Hard To Get

Chapter 3: Gaze

Inside, most kids were assembled in slouchy groups on the bleachers, while several enthusiasts, including an already-sweating Kevin, were already racing up and down the court like they were playing in an NCAA tournament. Ms. Scheffler, clad in her usual crisp white polo shirt and ironed green gym shorts, was ticking off names on the attendance sheet. With a nausea-inducing pang, I spotted Ron and Leah sitting practically in each other's laps in a top bleacher. I looked away fast and followed Nicole to the locker room, which was mostly deserted and strawn with discarded jeans, T-shirts, and flip-flops. Nicole dug into her bag and tossed me a pair of shorts.

"These are tiny!" I held the minuscule garment up in front of me. "I said shorts, not underwear!"

Nicole sat down on one of the wooden benches with a thump and pulled off her jeans. "They're just my track shorts, that's all. I don't like all that fabric when I'm trying to run."

"No, I guess you like your butt cheeks hanging out the back instead," I mumbled, trying ti squeeze the shorts over my hips. I wiggled right and left and finally got them up, just as the locker room door banged open.

"Anyone not on the court in ten seconds gets an F for the day!" Ms. Scheffler hollered in at us.

Without glancing in the mirror, I yanked on my T-shirt, sprinted for the door, and slid onto a bottom bleacher just as the bell rang.

Kevin spotted me as I sat down. "Val! Val! Hey, Val!" he yelled, skidding to a halt midsprint and waving at me like a two-hundred-pound cheerleader.

Brian North and Kerth Gosdin turned around too. "Hi! Hi, Val!" It was like a chorus of baby birds, except not babies and not birds.

I offered them weak smile and twisted around to see if Ron had noticed my popularity. But I couldn't tell because Leah was now sitting directly in his lap, completely obscuring his face with her thicket of blond waves. I clenched my nails into my palms in hopes that the pain in my hands would distract me from the pain in my heart.

"Teams, everyone!" Ms. Scheffler ordered. "Captains are Ron and Nicole."

Oh, god. I licked my lips, which were suddenly parched.

Ron climbed down and stood in front of us. His sun-streaked light brown hair curled around his forehead and ears, and his big, sexy shoulders pushed againts the thin fabric of his T-shirt.

He looked so hot, I felt like crying all over again. Involuntarily, I twisted around. Leah saw me looking and waggled her fingers at me with a smirk.

I bit my tounge.

Nicole got off the bench and went to stand next to Ron. She raised her eyebrows at me. "You're on my team," she mouthed. I closed my eyes and offered a tiny prayer: Please, God, let Nicole pick first. I can't stand watching him pick her over me----again.

I surreptitiously picked at my tiny shorts, which had an uncomfortable way of wedging themselves where they weren't invited.

"Ron, you can pick first." Ms. Scheffler waved her clipboard at him.

He didn't even pause. "Lea" he said with a big cheesy grin.

I coughed. Lea? Did he say lea? I looked around for a place to vomit but, unfortunately, found none.

Leah, however, stoop up, offered the assembled gym class her very best beauty-pageant smile, and skipped neatly down the stairs. I morosely watched her giant blond ponytail bounce by.

"I choose Leah" Nicole announced.

I stood up. A murmur ran through the bleachers. Kevin's eyes grew wide. For a moment, I coudn't figure out what was going on. Then I saw Nicole's face, which had an apologetic grimace around the mouth. Our eyes met. What? I mouthed.