Bluford Series 18: Pretty Ugly by Karyn Langhorne Folan & Paul Langan

Author:Karyn Langhorne Folan & Paul Langan [Folan, Karyn Langhorne & Langan, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781591942337
Amazon: 1591942330
Publisher: Townsend Press
Published: 2010-12-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

“Girl, it’s about time,” Dez complained as Jamee walked into Niko’s. “Where you been?”

Something about his question made her so angry that she couldn’t answer. It didn’t help that Darcy, Hakeem, Cooper, and Tarah were there too, listening to every word.

“And don’t say, ‘at tryouts’,” he added, resting his arms on her shoulders as if she was his property. “They were at the tryouts, too, and they’ve been sitting there for about five minutes.”

Tasha, Vanessa, Renita, and Kym were sitting in the corner. Vanessa held Tasha’s pink phone between her long nails. The girls were hunched close like animals at a feeding. They cackled loudly several times as they looked at something on the tiny screen.

“Great,” Jamee muttered, ignoring Dez’s question. “This is just great.”

“What’s the matter, girl?” Tarah asked. She slid the pizza they had ordered toward her.

“Nothing,” Jamee sighed, not want-ing to explain it. “I’m just tired.”

“I’d be tired, too, if I was you,” Cooper joked. “Listenin’ to his big mouth all day is enough to wear anyone out,” he said, looking at Dez.

“Man, why you gotta be like that, Coop?” Dez protested.

“’Cause you always bugging her, that’s why! You ever see what the coach has them girls doin’? I used to think cheerleading was all pom-poms and stuff. But one day I passed by the gym after school, and the coach had all the girls doing backflips and step dances. That’s no joke. I could never do that.”

“So what were you doin’ watchin’ them cheerleaders in the first place?” Tarah cut in, raising an eyebrow at her boyfriend.

“Uh oh,” Hakeem said with a smile. “You walked right into that, Coop.”

“Aw c’mon, T! It wasn’t like that,” Cooper insisted.

“Mmm hmm,” Tarah said, a teasing glint in her eye. Dez ignored them both.

“But that still don’t answer my question. Why are you so late?” he asked.

“Coach Seville wanted to talk to me, okay,” Jamee lied. She didn’t want to admit that she had sat alone in the locker room wishing she didn’t have to go to Niko’s or that she was still bothered by what Dez had said the other day. Even though he apologized, she still thought about her reputation and how he had expected her to kiss him whenever he wanted—or maybe go further. Maybe that was why he wanted to go out with her in the first place. The thought made her stomach churn.

“Why didn’t you say so?” Dez answered, squeezing her a bit tighter. His sweaty skin clung to the back of her neck. She felt trapped, almost claustro-phobic. Having Vanessa and the other girls so close only made it worse. She wanted to shrug him off and walk out, but she couldn’t think of a way to do it without making a scene.

“I hope your coach wasn’t talking to you about your grades,” Darcy chimed in. “They treat the cheerleaders just like athletes. You’ll have to keep your grades up to—”

“That’s because we are athletes. And no, it wasn’t about my grades, okay?” Jamee snapped.

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