Major Crush(35)
Author: Jennifer Echols

“No, I really should go. I have a big algebra test tomorrow that I need to study for. I wasn’t expecting this to happen.”

“Me neither. I feel sorry for Walter.”

I nodded sadly. Crushing on someone who didn’t like you back sucked royally. A nd up until a few hours before, I’d thought I knew exactly how Walter felt.

Drew squeezed my hand and let go. “I’m lucky you like me better. A nd I intend to keep it that way. Can you take a break from algebra? Can I call you tonight?”

“Yes. Can you take a break from fetching Cheetos?”

“She’ll be through with Cheetos by then. A fter dinner she changes over to Ritz crackers with cream cheese and green pepper jelly. By bedtime it’s ice cream.”

He rubbed his hands up and down both my thighs, lighting them on fire. I didn’t mind too much.

“We’re close now, right?” he asked.

“I’d say so.”

“A nd we can tell each other anything, right?”

“Right,” I said warily.

“Have you been hiding my band shoes?”

I didn’t see Drew at all after school that week. He spent the week on the tractor. He had to cut all the hay before a storm front came through on Friday. You can’t bale hay when it’s wet because it will rot. See, I’d learned something already! He was good for me.

He was really, really good for me. Each day, I saw him before school, at break, at lunch, and of course during band practice. A nd then, Friday in the lunchroom, we made a date.

He scooted his chair close to mine and bent to whisper in my ear. “Tonight after the game, will you come over to my house? A nd before you answer, let me just say that this is very important to me. I haven’t kissed you since Sunday.”

I considered my salad on the table. I was not going to miss another meal because of Drew Morrow. But the lunch period was half an hour long. I could flirt with Drew and still have time for salad. A nd Drew was so delicious.

“Why do you need me to come over?” I whispered back. “We already know what it’s like to make out on a tractor.”

“I also have a hay baler that needs testing,” he said. “A nd an all-terrain vehicle. A nd a riding lawn mower. A nd a barn full of hay.” He stroked his thumb up my thumb, then down into the hollow between my thumb and finger.

“Oh,” I said. “In that case, I’d be happy to help you out.” I shivered as his thumb made its way up to my fingertip and down the other side.

“No PDA allowed in school.”

“This isn’t PDA . I’m hardly touching you.” His thumb lingered and tickled between my fingers.

He really was hardly touching me. We weren’t even holding hands, so we couldn’t get in trouble. But I glanced nervously around the crowded lunchroom like we were doing something wicked.

“I’ll bet you do this to all the girls,” I said.

He shook his head and smiled. “I like your hands.” He took my hand in both of his and ran his rough thumbs across it like he was reading my palm. “I used to watch you play drums when you were in ninth grade. That was amazing. You were really good, even back then. Fun to watch. You know, I called you JonBenét to get your attention, because I liked you. Stupid, I know. But your dad’s job, and the money you’ve grown up with … It’s intimidating when you live in an old farmhouse.” He squeezed my hand. “I’m glad we’ve got that settled.”

I made it a point not to swoon over boys. Note to self: Make exception for Drew.

I started and snatched my hand away at a clatter across from us, but it was only A llison setting down her tray. “Did you hear?” she asked.

“Hear what?” Drew asked.

Luther plopped his tray down next to A llison’s. “I guess you heard.”

“Heard what?” I asked, beginning to dread the answer.

A llison slid her eyes from me to Drew and back to me. She pulled at her earring. “Why haven’t you heard this? Everyone in the school knows.”

“That Virginia won drum major,” Luther explained.

A llison gave Luther a shut up look, but Luther didn’t understand it.

Luther went on, “A nd that Mr. O’Toole made Drew drum major too because he didn’t think a girl could do it by herself. A llison, why do you keep kicking me? Ouch, you’re wearing heels.”

“It would have been better to tell them gently, when they were each alone,” A llison said. “But I guess this is how boys do things.”

“I don’t know who you’re calling a boy,” Luther said.

I stared at Luther and A llison. I was still in Drew’s barn, testing the freshly cut hay. I didn’t want to leave the barn. My brain yelled to my heart, Come out of the barn! Relationship over!

Drew had been more interested in flirting with me than in eating when we first sat down, but suddenly he was hungry. He had a cheeseburger, fries, broccoli, and collard greens to get through before band practice. A t the moment he was working hard on a salad with egg and bacon and something red on it. Beets.

“Who says I won drum major?” I asked without taking my eyes off Drew.

“The Evil Twins,” A llison and Luther said together.

“No wonder!” I exclaimed, relieved, and almost angry that they’d bothered to tell me in the first place. “Of course it’s not true. They’re just mad that Drew broke up with Cacey. They’re trying to stir up trouble.”

“It’s probably true,” Drew corrected me between bites. “Their mother is the secretary of the Band Boosters, and she used to have Mr. and Mrs.

O’Toole over to dinner a lot. Mr. O’Toole probably told their mother.” He concentrated on his salad again.

A llison caught my eye. She understood that my expressionless drum major face was not going to last much longer before I started to cry right here in the lunchroom. “Drew, why are you acting like that?” she asked.

“Like what?” he asked with his mouth full.

“Why are you eating?”

“Lunchtime.”

I shook my head at her. It was no use. But she held up her hand, signaling me to hold on. “A ren’t you going to make sure Virginia knows that everything’s okay between you two? It’s not her fault that she won, or that Mr. O’Toole kept it a secret, or that the Evil Twins have told the secret now. It’s not her fault.”

“Back off,” Drew said without looking up from his plate.