“That’s not—” I shook my head. “I didn’t—”
“Your bus is here, Audrey.” He nodded his he
ad in the direction of the street corner where the city bus had just appeared. “Better hurry home. Wouldn’t want your precious family to worry about you.”
Our gazes remained locked for a second longer. Collin’s eyes burned bright with frustration, as if he wanted to say more, but was holding himself back. I almost wished he would unleash. Explain to me what had just happened between us.
Walking past him, I took one last glance at his face. He was staring off in the distance, but I thought I saw what looked like pain in his eyes. And when I was on the bus, I continued to think about that expression, memorizing every little detail until it was etched into my brain. When I finally got home, I sat on my bed with my guitar on my knee and waited for a song to arrive to help me sort out what I was feeling.
It never came.
Chapter Nine
For the next two weeks, Collin avoided me like a supermodel avoided carbs. It didn’t matter how many times I texted, called, or tried to catch his eye in the hall. Or even if I tried to get his attention on the football field at games. He wouldn’t respond.
I went through a cycle of emotion. Confusion: wondering what exactly I’d said to make him so mad. Frustration: that he wouldn’t just get over it so we could move on with our song. And finally, desperation as Mrs. Banks’ deadline for our song ideas came steadily closer.
“What’s his problem, anyway?” I asked, taking a vicious chomp out of my apple at lunch while I stared at Collin from across the cafeteria.
He sat at the unofficial jock table, of course. Right between his linebacker and receiver. His hair perfectly tousled, that stupid cocky grin on his face, and his face lighting up as Miranda Devine, a senior on the dance team, came over to whisper in his ear. I bristled at the sight, chewing my apple so hard I thought I might split a molar.
“Roid rage?” Mandy offered across from me, sipping on her protein shake. “Maybe that’s how he got those muscles. Remember sophomore year when he used to get into all of those fights? I heard that a couple of the other football players got their hands on some.”
I considered it for a moment, then shook my head. Those fabulous biceps had to be one hundred percent real. “Nah, if it was steroids, he’d probably be chewing my head off instead of ignoring my existence.”
“I heard him tell Tyler in Lit class that his dad was out of rehab again,” Trina said, tucking her long hair behind her ears. “Can’t be easy living in foster care with your dad out. Maybe that’s it.”
My eyes narrowed as I studied Collin again, my vision colored with sadness. I couldn’t imagine not living with my family. Sure, mine had basically been decimated in the last year, but at least I still had Mom and Lexi. Collin had been living with strangers for the past three years. What if they were hard on him? What if they abused him? And who knew what had happened with his own parents. Suddenly, I was feeling a lot more charitable toward Collin and his ridiculous mood swings.
“I don’t know, but even if I have to march onto that football field during the middle of practice today and drag him off by the face mask, I’m going to do it,” I said. “Enough’s enough.”
As it turned out, I nearly did have to march on the football field. Collin was MIA until the very last bell, when I spotted him heading toward the athletes’ locker rooms. Stashing my backpack in my hallway locker, I sprinted after him and didn’t stop until I grabbed his arm and he spun around to look at me.
“What do you want, Audrey?” he asked, his eyes narrowing as his glaze flicked over my body and returned to my face. “I’ve got practice.”
“We need to practice, too.” I ignored his irritated huff and lifted my chin. “I know you’ve been avoiding me, but Mrs. Banks is going to expect a song from us soon. We have to work on it.”
His lips thinned and he quirked his eyebrows. “No, we don’t. You made yourself perfectly clear at the park the other day. This isn’t our performance; it’s yours.”
I ran a hand through my curls, sighing. Mrs. Banks could be terribly stubborn. She wouldn’t accept the fact that the pair she’d put together for this performance had decided to split. For all I knew, she’d cancel the entire thing.
I couldn’t have that. I needed this. I needed Collin. What did I have to do? Get down on my knees and beg?
“Please, let’s just get this done,” I pleaded. “We can’t start practicing until we have the song written.”
“I thought you already had a song.” He crossed his arms over his chest, making his biceps bulge.
“Well, you hated it,” I replied through gritted teeth, “so we need to write a new one.”
Did I really need to remind him that he was the one causing all the stink here? I’d given into his critiques for the good of the team. He could do the same.
His gaze lingered on my face for a long moment, and I thought I had him. But then his lips curled into a sneer and he shrugged. “No, I don’t think so. You have fun with your little song, Audrey. I’m out.” Turning on the heels of his boots, he stomped off toward the locker room.
His quitting should’ve made me ecstatic. This was what I’d wanted — my performance all to myself. No one else to share in the spotlight. I should’ve jumped for joy. Instead, it felt like my heart had flatlined.
Collin couldn’t quit after our very first rehearsal. That’s not how things worked. If anyone was going to quit, it was me. Especially after his harsh critiques of my song. He didn’t get to walk away from me. Not today.
Before I could stop myself, I marched right up to the boys’ locker room door and yanked it open. Plastering a hand over my face, I stepped inside and kept my eyes glued to the floor. No need to scar myself by seeing something that I shouldn’t. No girl needed to live with that at the early age of seventeen. With five confident steps forward, I barred myself in the doorway to the main lockers and ignored the influx of wolf whistles and warning shouts about a girl in the locker room.