Chapter Ten
Tucker
On the bus ride home from the Thanksgiving game, I made up with Trent. We’re finally on good terms. The team is back on track. I’m passing my class, and this time I did it on my own. And of course, now that everything is falling back into place, The Queen is back.
I cringe when a notification scrolls across my cell phone screen. “Maybe she’s moved on from us,” I say to no one in particular.
“I wouldn’t count on it,” Jamie says.
Drake, Preston, and Jamie are sitting at our usual table in the cafeteria with me, their phones now in their hands. Trent is off who knows where with Jemma now that she’s speaking to him again.
The Queen has become so popular over the last few months that now everyone on campus jumps at the chance to see who she will dethrone next.
Phones are raised in the air. Everyone wants to know the latest piece of juicy gossip.
Dethroned
December Edition
Ahh, Christmas time, the most wonderful time of the year. And yet, at Strickland University it’s the most scandalous. While everyone is out shopping for the holidays, the spoiled brats of Strick U are up to their usual debauchery. From the looks of the dick pics Drake Donovan has been sharing with a certain someone, he has plenty of lovin’ for his mystery woman to unwrap. But who’s the lucky girl? Or should we say girls, you nasty dick-pic-sending-creep?
You, Drake Donovan, have been dethroned.
XO,
The Queen
I can’t stop laughing as I read her latest post. Jamie’s laughter pierces my eardrum, his body shaking the bench from laughing so hard. Preston wears an expression that says, ‘Thank God it’s not about me’ with a slow smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Drake, on the other hand, looks as though he’s about to snap. His face reddens by the second, his nostrils flared in anger.
Everyone in the cafeteria who’s seen this already is now shooting glances in our direction. Most days, our table garners a fair amount of attention from women, but today, everyone’s staring at Drake. Whispers flow through the crowded room like smoke hitting the air.
“Who’s she talking about?” I ask Drake, drowning out the noise. “Not Bex’s friend. Right?”
“She would never go for that shit,” Preston says as if reading my mind.
Ever since Drake met Taylor Bradshaw, he’s been acting like a pussy-whipped loser. I’ve never seen him crush this hard on a girl before. Preston’s girlfriend is around all the time, and with Bex Bryant comes her best friend, Taylor, who seems to like teasing and torturing Drake. It’s funny as shit to watch, though.
“Taylor already thinks I’m a player…” Drake growls, “… and now this.” He balls his hand into a fist. “Fuck, she’s never gonna talk to me again.”
“But you are a player,” I point out.
He grunts, shoving his phone into his pocket. “Yeah, but now she’ll never give me a chance. We gotta take this bitch down.”
“Oh, now she called you out, you care? It’s not like everyone on campus hasn’t seen your dick, anyway.” I can’t keep a straight face when I say the last part. Literally, everyone has probably seen a Drake junk shot at some point.
Everyone at our table laughs.
Drake shrugs, unaffected. “What can I say? My dick has a life of its own.”
“And Taylor knows that, stupid,” Preston says. “Which is why she doesn’t want anything to do with you.”
“Nah.” Drake shakes his head. “She likes the chase.”
He’s been giving her one hell of a chase for weeks. Damn guy is lucky if he gets a kiss, let alone sex. Taylor’s making him earn every ounce of her respect before she will put out.
“At least the semester is over on Friday,” Jamie says. “That will give me a little more time to work on tracking The Queen. She might have her guard down, thinking no one is paying attention to her during the break.”
“Speaking of the break…” Preston interrupts, still chewing on his food so his voice is slightly muffled, “… you guys coming over to my house for Christmas?”
“My dad said something about doing it at our house instead,” I say, shoving a forkful of rice into my mouth.
We spend every holiday, birthday, and special event together. It’s been this way since birth. Coach Bryant attributes our success on the ice to our close personal relationships off the ice. He’s not wrong. Playing with family, even though we sometimes fight, makes us play like a unit. Knowing each other’s weakness and strengths also helps. We can tell when one of us is off before we even know it. It’s as if we have a sixth sense when it comes to each other.
“You know how my mom feels about Christmas basketball,” Preston says. “We might not stay at your house for long.”
Preston’s mom is a former basketball player and sports agent who everyone in the business calls Coach. To me, she’s just Aunt Charlotte. She’s from Chicago originally, a diehard fan of the Bulls, and never misses a single NBA game on Christmas.