The Romeo Club by Rebekah L. Purdy Read Free Book Online Page A

to take bets now on how long it’ll take him to get his butt kicked by someone.”
    C.C. held up his middle finger. “Really, douchebag? Let’s see how you do.”
    Trey pushed his tall frame up from the couch, adjusted his square-framed glasses and walked toward me.
    In true Portia fashion, I batted my eyelashes, then tossed my hair over my shoulder. I sat down and pretended I was at my school desk. When he stood over me, I glanced up.
    “Hey, Delyla—er, Portia. Have you seen that new romantic comedy Roses for Blue yet?”
    “No. I had a beauty pageant last weekend and haven’t gotten to go yet.”
    Trey’s lip twitched and I knew he bit back a smile. “Dang—I’ve been wanting to go, but wasn’t sure if it was any good. If you know anyone who’s seen it, let me know. Or maybe if you’re not doing anything Saturday, you’d like to go?”
    Blue eyes met mine and I stared at him. My pulse thundered in my ears. I smiled. “I’d love to go.”
    “So, it’s a date?”
    “Yes.”
    C.C. and Kevin clapped. Trey’s ears turned pink as he glanced at them then back at me. “How did I do?”
    “Perfect. You kept eye contact, and you didn’t stumble when I told you I hadn’t seen it. You kept the conversation going.” Maybe Trey didn’t need as much help as he thought he did. He had me believing he wanted to take me to see a movie, and I was just the stand-in Portia.
    “So we passed our first test?” Kevin said, clutching his notebook. “Well, other than C.C.”
    C.C. threw his hands over his head. “Sure, everyone pick on me. You’re just jealous that you didn’t come up with the bra-strap line.”
    I snorted. “Anyway, either this weekend or Monday, I want you to try out some sort of exchange with the girl you like. Report back to me at our next meeting to let me know how things went. If you need to talk to me before then, just text or stop in.”
    The Nerd Herd grabbed their things and headed out. We were off to a good start, but they definitely needed a lot more work.
     
    ***
     
    I’d just sat at my desk to start my homework when my cell went off. Rex.
    “Hey,” I said.
    “Double-D, what’re you up to?”
    I groaned. “I’m hanging out with my Trig book, what about you?”
    “Watching the Tigers’ game with my dad.”
    “That sounds way more fun.” I propped my foot up on my trashcan and picked at the blue nail polish coming off my nails.
    “Listen, I have to ask you something.” His voice turned serious.
    “Sure.”
    “Were you at the mall today? I know I sound paranoid, but I swear I saw you in Rockies.”
    Dang it. I hated to lie, so I went with a half-truth. “Yeah. We had to stop in to grab some things for the science project we’re working on. We’re doing an analysis of scents—you know, like colognes, foods, leather, that sort of thing.”
    “You know, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I could help you instead. I’m good at science.”
    Son of a b, why wouldn’t he let this go? It’s not like he cared what I did before this, why the sudden change? “Actually, the teacher assigned the Nerd Herd to me.”
    “Maybe I can talk to him—”
    Not wanting this to go any further, I decided to change the subject. “Hey, so do you want to hang out tomorrow? I have nothing going on. We could meet up and play tennis or take a hike up to the falls.”
    He groaned. “You’re not gonna believe this, but my parents are having some stupid luncheon thing I have to go to tomorrow. It’s at the country club.”
    “Well maybe later this week then.”
    “But, I miss hanging out with you. I wish it was summer again, then we wouldn’t have to worry about school.”
    “Me too. But listen, I gotta go.” With that we said goodbye. Now I just needed to figure out how to keep juggling The Romeo Club and Rex. The last thing we needed was for him to figure out that I was training the guys. He’d never let them live it down.
     
     

 
    Chapter 8
     
    Oldies music blared