Free Selling the Drama by Theresa Smith Page A

be sure he would even hear
her; she was not entirely sure that she even wanted him to.
    After a pause that seemed to stretch out far
too long, he whispered back to her, "I feel the same way."

CHAPTER
THREE
    Charlotte was sitting with a group of her
friends in the stands overlooking the school oval. They were there
to lend their support for the home game of an interschool rugby
league match, at least, that was the official story. In reality,
they were perving on the players and scouting for fresh faces to
try their moves on. This used to be a particularly enjoyable past
time for Charlotte, football teams from other schools never failing
to deliver on at least a few promising prospects. She feigned
interest today in the conversation though, keeping her gaze fixed
on Toby, who had taken to rugby league as though it were his true
calling. As Charlotte watched him on the field, her desire to
completely have him increased exponentially. She had been content
these last few weeks with just fooling around after dark. Toby was
quite skilled at fooling around and the thought of delaying the
inevitable had become deeply thrilling.
    For some unknown reason, Charlotte had
always found hulking, sweaty footballers the pinnacle of desirable
males and right now, one in particular was giving her reason to
squirm in her seat. Over the course of the afternoon, he had taken
to glancing in her direction during idle moments, appearing as
casual as possible, giving Charlotte a cautious grin and just now,
being a little bolder with a wink as he caught her eye.
    A sharp elbow jabbed her in the side. "Did
you just see that?" Ellie, her best friend, screeched in her
ear.
    Charlotte dragged her eyes from Toby,
turning to Ellie in surprise. "What? See what?" She had no idea
what Ellie was on about, having totally tuned her out about ten
minutes previous.
    Ellie leaned closer, a pleased expression on
her face. "I think Toby likes me!" She clapped her hands with
excitement. "He keeps looking up in this direction and he just
winked at me! He is so hot, I am totally going for him
tonight."
    Charlotte stared at Ellie with a growing
sense of horror. No! No, no, no! This was bad. Very bad. She felt
her palms grow moist as her heart rate increased, the makings of an
angry flush creeping up her throat. She did not want to slap her
best friend down, but if Ellie so much as attempted to lay a single
fingertip on Toby, then she would know about it. This was the
problem with having a secret relationship! Being forced to listen
to your best friend pant over your boyfriend.
    "You live with him. Do you think he likes
me? Has he asked about me?" Ellie leaned forward eagerly, her eyes
now following Toby all over the field.
    Charlotte wanted to scream. Instead, she
smiled, giving Ellie a look that belied her inner rage. Putting her
hand on Ellie's arm, she put her head close to her friend's ear.
"Oh, Ellie, I don't how to say this without disappointing you, so
I'll just blurt it out. I'd hate for you to make a fool out of
yourself. Best friends need to stick together, right?"
    Ellie looked at Charlotte warily, nodding
slowly. "Yeah, of course we do. What's wrong?"
    "Toby wasn't winking and smiling at you,
Ellie." She gestured with her head to the row in front, where some
guys supporting the other team were seated. "He's, well, you know,
a homo." She paused for effect, delighting in the way Ellie's face
registered her obvious shock. "I know, a sad day for all women, but
there you have it." She patted Ellie on the knee, trying to look as
sympathetic as she could. "Too bad, but hey, have you seen number
seven on the other side? He's a sexy beast. He was totally checking
you out just before." Charlotte pretended to fan herself.
"Hot."
    Ellie searched out number seven. "Ooh,
you're right, he is hot."
    Satisfied at having prevented a calamity,
she sought out Toby on the field, giving him a wink and a smile as
she caught his eye.
     
    "You told her what?!" Toby looked at
Charlotte,