CHAPTER 14
At lunch a few days later, I grab a salad, some baked chicken, and sit down next to Tia. Millie hasn’t come in yet. “Hey. How are your abs of steel?”
She gives me a look. “Soggy. I tried to do that video again last night. I’m not as sore today, but it still sucks.” She plays with her fruit plate, poking the cottage cheese. “Screw this. I’m starving and that chicken looks good. I’ll be right back.” Tia’s face scrunches as she stands. Her hand flies to her stomach before she stomps away to get a plate of chicken.
For a second, I’m alone. I hear his voice before I see his face. “Hey, sweetheart,” Dusty says, and slides in next to me. “I heard something, and thought you’d want to know.” I glance at him, wondering what kind of crazy sauce he ate to sit down next to me in here. He leans in and lowers his voice. “There are some awfully dirty rumors floating around about you.” He looks delighted. His eyes sweep over me, lingering on my chest way too long.
What the hell? He irritates me, like seriously annoys me. I don’t hate him, but I don’t like him either. Glancing at him, I snap, “Who taught you manners? Give me your phone.” I set down my fork and hold out my palm. I thrust it at him when he smiles at me. “Come on. Give it to me.”
Dusty grins and pulls out his phone. “That’s pretty much the rumor. The way you turned green the other night has everyone thinking you’re knocked up and that the pretty professor did it.”
What a jackass. I flip through his contacts looking for one in particular. “You seriously know how to flatter a girl. You called me fat and slutty in the same sentence.” I press my thumb to one of his contacts and his phone dials.
Dusty finally notices that I’m not playing Angry Birds. “Hey, what are you doing?”
I hold up my index finger and shush him. Someone answers after a few rings. “Hi, this is Sidney Colleli. I’m sitting here with your son and I thought you’d be horrified at his manners. He really needs a once over before I smack my tray over his head.” I called his Mom’s cell phone.
She seems nice, but Dusty is hyperventilating, watching me as his thin body folds in half. He hisses, “You called my mom!”
Ignoring him, I nod and listen to his mother talk. “Yeah. Uh huh. He’s right here.” I look over at Dusty, widen my eyes, and smile.
“Hang up!” Dusty paws at me, trying to take the phone away.
I slap his hands and twist out of reach. “You heard that? I know. And he said that nicely compared to what he just told me.”
“Sidney!” Dusty yells, trying to take the phone, but I don’t let him get it.
“Yes,” I continue my conversation with his mom, “I got sick in class last week. He implied it was morning sickness and blamed the professor. Uh huh. Please, that’d be great. Oh, I will.” I laugh. “It was nice talking to you, too.” I hand the phone to Dusty.
He looks at the iPhone like it’s poison. “You suck.”
“Yeah, well, tell it to your mom.” I smirk and go back to my lunch. Dusty storms off, trying to tell his mom that it was a joke.
Tia sits down next to me with a plate of chicken and tacos. “What’d I miss?”
“Nothing worth repeating.”
Tia stares after Dusty. “That kid is an ass. I don’t know why Millie set you up with him.”
I shrug and chomp on my chicken. “Millie’s Millie.”
“Who’s talking about me!” Millie sits down next to us with a huge smile on her face. That smile scares the crap out of me. “Guess what night it is!”
“Oh, damn it. Millie, I’m not coming. I came the last four times.”
She jumps up and down in her seat as if she’s too excited to sit still. “But you have to! Swing Dance club wouldn’t be the same without you.”
“It wouldn’t be a club without you,” Tia nudges me with her shoulder and laughs while chewing on a chicken leg. Despite the predictions, the club is still pathetically small.
Millie glares at her. “You could come too, you know. It’s hard to get a club started.”
Smiling, I needle Tia. “You should. You and Jack would make such a cute couple.”
Tia tenses. “Jack Ewing? He’s there?”
Millie smiles at me and nods. Her blonde curls sway back and forth. “Yup, and he needs a partner.”
“I don’t know how to dance,” Tia says, with a mouth full of food. “I’ll look retarded.”
Millie grins and then throws her arms around me, hugging me way too hard. “Sidney can teach us!” We nearly fall off the bench. I shake her off, and she laughs like a maniac.
Crap. I walked straight into that one. I sigh dramatically and narrow my eyes in her direction. “You suck.”
“You know you love me.” Millie squeals, smiling so wide that I can see all of her teeth. “So, you’ll teach us a little before class tonight?”
Millie has her hands pressed together under her chin. Tia is watching me with that hopeful look in her eye. She’s had a thing for Jack Ewing since last year. My resolve falters. “Sure. Why not?”