Ten Things

Ch.14-An Unexpected Ally

Grace

When Friday came around the whole school was in an excited frenzy. I guessed I understood, as I was pretty anxious myself.

While Tiffany was explaining the ins and outs of Heart to Dustin, who actually appeared a bit more pepped up than when I first met him, I stood by content just to listen. She was getting pretty wild with her hand gestures anyway and there was no need to risk getting thwacked in the face.

“Miss Loving?”

I turned around, stumbling back as I was met with a thick chest. I craned my neck back, seeing a familiar set of dark eyes and a crooked nose atop a thick moustache. Where had I seen him before? He was huge and lumbering. Where had I seen him before?

“You are Grace Loving, correct?”

I nodded, brows dipping in confusion. “Yes. Who are you?”

“My name is Coach Wilkins,” he replied, and instantly I remembered. The football coach. The guy mercilessly screaming at Cole. For some reason that didn’t make me very happy, and certainly didn’t earn him any brownie points with me.

“Oh. What can I do for you, Coach Wilkins?”

“I was wondering if I could have a word with you after school.”

I exchanged a look with Tiffany beside me who just shrugged. “Is it anything serious?”

“Oh, no,” he assured, shaking his head. “There are just a few things I wish to discuss.”

Well that didn’t sound good. “Okay.”

He nodded, hovering awkwardly for a moment before turning on his heel and striding away. I blinked after him, and then turned to Tiffany. Her eyes were wide. “Do you think he’s angry for you sitting in on his practice?” she asked.

That thought hadn’t occurred to me. “I hope not.”

“Ooh, he probably thinks you’ll be a distraction . . . Which is pretty fucked up if you think about it because the cheerleaders sit in every single practice.”

I shrugged one shoulder. “It’s most likely nothing.”

“You don’t know that,” Tiffany whispered, and I noticed Dustin had walked off sometime during my short conversation with Coach Wilkins. We entered through the doors of the cafeteria, my stomach growling. I had my first real appetite in days and I couldn’t wait to satisfy it. 

“They’re serving legit pizza and ice cream sundaes today,” Tiffany informed me, “since it’s homecoming night. How great is that?”

“Great,” I agreed with a gentle smile. We moved up in line and Tiffany retrieved her tray, setting a carton of chocolate milk on it.

“Hey, Halo, can you get me a fork?”

I nodded, turning to grab the fork. I picked it out of the utensil bin and moved to hand it to her, but suddenly a different body had shoved their way between us and the next thing I knew something cold and stick had made its way onto the front of my sweater.

I gasped in shock, jumping back. The fork fell out of my hands as I unstuck my soiled top from my front. It looked like a mix of milk and sherbet.

“Oops,” an indifferent voice said. Dainty shoulders shrugged unapologetically as I met Margaret’s eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

I highly doubted she hadn’t, and I still wasn’t sure what I had done to get on her bad side so badly. But if there was anything I knew it was that people usually did the things they did just to get a rise out of you. Succumbing to her level would make me no different. The only option was to be the bigger person until her ugly phase hopefully passed. “That’s alright,” I forced the kind words out of me. “I’m sorry I was in your way.”