Page 16 of Falling Into You

Rory nearly bubbled over with indignation. “So? So how is that okay with you? This is, as you said, one of the most important things in my life. But I should just let the class clown make a mockery of it? Because he feels bad after royally screwing up his life?Thatmakes sense.”

Tucker raised his shoulders dramatically. “I don’t see what the big deal is. It’s not like I’m asking you to pick him. Just let him try out.”

Rory grabbed the plastic lid from the table and pressed it back down to cover her food. “Let me put this in terms you’ll understand. What if I sent Gwen to try out for Jacob’s now vacant striker spot on the soccer team, and she deliberatelytook the ball in the wrong direction and scored on your own goalie? Just for laughs? How would you feel aboutthat?”

“That’s ridiculous.” Tucker sucked down some more of his shake. “Gwen could never score onanygoalie.”

Rory got up from the table. “I’m out of here.”

“No, wait! I’m sorry. Rory, wait!”

But it was too late. Rory moved quickly across the courtyard, yanking open the door to the central hallway and slipping inside. Tucker had pissed her off so thoroughly that if she went back to the table now, she might dump her entire Playa Bowl onto his head.

Jacob

There was a distinct chill in the air as Jacob sat on the front porch that afternoon, waiting for his little sister to come home. A cool breeze tugged the red and orange leaves off the maple in the yard, sending them dancing across the bright blue sky. Next to him was a six-foot-tall mechanical black cat made of mesh that turned its head back and forth and wagged its tail in a slow, methodical rhythm. Every time it looked his way with its big, green eyes, it made an odd, high-pitched whirring sound that he’d never noticed before, probably because he usually jogged right past it coming in or out of the house. He kind of wanted to punch the thing in its face, if he was being honest.

For the first time in his life, Jacob regretting making a bet. Well, okay, maybe not the first time. There was that fourth-grade incident when he’d sworn he could chug an entire bottle of chocolate milk without taking a breath, andthen thrown up on the principal’s new shoes. Open-toed shoes. He’d had to help out in the front office after school for two weeks.

But this came in averyclose second.

Suspended from soccer? Right when the college scouts were going to start attending games? He did not have that on his junior year bingo card. And now he had to try out for the cheer squad tomorrow, and he had no idea what he was doing. There was definitely a part of him that wanted to just bail on the whole thing, but he’d been over it in his head a million times today. First of all, he really did believe one should never back out on a bet. How was anyone going to ever trust him again if he didn’t go through with it? But he also kept thinking about what Coach had said. That he had to prove he could be responsible and a good leader if he wanted to get back on the team. That meant showing up for this, right? He’d committed when he’d signed the form, and if he went back on that commitment, he’d just be proving Coach right about how unserious a person he was.

He needed to get back on the soccer team ASAP. It wasn’t like he thought he was going to play D1 soccer in college—he wasn’t that good. But he could maybe go D2 or D3. He’d already reached out to the coach at Tampa, who said there could be some scholarship money on the line if Jacob’s grades were good enough. He wasn’t sure how it would work if he did make the cheer squad—maybe he could just cheer with them through their big competition and then go back tosoccer? But somehow, some way, he had to get back on the team before the end of the season.

And then there was Rory. He knew she thought he was a screwup. She probably figured he was going to skip out on her—well, on the team. Either that or she assumed he’d show up with fake boobs and a ton of makeup and treat it like a joke. Which was fair. That was definitely something he’d normally do. But this was different. It was Rory. And he wasn’t about to play down to her expectations.

His mother’s SUV finally pulled into the driveway, and Jacob jumped to his feet. Lindsay and Chad tumbled out of the back of the car as Willow stepped out of the front passenger seat. His sister looked at him curiously, as if she somehow knew he was waiting for her and not everyone else who had just arrived at home.

“Sup, loser?” Chad greeted Jacob as he walked by.

“That’s bullying!” Lindsay admonished him, shoving him from behind.

“Oh, but pushing me is okay?” Chad replied as the two of them barreled their way into the house.

“Hey, Will,” Jacob said.

She paused on the bottom step to the porch and tilted her head, her long, blond ponytail falling to one side. “Hiiiii,” she said suspiciously.

“What’re you doing home?” Jacob’s mom asked, bringing up the rear with two tote bags full of books. His mother worked part-time at the municipal library and was alwaysbringing home stuff for all of them to read. “Was practice canceled?”

“Something like that.”

“Mom! We’re out of animal crackers!” Lindsay shouted from the house.

“There’s some in the pantry!” their mother shouted back.

“No, there’s not!”

Their mom rolled her eyes and went inside. One of the benefits of being the middle child in a household of seven kids was that his parents never had much time to ask probing questions. He really hoped he’d have all of this figured out before he had to bother either of them with it.

“What’s up?” Willow asked once their mom was gone.

“Uh... I need your help with something,” Jacob said. “I’m trying out for varsity cheer tomorrow.”

Willow burst out laughing—hand to her chest, doubled over laughing. It took her a good ten seconds to notice that Jacob had not joined her. She caught her breath, covered her mouth—her nails were painted black and had little ghost stickers on them, he noticed—and cleared her throat.

“No, you’re not.” Her hand dropped and her face got serious.