Hunted Page 7

  After my mind-blowing conversation with Jackson I figured that the night was probably out of any other big surprises. It turned out I was wrong, it just took a little while for the rest of the surprises to shake out.

  Things calmed down on the cheer front, mostly because Miss Winters was so enthralled in the game that she stopped feeding us cheers as quickly as what she'd done for the first part of the game. Apparently she was a hardcore fan and the game was even more exciting than I'd expected after Jackson's tip about Tristan.

  If anything Jackson had undersold just how good Tristan was, which was lucky because we lost one of the offensive linemen on our first possession. Even with the tiny amount that I knew about football, I still could see the difference in the game after that happened.

  From what I overheard from the other girls, the first half of the game had been all about offense with neither team's defense being able to slow down the other side's offense very well. Victor apparently had enjoyed tons of time in the pocket before being forced to make a throw. Tristan was under almost constant pressure, but it hardly seemed to faze him.

  I watched in awe as the football exploded out of his hand and arrowed towards his receivers. Each and every snap was a race between whether or not Tristan could get the ball out of his hands before the other team tore through his crumbling offensive line and sacked him, and Tristan was winning nearly every snap.

  Tristan and the rest of the offense worked their way down the field in a series of short hops and then scored and it was the defense's turn. Miss Winters came back to herself enough to signal for a couple of cheers, so I missed most everything until we had possession of the ball again, but our defense managed to stop the other team and then it was time for Tristan to come back out.

  We didn't manage to stop them from scoring after that, but their defense was even less effective against Tristan and our guys, so we ended the game up by three touchdowns, which caused the crowd to go absolutely crazy.

  I half expected everyone to pull down the goal posts or something, but they just ran out to centerfield and jumped around and screamed for half an hour. The players were just as crazy. Most of the cheerleaders were dating someone from the football team and within thirty seconds of the game ending most of the squad was riding around on their boyfriends' shoulders.

  At first I tried to fight my way through the crowd, but it only took a couple of seconds to realize that I was wasting my time so I gave up and just let the press of people carry me further onto the field.

  I'd never experienced anything similar before that. Grown men were acting like high-school kids. It felt like one of those intense TV moments. When I was little I'd been unhappy because it never seemed like real life was as good as TV. As I'd gotten older it had sunk in more fully that TV was pretend, that it wasn't fair to expect reality to compete with fantasy. This left me wondering though. This was reality, but it had an almost unbelievable excitement to it, the kind of energy that before I'd always thought could only be found in Hollywood productions.

  I wanted to just throw myself into the moment along with everyone else, but for all that I was there in the middle of all of those people, I still didn't feel like I was a part of whatever was going on. I was experiencing the same events, but I wasn't experiencing it the same way that all of them were, I wasn't feeling the same things as them.

  It was a depressing realization. I'd always known that I was a bit of an outsider, but usually it didn't bother me so much. Usually I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything important, but there was something there on that field that made me wonder if I'd been wrong all of these years, if there was something important missing from my life.

  The football team started jumping up and down and the next thing I knew I was in the middle of a giant mosh pit. I expected for the adults to calm things down, to back up and create enough space for those of us who didn't want to be trampled to get out, but incredibly they just started jumping and shoving their way in tighter and tighter.

  I tried to move with the crowd, jumping at the same time as everyone else, but I was just too small and it was only a matter of time before someone knocked me over. I actually made it longer than I expected to, but then I went to jump as someone stepped on my foot and someone else bumped into me from the side and the next thing I knew I was headed towards the ground.

  I was going to get hurt. There wasn't any two ways about it, the mob was packed too tightly and everyone was twice my size. I closed my eyes, not because it was the smart thing to do, but because I couldn't bear to see what was about to happen.

  Instead of hitting the ground and being trampled, I found my descent arrested as someone grabbed me from behind and then set me back on my feet.

  "We need to get you out of here before something unfortunate happens."

  Jackson's voice cut through all of the noise like it didn't even exist. I started to shake my head, started to tell him that there wasn't any way out, but he'd already pulled me tight against his chest and stomach with his left hand and was pushing people out of the way with his right hand.

  I slid back around behind him, holding onto his waist for balance as he used both hands to open a way up out of the crowd for us. I knew Jackson was strong, but he was straight-arming guys out of our way who were even bigger than he was. The trip out to the edges of the crowd seemed to take forever, but sooner than I wanted to, I found myself in the clear and having to let go of his waist.

  I looked up at Jackson and my face heated up again. "Thanks for getting me out of there. I guess I was more right than I realized when I said that you were going to have to save me a couple of times tonight."

  "I'm just glad that I was close enough to lend a hand."

  "Me too. I'm sorry I pulled you away from the celebration though."

  Jackson shook his head. "I wasn't in there to celebrate."

  It was an odd comment, one that begged the question of why he'd been out there in the middle of the mosh pit, but I couldn't bring myself to ask it. Out there in the center of all those people I'd felt like I was alone, but I hadn't been alone, not really. I could tell from the way that Jackson looked back at the crowd that he hadn't been any more at home there than I had been. Jackson was more of a kindred spirit than I'd realized.

  Before I could open my mouth and say something stupid someone wrapped their arms around me from the side.

  "Adri! I'm so glad you're okay. I saw you get caught up in the crowd and worried that you'd get crushed."

  "I'm okay, Dad. It was a close thing but Jackson stopped me from falling and then got me out of the mosh pit."

  My dad looked over at Jackson and then nodded. "Thank you, Jackson. I've never seen this kind of response at a high-school football game."

  "You're welcome, Mr. Paige. I'm just glad that I was close enough to help."

  There was a couple of seconds of that awkward silence that always seems to take place whenever two people from different aspects of your world meet and then Jackson shrugged.

  "If you guys are all okay then I'd probably better be headed home. My mom will be wondering what the holdup is."

  I turned and watched Jackson walk away from us for a second and then remembered that Cindi had been out on the field too when the spectators had all rushed centerfield.

  "Dad, what about Cindi?"

  "I'm fine."

  I turned and realized that Cindi had walked up to us while I'd been watching Jackson. She was all flushed and sweaty, but otherwise looked no worse for wear. Cindi was even shorter and lighter than me, so I was having a hard time believing that she'd escaped the mosh pit without injury. My disbelief lasted only as long as it took me to notice the football player standing just inches behind her.

  "Dad, Adri, this is Tristan. Tristan, this is my dad and my sister Adri. Tristan kept everyone from crushing me when things got crazy out there."

  I'd been terrified the entire time I'd been stuck in the crowd. I hadn't really stopped shaking until Jackson had dragged me out
to safety. Cindi and Tristan on the other hand looked like they'd been having the time of their lives.

  I looked back at my father and realized that he felt the same way that Jackson and I felt. He was as much of an outsider as I was. He'd only come here because of Cindi and me, which made me love him all the more.

  "It sounds like I owe you my thanks, Tristan. I was almost sure that my little girls weren't going to make it out of that mess."

  "Yeah, I guess we all got a little carried away. Just as everyone started jumping around I looked down and realized that Cindi was going to get crushed, so I got a couple of the other guys on the team to help me get her out."

  My dad nodded. "Well, I'm indeed grateful. It looks like your adoring public is waiting for you though. I wouldn't want us to keep you from them."

  I followed Dad's gaze and realized he was right. Most of the spectators were still screaming in the center of the field, but there was a group of about ten people of various ages who were standing just out of earshot looking like they really wanted to talk to Tristan. I was actually surprised that they hadn't already mobbed him, but something—maybe my dad's manner—was keeping them at a distance.

  "You're right, I better go hobnob with the fans. It was nice to meet you, Mr. Paige."

  Cindi watched Tristan walk away with a glimmer in her eye that I was pretty sure my dad noticed too. He watched her watching Tristan for several seconds and then cleared his throat.

  "You were both amazing out there tonight. I never would have guessed that you'd do a lift like that, Adri."

  I blushed again. "It wasn't actually planned. I was headed the wrong direction and then when I practically ran Jackson over he just threw me into that lift so that I wouldn't look like quite as much of a spastic idiot."

  We had Cindi's attention now. "Where's Mom?"

  Dad frowned. "I'm sorry, girls. I tried to get her to come with me tonight. I reminded her a couple of times during the day that you were both performing tonight, but when it came time to leave she said that she had some prints that she was in the middle of developing. I had hoped that she'd arrive still before the game ended, but I guess it wasn't to be."

  "Yeah, most things with Mom aren't to be lately."

  My jaw dropped at Cindi's tone, but it looked like Dad had made as many excuses as he was willing to make for Mom tonight because he didn't respond to his youngest daughter's venom, at least not directly.

  "Do the two of you want a ride home or were you planning on just walking?"

  Cindi shook her head. The unhappiness that had graced her face just a second ago had already vanished. "It's going to be at least another half hour by the time we talk to Miss Winters and get all of our stuff together. You go ahead without us, Dad."

  I nodded. "Cindi is right. Thank you for coming tonight, but you probably have a lot of work waiting for you at home."

  I could see the battle going on inside of his head. On the one hand were his work commitments, on the other was living up to what he thought was his fatherly duty.

  "Are you both sure? I can stay if you don't want to walk. It is dark outside already."

  Cindi's smile was a perfect study in innocence. "Really, Dad. We'll be fine. Besides, the odds are pretty good that one of the other girls on the squad will give us a ride later anyways."

  I gave Cindi a confused look, but she gave me a covert 'calm down' signal. Dad looked back and forth between us for a couple of seconds and then nodded.

  "Okay, I'll head out now then, but if you two change your minds or can't get one of the other girls to drop you off then just call me. I'll happily drive back over here and pick you up."

  Cindi and I gave Dad hugs and then hurried over to where Miss Winters was standing. There were only a couple of other girls there at that point, but our making it over there triggered some kind of critical mass. More and more girls showed up over the next couple of minutes at a faster and faster rate until everyone was there waiting for the post-game critique.

  "You girls all did really well. I'm proud of you all and the way you helped keep the team in the game. I'm sure you're all exhausted by now, so I won't keep you for a lengthy discussion, but this may not be the last time we see everyone rush the field like that. If it happens again when you're out on the field like that then the best thing to do is just stay in the front of the crowd and then circle back around after everyone stops moving forward."

  We all put a hand into the center again, yelled "Go Wolves" and then everyone started splitting up. Based on Cindi having told Dad to go home without us I'd been expecting a much longer analysis. I picked up the bag with my things and then followed Cindi, only she didn't ask one of the other girls for a ride, and she didn't head towards the front of the school and the road home.

  I caught up with her on the forty-yard line and she was so excited she practically beamed. "If the fans rush the field again I'm going to do exactly what I did tonight."

  I shook my head at her in amazement and then slapped one of the lucky mosquitoes that hadn't succumbed to the pesticide that the city sprayed on all of the stationary bodies of water in an effort to keep us all from being eaten alive.

  "You do realize that things could have ended up a lot worse, don't you? If Tristan hadn't been there when everyone started moshing you probably would have been hurt pretty badly."

  Cindi frowned at me. "Seriously, did you not feel the energy out there tonight? This is the kind of thing that made me want to be a cheerleader in the first place. Besides, it wasn't just luck that put me close enough to Tristan for him to save me. I've been trying to catch his eye for weeks now."

  I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes at her. Cindi seemed to crush on a different guy every week. She wasn't shy or anything so it was pretty incredible that she hadn't really had a boyfriend yet, but things never seemed to work out. Usually the timing was off. By the time the boy realized that she was interested in him, she'd generally moved on to someone else. I was pretty sure that her saying she'd been pursuing Tristan for weeks was a gross exaggeration.

  Cindi looked at me and it was almost like she read my mind. "I'm serious, Adri. I really like Tristan. I stopped talking to you about this kind of stuff because you always roll your eyes like you did just now."

  "I didn't roll my eyes at you!"

  "Yes, you did. It's okay, I know I've been flighty in the past, but this time things are different."

  I took a deep breath and tried to put my skepticism to one side. "Okay, what do you want me to do? Is there some way I can help?"

  Cindi's smile was back and I knew I'd made the right decision. Even if she lost interest in Tristan tomorrow, whatever she wanted me to do right now would be worthwhile if it made her that happy.

  "I knew that the meeting with Miss Winters would be short, they always are."

  She looked at me and took in my expression of astonishment with a giggle. "I've been staying late after every game for weeks. At first it was because I wanted to talk to the other girls on the squad, but lately it has been because it gives me a chance to talk to Tristan."

  "How do you find time to do any homework around all of the cheerleading and boy-chasing?"

  "It's not easy, let me tell you."

  This time I did roll my eyes at her. "Okay, so what do you want out of me?"

  "Just come with me to talk to him. We usually exchange a word or two after every game, but today was different. I think he would have stayed there talking to me for an hour if Dad hadn't sent him away."

  Whatever response I would have come up with was preempted by the return of the football team to the field. Most of the rest of the squad was still hanging out on the bleachers, so it wasn't like we were the only two girls who'd stayed to talk to the players, but I still felt pretty conspicuous. Cindi didn't seem to share any of my misgivings.

  I was still trying to pick Tristan out of a sea of white uniforms, but Cindi was already angling us down a slightly different trajectory. As the football team started dispersing I was abl
e to finally find Tristan. Cindi had done a surprisingly good job picking our route. We were going to walk within a couple of feet of him, but it didn't look like we'd planned that, it just looked like we'd happened by him on the way towards the parking lot. Cindi was even better at this guy-chasing thing than I'd realized.

  "Hey, Tristan. Thanks again for getting me out of that mosh pit."

  Tristan turned and bestowed a confident smile on both of us. "Hey, no problem, it was actually kind of good." He leaned forward so that he could whisper. "I'm not really into that kind of thing so you gave me a reason to get out without all of the other guys thinking I was wussing out or something."

  "I feel the same way. I'm totally not into that kind of thing either."

  I had to stop myself from saying something. Cindi had just finished telling me that she loved being in the mosh pit. I didn't like the way that she was pretending to be someone different than she was, but it wasn't like she'd thank me for pointing that out right now.

  "You girls headed home?"

  "Yeah, you?"

  "There's this big victory celebration over on Crater Lake. Hey, you two should come with us."

  I could see the wheels turning in Cindi's head. She wanted to come up with a way to go to the party, but we both knew that there was no way that Dad was going to buy off on that, not on a school night. It only took her a second to come to the realization that there wasn't any way for her to manage it short of sneaking out.

  "That would be cool, but we're probably going to have to pass this time around."

  Tristan shrugged. "It won't be the same without you, but that's okay, maybe next time."

  He looked the two of us over and I was pretty sure that his gaze stopped and rested on me for an extra second or two. He was probably wishing that I'd kept walking or something so that he could just talk to Cindi by himself.

  "I've got plenty of time before I need to head off to the lake. You two want a ride home?"

  I was impressed that Cindi managed not to squeal in excitement. It was starting to look like this might be the crush that actually went somewhere for once.