Gimme Everything You Got - Iva-Marie Palmer Page 0,16

have been a little drunk, was about to kiss me.

“Yup. Every afternoon after school,” I said, poking a small hole in the moment. I wasn’t 100 percent sure why, but it had something to do with him calling soccer cute. It was okay if Tina and Candace and I were still figuring how serious this whole soccer thing was, but I was getting ticked off by guys acting like us playing a sport was some adorable joke.

Michael pulled back ever so slightly, but he was still smiling as he pushed a lock of hair away from my face. Even though I was annoyed, I wanted him to think I was pretty.

“Hmm, you’d look awfully good in the cheering section.” He shrugged. “Maybe I can change your mind and make you wanna see the Webs in action. On the field.” He started to close in on me again.

I involuntarily rolled my eyes and saw that a few feet away, leaning against Dan’s fireplace, a guy was watching us. He had pale skin and short dark hair that stood up in little points, and he was looking over the top of his red cup at me. He smirked when I caught his eye.

I looked back at Michael, who was waiting expectantly.

“Wait, are you ‘the Webs’?”

He nodded, like this should be obvious, as he edged even closer, angling for the kiss. His arrogant expression was the look of a guy who’d say, “Well, I didn’t really study,” if I beat him on a test. It was like a switch had flipped. He repelled me.

I put a hand on his chest and pushed him gently away. “Honestly, I don’t think I want to make out with a guy who refers to himself by his own nickname,” I said. Sometimes I couldn’t think of comebacks until way after the moment for them had passed, but this one came out so fast, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to say it.

On the other side of the couch, Tina was covering her mouth as she laughed. And Pointy Hair was observing our exchange like he wasn’t even remotely embarrassed for eavesdropping. I glared at him, and he tipped his cup to me. Was I a joke to every guy at this party?

Michael retracted his arm and slid away from me fast, like I’d begun oozing pus. He scanned the party, looking for somewhere new to go. “Just because girls can play sports doesn’t mean they should. It’s not good for anyone.”

What he said got to me, because it reminded me of something my dad had said to my mom when she was filing for divorce: “Dierdre, you could be happy if you’d accept how things are supposed to be. You can’t have two suns shining or no one would get any sleep.” She’d told him it was the most poetic he’d ever been.

“What does that even mean?” I asked as Michael stood up. I didn’t like him and yet I hated that his arm wasn’t around me anymore because I played soccer.

“It wouldn’t make sense to a chick like you,” he said, one foot already stepping toward a group of girls at the far end of the basement. “Don’t mess up your face on the field. It’s half decent.”

“Fuck you,” I said, but I don’t know if he heard me. I looked toward the fireplace to see if the skinny guy was still watching, or laughing at me, but he was gone.

I grabbed another fistful of chips as Michael made his way toward a girl who beamed like he was handing her an oversize Publishers Clearing House check. Tina waited while I ate each chip methodically, then said, “You okay?”

“I’m guy-repellent, but I’ll live,” I said.

“He was so full of himself, he’s probably a shitty kisser,” Tina said. “Let’s get Candace and go. This party’s lame.”

We never left Candace at a party, even if she tended to always leave us. We were used to her habits by now, and always ready for the fallout if and when a guy she disappeared with disappeared on her the next week. Unlike me, who could find something wrong with anyone, Candace could find something right about them.

“Do you know where Reggie and Candace went?” I asked when we found Dan. He had a freshman on his lap and looked like he was half asleep.

“Did you blow off Michael?” he asked. “What’s your problem? I told him to talk to you.”

I couldn’t believe I’d appreciated his chips, the way he was