Triple Dog Dare You

Chapter 7

The next morning I am greeted at school by my boyfriend standing at my locker with another bouquet of flowers. I mean does he get some sort of deal on those flowers? Like buy three dozen get the next dozen free or something?

By this time, I’ve reached my locker and he smiles when he sees me and hands me the bouquet. I wonder if this is his way of apologizing for something without actually saying anything or apologizing for something that he hasn’t done yet. Or maybe I’m just being too paranoid and he’s just trying to be a good boyfriend.

“Wow, are those for me?” I ask.

“Yes.” He is still smiling at me.

“What are all the flowers for? I don’t think it’s my birthday.” I laugh.

“Oh, I’m just giving them to you to thank you for being such a good person,” He rests his arm on the lockers beside mine.

“Well thanks,” I say. I put the flowers in the bottom of my locker and grab my books and shut the locker. “So the weirdest thing happened yesterday when I was interviewing Jack.”

For the briefest moment, I swear I see his face falter, but then as quickly as it appeared, he’s back to looking as self-confident and charming as ever. “Oh really, and what did he have to say?”

“It was nothing much,” I say, trying to sound nonchalant. “He just said that maybe you weren’t the good guy that I thought you were.”

He gives me the same charming grin that I see almost every day. “Well, maybe he’s just jealous of me and he’s trying to make you doubt me.”

“Yes, but why would he be jealous that you’re dating me?” I ask. “He didn’t seem very thrilled that we were dating in the first place.”

“That doesn’t seem like he has an agenda,” I reply.

“Yes, but Mady that’s the way Jack works. He pretends like he’s just an innocent party boy but he’s really scheming under the surface. Or maybe he’s jealous about the fact that the coach is keeping me on the starting position and not him.”

I suddenly forget about what we were talking about before and I’m overcome by a sense of pride. My boyfriend was chosen to be in the starting position on his sports team over an obvious favourite. I give him a bug hug.

“What’s that for?” He asks when I let go of him.

“I’m just really proud that you were able to keep your position even though Jack returned from Europe and he’s a fan favourite,” I say. “That’s all.”

“Well thanks,” He says, grinning at me. “I appreciate your support.”

“Of course, I’m your girlfriend,” I reply. “What else did you expect me to be?”

For the second time in a few minutes his smile falters and he tries to pretend that nothing happened.

“So what do you have on the go for today?” He tries to change the subject.

“Are you all right?” I ask, peering at him suspiciously.

“What do you mean?” He asks. “Of course I’m all right.”

“Really, because you’ve been looking, I don’t know, guilty since we started talking,” I say. “It’s just something that I’ve noticed.”

“I’m fine,” He says. “I’ve actually got an early morning practice, so I’d better get going.”

“It’s almost 8:00am,” I reply. “Why is your coach having a practice that’s only going to last twenty minutes?”

“I don’t know, he’s trying some new techniques out or something,” He answers. He’s keeping up with this explanation even though we both know he’s lying. “I’ll see you when I see you.”