Tempest by Julie Cross Page A

Toby said.
    “Jackson!” Mike called. “Need you to clean up the preschool floor. One of the kids got sick.”
    Great. It was nice to know that the hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of private school education was being put to good use.
    As soon as I finished removing the vomit from a stack of mats, Toby came over to me. “Okay, it’s a deal.”
    “How did you do it?”
    He grinned. “I can’t reveal my methods, but it involves touching, lots of sweat, and possibly exploring the range of motion of her joints.”
    I punched him lightly on the shoulder. “You wish.”
    *   *   *
    Toby and Jana took off before Mike left and returned about ten minutes after his car had cleared the parking lot. I was mopping the front lobby when the door opened and they walked in with their arms full. Two more guys followed behind them and I dropped the mop to the floor with a loud clang as soon as I saw the dark-haired guy with black glasses.
    “Adam!”
    Uh-oh  …
    He stopped and turned to face me. “Do I know you?”
    Oh, crap, think of something, quick.
    “The county Science Fair last year, weren’t you in it?” I said lamely.
    “Yeah, me and about a thousand other people.”
    All four of them stared. I forced out another lame cover-up. “Your project was really cool. The whole…”
    “Theory of relativity,” he finished for me.
    “Exactly.”
    Toby rolled his eyes. “Okay, we got another science geek. You better not be able to count cards like Silverman.”
    Holly bounded over to us, stopping in front of the guy next to Adam. That’s when I realized who it was. David Newman. Holly’s future boyfriend.
    He smiled and handed her the brown paper sack he was holding. “That’ll be seven dollars. And I should add that I had to wait twenty minutes for them to make a fresh batch of guacamole.”
    She placed a few bills in his hand. “I love you, David.”
    “She never says that to me,” Toby said.
    Holly leaned closer to Toby. “That’s because you don’t want me to. Admit it. Those three words frighten you.”
    I can totally relate.
    He laughed and moved his face even closer to hers. She backed up immediately. “Maybe, but makin’ love doesn’t frighten me.”
    David laughed and Holly shoved him out of her way, then walked off with Jana, muttering, “Juveniles.”
    “Real smooth, Toby,” David said.
    “Don’t tell me you’ve never made a game out of shaking her hard exterior,” Toby said to David.
    “I refuse to respond to that,” David said, but he was laughing.
    “But you’ve thought about kissing her?”
    I shot a glance at Adam, who, like me, was listening in silence.
    “Not really,” David answered.
    “Well, I have,” Toby said, unashamed. “Mostly when I’ve wanted to shut her up.”
    They all laughed loud enough for Holly and Jana to dart their eyes in our direction.
    I went back to mopping while the game started at the table they’d set up on the gymnastics floor. When it was obvious I didn’t have any more work to do, Toby called me over.
    “Aren’t you going to play?” he asked.
    “Sure, I could use a little extra cash.” I sat down next to Adam and across from Holly.
    I really wanted to talk to him. But right now I needed to be cool. Get into character and be the mysterious new guy.
    David dealt out the cards. “Jackson, where did you go before you dropped out? Was it in Jersey?”
    I nodded and said the name of another high school.
    “That’s why we’ve never seen you,” Jana said.
    “You’re all juniors?” I asked.
    “Yup.”
    “So, why did you quit school?” Toby asked.
    Jana elbowed him in the side, but I waved her off.
    “I just got sick of it. My dad wanted me to work.”
    “I can’t wait to be done,” Holly said, throwing two cards in the discard pile and picking up new ones. “AP English bites. I knew it would be tough, but a new novel every other week and a five-page paper every other day is a bit much.”
    “What are you reading?” I