Fast Car

Call your girlfriend, it's time you had the talk.

'You know where Shan is, Ty?' Kat asked as she dropped down next to Tyler and Matty at the bleachers.

'Man, the only time that girl tells me where she is, she's sitting right next to me.' Tyler grunted with an eye roll.

'Dammit, she said she'd come to practice with me.' Kat groaned.

'It's not going to be very interesting,' Matty stated in a bored tone. 'Coach is making half the team do laps because of some 'incident' in the library today, so the rest of us have nothing to do until they're finished.'

'It's difficult being the golden boy,' Ally, who was sitting a few rows in front of them with some of the girls from cheer, said sweetly. 

'Go back to plotting the Freshmen's demise, Alison.' Tyler shouted to her playfully. She flipped him the bird and turned back to the girls, saying something under her breath, they all giggled.

'The freshmen's demise?' Katrina asked, dubiously.

'Oh, some freshmen made it their collective aim to demolish the cheer squad because it's demeaning and sexist.' Matty said conspiratorily. 

'I mean, it sounds like they have a well-grounded argument.' Kat grinned. 

'They do, but you know what Alison is like.' Kat nodded her affirmation at him with a grin.

'I'm surprised you're so out of the loop, Kit-Kat.' Tyler grinned. 'first, you've lost track of shan, and now you don't know what Alison's up to.'

Kat wrinkled her nose at the nickname, only one person really ever called her that. 'I'm never able to keep track of Shan. and I've been babysitting Scott a lot this week.' She lifted her arm in the air vaguely in explanation. 'And he's avoiding Alison.'

Tyler grinned 'Of course he is. Probably afraid that if he looks her in the eye, she'll try to jump him.'

'Alison likes Scott?' Matty asked.

'Dude, where have you been?'

Katrina zoned out the boys' chatter, as just then Cain Sanders walked onto the pitch. He was about fifteen minutes late for practice, but he swanned in as if he had all the time in the world. His eyes immediately found her in the bleachers, and he stared at her for a second, with an inscrutable expression. He raised his eyebrow in the direction of the boys sitting next to her, and she scowled at him. She thought she saw a faint flicker of a smile, but he turned around and jogged away. The exchange barely lasted a second. She'd not spoken to him, or even really seen him since that night in the car, and their exchanges were starting to feel dreamlike. At school, he ignored her, because she was always with her friends, but every now and then, when they weren't looking, he'd catch her eye or wink in her direction. She found it aggravating, she was still aware of the fact he was cocky and confrontational, he walked around school like he owned the place, and people let him. But she got a little thrill whenever they exchanged looks like she had a secret that nobody knew about, which she guessed she kinda did. She wasn't the type of girl who had secrets, she was private and kept her thoughts to herself, but she had never really been interested in keeping secrets or lying, it was too much drama. But she had a feeling that this fragile, quasi-friendship she'd formed with Cain was only viable if they were alone. She was afraid if she told someone about their encounters, the bubble would pop, and she'd realize how stupid she was being. Then, the little, peaceful, safe space she'd found for herself, in the front seat of his Audi, in the dark corners of the night, would be gone.

'So you going to the boob debut tomorrow?' Tyler broke her reverie.

'I wouldn't miss it,' Kat quipped. She noticed that Matty had left to go and talk to some other boys on the team.

Tyler looked her up and down, a glint in his eye. 'Of course, you wouldn't.'

Kat narrowed her eyes at him and watched one of the boys doing laps practically crash over the finish line, falling in a heap at coaches' feet.

'So, is your friend going to be there?' Tyler asked, pointedly.

Kat's heart sped up. 'Friend?'

'The infamous and mysterious Shannon McKinney.'

'Shan?' Kat relaxed. 'Of course, she is, now whose out the loop.' 

'She never tells me anything these days,'  He grinned, nonchalantly. Kat frowned, that wasn't a good sign. The whistle blew, and the other members of the team got to their feet.

'I think you've been summoned, Kat said dryly.

Tyler jumped to his feet, 'See you later, trouble.' and then he winked.

Kat watched his back as walked away, confused. She was surprised by his carefree and charming attitude, considering he and Shan were obviously on the rocks, yet again. Usually, when Shannon began to lose interest in Tyler he moped around like a heartbroken puppy. Kat wondered what had gone wrong this time, she vowed to feed Shan a few drinks and get her to spill the beans at this party tomorrow.