Free Acting Out by Katy Grant

huh?” asked Brandon.
    â€œUh, yeah.” My head bounced up and down like a bobblehead. Maybe we could keep the topic of conversation on camp instead of football. “You’re a counselor, I guess. That must be fun. What’s your activity?” Lance looked back and forth between me and Brandon. So far he hadn’t missed a word of this conversation.
    â€œI’m on the hiking staff. Hey—how’s Justin doing?”
    â€œHe’s doing great! I’ll tell him I saw you. Wow! He’ll really be surprised. This is Lance, by the way. Brandon’s from my hometown.” Maybe now we could say our good-byes and walk away. I held my breath and hoped that Brandon wouldn’t say anything else about Justin and football in front of Lance.
    â€œHey, dude. What’s up?” Brandon said without even looking at Lance. He was completely focused on me, unfortunately. “Well, I heard what happened. What a shame. I couldn’t believe it.” He said it in a sorry-your-dog-died kind of voice.
    So he had heard about what happened. I was hoping that maybe if he was away at college, he didn’t know all the gory details. No such luck.
    â€œYeah. Well, things are okay,” I said, my head bobbing up and down like crazy. “So you’re in college now?”
    â€œYeah, I just finished my first year at Auburn. I’m playing lacrosse now.”
    â€œReally? Cool. Lacrosse is a great sport.” In fact, let’s talk about lacrosse from now on, and not speak of football ever again.
    â€œYeah. I didn’t get a football scholarship. I considered trying out as a walk-on, but I’m an engineering major, and I really needed time for my studies. With lacrosse, I can play a sport without it taking up all my time.”
    I nodded. Obviously, Brandon had been bitten by the chatty bug seconds before he’d run into us.
    â€œHey, listen. Tell your brother I said hi. Hope everything works out for him. I was real sorry to hear what happened. It hurt the whole team.”
    â€œOkay, thanks. I will. Bye, Brandon!” I took two steps back, hoping he wouldn’t say anything else before I could finally get away.
    But he was done. He walked off.
    Oh my God! My heart hammered in my chest. My face felt flaming hot. All I wanted to do was get as far away from Brandon Matheson as I possibly could. I pushed through the crowd of people, not even caring at this point if Lance was still following me or not.
    How was it possible that I’d been recognized when I was two hundred miles from home? And that the person who recognized me not only knew Justin, but used to play football with him? What were the odds? Brandon Matheson, of all people! And when did he turn into such a yakker?
    â€œUh, JD?”
    I spun around to see Lance trailing along behind me. “What?” I snapped at him.
    Lance drew back like I’d spit in his eye. “What was that all about?”
    â€œOh, Brandon. He knows my brother. Used to play football with him. Are you as thirsty as I am?” I took off toward the refreshment table at a mad run. Lance tried to keep up with me.
    â€œWhat was all that stuff about ‘I heard what happened’?” asked Lance. Boy, he’d certainly gotten curious all of a sudden.
    I stopped at the refreshment table, grabbed a cup of red bug juice, and gulped it down. “Oh, that. Justin got injured. Pulled his quadriceps. He might not be able to play next season.”
    â€œOh.” Lance took a drink of bug juice and looked around. “I wonder where Mike and David are.”
    I let out a sigh and concentrated on getting my pulse down from rapid to normal. My hand holding the paper cup was shaking, so I crumpled it up and tossed it into the trash can.
    It wasn’t a total lie. Justin had pulled his quadriceps once during his sophomore year, and he missed the last two games of the season. I was so relieved Brandon hadn’t blabbed too