Free Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles Page A

on him so much.” She looks back at Bree and Derek, talking to each other. “Looks like Bree is staking her claim on him already. Look, did you see that? She touches his arm every time she talks.”
    “She’s perfected the art of flirting,” I mumble. “And he’s totally falling for it, although maybe she’s the one being sucked into his fake charm. I have a feeling that nothing that guy does is sincere.”
    “Yo, Bree!” Monika yells. “Get back here so we can show Ashtyn the routine.”
    A car pulls into my driveway and honks, delaying the cheerleading show once again. Monika squeals in delight when Vic parks his big SUV in my driveway and she sees Jet and Trey are in the car with him.
    “Epic,” Jet says, completely amused as he steps out. He’s wearing a baseball cap backward and he’s got cutoff sweats he probably cut himself. “That’s all I gotta say.”
    “What’s epic?” I ask.
    He looks confused as he brushes his perfectly styled hair to the side. “You mean you had nothing to do with it?”
    “Do with what?”
    “I told you it wasn’t her,” Vic says. “She doesn’t have the balls to do it.”
    That is so insulting. “I have balls, Vic!”
    “I knew it!” Jet wags his eyebrows and reaches for my waistband. “Let’s see ’em, Ash.”
    I roll my eyes and slap his arm away.
    “You need to stop having a life and go online more.” Trey pulls out his phone. “Someone created this bogus profile named Payton Walters and posted pics of Bonk and his teammates holding up signs.”
    Oh, no. I’m almost afraid to ask. “Pictures of what?”
    Jet holds out his phone. “Here, take a look.”
    In one picture, Bonk and a bunch of his football buddies are leaning on the back of a Jeep. They’re holding a napkin that says FAIRFIELD SUCKS in big bold letters and the license plate on the car spells out DMBASS. When I take a look at the second picture, I gasp. Bonk is in Rick’s Subs in Fairfield holding up a napkin that reads I WANT TO BE FREMONT’S BITCH. It’s signed MATTHEW BONK #7.
    “Who did this?” I ask the guys.
    None of them fess up. This is crazy. The guys from Fairfield are going to freak when they see the pictures that look professionally Photoshopped. It’s impressive. I wish I’d thought of it.
    “Maybe it was Landon.” After I suggest it, the guys eye each other as if they have big doubts.
    “Yeah, right,” Jet says. “Your boyfriend’s such a hero.”
    “Have you talked to him?” Vic asks me.
    I shake my head.
    “Hmm,” Trey says. “McKnight’s been MIA since Friday night.”
    I don’t tell them that he’s been MIA in our relationship, too.

Chapter 13

Derek
    On Monday morning I wake up late and realize everyone else is already out of the house. As I eat breakfast, I look out at the neglected backyard. This house sits on a big piece of land, but nobody cares enough to make the backyard look decent. It’s as if they’re making the front look good to put on a facade for everyone who passes by.
    The mower I found yesterday is in crap condition, but at least I got the engine to start up. It’s not gonna be easy to cut the grass since the entire backyard is a haven for overgrown weeds, but I need to busy myself or I’ll go insane.
    I turn on the mower and put on my headphones so I can zone out like I did yesterday when the girls were over and Ashtyn’s teammates came by. My mom used to tell me that music always helped her escape to another place. She used to make me listen to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, especially when she was inthe hospital going through chemo. At first I hated it, but then those singers became a symbol of her.
    Moving on is fucking tough.
    An hour later I’m sweating my ass off. Little pieces of grass stick to my back, arms, and legs. I look back at my progress, proud that I’ve made a sizable dent. The shed, the place where Ashtyn and I first met, has seen better days. I spotted some old paint in there and figure it’s long