Page 23 of Falling Into You

“I definitely don’t mean your attitude,” she replied. “And I may have an idea....”

Jacob

Even from a distance, Jacob could tell something was up with Rosie. She was parked in her usual spot in the school parking lot, under the shade of a tall tree. Spots were assigned by lottery, and Jacob had learned that this particular spot was good for hot days—in that the cab of his truck stayed cool—but generally not so great for his paint job. The birds really loved to crap all over poor Rosie.

The old truck had come with the name. The local farmer he’d bought her from had insisted he keep it or he was going to add $200 to the price. But Jacob liked it. Rosie had a personality. She deserved to have a name to go with it.

Today’s issue didn’t have anything to do with birds, though. The issue today was someone—and he had a pretty good idea as to who—had decorated his truck with bras. Yes, bras. They were strewn all over the hood, hanging from the side mirrors and the old-school antennae, and hookedover the tailgate, flapping in the late-afternoon breeze. As he got closer, he saw that across the rear window of the cab, in what looked like pink shaving cream, were scrawled the wordsCHEER BOY.

Still sweating from practice, he knew his face was already bright red, so at least anyone watching couldn’t tell how pissed off and embarrassed he was. It wasn’t enough that Rory had forced them all to do laps like some drill sergeant and then shouted at him about his spaghetti arms for two hours on end. Now he had to collect a few dozen bras—that belonged to, from the looks of them, somebody’s grandma—from his truck.

The second his hand touched the door handle, the whoops and hollers and hooting started. Jacob paused, took a breath, then turned to face his audience. Which was, of course, the entire varsity soccer team. Plus a few of their girlfriends and other random jock friends.

Kai lifted his phone, filming the scene for posterity.

“Say ‘Go, fight, win!’?” Tucker crowed.

It took a hell of a lot of effort, but Jacob managed a winning smile. “Thanks for the underwear, boys. But what are you all going to wear tomorrow?”

Everyone laughed. It was what they expected from him, of course. Jacob could take it as well as he could dish it. He loved nothing more than a good prank, even if he was the victim. Most of the time, anyway. And he could appreciate the creativity here. Honestly, he was kind of shocked theyhad thought of it without him. He reached for the nearest bra and flung it at Tucker’s face. Then he launched another one into the crowd like a rubber band, pulling back and using the elasticity to make it fly. Just like that, the crowd broke up and everyone rushed the truck, grabbing bras and whipping each other with them, flinging them around. A few of the guys even wrestled Kai to the ground and managed to secure one around his skinny waist.

Gradually, Jacob stepped back to observe the mayhem, wondering when he could make his escape. He was exhausted and he had a physics test to study for, an English paper to outline, and some Spanish homework that would probably take half the night. Cody noticed him standing on the sidelines and sauntered over with Everett. Cody was in his school clothes, but Everett had clearly gone hard at practice. There was a telltale streak of dirt running up his neck to his earlobe. It gave Jacob a pang of longing. He’d been happy the cheer practice had taken place in front of the football team rather than the soccer team, because he knew his friends would have been relentless. Now he realized it was a good thing for another reason—he wouldn’t have been able to hide his FOMO if he’d been forced to watch soccer practice.

“Really, though, man,” Cody said. “The team missed you out there today.”

“Thanks,” Jacob said, and the two of them slapped hands, then bumped shoulders. He did the same with Everett, then asked Cody, “How’re you feeling?”

“Pretty okay.” Cody shrugged. “Still have a headache, which is annoying, but the vision thing is better.”

“I’m so sorry. Again,” Jacob said.

“Hey, shut up about it already.” Cody waved him off. “We were all messing around.”

Jacob nodded, trying to push aside the guilt that was twisting inside his gut. “You went to practice?”

“Yeah, trying to show Coach I’m still invested, you know?” Cody said. “Plus, I gotta make sure my understudy here is living up to my standard.”

He slapped Everett on the back, and Everett coughed. “Doing my best,” he said.

Jacob’s already sour mood soured further. Shouldhebe going to watch soccer practice to prove he was still invested? Was that what Coach Fitz had wanted from him when he’d suspended him from the team? Why couldn’t adults just say what they were thinking? Maybe if cheer practice ever ended before soccer, he’d jog over and hang on the sidelines to show his dedication.

“How was cheer practice?” Cody asked.

Jacob looked for the teasing in his friend’s eyes and was surprised when he didn’t find any. Cody genuinely wanted to know.

“Not bad,” he replied, giving his neck a roll. His shoulders felt tight. “Not used to using my upper body so much.”

“Well, hopefully it won’t be for long. We’re working on Fitz.”

“Yeah? You think he’ll let me back on the team?” Jacob asked.

“He has to.” Cody brought his heavy hand down onto Jacob’s sore shoulder. “As soon as we get creamed by Fulsom tomorrow, he’s going to see the error of his ways.”

“Let’s hope so,” Jacob said.

And he meant it. But he also wondered... if he did get invited back, where would that leave Rory and the squad? The whole point of this was that they needed a male body for homecoming—for regionals. They neededhim.Rory needed him. And he couldn’t be at two practices at once.

Jacob glanced at his phone. His dad was working late tonight, and he was pretty sure his mom hadn’t gotten to the supermarket. She was probably going to need his help figuring out dinner. God knew Ford wasn’t going to pitch in. “I gotta get home.”