“He’s so hot,” Jessica muttered, and Beth was pretty sure she was actually salivating looking at Ryan, standing several parking spots over, with Halley next to him, chatting him up, touching his arm from time to time, like she thought he was the most fascinating person in the world.
Beth felt sick to her stomach. Ryan had no idea what he was getting into. Not only did she not trust Halley as far as she could throw her, now all of the popular girls were talking about how gorgeous he was. He was safer locked up in his room, like Rapunzel in her tower. Now, he was out in the cruel world, where these bitches would tear his fragile heart apart. And there was nothing she could do to save him, either.
The new Beth wouldn’t care, however. She needed to remember that. The new Beth would be happy to mingle with the other kids, maybe give a tad bit of attention to the new guy, but mostly set her sights on the more popular guys. Except, when her new friends led her over so that she could introduce them to Ryan, all she could think about was him.
He looked happy, and she couldn’t blame him. Not only was a stunningly beautiful girl hanging all over him, if he didn’t like her, he had plenty to choose from. But she could tell that wasn’t what had him smiling so widely. It was the freedom—the fact that he was out among the living, as he liked to put it. That’s what had him grinning from ear to ear.
“Ryan,” she said, keeping her face neutral, even though she knew he could see alarm in her eyes. “These are my friends Carly, Jessica, and Amber.”
“Right,” he said, actually shaking each of their hands, which would’ve been weird under the circumstances, if it didn’t leave each of them giggling. “I recognize you from the cheerleading squad. It’s nice to see you.”
“Do you play football?” Carly asked, once she was able to speak again having finished with her flirtatious laughter.
“I haven’t before, but I’m thinking about going out for it this year,” he replied with a crooked grin that sent Carly reeling. Why hadn’t Beth ever noticed before just how attractive he was? Surely, it wasn’t the strength he’d gained from his new medication that had brought on all of these changes. Had he grown a few inches already this summer? Added some muscle? Had the sunshine and fresh air he’d been getting on his evening walks improved his skin tone and lightened his hair? Or had she just been completely blind to what was right in front of her?
“You should totally go out for it,” Amber said, her long, dark hair flipping over her shoulder as she swayed in front of him to a song only she could hear. “I bet you’d make a great catcher.”
“Receiver,” Beth said without thinking. Amber turned and raised a perfectly-sculpted eyebrow at her. “I think that’s what it’s called.”
“Right. Retriever,” Amber said, returning her attention to Ryan, clearly a little agitated that Beth had corrected her.
Beth knew she’d have to be careful about that in the future. Bored, stupid people may interject themselves into other people’s conversations to correct them, but if she was going to do it, she’d have to go full-out, calling Amber stupid in a teasing voice or giving her a little shove or something. She didn’t think she could pull that off right now considering she was still in shock at seeing the girls falling all over Ryan.
“Ryan’s really into computers,” Halley was saying, as if she knew him better than anyone, better than Beth. “You should see the computer he’s working on right now. It’s so cool.”
Beth had no idea what she was talking about. Had Halley been in his room? Beth had never even been in his room. Since when was he allowed to have company? And since when was he working on a computer? But all of the other girls were fascinated to hear this bit of information, and with a bit of a blush from being asked to talk about himself, Ryan began to explain some of the things he was working on, clearly using layperson terms he expected the girls to be able to understand. The whole time, Halley had her hand on his arm, claiming him for her own. Beth tried not to let it bother her, but it didn’t sit well with her. At all.
After about a half an hour of listening to her new friends gush all over every word Ryan said, Beth decided she’d had enough. She excused herself and headed over to another group of people. Tiffany was there, along with Mindy, and Shane was, too, but he was a few feet away, having an animated discussion with Marcus about some pro baseball player. Mindy was hanging off of Kyle, a new development, and every time she laughed, Beth wanted to jab her fingers far enough into her ears so that she could poke her own brain. But she had to ignore that urge and join in with them like she belonged there. Almost immediately upon her greeting them, Sammy took a few steps over so that he was also in the group, Robby following along like a puppy dog. Beth turned to see where Michael had gone off to and saw him join the conversation she had just left, leading her to believe he was avoiding her. She couldn’t really blame him for that, could she?
She hadn’t been standing there long before Sammy leaned in close to her and whispered, “Can we talk?”
A week ago, standing so close to him she could smell his musky cologne mingled with a slight tinge of manly perspiration brought on by the temperature still hanging in the high 80s would’ve sent her reeling, but now, she only felt slightly annoyed. What could he possibly need to say to her? That he wanted to know if she would hypothetically go out with him? Beth cocked her head so that she could look up at him, a skeptical look on her face. Managing to keep her voice soft, she asked, “About what?”
Sammy shrugged. She could see something in his eyes that typically wasn’t there, some sort of heartbreak that had nothing to do with whether or not he belonged in this group. For a moment, Beth’s façade melted away, and she was her old self again. She longed to discover what had happened to bring such sadness into his countenance and fix it. But then Mindy’s laughter rang out again, and Beth remembered her own purpose. Her empathy washed away, she said, “I don’t know, Sammy. I don’t think we really have anything to talk about.”
“I think we do, Beth. Please? Just for a minute?”
Before she could answer, Carly ran over and grabbed her by the arm. “We’re going to the creek. Come on!”
Beth spun around to see lots of other kids headed to their vehicles. She caught Sammy’s eyes again and shrugged. Whatever was broken inside of him lingered as he sighed, his hands in his pockets, watching her skip away with Carly, who hadn’t even given him the time of day.
Turning her attention back to the other girls, Beth piled into the backseat. Everyone was giggling, so she did, too. “This is going to be epic!” Amber said, straightening her shorts.
“I know! Tyler always comes through!” Carly was laughing like a hyena as she started her car, tearing out of the parking spot before Beth even got her seatbelt buckled.
She knew Tyler was an older kid, one who should’ve been in his last years of college had he chosen to go. She thought he was still bagging groceries for a living but wasn’t sure. “What’s Tyler got?” she asked, not sure she wanted to know the answer.
“Beer! Lots of it!” Jessica answered, turning to look back at them. “He’s been stocking up all week.”
“Oh. Cool.” Beth knew her lack of enthusiasm was evident in her voice, but they didn’t seem to notice. She’d never drank alcohol before except for a sip of champaign her mom had allowed her last New Year’s, and she had no idea how she might handle it. Besides that, if Shane decided to tell her mother she’d been drinking…. She’d have to find a way to not get drunk or else this party would be over before it even started.
The girls started rehashing what happened the last time Tyler had loaded them up, and Beth was able to piece together it was also the last night she was out at Muddy Creek with them, though none of them seemed to remember she was even there. Either that or they thought she was there with them. She laughed and smiled like she knew exactly what they were talking about.
“And then stupid Halley took Sammy out in the woods,” Carly growled, her smile dissipating.
“So what?” Jessica asked. “You didn’t like him anyway.”
“I know. But… why did she make it seem like I should go out with him if she wanted him herself?”
“She wants everyone for herself,” Amber hypothesized. “I mean, look at her hanging all over Ryan.”
“Oh, my God, he is so hot!” Carly’s countenance changed almost as quickly as her love interest. “I wouldn’t mind sneaking off with him into the woods.”
“No doubt!” Jessica agreed.
“You guys, he’s been locked up at home for so long, I bet he’s a virgin!” Amber offered, sending them all into bursts of laughter, except Beth. She couldn’t laugh at anything they were saying about Ryan, not even the fake laughter she’d been spewing all over Carly’s car for the last few minutes.
“Do you think he’s even ever kissed a girl?” Carly’s eyes were like saucers as she pulled down the lonely, dark road that led to the forested area near the creek where the kids liked to congregate.
“I doubt it,” Jessica answered quickly. “I bet he’s never had a girlfriend or anything. I’ll be happy to teach him.”
The girls continued to joke about whether or not Ryan would be a good kisser, who he would choose to be his first, and Beth pretended to be listening, pretended to be interested, but she knew Ryan had kissed a girl once before. Last summer. Because she’d asked him to. For practice. In case Sammy Burk finally showed some interest in her. And he didn’t need any practice.