The Romeo Club Read online

  ***

  I’d just sat at my desk to start my homework when my cell went off. Rex.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “Double-D, what’re you up to?”

  I groaned. “I’m hanging out with my Trig book, what about you?”

  “Watching the Tigers’ game with my dad.”

  “That sounds way more fun.” I propped my foot up on my trashcan and picked at the blue nail polish coming off my nails.

  “Listen, I have to ask you something.” His voice turned serious.

  “Sure.”

  “Were you at the mall today? I know I sound paranoid, but I swear I saw you in Rockies.”

  Dang it. I hated to lie, so I went with a half-truth. “Yeah. We had to stop in to grab some things for the science project we’re working on. We’re doing an analysis of scents—you know, like colognes, foods, leather, that sort of thing.”

  “You know, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I could help you instead. I’m good at science.”

  Son of a b, why wouldn’t he let this go? It’s not like he cared what I did before this, why the sudden change? “Actually, the teacher assigned the Nerd Herd to me.”

  “Maybe I can talk to him—”

  Not wanting this to go any further, I decided to change the subject. “Hey, so do you want to hang out tomorrow? I have nothing going on. We could meet up and play tennis or take a hike up to the falls.”

  He groaned. “You’re not gonna believe this, but my parents are having some stupid luncheon thing I have to go to tomorrow. It’s at the country club.”

  “Well maybe later this week then.”

  “But, I miss hanging out with you. I wish it was summer again, then we wouldn’t have to worry about school.”

  “Me too. But listen, I gotta go.” With that we said goodbye. Now I just needed to figure out how to keep juggling The Romeo Club and Rex. The last thing we needed was for him to figure out that I was training the guys. He’d never let them live it down.

  Chapter 8

  Oldies music blared from the living room downstairs. My parents’ Sunday afternoon ritual of cards, snacks, and tunes was underway. Or, in other words, annoy the crap out of me time. They’d normally end up kissing at some point over a cribbage board or in between bites of crackers and cheese. Total gross fest, which is why I hid out in my room. As far as they knew, I was boggled down with homework.

  I slid my earbuds in, hoping to drown out their laughter and music. With a sigh, I pulled out the information Kenadi had given me about Portia. I jotted down a few tidbits to give to Trey. However, I decided against handing over all the intel at once. The last thing we needed him to do was go hog-wild with the info and ruin things.

  Once I wrote the stuff down, I ripped the paper from my notebook, then grabbed the T-shirt I’d bought Trey the other day. With any luck, I’d be able to sneak over to his house without Mom or Dad noticing. I tugged my headphones off and hurried down the hallway.

  The hardwood floors creaked beneath my feet, while beams of sunlight filtered in through the windows, reflecting off the framed pictures of me and my brother that lined the entire corridor. It was like the walk of shame. Mom insisted on highlighting the most embarrassing moments of our childhood through puberty. There was a pic of Drake on the kiddie toilet taking his first pee. One of me, screaming my head off during my first bath. Next to that, hung a photo of me and my brother running around naked through the sprinkler, when I was one and he was two.

  Needless to say, I’d never shown Rex or any other boy to my bedroom because I didn’t want to bring them down the hall of horrors. Well, I mean the Nerd Herd had seen them, but they didn’t really count.

  I made it out of the house and ran across our yard to Trey’s. Clouds drifted across the sky, hiding the sun. The scent of fresh cut grass filled the air. The large, blue, Victorian home sprawled out before me, its turret pointed toward the heavens like an arrow. I stepped onto the wraparound porch, covered with white wicker furniture and hanging flower baskets and walked to the front door. Standing in front of the wooden barrier, I knocked.

  Mrs. Garrett opened the door. “Hi, Delyla.”

  “Hello. Is Trey around?”

  “Yeah, come on in. He’s in his room, you can go on up.” She moved aside letting me in.

  My gaze flickered over the flowered wallpaper and stained glass windows. I hurried through the foyer and up the spiral staircase like I had so many other times. When I got to Trey’s door, I barged in.

  I gasped. There, standing in the center of his room, was Trey, wearing only a pair of boxers. My eyes roamed over his defined chest, to his muscled arms then back down again.

  “Holy, balls—sorry, I mean, I didn’t see your balls, I … ” Heat crept up the back of my neck and over my cheeks. I swallowed hard and turned my head in the other direction. When did he get so ripped? I didn’t remember the sleek muscles last summer when we went swimming at Lake Michigan.

  Trey chuckled. “You can look now, I put on my jeans.”

  Yeah, but he didn’t mention a shirt. The boy needed to cover up stat, or I might drool on him or something. I sucked in a deep breath trying to rein in my pulse. Okay, act cool. This is Trey. Not Rex. “Um, I got you this.”

  Without meeting his gaze, I handed him the T-shirt I’d bought for him.

  “What’s this for?” He held it up and smiled.

  I shrugged. “I saw it in the window at the mall and thought it was cute—then of course I thought of you.”

  His eyebrows went up.

  “I mean, not like that … ” Good grief. Maybe I ought to just shut my mouth before I said something even worse.

  He slid it on over his head. It fit perfectly. “Do you want me to pay you for it?”

  “No. It’s a gift. You know—to the new you.” I shoved my hands into my pocket and tugged out the piece of notebook paper. “Oh, and before I forget, I brought over a short list of things Portia likes.”

  He took it from me and scanned it. “Dancing, shopping, and designing dresses? Well that’s not going to get me off to a good start. I hate dancing. Definitely not a big fan of shopping, well unless we’re at the video game store. And well, for obvious reasons, I’m not into dresses—unless of course they’re on a chick or something.”

  I rolled my eyes. “These are more for you to get a conversation started. You can ask her if she watches the new celebrity dancing show.”

  He snorted. “That means I’ll have to watch a few episodes.”

  “You’re in luck then. My mom has them recorded.” Along with every other reality TV show on satellite. She was an addict.

  “Seriously?” He ran a hand through his hair.

  “How bad do you want this?”

  Trey sighed and paced in front of his computer. He glanced at his Star Wars posters then back at me. “Somehow, I have a feeling I’m gonna regret this. But fine. Let’s do this.”

  He put on a pair of shoes and we headed outside. As we crossed his yard into mine, I noticed Jimbo standing near our front porch. There, on the ground, were my mom’s pink flamingo yard decorations. And well, Jimbo was having a little too much fun with them, if you catch my drift.

  “Not again. No—bad dog. Get off those.”

  The dog ignored me and kept doing the deed with the poor, plastic birds. They probably wished they had real legs about now so they could run away.

  “No,” I shouted again, this time I chased after him, until he rushed back into his own yard.

  “Dude, that dog needs a lady friend.”

  “Well, you might want to hide Biscuit.”

  He wrinkled his nose. “Don’t curse my poodle.”

  “Thank God, she’s fixed.” I laughed.

  When we got inside, I led Trey into the living room and flipped on the television. “Let me grab some paper so we can take notes on the show.”

  “You’re kidding me right?”

  “No.
You want to be able to carry on intelligent conversations, don’t you? The only way to do that is to study. Think of it as homework.”

  “Has anyone ever told you, you’re a nerd?”

  “Only you.” Once I got my notebook, we plopped down on the couch and turned on the show. I jotted down info on the people and the songs. But to be honest, I was bored out of my mind. I mean, who actually found this crap interesting?

  Trey let out a yawn. “How many episodes do we have to watch?”

  “Four.” My eyes glazed over just thinking about it.

  We made it through the first three episodes, when Mom poked her head in. “Oh, I didn’t know you two liked this.”

  She spun into the room pretending to waltz with some invisible guy or maybe the hot French dancer from the show. Mom sung along with the song, but just then she caught her foot on the edge of the sofa and went flying. She hit the floor with a thud and to my horror, her shirt lifted, giving us a view of her ugly, white, grandma-bra.

  Mortified, I leapt to my feet. “Maybe we should watch this another time.” I shoved the notes I took into Trey’s hands and ushered him to the front door. “I’ll see you later.”

  Good grief. I swear, I had the most embarrassing family in the world.

  Mom hefted herself up. “Guess my dancing skills are a little rusty.”

  A little? Try non-existent. I rubbed a hand across my face as if that would take away the vision.

  Poor Trey would probably be scarred for the rest of his life—maybe even blind from the flash of bra and old lady skin.

  “I hope I didn’t scare Trey off.”

  “He had to get home. Lots of homework. And so do I. See you later.” I rushed upstairs before she decided to break dance or something and show me a thong. Gah. The images.

  As soon as my door shut behind me, I dialed Kenadi. “Can you please kill me now?”

  “Oh God, what happened?” she said.

  So I went on to tell her about Mom’s fiasco and my walking in on Trey.

  “Needless to say, it’s been an eventful day,” I said.

  She giggled. “Sounds like it.”

  “I’m sure Trey will avoid our house for the foreseeable future.”

  “Speaking of Trey, you spent more time with him than Rex this weekend.”

  “Romeo Club duties, nothing more.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely.” Or at least I hoped so.

  Chapter 9

  I pushed through the crowds of people as I made my way into school. My ballet flats slid across the scuffed tiles as I adjusted my backpack, which weighed like five tons. With all the homework they handed out in my AP classes, it’d be a miracle if I maintained my 4.0 average. But if I wanted to keep from taking final exams, I had to make sure my grades didn’t fall. This was one of the few school policies I liked. If you got A’s all four marking periods in your classes then you didn’t take the exams.

  Wanting to get my science paper handed in early, I headed straight for Mr. Braxon’s room. I came up short when I noticed Rex leaning against his desk. With a groan, I pressed myself against one of the blue lockers.

  “Hey, Mr. B,” he said. “I wondered if you might assign me to tutor Delyla Denson instead of C.C., Kevin, and Trey.”

  Oh crap. I’m so dead. This whole lying thing was way over my head—and obviously I wasn’t very good at it.

  “Delyla Denson? She doesn’t need a tutor. Her grades are fine,” Mr. Braxon said.

  Why the heck is he checking up on me?

  Not wanting to get caught eavesdropping, I hurried past the door and down the hall. I needed a new excuse and fast. When I got to my locker, which was located right next to Drake’s, I saw the Nerd Herd hanging out.

  “Okay guys, I’m in deep shit here. If Rex asks why we’re hanging out, tell him I joined the Science Club with you guys and I’m helping you with projects.”

  “And why should we do that?” C.C. smoothed down one of his new T-shirts.

  “It’s either that or I tell him about The Romeo Club. Your choice.”

  “We’ll tell him whatever you ask us to,” Kevin said, slugging C.C. in the chest. “Don’t ruin this for us you dick.”

  He held his hands up. “I was teasing. Can’t any of you ever take a joke?”

  “No,” we all said in unison.

  As a crowd of girls walked past, I saw several of them turn to give the Nerd Herd a second glance. Project makeover, an official success. Now, I just needed to make sure that the right girls took notice.

  I glanced down the hall and saw Portia opening her locker. Perfect. I nudged Trey, whose locker happened to be near hers. “You know, now would be a good time to go talk to her. She’s alone and she’s got her locker open.”

  “Um, and why do I care if she’s getting into her locker?” He frowned.

  “Her dance posters are hanging up. Act like you’re getting your books out and notice them. Then you can be like “Oh, you like dance too.” See, perfect conversation starter and it will open it up for you to bring up the new dance show episodes we watched.”

  “Wait, he watches Celebrity Dance Off?” C.C. interrupted, a smirk appearing on his freckled face.

  “Yes,” Trey said. His face turned a nice shade of strawberry.

  “Since when?”

  “Since he’s trying to get a date,” I said.

  C.C. opened his mouth to ask another question and I pinched his arm.

  “Ow, why does everyone keep beating on me today?” He rubbed the spot I’d squeezed.

  “I don’t know, maybe it’s because you won’t shut your mouth.” My gaze rested on him.

  He grinned. “That’s okay. I love it when girls are rough.”

  Seriously, he was such a pig. “And again with the mouth.”

  Trey took a deep breath. “Okay, I can do this.”

  “Yep. And I’ll be right here if you need me.” I slid my backpack off and leaned against the wall.

  “All right, here goes nothing.” He sauntered down the hall, stopped at his locker, then grabbed his books out for first hour. He leaned closer to Portia and said something.

  Damn, I wished I was closer. But whatever he’d said made her smile, and I saw her point to various pictures hanging up in her locker. Oh. My. God. She was buying it.

  Just then, in the middle of watching my work of perfection, Rex stepped in front of me. His lips turned down in a frown, his arms crossed his chest. “We need to talk.”

  Uh-oh. This wouldn’t be good. I gave him a forced smile, but my stomach knotted. We’d been together for several months and had never had a fight. Hell, I’d never fought with any guy I dated.

  “Sure. What’s up?” I tried to pretend like I didn’t know what this was about.

  He led me a few feet away from the guys and said, “You lied to me, Del. I know you’re not getting tutored. Hell, you’re getting better grades than me right now.” He glanced down the hallway. “So, my question is what the heck is going on? Do you not want to hang out with me anymore or something?”

  My pulse roared in my ears. “No. That’s not it. I promise. Okay, here’s the thing—I-I joined the Science Club.”

  His mouth fell open. “What?”

  “I was embarrassed—I mean, Science Club is normally reserved for nerds.” I nodded in the direction of the Nerd Herd. Although, deep down I was just as big of a dork as they were—I just hid it better.

  Rex let out a long breath, took a step toward me, and pulled me into his arms. “You don’t know how happy I am to hear you say that. I thought maybe you’d found some other guy or something. Next time, just tell me the truth, okay?”

  C.C. cleared his throat and I caught his eye over Rex’s arm. ‘Don’t you dare.’ I mouthed when I realized he was ready to say something. He held his hands up and spun away from us.

  “Trust me, there’s no other guy. You’re it,” I said, turning my attention back to Rex. />
  He grinned. “Well, if there was somebody trying to move in on my territory, I might have to kick their ass.”

  But even I noticed his gaze drift to the new and improved Nerd Herd as if to warn them off.

  Great, nothing like a little territory marking. Seriously, I wasn’t a piece of property or something. With that, he bent down and gave me a peck on the lips. One way or another, I had to handle things better. And I better go tell Mr. Braxon I’d joined the Science Club, just to be safe.

  ***

  Kenadi passed the soccer ball to me as we raced toward the goal. I dribbled it, then took a shot from the back post. The ball sailed in.

  “Woot, that’s my girl.” Kenadi pumped her fist, while I did a celebratory booty dance.

  As we made our way back to the line to await our next turn, I told Kenadi about my run-in with Rex and also helping Trey talk to Portia.

  “Speaking of Trey, I know I said it last night, but I think it needs repeating. You’re spending a lot of time with him. Not to mention, nearly every conversation we’ve had in the last week has revolved around him.”

  My cheeks burned. I leaned down and pretended to pick mud out of my cleats. “He’s my friend. I want to help him out.”

  “Right. And you bought him a shirt when you’re trying to save for your prom dress?”

  “I—it was a cute shirt. Not to mention it was on sale. You know me and sales, I can’t pass up a good deal.” I stood straight and wiped my dirty fingers on my practice shorts.

  “Okay, I’ll give you that. But I still think there’s more going on here than you’re letting on.”

  “Denson, Green, get on the line, you’re next.” Coach blew her whistle.

  We raced down the field once more. Kenadi was wrong. I mean, Trey’s cute. But he’d been one of my best friends since we were toddlers. No way would I jeopardize that. Not to mention Rex. Hot. Senior. Sex God of the entire school. Okay, I didn’t really know if he was a Sex God, because we hadn’t done it. But still. Who would give that up?

  Chapter 10

  Rex rolled the window down and cranked the music in his jeep. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. Sunglasses rested on top of his head. He sang along with the country song, his forearms flexing as he gripped the steering wheel. When we came to a stop sign, he shifted his gaze to mine.