Freaks of Greenfield High (Chapter 11)

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Freaks of Greenfield High

By Maree Anderson


Chapter Eleven


Tyler and Caro arrived home with Matt in tow, and discovered their mother had gotten off work early. Much to Tyler's embarrassment, his mom made it abundantly clear she was thrilled to itty bitty pieces he'd brought a friend over.

Matt? A friend? Yeah, right. Not hardly. And Tyler only got his mom to quit plying Matt with cookies and sodas and pointed questions by dragging his "friend" up to his room.

Caro stuck her head through the doorway. "Watch out for that chair," she said to Matt. "It bites." And then, mimicking her mother with a skill that made the hair on Tyler's nape stand to attention, "I think you're mature enough to shut your door when you have a friend over, Tyler."

"Shut up, Caro." Tyler slammed the door and resumed his seat on the end of his bed.

"Your mom's cool."

"Yeah. She is. Now cut the crap. What's with the sudden need to talk to me, Matt?"

Matt scratched his chin. His gaze flitted around Tyler's room, taking in the posters on the walls, the worn carpet, the basic wooden furnishings, finally resting on the guitar case poking out from under the bed. "I didn't send Nessa the video clip of you and Shawn fighting, okay? I showed it to her, sure. But she sneaked my phone and forwarded it to hers."

"Whatever. That all you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Not exactly. Wanted to know the real deal about Homecoming."

"Yeah. Right. Like you haven't heard the story a zillion times already." And acted like you believed it. And let me hang. And like I'm ever gonna confide in you in a million years.

Matt leaned back in the wobbly desk chair and nearly assed over when it tilted far more than it should have.

Tyler sniggered. "Sorry, dude. But Caro did warn you 'bout that. It's on its last legs."

Matt gave him "yeah, sure" eyes. "Shawn's full of shit. I've never believed his version of what went down."

"Gee, Matt. I really appreciate your support. Especially since it's come, like, so many months after Shawn's 'shit' hit the fan." Tyler knew he'd injected just the right amount of sarcasm into his voice when Matt winced and looked all hangdog and guilty and sorry as hell.

"S'pose I deserved that."

"Yeah. You really did." Tyler registered a muffled noise. He put his finger to his lips, cautioning Matt to silence, and jerked his chin at the door.

Matt's brows rose. Your mom? he mouthed.

Tyler eased off the bed, tiptoed over to his door and yanked it open. As he'd suspected, he surprised the bejesus out of his eavesdropping sister, who squealed and jumped like a scalded cat. He didn't say anything, simply stood there, glaring at her, until she slunk off down the hallway and disappeared into her room, slamming the door behind her.

"Jeez, she's a pain," he groused.

"Naw," Matt said. "She's cool. Hey, d'you reckon all the attention means she might have a thing for me?"

Matt's tone was so hopeful and so unlike his usual why-bother-with-a-straight-answer-when-a-smartass-one-will-do, that Tyler's glib response died unspoken. "Maybe. It's kinda hard to tell what she's feeling when she's still so pissed at Shawn."

Matt's shoulders slumped. "Yeah. On the rebound and all that, huh? About Shawn. I figure he and Vanessa lied through their teeth about what went down at Homecoming. I reckon you got a raw deal. It really pissed me off when Shawn got you benched. Coach is a spineless dick. He should have told Shawn to stick it."

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