Style Read Free Page B

said, nudging my shoulder.
    “Hm?” I said, turning to face her. I had not been staring at Stella’s ponytail. At all.
    “Um, I’m watching the game?” I said, wrapping my arms around myself. It was cold tonight and my ass was already numb on the hard metal bleachers. Grace lifted one edge of her blanket and I scooted closer and we snuggled together.
    “You know, we should get one of those family-sized Snuggies,” she said as we huddled closer to the rest of our friends.
    “That isn’t a terrible idea,” Paige said. Tommy made a grunting noise on the other side of her. He was too busy watching the game to chat.
    “Unpopular opinion time,” I said, but only loud enough for Grace to hear. The ref blew a whistle on the field and all the players jogged back to their benches for a time out.
    “Yeah?” Grace said, watching the huddle.
    “I’m not a fan of football,” I said. “Shhh, don’t tell anyone.” I put my finger to my lips and she rolled her eyes.
    “Tell me something I don’t know.” I went to say something else, but she shushed me. Grace did like football, which was one of the other reasons I came to these things. She got all riled up and it was really funny. More often than not, I watched her instead of the game.
    Tonight was different. Tonight I was extremely distracted by a certain cheerleader with blonde hair. It was so cold that instead of wearing the skirts they usually wore during basketball season, they had pants on, but those didn’t leave much to the imagination either.
    God, what the fuck was wrong with me? I looked around to make sure no one had seen me staring and felt my face get hot. Of course no one was paying attention to me, which was a good thing.
    How was it possible that you could be in school with someone for nearly four years and then BAM, you can’t stop thinking about them or staring at them or wondering about them . . .
    It couldn’t be due to Stella’s awesome personality. She was generally acknowledged to be not very nice. Not that she did anything overtly mean, but she just gave off that “I’m better than you” vibe and walked around like she owned the world.
    I shook my head at myself. I wasn’t going to think about Stella’s personality. It was irrelevant. I forced my eyes back on the players on the field. I had no idea how anyone could tell them apart with all that gear on Sure, they had their names and numbers on their backs, but still.
    Of course, the minute I decided to actually pay attention to the game, it was halftime. The band played first, walking in unison over the field, making a few different formations. We all cheered for our friends and then it was time for the cheerleaders to perform.
    Great.
    “Wanna get some popcorn?” I said in a strangled voice, grabbing Grace’s arm.
    “Yeah, sure. You okay?” I nodded jerkily.
    “Yeah, just hungry and cold.” I didn’t let myself watch as they started their cheer and got the crowd to yell back at them. Nope. I kept my back turned and stood in line at the concession stand with Grace.
    I was so focused on not paying attention to what was happening on the field that after we got our snacks loaded up in our arms, I nearly ran right into Stella.
    “Sorry,” I said and she just gave me another look. Like I’d done it on purpose.
    “What is your problem?” Grace said. She’d been next to me and had seen the whole thing. Fortunately, only a few kernels of popcorn spilled and I had managed to keep my balance. I wasn’t normally this bad at bumping into people. It felt like someone was playing a joke on me.
    Stella glared at us both for a second. Her makeup was perfectly in place, despite the fact that she’d been cheering for half of the game. But that was normal. She always looked perfect. Even when she was glaring.
    “Nothing. I just don’t like people getting in my way,” she said and then crossed her arms. I kept my eyes on her face, but I could feel my face getting red.
    “Well maybe you