Free A Fine Line by Courtney Brandt Page B

to get in trouble or anything we didn’t want you to go down with us.”
    Drew shrugged tersely. He hadn’t interacted that much with the crazy seniors (that was Fred’s department) and had no idea how to respond to them.
    Lucy began giggling, “But your face was priceless!”
    Tom did an overdramatic impression of Drew’s expression from Friday night that sent Lucy gales of laughter. Drew didn’t say anything as he went over to the Drum major podium. Lucy wiped a tear from her eye, “Awww…you don’t think I offended him, do you?”
    As an answer, Tom continued making the surprised Drew face as they made it to the closing set of the first song.
    Drew was grumbling as he reached the podium, thinking of a number of witty phrases he could’ve used.
    “You okay?” a shy voice interrupted his thoughts.
    Drew looked over and saw Bronwyn had a concerned look on her face.
    Why can’t everyone on the Line be like her?
    “Yeah, I’m cool. Thanks for asking.” With that he hefted himself up onto the podium.
     
    * * *
     
     

CHAPTER TEN: What Tangled Webs We Weave
     

    Lucy picked up her permission slip and information on her way out of practice that afternoon and threw it in the back of her car, where it settled with the other accoutrement that was collecting daily: changes in music from Henry, drill for the show, a growing pile of senior announcements, college catalogues, transcripts, and homework. The practice had been particularly brutal, because in addition to running around with a giant bass drum, Lucy was now using entirely different muscles for dancing.
    And don’t forget the drop.
    As if I could…
    During the last run through of the halftime performance, Tom had dropped his dance partner during the one of their major aerial stunts and Lucy had hit the ground. Hard. On her ass. Hard enough the entire Line stopped what they were doing and crowded around. J.D., entrepreneurial lad that he was, immediately started taking bets on any number of categories, including: How big would the bruise be? What colors would appear? How many days it would last? And, her personal favorite, how long it would be until Tom dropped her again? As J.D. was kind enough to offer 10% of any money collected, Lucy saw no real problem with the situation.
    Except there’s that whole walking normally thing…
    Eh…you can worry about that later.
    Speaking of worrying, isn’t there something else that should be on your mind?
    What’s that supposed to mean? Let’s see. Awesome halftime show that’s totally going to kick ass? Check. Great friends? Check. College applications? Mostly check.
    Uh, hello? Homecoming? It’s your senior year. Shouldn’t you be worried about that?
    Lucy sighed, knowing that deep down (bottom of the Marinas Trench deep) she wanted to go to the dance and have an awesome time. For what appeared to be an unprecedented fourth year in a row, she was experiencing the Homecoming Curse. Now that she and Sam were officially 100% not together, she knew that wisdom (probably under the guise of Molly, Gina, Mandy and maybe even Tom) would tell her that she shouldn’t rush into anything too serious just yet. Since she was in an honest mood, Lucy knew she couldn’t escape the fact that she was the tiniest bit curious to see what things might be like with the British transfer student.
    Where is that going to get you?
    I’m not sure, but there’s just something about him.
    Wes was still very much an unanswered question in her mind. Sure, part of her had been entirely flattered at his interest (or what she assumed was his interest), but another part of her was perplexed at the consistent way he was able to throw her uncharacteristically off balance. Nevada has made her nervous – in a good way. Sam had the whole element of being “wrong,” but Wes? It was a completely different feeling. Rather than figure out why Wes was causing these reactions, Lucy chose to ignore the situation entirely and keep her promise to