side, back stiff. We stayed quiet until Tyler walked into the room, sitting down between the two of us.

"So, Harper, you moved here from Nevada?" He asked, looking over at me.

I gathered that Tyler was the popular, loud, jock of the two brothers. I'd even go as far as to say that he was the jock that all the girls drooled over when he spoke two words to them.

"Yeah, Nevada." I confirmed, twisting to face the boys better. "It was real nice up there."

"What do you think of down here?" Caz asked, leaning forward to see around his brother. "For the hour or so you've been here, I mean."

"It's not bad, it's better than if we were in the city." I said, subtly peering around Tyler to see Caz. "I couldn't stand living in a city."

Caz nodded, understandingly, while Tyler looked at me, asking, "Why not?"

I shrugged. "I've always lived on a ranch. I've always had land and a barn and gone riding, I'd hate to not be able to do it anymore."

"You ride?" Tyler asked, eyebrows raised in surprise. "Did you ride western or English?"

"Western, I didn't like English." I shrugged, telling the truth. "Unless I was jumping."

Caz's face lit up slightly at the mention of riding, which made me think he also liked to ride. Tyler, however, didn't seem as interested in my riding.

"Opinions on school?" He asked, leaning back, slouching against the backrest. "Good or bad?"

"I don't like school, but I'm good at it." I replied, wringing my hands. "What's school like down here?"

"I don't like it." Tyler admitted right away, which didn't surprise me. "I'm in it for the football. Caz is the family nerd, right C?"

Caz blushed at his brother's words, shrugging his shoulders.