Burning Down the House by Allie Gail

believe we’ve been introduced. Riley Murphy. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
    I shook his hand, impressed by his impeccable manners and warm smile. “Sara Marsh.”
    “ It’s good to have you back at Hillcrest, Sara. If you’re planning on coming to the season opener next Friday let me know. I’ll hook you up with a couple of tickets.”
    “Oh. Thanks. I’ll…um, I’ll let you know.” I hadn’t even considered going to the game, but it occurred to me that Dana would probably want to drag me there so she could drool over Trent’s rear end some more.
    “We’ll probably be there,” she told him, confirming my suspicions.
    “ Probably?” Trent teased. “Probably, nothing. I better see both of you there unless you want me to bend you over my knee and spank you.”
    “ Not even in your dreams, player.” Her eyes twinkled brightly.
    I looked over at Rob, who seemed impatient to leave. “Are you riding with me this afternoon or do you have practice again?”
    He frowned slightly. “I have a doctor’s appointment. I’ll drop you off at home first.”
    Oh, that’s right - his therapy session. Me and my big mouth. I wondered if any of his friends knew he was seeing a shrink. “Okay.”
    Riley shot him a curious look. “You two related or something?”
    “ Rob’s staying at Sara’s house,” Doug cut in before quickly diverting his attention. “You talk to Jordan lately?”
    “Nah…I don’t talk to her much anymore. I don’t know what’s up with that girl. She acts like she doesn’t even want anything to do with me.”
    “ Riley and Jordan used to date,” Dana confided to me in a low voice. Even though I probably could have figured that one out on my own.
    “I’ll tell you whe n it all went wrong,” Trent advised.
    “Whe n is that?”
    “ The minute you showed her your three-inch pecker!”
    Doug and Colin howled with laughter while Riley grabbed Trent and wrestled him to the ground. I couldn’t believe they were rolling around on that nasty cafeteria floor.
    Dana rolled her eyes at me. “Let’s go before we all wind up in detention,” she muttered.
    “I’m with you.” I picked up my tray and followed her. Once we’d tossed out our trash, we left the boys to their own devices. “Why did Trent call you Lemon Drop?”
    She pointed to her flaxen hair. “Duh!”
    “Oh.”
    “I’m also known as Banana Top and Tweety Head. He thinks he’s being clever. Like those names are so original.” She shook her head in feigned disgust, but I could tell she didn’t mind his corny nicknames one bit. She loved the attention.
    “Wonder what he calls Staci,” I goaded her with a wicked grin.
    “He doesn’t call her anything - he just blows a dog whistle and she comes running.” Hanging her tongue out, Dana panted like a dog. “Hey, you know who we should set you up with? Riley. He was so obviously checking you out.”
    “I don’t want to be set up.”
    “Didn’t you think he was hot?”
    “I thought you said he was dating Jordan.”
    “ Was being the operative word here…”
    “ Dana, I met him two seconds ago! Why are you trying to set us up? I have too much going on right now to deal with all that crap.”
    She gave me a dubious look. “ What do you have going on? Other than school.”
    “Um…I have dance class on Wednesdays.”
    “Really? You’re taking ballet with Miss Andrews again? On purpose? ”
    “I happen to like ballet.”
    “Fine. And besides that…?”
    “Drama Club.”
    “Drama Club only meets twice a month. What else?”
    “We’ll have theatre rehearsals before long.”
    “We haven’t even decided what production we’re doing yet! Try again.”
    I couldn’t think of a thing, darn her hide. “I’ll have to spend a lot of time studying,” I reminded her, casting about for excuses.
    “Not that much time.”
    “Well, what about you? I don’t see you trying to set yourself up with anyone!”
    “I’m just waiting for the right time.”
    “Yeah,