Page 47 of Falling Into You

“What aboutmyseason?” Rory snapped, still walking toward the two of them. “But you never really cared about that, did you? You didn’t even try to help me find a replacement for Stuart. Not really. And when Jacob made a bet with you that he’d try out, you thought, sure! Why not? It’s not like it’s really going to matter. Well, guess what? It matters to me!”

A few of the kids in the cornerooooohed, but she ignored them.

“Babe—”

“Don’tbabeme,” she said. “I’m not your babe. Not anymore.”

From the corner of her eye, she saw Jacob’s eyes go wide. Whispers spread throughout the group of freshmen and sophomores as the teachers finally decided to try to wrangle them inside the gym. They weren’t moving. This was obviously too juicy.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Tucker said, his face caught between genuine confusion and a smirk.

“It means we’re over, Tucker,” Rory said. “I’m sick of being with a person who has zero respect for me or the things I care about.”

With that, she turned on her heel and stormed away, hoping she looked a lot cooler and less emotionally crushed than she felt. And sort of wishing she could take Jacob with her.

“Are you okay?”

“Did he really dump you in front of the entire freshman class?”

“What are you going to do if you win king and queen?”

By the time Rory’s day at school was over, she was more than ready to go home, shut the door, and scream at the top of her lungs. Somehow, between the time she’d told Tucker it was over and the time the final bell rang, the story of their breakup had become warped almost to the point of unrecognizable: As the new story went, the freshman and sophomore classes had been gathering in the gym for a talk about the dangers of drugs when Tucker had loudly and spectacularly dropped Rory because she’d stolen Jacob from the soccer team and clearly she was a vindictive shrew.

How?How was this possible? There were at least a couple dozen eyewitnesses to what really happened. But the more Rory tried to set people straight, the more they seemed to think she was a pathetic liar.

And unfortunately, she couldn’t just go home. She had to lead cheer practice.

As she walked down the hall toward the exit to the courtyard, the sky overhead was gray. A stiff wind tossed the clouds overhead, making everything feel ominous andgloomy. She paused when she saw the entire squad was huddled outside, whispering and looking around furtively. Clearly they were talking about her. What did it say that she wanted to run rather than march out there and tell them what had really happened?

She took a deep breath and was about to open the door when someone grabbed her arm and pulled her back, away from the windows.

“Hey.” It was Jacob. He was wearing his black soccer hoodie with the red-and-gold soccer ball patch at the breast and a pair of black athletic shorts. He looked so handsome she wanted to step into his arms and bury her face in his chest.

Except where had hebeenall day? He hadn’t followed her after she stormed away from Tucker, and she hadn’t run into him even once in the hallway.

“Hey,” she said.

“Listen, I don’t know what the hell happened, but I’ve been telling everyone who would listen that you dumpedhim, not the other way around.”

Rory stared at the patch of floor between them. “Thanks. I’m sure he’s just spreading the lies to make himself look better.”

“Probably,” Jacob said. “Jackass. Why am I even friends with that guy?”

She gave a short laugh. Her chest felt tight as she finally managed to look up—to look him in the eye. She wishedthey’d run into each other sooner, but at least she’d have a chance to say what she needed to now, before they went out and joined the squad.

“Jacob, listen... if you’d rather play in the soccer game this weekend, I would understand,” she said. “I know how much you love soccer, and I know you never intended to be a cheerleader. I don’t want to screw up your whole soccer career just because Stuart got hurt and there’s no one else at this school willing or able to join the squad. You should just—”

“Okay, stop talking,” Jacob said, taking a slight step back.

“I’m just saying—”

“I know what you’re saying, and I appreciate it. I do,” he said. “But I’m not gonna back out on you. Or on the squad.” For a long, suspended moment, the two of them stared at one another. The hallway grew darker as the clouds outside continued to gather. Not even the overhead lights could seem to properly cut through. Rory’s heart seemed to pound in every inch of her body. Then Jacob stepped closer again. “I would never do that to you, Rory. The last thing I’d ever want to do is disappoint you again.”

Rory gazed into Jacob’s eyes. Her breath came short and shallow, and she could feel the heat coming off his body. He reached up and gently tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear. He didn’t break eye contact. In her entire life she had never stared into anyone’s eyes this long, but she couldn’tlook away. This was Jacob. Jacob Reilly. The most annoying, frustrating, crazy-making boy she’d ever been forced to tolerate. And all she wanted to do was close those last inches of space between them and touch her lips to his.

And then they heard screaming. They both jumped and turned just in time to see the door flung open and the squad tumbling into the hallway, each person slightly more soaked than the one before them.

“The sky just opened up!” Gwen cried, flinging water off her hands.