“Are your ribs taped up?” she exclaimed.
“Umm…yeah,” I admitted as I tried to keep my eyes from watering.
“You really were in the hospital yesterday?”
“Yeah.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing,” I said with a shake of my head. “Don’t worry about it.”
“What happened to your ribs?” She accented each word, and when I looked at her eyes, I knew she wasn’t going to let it drop.
“I got hit during a scrimmage yesterday,” I told her. “Just cracked one—no biggie.”
“During a scrimmage?”
“Yeah—you know, just a quick, friendly game.”
“Doesn’t sound too friendly,” she remarked.
“Well…shit happens.” I looked away, unable to meet her eyes. I felt her hand on my arm, and I looked over at her scrunched up face.
“Sorry,” she said.
“It’s okay,” I told her. “I deserve it.”
“Deserve a broken rib?”
“Yeah…um…no, I mean…”
Shit.
“I mean, I deserved you hitting me.”
“Hrm.” Her eyes narrowed at me again. She took a big breath and huffed it out. “Who saw the Jeep?”
“A couple people saw it Saturday, I guess,” I told her. “And Clint saw me leaving in the morning. He just assumed…”
I turned to her and leaned closer.
“I swear, Rumple—I didn’t say anything to anybody. I didn’t even tell anyone I saw you. I never would have done that, not after…”
I looked away for a second and then looked back at her.
“Not after what you did for me.”
There were tears in the corner of her eyes.
“I hadn’t even gotten into the building yet,” she said, “before Clint came up and smacked me on the butt and told me he was ready when I was. By the time I got to the door, Mika grabbed my waist and asked what I was doing for dinner. I had four more offers before my first class was over.”
“Shit…”
“And then Crystal Lloyd called me a slut,” she said. “She told me only the really stupid girls spread their legs for you the first time, and I should have at least held out until the second date.”
I balled my hands into fists. I wouldn’t hit a girl, but I might go smack her brother around for having the same last name.
“Next thing I know, I find out the whole school is talking about how you fucked me in my Dad’s bed.”