Kele Moon - Crossing the line

How very unfortunate.

She sat in the back, reading her book and avoiding making eye contact because she’d never learned how to make friends. She was still upbeat because Brett started getting rides to school now that Vaughn had somehow gotten a beaten-up older-model car. Not having him on the bus bullying her when he got bored was very refreshing.

Only the first streaks of pink were starting to stretch across the sky, but the bus was nearly full because the buses started on the bad side of town earliest and worked their way to the few spoiled rich kids whose parents were somehow too busy to drive them in the morning.

She didn’t bother to look up when it stopped, so she was surprised when Terry Dower was suddenly standing over her.

“Can I sit?”

Tabitha blinked in surprise at the older boy, but grabbed her backpack and slid over anyway. “I thought you had a car.”

“My parents sold it.”

“Oh.” Tabitha shoved her old backpack down to the ground as Terry sat. “I guess that sucks.”

“It does,” he agreed and let his head fall back against the headrest. His eyes were closed as if he were hiding from life.

Tabitha studied him, surprised by any number of things, not the least of which was Terry riding the bus. His family was one of the richest in Garnet. He had been driving around in a very nice Honda Prelude, and she couldn’t possibly imagine what happened to make his parents sell it.

“Is Maple’s not doing good?” she asked curiously.

“It’s the only grocery store in town. Can’t do anything but good.”

Tabitha noticed she wasn’t the only one amazed by Terry being there. Everyone was looking back to the two of them, whispering under their breath in scandalized shock.

She wanted to ask why, but she didn’t. Terry looked miserable, so she just picked her book back up and started reading. She was good at giving people the space they needed.

They were five minutes closer to school before Terry asked, “Do you and Conner got something going on the side?”

Tabitha made a choked sound of shock. “Excuse me?”

Terry shrugged, a blush staining his cheeks despite his tan still left over from summer. He ran a hand through his dark hair and seemed to be choosing his words. Then he leaned in and spoke in a low voice only Tabitha can hear. “I notice he’s always hanging out with you, but you ain’t going out with him. I was just wondering if y’all were sneaking round or something.”

“No,” she said a little too quickly. “He’s Clay’s best friend. They train all the time together for the circuit, and Clay’s my friend, so—”

“No, I see him looking at you.” Terry gave her a sharp, penetrating glare. “And I see you looking at him too.”

Tabitha rubbed her fingers against her palm, feeling the smooth scarred skin as a reminder. “I don’t like Wyatt Conner.”

“But what if you did? How would you ever be able to date him? You know his daddy wouldn’t put up with him going out with a McMillen any more than your family would want you hanging round the sheriff’s son.”

Tabitha could only gape at him. “You’ve put a lot of thought into this.”

“I just—” he started and then looked away as if trying to find some sort of courage she didn’t understand. Then he turned back to her, his shoulders tense with determination. “If you ever wanted to date Conner, I could help you out.”

Tabitha didn’t want to date Wyatt.

At least that was what she told herself as she felt the scars on her hand once more, but she couldn’t help but ask, “Why would you want to do that?”

“We could help each other out.” His dark eyes were still bright with resolve. “You’re different than the folks round here. You’re always writing and reading. Like an artist. Aren’t artists supposed to be different than other folks? More understanding.”

Tabitha leaned into Terry and confessed, “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking ’bout.”

“Forget it.” Terry huffed and fell back against the seat. “It was a dumb idea anyway.”

“I don’t even know what the idea is.” Tabitha’s mind was still reeling. This conversation was like trying to put together pieces of a puzzle, and she knew she was missing key facts. “Is this because of your car?”

“Fuck my car,” he growled. “And fuck my mother. I don’t need it.”

Tabitha fell back against the seat and looked ahead, still trying to understand what she was missing. This whole situation was beyond odd. She and Terry weren’t even very good friends. He was two years older than her, and until now he’d been one of those older high school boys she saw in passing but didn’t talk to very often. He was nice, he was handsome, but he was also rich and had very little reason to associate with her.

“When have you been watching me and Wyatt?”

Terry wasn’t very sports minded, so he wouldn’t have been likely to see them at the rec center. True, they ran into each other around town, but to say they hung in different circles was an understatement. The only other place she saw him was at Maple’s, where she would often do shopping for her mother. Sometimes Wyatt and Clay were with her, but not always.

Then something occurred to her, and she turned and asked, “Are we that obvious?”

He gave her a look as a disbelieving laugh burst out of him. “Wyatt’s been hounding you since elementary school. Everyone knows it.”

“It hasn’t been that long.” She felt her cheeks get hot. “Just ’cause we talk don’t mean—”

“Look, I don’t care who you wanna date.” Terry cut her off with another long look. “Not like I got any place to be giving people hell on impossible relationships. I just thought I’d help you out if you wanted to make your move.”

“Make my move?”

“Wyatt Conner ain’t exactly hard on the eyes,” Terry said in a low voice. “He walked onto the varsity football team this year as a freshman. He’s won a million karate trophies, and he’s got that confident stride like his daddy. He talks, and people listen. Every cheerleader in this school is gonna be crawling all over him now that he’s in high school.”

Tabitha’s shoulders slumped, because she couldn’t deny the white-hot rush of jealousy that surged through her at the thought. How could she compete with all those pretty and pressed girls Garnet churned out so easily?

Now that they were in high school, Wyatt was finally going to get himself a real girlfriend. Tabitha tried to tell herself it was a good thing, because Wyatt hadn’t dated in middle school. He focused on sports and pestering her…relentlessly.

She understood why Clay gave in and just started calling Wyatt his friend. He was a hard fella to say no to, but she knew falling for him was a bad idea for all the reasons Terry had stated. More so, she had gotten over her childish hero worship of Wyatt Conner.

While she wished she hadn’t rashly burned her stories, especially when she saw the lengths he’d gone to make up with Clay after that fight, she was glad for the sharp wake-up call that Wyatt was just as normal as anyone else. He bled the same and made the same dumb mistakes as other boys did. He was bold and cocky, a total show-off, and sometimes he said the dumbest things she’d ever heard in her life, but she was still inexplicably drawn to him.

Wyatt just had less fear than other boys, and it made him captivating. That was what had everyone, even Tabitha, staring at him when he thought they weren’t looking. He was always competing in some hazardous sport that left him more than a little bruised, but he didn’t seem to mind. In fact, Tabitha was fairly certain he loved it. She watched him practice with Clay after classes. The meaner Clay got, the happier Wyatt was, and Clay was capable of being terribly mean. That was what made Wyatt seem bigger than life, that wild fearlessness that had him facing down anything dangerous with a grin on his face.

He was taller than other boys—well over six feet since the start of eighth grade. More than that, it seemed out of the blue his arms had gotten big and muscley. His chest was thick and cut. His shoulders broad. He was as tall as Clay now, who had always had a few inches on him.

“God,” she mumbled under her breath when she saw where her thoughts were heading. She actually turned her palm up, staring at the scars for a more solid reminder as she said solemnly, “I do not like Wyatt Conner.”

“Why the heck not?” Terry countered, and Tabitha turned to see him arching an eyebrow at her. When she didn’t have a response to the odd question, he leaned down and looked at her open palm. “What happened to your hands?”

“I hurt myself when I was eleven.”

“How?”

Tabitha looked down to her hand, thinking of the million different answers to the question, and finally settled on, “I was burning my dreams. It left a mark. A reminder.”

“Okay,” Terry said slowly. “You’re definitely weird, Tabitha.”

Tabitha nodded and whispered quietly, “I know.”

“We should be friends,” Terry surprised her by saying. “I think it’s in the unspoken book of rules.”

Tabitha turned to him and came to a startling realization she hadn’t noticed behind Terry’s wealth and good looks that had made him popular by default. “You’re weird too.”

“I’m weirder than you, darlin’.” Terry stood because the bus had come to a stop in front of the high school. “If Garnet were a movie, we’d be the two most intriguing supporting characters.”

Tabitha grabbed her bag and followed after him like a freshman puppy, feeling a strange bolt of excitement at finally finding someone who understood her.

“Who’d be the main characters?” she asked curiously, enjoying Terry’s riddles.

Terry sent her a grin as he stepped off the bus. “Two guesses.”

Tabitha jumped down after him, following his gaze to see Jules Conner crawling from the front seat of the sheriff’s jeep.

“Bye, Daddy.”

Jules’s voice carried all the way across the parking lot, but that wasn’t what held her attention. Tabitha just gaped as Wyatt and Clay slid out from the back. With the two boys standing shoulder to shoulder, she took a moment to really notice how big they’d both gotten. How powerful and intimidating. They were freshmen too, but there was no sign of the nervousness Tabitha had been dealing with for weeks now.

Who the heck would give either of them a bad time? They were taller than most seniors and black belts to boot.

“Oh my God,” Tabitha mumbled, having this very strange moment when she realized Wyatt might not be a real hero, but he certainly had the résumé of one.

“Tab!” Wyatt called out when he spotted her standing there dumbstruck next to Terry Dower.

Tabitha waved back, unable to help smiling in relief. She felt decidedly lighter knowing she was going to walk into the halls of Garnet high school for the first time next to Wyatt and Clay. More than being her only real friends, they were also a shield—the perfect protectors from anything terrible life could throw at her.

She sighed and found herself admitting out loud to her new friend, “I’m in so much trouble, Terry.”

“That ain’t a lie.” Terry patted her shoulder and left her standing there waiting for Wyatt. “You let me know when you need help with that problem.”

Tabitha knew heroes weren’t real. She’d learned that when she was eleven. She was almost certain it was nothing but a childish illusion.

Almost.

“This year is my year. I’m gonna get Tabitha to go out with me.”

“You say that every year.” Clay grunted from his spot on the mat next to Wyatt. The two of them were still breathing hard from wrestling as they lay there looking at the ceiling lights in the rec center. “You think I got a chance for a spot on the varsity wrestling team?”

“You kicked my ass,” Wyatt told him helpfully. “Badly.”

“Yeah, but you ain’t all that good at wrestling.”

“Hey, buddy, I’m better than most,” Wyatt said with absolute confidence. “Just ’cause I don’t spent four hours a day rolling around working on it don’t mean I suck.”

“It does, actually.”

“I hate wrestling. Can’t stand having someone suffocating me and crawling all over me like that. It’s a horrible sport. Jujitsu ain’t far behind. The only reason I take it is ’cause you do,” Wyatt complained. “You’re getting into your ground game a little too much to be normal. I think you need a girlfriend too.”