Sarah was getting nervous about the whole wording thing. She didn’t know how much longer she could keep doing it before Syd’s name being repeated so much began sounding weird. She tried changing the subject.

She nodded her head in agreement. “I’m starving.”

Alex and Eric walked in. Angel stood up and walked over to the pizza. “Is it over?” Angel asked.

“No, it’s halftime.” Eric said

Angel put two slices on a paper plate then grabbed another for himself. Alex and Eric were already eating their pizza leaning against the counter. Sarah was thankful for the interruption, but her relief quickly turned into dismay.

Angel set the plate down in front of her then grabbed a soda out of the fridge.

“So, Sydney’s a musician uh?” He handed her the can of soda.

She took it and nodded, refusing to refuel the conversation. He came around and sat back down next to her. “What does she play?”

She took a long drink of her soda and looked at Alex and Eric. They were both eyeing her. “Saxophone.”

“Really?” Angel seemed surprised.

“That’s a turn on.” Alex said, just as Romero walked in.

“What’s a turn on?” Romero asked. He took a slice a pizza and stood next to Alex.

“Her friend plays the saxophone.” Alex said.

“Really?” Romero asked. “A girl?”

She was about to shake her head, but didn’t get the chance. “Of course, ass.” Alex shoved Romero. “Like I’d say that about a dude.”

Angel and Eric laughed. Sarah wanted to groan. The testosterone in the room was suffocating.

“Really?” Romero said “A chick that really knows how to blow huh?”

The guys all laughed. Sarah sunk in her seat. This was a nightmare, now they were all in on her lie. She felt Angel rub her back. He mistook her look of despair for annoyance. “Easy,” he said. “That’s her best friend.”

Romero peered at her “Oh yeah? Well, introduce.”

“She likes playing the saxophone Romero, not the piccolo Pete.” Alex grinned.

Eric almost spit out his food and even Sarah had to laugh.

“She’s in Arizona,” Angel said, getting up for more pizza. He looked through three empty boxes before finding one with any in it. “We’ve gone through three pizzas already?”

Alex looked at him wide eyed. “You guys are fat. Those were extra large too. There’s only four of us.”

“I had some too.” Sarah said, holding her hand up.

Alex looked at her plate unimpressed. “Sweetheart, I had two slices before the pizza even made it to the kitchen.”

Romero walked over and leaned on the sink in front of her. “Arizona, uh? Well, have her come down for a visit.”

“Dude, get the hell out of here!” Alex said

“What?” Romero protested.

“No, I’m serious. Get out of here." Alex said.

Angel laughed sitting back down next to Sarah. “Yeah, get out of here I gotta study.”

Romero leaned over closer to Angel and looked at him very seriously. “Donde estan mis bolas?”

This time it was Sarah that almost spit up her food. Angel rolled his eyes.

Eric had already walked back to the den. “It’s back on!” he yelled.

Alex and Romero each grabbed a slice to go. They weren’t even out the door when Angel was all over her again. She sat there kind of limp. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “You feeling tired?”

“No.”

Just underhanded and deceitful.

He pecked her a few more times. “Maybe Sydney can come and visit sometime. We can all go out. Don’t worry I’ll handle Romero.”

Sarah hoped he didn’t hear her thunderous gulp and forced a smile. “Yeah, maybe.” Not in a million years.

This was totally out of hand. She had to think of a way to fix this. Fast.

CHAPTER 13

Angel scored an eighty on his Spanish quiz and was happy to be in the game that week. It was an important one, too. They were playing their rivals, and both teams were in the running for the playoffs.

Sarah sat in the stands with Sofia, Valerie, and Valerie’s friend Monica. Angel’s parents had flown out earlier that evening to Florida for Alex’s game the next day. Sofia was Angel’s responsibility until they got back. Rather than leaving her alone at the restaurant tonight, Angel got the go ahead to close up early and have her tag along with them.

Sarah didn’t mind having her along for the night. She liked Sofia, and ever since Sarah started practicing with the track team they’d gotten a lot closer. Sarah felt bad though. The relay team never even came close to the times Sarah put on the board when she stood in for the fourth place runner during practice. The coach was always going on and on about how heartbroken he was that she wouldn’t be sticking around for next semester. She’d started to keep some of the comments to herself because Angel would get so annoyed by them.

The entire week had gone without incident and now the game seemed to as well. There were a few guys from another school who sat near the girls. One of them was hitting on Sofia, making Sarah a little nervous. She’d looked out onto the field several times but as far as she could tell Angel hadn’t noticed anything.

When the game was over, Sarah stood against Angel’s Mustang in the parking lot. Valerie and the girls, including Sofia, talked to the guys they’d met at the game over by Valerie’s car, parked just a few spaces over.