Page 8 of Falling Into You

“Oh my God. That sucks. I broke my arm once, and it was the worst. I can’t imagine breaking my leg.” He paused and knocked his head three times.

“What was that?” Rory asked.

“I’m knocking on wood.”

“Your skull is made of wood?”

He grinned. “I’m actually Pinocchio. Did Tucker not tell you? I’m hoping to become a real boy before graduation.” Jacob held up both hands with crossed fingers.

Rory rolled her eyes and turned away to hide her small smile. “I don’t have time for this.”

Jacob snatched a flyer off the top of her stack as she stormed off toward the gym. “Wait, you’re holding tryouts? Two weeks before regionals? That’s like sending the freshman team goalie in for the championship game shoot-out.”

The hallways were starting to get crowded as the rest of the student body filed in to start the school day. Rory dodged a gaggle of freshmen girls checking their makeup in their phones and turned the corner toward the locker rooms.

“How do you even know about regionals?” she said, not slowing down.

“I pay attention to stuff,” Jacob said, jogging to catch up with her. “And it doesn’t hurt that my sister Willow is obsessed with the varsity cheer squad. She basically keeps me informedabout everything you guys are up to.” He paused and looked down at the flyer. “You’re doing this on Wednesday?”

She stopped short, and he ran into her from behind so hard she almost fell over.Wouldhave fallen over, if he hadn’t caught her by the backpack and stopped her from losing her balance. Slowly, taking a breath for patience, Rory turned around.

“I have to get someone new on the teamyesterdayif they’re going to be ready for regionals. Not to mention homecoming,” Rory told him, speaking through gritted teeth. “But the front office said the auxiliary gym isn’t open until Wednesday after school, so Wednesday it is! And if you’re going to follow me around like an annoying puppy, the least you can do is help!”

She smacked half the flyers into his chest—damn, that was a solid chest—and gave him the tape.

“I wouldn’t even have to be doing this if it wasn’t for you,” she added without thinking.

The second the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them and wished she could take them back. She half hoped Jacob wouldn’t notice, but he was eyeing her quizzically.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.” Rory tried to move away, but Jacob grabbed her arm with the hand that wasn’t clutching the flyers and tape.

“Now youhaveto tell me.”

Rory heaved a sigh. “We really needed to win the homecoming tickets at the bake sale yesterday because Stuart can’tafford to go. When we didn’t win them, he entered a stupid motorbike race for a cash prize, and that’s how he got hurt.”

Jacob’s face fell. “Oh. Oh, crap. That’s... I didn’t know. I’ll give him the tickets!”

“Well, he can’t exactly use them now,” Rory said, throwing her free hand up in exasperation.

“Jeez, I’m really sorry, Rory. If I’d had any idea—”

“It’s not actually your fault, obviously.” Rory was getting antsy and uncomfortable with this conversation. “Forget I said anything. Just... put up some flyers.”

Jacob turned around and taped a flyer onto the wall next to the weight room. Then he taped another one onto the door. The second he did, it swung open and Tucker walked out, sweaty from his pre-school upper-body session.

“What are you doing, Reilly?” Tucker asked, taking one of the flyers and flipping it so he could read it. Then he glanced over at Rory. “You’re holding tryouts?”

“I need to replace Stuart,” Rory told him, pinning a flyer to the board outside the main gym. “We talked about this last night.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t think you were serious. No guy in their right mind is going to try out forcheerleading.”

Rory stared at him, her cheeks growing hot with rage. But her heart was already pumping overtime with frustration and adrenaline, so she could be slightly overreacting. Clenching her free hand into a fist to ground herself, shesaid calmly, “Well, the guys who are already on the team tried out, so.”

Tucker laughed. “I mean, yeah, but weren’t they also theonlyguys who tried out?”

Rory stilled. Jacob was looking back and forth between them like he was spectating at a tennis match.