Laughter bubbled out of us as more kids streamed into the cafeteria. It was hard to miss the looks tossed my way, but I kept my chin up. The last thing I wanted was to be the center of attention or the source of gossip. If I could just ride it all out, it would go away. The guys were acting like the guys—well, two of the four so far—and they’d promised no more kissing at school.
Maybe if we could just downplay it all, then we could avoid issues. Of course, Patty making a beeline for our table suggested we may not be that lucky. The strawberry-blonde wore a determined expression. But it wasn’t Archie she was looking at.
It was me.
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Archie muttered. Yep, he’d seen her too, and Coop twisted to track her progress.
Ignoring both of them, she circled the table until she stood near me. “Can I borrow you?”
I raised my brows but before I could say anything, Archie said, “What do you want, Patty?”
But she didn’t look at him, she kept her attention on me. “It’ll only take a few minutes.”
“Depends,” I said, holding up a hand when Archie opened his mouth. “Where is it you want to borrow me to?”
She regarded me with her pale brown eyes, and they were kind of creepy when she stared like that, wholly focused on me like she could mentally and physically block out that I was sitting with Coop and Archie.
“Just over there,” she said nodding toward the other side of the cafeteria, like the vague, general direction was enough of an answer. “Please?”
“You don’t have to,” Archie said, his tone clipped.
I gave him a quick grin and shifted my backpack to my chair and grabbed my coffee. “I’ll be right back.” Practice should have been over by now, so hopefully Jake and Ian would be there soon. For now, I followed Patty across the cafeteria.
Twice I heard my name mentioned in a whisper and laughter afterward. Whatever. Better to ignore it. If I told myself that enough, I might even start to believe it.
The table Patty led me to wasn’t empty. Maria sat there, and she blew out a long breath as we arrived. While we were far from alone, they’d taken a table on the near opposite side from where the guys and I usually sat, and there were still a couple of empty tables between us and the rest of those already in the cafeteria. But people were constantly streaming in, and we had maybe twenty minutes before the first bell.
“Thanks,” Patty said as she pulled out a chair and I debated sitting.
Maria leaned forward, folded arms on the table. “Hey, Frankie.”
“Hey,” I said. “What’s up?” I glanced from one to the other.
“Sit down?” At least Patty phrased it as a question.
Still debating it, I decided to go with at least some conciliation. If we could make peace, then maybe they would get off the guys’ backs.
“Please?” Patty added. “We probably have five minutes if we’re lucky before one of your watchdogs shows up.”
“Patty,” Maria said.
“Well it’s true.” Patty scowled then shook her head. “Sorry.”
I waved off the apology and pulled out a chair. “What’s up?”
“Thank you,” Maria said. “I feel like we should… talk after the thing this weekend.”
“We don’t have to,” I told her.
She grimaced. “Don’t be nice about it.”
“I’m not being nice about it.” I shrugged. “You didn’t do it.”
The look the pair exchanged, however, suggested otherwise. “Well…” Patty said slowly. “Maybe we didn’t post them but…”
“We shared our pictures,” Maria admitted. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m pissed at them—pissed at Jake. He’s a dick. The others aren’t much better, even Bubba, who I thought more of before he pulled that shit last week.” The heat in her voice spoke volumes, despite the fact she wasn’t shouting. “But I didn’t agree with what was posted about you.”
“To be honest,” Patty added. “I don’t really like you but I don’t hate you.”