‘Man, that’s one cute butt,’ sighed Zoe, enjoying the rear view.

‘Don’t talk about his butt,’ I said crossly. That set them off again. ‘And stop laughing at me!’ Had he been warning me again?

‘We’l try, but it’s hard when you say things like that.’ Tina nudged me. ‘Tel us it’s your butt to protect, then we’l stop looking, won’t we, Zoe?’

‘Wel , I might look but I’l stop saying stuff.’ Zoe grinned, ignoring the rest of the class filing into the lab. Teasing me was far more enjoyable than anything the Biology teacher could offer.

‘It’s not my butt,’ I ground out.

‘But I think it could be yours. He’s definitely circling you.’ Zoe shouldered her bag.

Tina stood back to let Zoe go in, then dropped her voice. ‘We were just joking, Sky, but, seriously, I get the impression Zed’s up to something. I’ve never seen him act so, wel , so nice around a girl.’

I glanced down the corridor to check he’d real y gone. ‘You noticed?’

‘Hard to miss. Last time you were both together, you almost drew blood.’

‘Yeah, but he’s stil Mr Arrogant.’

‘And then some.’ She tugged my bag strap to make her point. ‘He’s always kept his distance before. I wish he would now. He’s not your type.’

I frowned. ‘So what is my type?’

‘Another Bambi, I guess.’ She smiled at my groan.

‘I mean someone who wil be gentle. I can see you going for romance, long walks, roses—that kinda thing.’

‘And Zed’s not that?’

‘You don’t need me to tel you that. For a girl with a tough shel , that’d be OK, but you’re more a marshmal ow, aren’t you?’

Was I? ‘Maybe. I don’t know what I’m like real y.’

‘You’l be careful?’

That’s what Zed had said. ‘I don’t know what to think. He can’t expect me to fal for him after the way he’s treated me.’

‘Just you remember that.’

‘I don’t know he’s after me.’

Tina glanced at her watch and tugged me into class. ‘Don’t you?’

I was fast learning that Wrickenridge High School was obsessed by sport. I’m not even thinking of the absurdity of cheerleading; it went much deeper than a weird desire to wear short skirts and shake pompoms. For one, we were al expected to turn out to support our team even if we didn’t play. It was so unlike England—I didn’t know if my sixth form col ege even had a team.

‘OK, so basebal is about how fast you can get a team out and then how many runs you can score when you’re in?’ I repeated, helping myself to a generous handful of popcorn. Zoe’s father, manning the refreshment stand run by the PTA, had given us an extra large serving and treated us to drinks. ‘You swap over once three men are out.’

Tina settled her shades over her eyes and stretched out her legs. It was cool at this altitude but the sun was real y powerful. ‘That’s it.’

‘And they choose to wear these peculiar uniforms because …?’ I thought even Zed struggled to make the basebal strip of long white shorts look cool. They resembled teens gathered for a bizarre kind of pyjama party.

‘Tradition, I guess.’

‘Protection,’ countered Zoe—she turned out to be a bit of a basebal fanatic. Had her own catcher’s glove and everything. ‘Need to cover the skin if you slide for home.’

The teams were mil ing about. Aspen had just annihilated our batsman and were now up for their inning.

‘And Zed’s our best player?’

‘He could be. He’s a bit erratic. Drives Coach mad.’ Zoe popped her soda. ‘Al his brothers, apart from my lovely Yves, were in the team when they were at Wrickenridge, but none of them went on for a sports scholarship. Coach Carter is trying to persuade Zed—his last chance at a Benedict—but he can’t get Zed to commit.’

‘Hmm.’ I watched Zed run his fingers over the bal .

His face was stern with concentration but somehow distant as if he was hearing a strain of music no one else could. His first pitch beat the batsman by miles.

The spectators screamed their approval.

‘He’s on form,’ noted Zoe.

‘Hi, girls!’ Nelson jumped down beside Tina, goosing her in passing.

‘Sheesh, Nelson, you made me spil my popcorn!’

she proested.

‘I’l help you pick it up,’ he offered, eyeing her lap.

‘You won’t.’ She brushed the kernels off her legs quickly.

‘You’re spoiling my fun.’

‘Now that makes me feel a lot better.’

Nelson sighed dramatical y, then settled back to watch the match. Since our conversation in the music room, I’d felt a lot of sympathy for Nelson and hoped his long term play to gain Tina’s affection would succeed. She wasn’t giving him much encouragement.

‘Zed’s in the zone today,’ he remarked as the first man struck out.

‘Yeah.’ Tina absentmindedly offered him a handful of popcorn, too absorbed in the game to remember she was cross with him.

‘He keeps looking up at this section of the bleachers between pitches, doesn’t he?’ Nelson took a gulp from her can.

‘I wonder why,’ Zoe said innocently, before spoiling the effect with a giggle.

‘He doesn’t even know I’m here.’ I blushed as I realized I had as good as claimed to be the reason for his interest.

Nelson crossed his legs alongside Tina’s. ‘He knows, sweet thing, he knows.’

‘Hold it a moment.’ Zoe took a picture of me with her phone. ‘I wanna capture this for posterity. The girl who caught the attention of the mighty Zed. Al us locals have struck out with him.’ She showed me the image for my approval; she’d used an app to add a crown but I stil looked just a little better than on my school ID. ‘He only dates girls from out of town. I think that’s one of the exes down there, Hannah something, cheer captain of the Aspen team.’

I felt a total y irrational curl of jealousy. The girl had glorious legs from here to her armpits and a river of sleek auburn hair—the absolute opposite to me.

Cheerleading, which I thought utterly ridiculous, was in her interpretation very sexy. I just hoped Zed hadn’t noticed.

Of course he had. He was male, wasn’t he? And he was welcome to her.

Tina, Nelson, and Zoe were stil debating my love life while I was lost in my green-eyed haze.

‘Being English means she’s probably exotic enough for Zed’s taste. Not from boring old Wrickenridge,’ speculated Tina.

That was the first time anyone had implied that being English was an advantage. I’d been trying to blend but maybe difference was a good thing?

‘I think it’d be better if he left Sky alone,’ said Nelson, revealing his protective streak. Now I’d come to know him better I was considering recasting him as Doctor Defence.

Tina nodded. ‘Yeah, we’d better gang up against him, keep her out of his way.’

Zoe poked her with her programme. ‘What? And spoil the fun? Just think—Zed dating a girl from Wrickenridge—it’d be the most exciting thing to happen here since the Gold Rush.’

‘And you’re not prone to exaggeration,’ said Tina, deadpan.

‘Never!’

‘Excuse me, guys, I am here, you know. It’s nice of you to plan my love life or lack of it for me, but maybe I have an opinion,’ I said, half amused, half exasperated by them.

Tina offered me her popcorn. ‘And that is?’

‘Actual y, I haven’t a clue—but I’m working my way to an answer. As I said to you before, Zed and me—

that’s not going to happen. I don’t even like him.’

Zoe rol ed her eyes at me. ‘Sky, you don’t need to like a guy like that. You just need to date him—once or twice would do it. It’d set your reputation up for the rest of your life.’

‘What? Use him?’

‘Oh yeah.’

‘Zoe, that’s sick.’

‘I know. I’m great, aren’t I?’

Excitement in the crowd built as a second player struck out.

Zoe leapt to her feet and did a little victory jig. ‘If nothing else, that boy is hot, hot, hot! Coach is going to kil himself if he can’t get him to try for a scholarship.’