We Can Work It Out by Elizabeth Eulberg

Author:Elizabeth Eulberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2014-08-16T04:00:00+00:00

IT’S FINE.

That’s what I kept hearing from Ryan anytime I brought up Saturday night or anything else, really.

But it wasn’t fine. Nothing about what was going on was fine.

Ryan did throw the first punch, but everybody at school on Monday was acting like he was a stone-cold criminal. And I was certain these were the same people who, if given the chance, wouldn’t have minded taking Todd down a peg or fourteen.

I’d gotten used to stares and whispers of accusation long ago, but this was new territory for Ryan. Sure, there was plenty of gossip when he and Diane first broke up, but it was mostly people placing bets on who’d be his next girlfriend.

The odds had never been in my favor on that one.

All day I kept looking around whenever we were together. Ryan kept saying, “Penny, it’s fine. It’s not as big of a deal as you’re making it.”

But it was.

Was he not paying attention, or did he really not care?

I was pacing around our lockers at the end of school, waiting for him so we could go back to my house to study since he didn’t have basketball practice anymore. But he was late.

Ryan was never late.

My head began to pound. Todd’s voice kept repeating in my head, saying that Ryan had changed since we’d started dating.

Had he?

It was time to examine the facts. Since Ryan and I had started dating, he and Todd were no longer friends (a plus as far as I was concerned). He no longer sat at his regular lunch table. His other friends had been keeping their distance. He wasn’t speaking to his father. He’d gotten into a fight. He’d been kicked off the basketball team.

Yikes.

Well, at least he hadn’t been grounded. His mom felt that given the “extenuating circumstances” of his dad being there, his actions, while not condoned, were understandable.

But that still didn’t explain where he was.

Hilary Jacobs walked past and probably noticed me staring at Ryan’s locker. “Hey, Penny. Ryan’s in the principal’s office.”

My stomach sank. “He is?”

“Yeah, he was called there at the end of class.”

I ran off toward the office but saw Ryan as soon as I turned the corner.

“Hey!” I said with relief. “I was getting worried.”

“Sorry, I had to talk to Braddock.” He kept up his pace.

“Oh, is everything okay?” But I could tell by his stoic look that it wasn’t.

“Yeah, I mean, no. He took me off the Student Advisory Committee.”

“He what?” I practically screamed, causing people who hadn’t been staring to do so now. But of course it made sense. I was naïve to think that what happened on the court would’ve stayed on the court. Ryan probably should’ve been suspended. This was the first time I was grateful Principal Braddock notoriously favored, and often turned a blind eye to the behavior of, the male athletes at the school.

Oh God, I thought. Is this going to affect Ryan’s college applications?

“He said that he felt my actions on Saturday didn’t give him a choice. Then, of course, he wanted to discuss what chances I think they’ll have in the play-offs.

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