Never Too Late

I returned her grin. "Lucky for you my friends-all three of them--happen to be straight.""Very good news. So will you go?""You sure that's what you want?"Her pause, although small should have alerted me. "Yes, it's what I want Coop.""Then it's what I want too." Cupping my face, Brooke made it her mission to kiss me senseless.Tuesday brought with it the first day of school and in me mixed feelings. I wasn't that excited tobe back, but considering that this would be my last year, I was counting down the days untilgraduation. Besides I had quite the incentive within these walls--Brooke Berry. My…was she mygirlfriend? Smiling, I closed my locker having resolved that I would formally ask her tonight.Turning toward the left, I nearly ran into Tanya Gunther. Crap. I looked up at her (I looked up ata lot of people because of my unimposing height) popping a wad of pink bubblegum. It was soannoying. Everything about the cheerleader was annoying. However, the taller figure standingon Tanya's right wasn't. I recalled that two out of the remaining three girls surrounding her werecheerleaders and the other on the Dragonfly Softball team with Brooke. I didn't remember theirnames, though one of those cheerleaders had secured a spot on my list. Not all of the Dragonflycheerleaders were bad. Just those that preferred to hang out with Tanya and for the life of me Icouldn't figure out the appeal.Tanya's annoying gum smacking recaptured my attention. I hoped that I wouldn't have to strikeher with the thick calculus book in my hands. I was determined to get through my high schoolcareer without having to attend detention or being suspended. "Howdy Cooper. How was ya'llssummer?"I glanced toward Brooke. Her eyes were riveted to the floor. "Fine Tanya." I would haveinquired about hers, but why pretend to be interested? I would have been wasting her time aswell as my own.She smirked as she looked between Brooke and I. "Ya'll know what I heard?" I supposed thatwas my cue to reply 'what did you hear' but I just stared at her, so Tanya went on. "I heard thatyou and B.B. were at the park with those lil' friends of yours on Saturday. That true?" She waitedfor either Brooke or I to confirm this. The softball player said nothing. I started to feel nauseous."What do you care?""We care because Baby Dyke shouldn't be hanging out with one of our own," what's-her-nameannoying cheerleader #2 answered me. "B.B., what's going on between you and her? Haven'tseen much of you since that party last week." When she pointed at me I wanted to snap her damnfinger off. And just so you know, I don't usually condone violence. These people brought out theworst in me.