yelled, “What the fuck were you two thinking with that microwave crap? Thirty minutes? I thought you Poins were supposed to be smart. Now you’ve pushed Robberts too far, and we’re screwed! Two of your pansy asses on my flag-football team? Not in this life, you feel me? Tell him, Rand. They can’t wreck my team. It’s the best we’ve ever had.” He took another menacing step forward, but his expression was pleading.
Rand gave me a look, and I put a soothing hand on Tray’s arm. He was usually so chill, he didn’t even realize when he got scary.
Tray looked at me, his eyes wide, but he took a breath and calmed down. Tray didn’t have that much to lose. He was rich to go with the gorgeous. But as a senior, he needed to graduate and get on with making his family fortune bigger. He didn’t need to get expelled for taking out two useless Poins with fifty witnesses.
Rand said, “Hey, man, I hear you, but I don’t think we have a choice here. If the dean disbands the fraternities, then the flag team goes with it. Better some wussy Poins than no team at all.”
Dobbs opened his mouth. Because of course he did. His mouth was his reason to live. He was high up in SMT, that much I knew. And he was the dark-hair-with-glasses librarian type that really tugged my chain. But he was also a grade-A smart-ass and, honestly, a bit intimidating. He sneered at Tray. “Listen, Jock Itch, you’ve got no problems since no one gives a flying freak about flag football. I have to suffer two, count them two, of your muscle-brained idiots on my Quiz Bowl team, and we had a good chance to win the collegiate championship this year. That means big prestige to the university—”
“Ha!” Tray had taken enough of Dobbs’s big mouth. “Ha. Ha. Ha.” He spat out each laugh individually, and I grinned. “You don’t seriously think anyone cares about nerdy Quiz Bowl, do you? Except maybe your blue-haired granny. Does she keep a picture of your trophy on her fridge?”
A couple kids in the crowd laughed. They’d naturally side with the ALAs over the SMTs since who likes brainiacs, but I’d actually watched some of the Quiz Bowl tournaments online, and while I’d never admit it to anyone, they were kind of cool—exciting and challenging.
Dobbs’s brown eyes bugged behind his glasses. “I suppose you wouldn’t know since you’ve probably never watched anything except ESPN, but people all over the world love Quiz Bowl. It’s an international academic standard.” His voice kept getting louder. “Yale, Harvard, all the top schools participate. Fuck, Harvard even got banned one year for cheating.”
Tray faked a cough while muttering, “Losers.”
I barked a laugh, and Tray gave me a low fist bump.
Dobbs wrapped himself in his imagined cloak of dignity. “Right. Because who wants to actually know things when you can run around a field tagging somebody’s flag.” For some reason, he glanced at me, and the connection gave me a jolt. Probably because Dobbs was openly gay, so even being noticed by him made me wonder if I was pinging his gaydar. I’d also have to work at not jerking off that night to the idea of Dobbs tagging my flag. He might be the mouth that roared, but damn. I could imagine hotter uses for that mouth.
Jax held up a hand. “Guys, this isn’t getting us anywhere.” He puffed out his cheeks as he exhaled like he was out of fucks to give. If that was true, he was in for a world of hurt. This pooch screw had just gotten started. “The dean doesn’t understand the Quiz Bowl rules. Untested contestants aren’t supposed to be in division one, but he wants one on each team. Can we get permission, Dobbs?”
“I dunno. I’ll call NAQT and find out. Right after I commit ritual hara-kiri.” He glared at Billings and Johnson, like he might help Tray beat them up for their stupid popcorn stunt. “But I’m not sure what the point is. No way we’ll even place with some f-ing football players on the team.”
I looked up, startled, to find Dobbs’s gaze on me. His lips parted as if he might want to fire off another insult, but wisely, he refrained. Clearly, football was Dobbs’s least favorite F word.
“Come on, Dobbs. It’s trivia!” Tray said sarcastically. “How freaking hard can it be? You’ll probably do better with our guys on your team. We,