The Romeo Club полностью

I scooted my desk chair over to the window. Down below I saw Trey sitting on the hood of his truck talking on the phone.

“Thank you, I owe you one. So what do I do about the flowers?”

When I finished talking to Kenadi, I took a quick shower then headed outside to where Trey sat perched on his truck.

“Okay, I got the information on Portia. Her favorite flowers are roses. And it looks like her favorite color is black.”

Please let him believe me.

“What?” He scrunched his nose. “I can’t get her black roses—don’t they mean death or something?”

I held my hands up in front of me. “I don’t know, I’m just telling you what her BFF Jasmine said.”

He rubbed his neck and his T-shirt drifted up over his hips to reveal a flat stomach. I swallowed hard, tearing my eyes off of his abdomen.

“I never took her for the Goth type.”

“Yeah, well everyone has a secret side.” Mine was obviously relationship-ruiner.

He slid from his spot on the truck to stand beside me. “Fine—I’ll get her a bouquet of black roses. Thanks for the info. I owe you.” He nudged me in the arm. “Listen, I gotta get inside. I’ll talk to you later.”

I gave a forced smile. “Sure, anytime.”

Operation sabotage was now underway.

***

When I got to school the next day, the first two people I saw were Rex and Portia. They were in deep conversation near his first hour class. When he glanced up, I noticed how disheveled he was. His wore a wrinkled shirt, his hair was messy and not in the stylish good way. His bloodshot eyes met mine and he gave a small wave.

I waved back. He seemed miserable, which made me feel even worse. Whispers of our break-up followed me down the hall as I made my way to my locker.

“I heard she broke his heart,” Mary Cashell said.

“Why would anyone break up with him? He’s so hot,” Carrie Fister added.

“Maybe he cheated on her? I heard Tara Vaughn has been trying to get him to go out with her all year,” Samantha Dorr said.

Great, now I’d have to spend the whole day explaining what happened with Rex. I so didn’t need this. Not on top of everything else.

“So are the rumors true?” Drake met me at my locker. “Did you and Rex end it?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he said.

“Didn’t realize I had to run it past you.” I rolled my eyes. “There are some things, I don’t like to discuss with my brother.”

“Del.” He touched my shoulder, his brows furrowed. “Are you okay?”

I took a deep breath and shifted my gaze to my locker combination. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

“You sure? If you want to talk or something, I’m here.”

My mouth twitched at the thought of him giving me dating advice. “Seriously, I’ll be okay. The first couple of days will suck, but I’ll get over it. Things will get better.” I swiped my hair out of my face. “But thanks for asking.”

I grabbed my books from my locker. Down the hall, I spotted Trey carrying a bouquet of black roses. Oh God, he’d really gotten them. Kenadi appeared at my side to watch the exchange as he approached Portia with them.

As soon as Portia saw the flowers, she smiled and gave him a hug.

“What the hell?” Kenadi said. “She totally didn’t react at all.”

“Who didn’t react to what?” Drake peeked around us.

“Nothing,” I said.

“No one,” Kenadi answered at the same time.

My brother looked back and forth between us, shrugged, then walked off.

“Damn, that didn’t go the way I thought it would.” I shut my locker door.

“Yeah. But don’t worry, this was only round one. I’m sure you’ve got lots more ideas.” She tugged her braids back into a hair band.

For some reason, I wasn’t sure if my “ideas” were gonna work. But, I couldn’t give up now. Not if I planned to win over Trey. But did I really want to screw things up for him if he was happy?

***

I sat on my porch swing, watching the bees buzz around Mom’s lilac bush. The steady creak of the swing relaxed me. I remembered when Drake and I were younger and we used to get yelled at for pushing each other in it and ramming into the side of the house. One time, I’d shoved it so hard it actually came off the chain and crashed into the window. Needless to say, that was the end of that. Dad forced us to pick up pop cans for the next two months in order to try and pay for what we did. Along with several other chores he’d concocted as punishment.

I smiled at the thought.

“Hey, hope I’m not interrupting.” Trey bounded up the porch stairs and plopped down next to me, nearly sending the swing into the wall.

“Nope. Just chilling.”

“So, the flowers went over well. Thank you for that. But now I’ve got another dilemma.”

Geez, what was I? Delyla, teen psychiatrist and solver of all relationship woes? I mean seriously. I smiled. “Sure, what’s going on?”

“This might sound cheesy, but I want to bring Portia something for lunch tomorrow. Maybe eat off campus at the park or something. But I’m not sure what her favorite foods are. Do you think you might be able to work your magic again?”