Free Candid (True Images Series) by Michelle Pennington Page B

Coach says that some of our best players are on the football team so I haven’t practiced with them yet. The bad thing is, if they go to state, the seasons will overlap and we’ll have to play our first few games without them. Luckily, we won’t have to play any conference games without them.”
    “That kind of stinks. Won’t it throw off the dynamic of everything to have players coming in that haven’t practiced with you?”
    “Yeah, but it can’t be helped. Has this school always been so good at football?”
    “It has been for as long as I can remember. Are you going to the game tonight?”
    “I’m planning on it.”
    “Good,” Mr. Greeley said from behind me. Startled, I turned and looked up at him, surprised I hadn’t heard him approach on his crutches.
    He was actually kind of good looking, in an older, scruffy kind of way. I’d never thought about it much before, but I wondered if he might seem attractive to a 35 year old who hadn’t dated since high school. Then a thought occurred to me. What if she had dated and I’d been as clueless about it as I had been this time? I felt seriously betrayed by my own mother. I thought we talked about everything.
    “Why’s that, Mr. Greeley?” Lee asked, pulling me back to what was going on.
    “I worried about Sienna taking pictures last week. Do you think you could spot for her at the game tonight?”
    “Sure. What do I need to do?”
    “Just stand by her on the sideline and make sure she doesn’t get leveled by any overgrown football players.”
    My eyes met Lee’s and I could tell we were thinking the same thing. Mr. Greeley was actually throwing us together.
     “I should be able to handle that,” Lee said.
    As Mr. Greeley nodded and turned to go, I smiled at Lee, glad to feel some of the tension seeping out of me. Lee smiled back, and we both moved to get to work on our different projects. As I logged onto a computer however, Mr. Greeley turned back abruptly and asked, “Sienna, did you know that your mom has gate duty tonight?”
    “No, I didn’t.”
    “Well, I thought you might like to know that you’ll have two people keeping an eye on you at the game tonight,” he said cryptically. Then he glanced over at Lee in a pointed way, and I finally got what he was saying. He was warning me not to do anything with Lee at the game because my mom would be there. Then he continued, “Oh, and, no more pda in the classroom. Let’s consider this your warning.”
    I nodded and turned my blushing, guilty face towards my computer screen so no one would see it. Did he have to say that in front of everyone? Lee was at the computer next to me, so I glanced sideways at him, and he winked at me.
    My heart skipped and I felt better for a moment, but black thoughts pulled at me. I was pretty certain now that Mr. Greeley knew I wasn’t allowed to date. It wasn’t likely he would know that unless my mom had told him. He didn’t go to church with us, after all, and he wouldn’t have heard from Jordan.
    And how did Mr. Greeley just happen to know my mom had gate duty? I had a feeling most teachers were like my mom and only cared about when they were scheduled for it. But maybe her turn with gate duty was interfering with their love life.
    Then I realized something else that actually hurt my feelings. Maybe Mr. Greeley had only asked me to do the football photography to get me out of their way.
     
    *****
     
    Despite some of the crazy stuff that had happened earlier, life seemed pretty good as I stood watching the game that night. I had my camera in hand and a gorgeous guy standing guard over me. The sweetness of the night air was intoxicating as it caressed my skin and tossed strands of my hair around my face.
    But then I remembered that I couldn’t date the gorgeous guy, that a psycho cheerleader was glaring at us every chance she got, and that it was hard to take pictures with hair in my face. Unfortunately, I could only fix one of those problems.
    I dug a