Page 46 of Better Than Revenge

“Nerd,” someone else said, and they all laughed.

I slid the book onto the floor and inched my way to the wall. I wondered why someone had introduced the subject of the school’s podcast if none of them listened to it. I moved to a crouch, held on to the edge, and pulled myself up until just my eyes were above the wall. I should’ve known. A group of football players now sat at a round table. I could only see half the group. They were probably talking about the podcast because Jensen had joined and was at the center of drama because of it.

“I listened to it once,” one of them said. “So boring. Who comes up with the topics anyway? Some teacher who forgot what it was like to be in high school?”

They all laughed again.

“Nice,” I muttered. Not that I’d been responsible for any topics yet, but I would be. So much for Nolen’s plan to get football players to listen. They apparently thought that onlytheirinterests were worth listening to. I slid back down the wall.

“What brilliant ideas would you come up with?” I heard the calm voice of Theo ask. My heart and breath seemed to stop in order to listen better. “What would entertain you?”

“I don’t know,” someone said. “Sports recaps?”

A smattering of laughter sounded.

“Bad-date recaps,” someone else said to even more laughter.

When nobody else offered any ideas, he said, “Not as easy as it seems, is it?”

“Chill, Theo. We didn’t mean anything by it. What’s your problem?”

“I don’t have a problem,” he said. “Never listened to the thing and definitely won’t start listening now.”

They all laughed.

My breath came back to me, and my heart started beating double time.

I grumbled about how we wouldn’t want them to listen anyway and went back to my spot by the shelves, searching through the yearbooks until I found a small grainy picture of Cheryl Millcreek. I snapped a pic with my phone and flipped through the rest of the book to see if she was shown anywhere else. I found her in one other spot: the Surf Club. She stood with a striped board next to her and a serious expression on her face. I took another pic.

Downstairs the football guys had changed the subject to some pickup game they’d played over the weekend and were asking Theo why he wasn’t there.

“I had other plans,” he said.

His other plans were me. I’d sworn him to secrecy, though. Was that the only reason he wasn’t saying he was with me?

They were getting so loud that I was surprised Mrs.Hughs hadn’t shushed them. I put the yearbook back and took pictures of Cheryl’s other years as well. I had ten minutes left of lunch, and I hadn’t eaten anything. My still-sore muscles reminded me of what Theo said about feeding and taking care of my body. Hopefully my friends had some leftover food, because I didn’t have time to get anything from the food trucks or cafeteria.

I pushed myself off the ground and stood at the top of the stairsfor several breaths. If I kept my head down, maybe he wouldn’t see me. And even if he did see me, he wouldn’t say anything, surrounded by his friends like he was.

I scurried down the stairs and was heading to the door when Theo said, “Soccer Star!”

I turned, and the whole table was staring at me. All with varying degrees of smirks on their faces. I narrowed my eyes at him.

Theo’s smirk was worst of all, like the world was a joke to him. “Tell the guys about the podcast.”

“What about it?” I asked.

“How hard it is to come up with ideas.”

“Why? It’s not like any of you are listening to it,” I said. “But ask Jensen—he’s the expert now.” I turned toward the door again.

“I would listen if there were interviews of other students!” Theo called after me. I immediately remembered how he’d called that idea boring before.

“Ugh,” someone at the table said. “That’s the worst idea yet.”

“Not as easy as you thought,” someone else said with a laugh.

There were other words I couldn’t make out.