Dusky Roads

Chapter Two

“Hey, Eric! What took you so long man?” a male voice boomed.

Eric looked up to see his best friend, Jake Davidson, waving to him from the gymnasium doors. His other buds were all huddled around Jake, and judging from the exasperated looks on their faces, they weren’t all too happy with him at the moment. Eric quickly jogged up the rest of the tree-lined pathway to meet them.

Once he reached them, he flashed a grin, and held up his car keys, “What’cha waiting for? Come on, let’s go.”

“Dude, where were you? You told us to meet you here, fifteen minutes ago,” Ryan, the forward on his basketball team, asked impatiently, yet curiously.

“God, guys. Relax,” Eric laughed, as he held up two hands in mock surrender. “I had a calculus test today, it took me a while longer to finish, more than usual, and then I talked with Mr. Collins a bit, about our upcoming game.”

“Tell that to Jake over here,” Ryan said pointing to Jake, “who believes that you might have been with a certain someone, that you aren’t telling us about. A girl, perhaps?”

They must have seen me with Sapphire. Well, no harm in telling the truth, Eric thought to himself.

“Yeah, I also had a little chat with Sa-” Eric started, but was rapidly interrupted by Jake.

“I knew it. I so knew it,” Jake exclaimed, almost dancing with glee, “Our resident school hero and charmer, who also happens to be my best friend, has finally decided to ask out the woman of his dreams, a Miss Samantha Rhodes, I believe?” Jake wiped fake tears from his cheeks. “You have made me proud, Eric, buddy. Never thought I’d see the day, when you, the only person at Lakeview High, besides me, who has the largest and most unbelievable selection of women to choose from, would actually choose a woman. Dude, today is a great day.” Jake clapped him on the back.

“Jake,” Eric said, incredulous, “Just shut up, man!” Eric laughed and pushed him away. “If you weren’t my star basketball friend, I think the theatre is where you really belong in life.”

“Whatever. So you seriously, still haven’t asked Samantha out?” Jake asked, as Eric motioned to his other friends to follow him to his car.

“Why do you seem to think that I am gonna ask her out, anyway? I never told you that I would,” Eric explained, and then looked over his shoulders at Ryan, “Got the food?”

A couple of guards from the team, Nelson and Jason, held up the pizzas and drinks. “Great. I’ve got next hour off, and I know Jake does. Do any of you?” He asked his friends.

“I don’t have a free period. But that really isn’t a problem, I’ll just skip,” Jason answered carelessly. Ryan and Nelson indicated the same.

“Wait, you do remember what coach said, don’t you? More than three unexcused absences means no playing in the big game. I can’t lose you guys now,” Eric said, as he pressed the button on his car keypad to unlock the doors of his BMW. He climbed into the front seat and started the car, while Nelson, Jason and Ryan scooted into the back, and Jake plopped down onto the passenger seat.

“You’re such a stickler for rules, man. Loosen up a bit,” Nelson complained, “and besides, being sick doesn’t count as an unexcused absence, now does it?”

Eric snorted as he pressed the button that brought the top of his convertible down. “You better get to the doctor today and get that immune system of yours checked before the game, bro. I mean with the way you’ve been ‘sick’, the odds aren’t really in your favor come tomorrow night.” Eric looked into the rearview mirror and smirked at Nelson. “And as team captain, I do wield a certain amount of influence over coach. Usually, what I say goes. And if I say that, nope, Nelson just isn’t fit, then whoops, guess who’s a benchwarmer for the rest of the night?”

“Eric, I was just joking man. I got a English test next period, anyway,” Nelson exclaimed.

“Glad to hear it,” Eric replied with a grin. “Hey, you’re in AP English right?”

Nelson smiled broadly. “Yup, my one and only AP class, that I am doing extraordinarily well in failing. Dude, I’ve gotta be honest. I seriously wish I was like you. I don’t know how you do it, but you do it, man. Looks, judging from the way girls drape over you every chance they get, money, this BMW and your fifty million other cars will prove that you’ve got a load of it, skills, Lakeview Jaguars basketball captain, enough said, and then on top of all that, you’ve got grades. Grades! The one thing no one else has here. Jake and I were thinking that we’d nominate you for that show, The Bachelor, even though you’re only seventeen. Perfect candidate. And the rest of the girls would be ours, of course.”

Eric laughed and breathed in the fresh air, as they crossed the bridge over the shimmering lake that gave the town its name. “Thanks for the morale-boosting speech, bro. You’re definitely in tomorrow’s game, now. Although for a second I forgot that you are one of the starters on the Lakeview Jaguars basketball team. I thought of you more as one of my female freshman fans. I can’t blame myself, I mean you look the part too.” The comment earned him a shove from Nelson.

“Hey, I’ve got my share of hot women,” Nelson stated matter-of-factly. The rest of the gang chuckled, as Eric drove the car through the large wrought-iron gates of his house, and up the circular driveway of his lakefront mansion.

“You are so living the high life, Eric,” Ryan said as he pushed past Eric with the food and headed towards the door.

Eric shrugged to himself. True, he had everything money could possibly buy him, and he was living the high life. Multiple cars, a fully staffed mansion, and a prosperous business ready to be handed down to him, when he was ready to take over. His friends certainly never failed to remind him of how lucky he was, even though most of them had known him since they were middle schoolers, or younger, as in Jake’s case. He never thought too much about his wealth, however, for ever since he was born he was bred into the upper-class life. His father had been the owner of a highly successful firm specializing in the making of computer chips. The company had spread across the nation and then overseas, as Eric was growing up, culminating in a very lucrative partnership with Microsoft, the year his parents had died.

Eric shook himself out if his reverie, he didn’t want to think about his parents now. There were too many other things to focus on at the moment. He pushed his car door shut, and jogged up the graveled pathway to the heavy, mahogany doors, which were already open. He slipped inside, and then kicked the doors shut with his left foot. Inside, the house was bathed with sunlight, and he took notice that the curtains to all the floor-to-ceiling length windows were drawn back, and the balcony doors stood wide open. From his standpoint he could see the lake, moving calmly in light ripples. The smell of Pledge combined with the aroma of pizza, permeated through the air. Hmm, not a bad combination.

“You home, honey?” a female voice asked from behind him. For a second, the voice sounded exactly as his mother’s used to. He almost expected to see her as soon as he turned around. She had always greeted him warmly when he came back home, whether it is after ten minutes, or an entire day of school.

He turned around to face his housekeeper, Maggie. “Hey Maggie. Yeah, I brought some friends over. Don’t worry about food, we got some from school. And then I have to go back for a couple of more classes and basketball practice at the end of the day,” he explained to her. Since his parents had died, Maggie had been his constant companion, and the only parental figure he had looked up to. She was in her mid-forties, although she had an exuberant personality, fit for a teenager.

Maggie patted him and the back and granted him a warm smile. “Not a problem. Go have fun with them. Freshly baked cookies are in the kitchen, help yourselves. Oh, and I cleaned the drawing room today, as you can see, so please don’t mess it up again. I know you have me, and everyone else to help you clean up, but you can’t take advantage of them, you hear me?” Maggie asked sternly, yet Eric could detect a twinkle in her eyes.

“Yes, ma’am. Will not mess anything up today!” He saluted to her.

Maggie laughed. “Alright good sir. Go on.” She pushed him towards the balcony, where his friends were seated on the wicker chairs, and the pizzas were almost all gone. They were laughing boisterously at something.

Eric sat down on the remaining chair, grabbed three slices of pizza and put them on a paper plate. He sprinkled extra pepper and parmesan cheese on top of all of the slices, and then popped the top open on a Coke, before he relaxed back on the chair and propped his feet up on the railing to the balcony. His friends were still snickering. “What? What are you guys laughing about now?”

“Oh, just you on The Bachelor,” Ryan said between laughs, “We were just choosing girls from our own school to substitute for the ladies on the show.”

“Yeah, we made some good choices,” Jake put in. “I mean, of course Samantha is in there, but we did choose some other girls as well. Some that you normally wouldn’t be charming or flirting with.”

“Who?” Eric asked, sure that they would choose girls from the nerdy clique, or perhaps the gothic or skater cliques. It was really cliché, but he had to admit that the social circles at Lakeview High were really well-defined. As usual, the jocks retained the highest spot on the social pyramid, and within that the basketball team was the most honored. Naturally, as captain, he was considered the most ‘popular’ or whatnot. He wouldn’t go as far as to say that he ruled the school, but most others would say that he did.

“Well, how about Serena Phillips?” Ryan asked. Of course, skater clique.

“And, Meghan Johanssen?” Jake piped in. Mmhmm, gothic clique.

“Amber Hart?” It was Jason’s turn to contribute. Wow, another skater. They’re on a roll.

“Wait, guys. We can’t forget Sapphire Johnson, now can we?” Nelson asked, laughing. “Perfect nerdy candidate, isn’t she? And with those scars, I’m sure Eric will be just panting to be engaged to her, now won’t he?” The rest of the guys, except for Eric, hooted in laughter.

Eric sat up, and placed his food and drink on the glass table next to him. He pushed back his hair with his left hand and turned to his friends with raised eyebrows. His friends stopped howling with laughter and looked at him with smirks on their faces.

“What’s wrong?” Jake asked, still laughing at the mental image of his best friend and one of the nerdiest girls in school hanging out with each other, let alone dating or being engaged to one another.

“Hey, I don’t know about Sapphire guys. I mean she’s kind of cute. She has those beautiful green eyes. If I were the bachelor, I might actually choose her,” Eric responded seriously.

Eric stared them down, and his friends stopped eating for a split second with disbelieving looks on their faces. As soon as the split second passed, however, all of them doubled over with laughter. Eric joined in; the notion of being with Sapphire was too amusing.

“That’ll happen the day Jake, over here, stops flirting with the ladies,” Ryan exclaimed.

Eric chuckled, and then finished his pizza quickly. There were a couple of minutes of silence, as the boys downed their food.

“You know,” Eric started, after he had finished his meal, “I did talk to Sapphire today. I was with her, when lunch hour started, and that’s why I was a little late.”

Jake merely raised an eyebrow, and the other guys did the same, waiting for him to continue.

“I had to ask her about that National Academic Competition, I was telling you guys about a few days ago during practice, remember?” Eric asked.

Blank looks on all faces.

“The National Academic Competition. $100,000 scholarship is the prize. It’s happening in three months,” Eric said.

Blank looks remained on all faces.

“The one with the road trip,” Eric finally put in.

“Oh yeah,” Jake drawled, “The road trip was the only part of that competition, or whatever, that sounded even remotely interesting. Why do you want to do that anyway, man?”

“Scholarship,” Eric replied.

“You’ve already got scholarship offers, and you don’t need money. At all,” Jake responded.

“Title,” Eric continued.

“What title could be grander than being national high school basketball champions? What more do you need?” Ryan asked incredulously.

“Maybe cuz I’m actually interested. How does that sound?” Eric put in sarcastically.

“Dude, if you do that, you are going to be missing a load of hot parties this summer, and what about our trip to Hawaii at the end of summer, huh? How could some stupid educational deal, be more important to you, than spending time with us and some hot girls, all summer long, huh?” Jake asked impatiently.

Jason slapped Jake on the back. “Bro, you’re forgetting the most important thing that’s coming up. National championships! Which we are ninety-nine percent sure that we are gonna make, if we win the state championships coming up! You can’t go, it’s as simple as that. You are definitely not missing national championships for ‘some stupid educational deal’!” Jason ranted.

“Ok, first off, just calm down, all of you,” Eric replied, holding up a hand in a halting gesture. “I am definitely not going to miss national championships! I am captain! Without me, there is no you, and scouts are coming. Don’t think me so stupid, that I would actually do that! I am also positive that we are going to win state championships and qualify for the nationals, so don’t worry, I’m not intending to slack off! But you guys gotta understand, that the competition is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time now, ever since I first heard about it freshman year. It may change my ‘image’ in school, or whatever, but I don’t care, I want to do it. And I want to go on that road trip. I just hope I qualify. And our trip to Hawaii, I’ll be home for that, even if I go on the road trip. And you know we have ‘hot’ parties almost every other night, it won’t hurt if I miss a few,” Eric let out.

“Dude, we know you’ll qualify. Your top ten class rank, tells us that much at least,” Nelson stated. “But just how do you intend to make it back for the national championships?” Nelson asked, stressing the national.

“You know, guys, there is a fantastic creation, called the airplane, that can bring me back here, when I need to be back, so no worries there. I’ll just leave my partner alone for a couple of days, or a week, or whatever, and come back,” Eric stated nonchalantly.

The guys seemed to be a bit more relieved; to here that Eric had a plan worked out beforehand. But Ryan raised a question, “Partner, what do you mean by partner?”

“We each have to have a partner for competition. And, according to the National Academic Competition, apparently students don’t interact socially that much anymore, so-” Eric explained, but was cut off by Jake.

“That just goes to show right away, that this competition is for the ultimate nerds. Students, don’t interact socially anymore? Yarrright.”

“Shut up, man. Let me finish,” Eric interjected. “So anyway, this partner and I will be spending the entire road trip together, and then we’ll compete in LA and come back. The road trip has required stops along the way, at some famous spots. Should take a couple of months, I’m thinking,” Eric said.

“Guy or girl?” Ryan asked.

“Partner? I think they’re girl and guy pairs for the competition. More integration that way,” Eric replied.

“More integration, hmm? A female partner and almost two months alone with her, on a road trip? Trip is sounding a lot more interesting now, I must say. Maybe I’ll sign up,” Nelson exclaimed.

“You gotta take the qualifying test, Nels. I’m sure you won’t pass, so better not waste an hour of your time,” Eric replied with a smirk. Nelson slightly winced, and for a second Eric considered apologizing, but then Nelson broke out into a huge grin.

“Any choices for partners?” Nelson asked slyly.

“Yup. I wanna be paired with Cheyenne Robins,” Eric said with a grin.

“Ooohh yeah, Cheyenne Robins. Blond-haired, blue-eyed, smartie and hottie, that one,” Jake approved.

“Yeah, she’s been sidling up to me in class, all week, asking me if I was going to do the competition, and how much fun it would be if we were paired together, and so on and so forth,” Eric exclaimed. “I definitely will not mind if we were together. I was thinking of asking her out a while ago, but changed my mind. Wanted to be single for a while.”

“Wait, before you ask Cheyenne out, or anything, please just ask Samantha Rhodes out!” Jake pleaded.

“What is with you and Samantha Rhodes? That’s like the twentieth time today,” Eric exaggerated.

“Dude, while Cheyenne has been making goo-goo eyes at you all week, Samantha has been begging me to set you up with her, all week. I can’t take it anymore, I just want her off my back, but she doesn’t let go,” Jake exclaimed. “So will you?”

“No,” Eric replied simply.

“Come on. She is your type, captain of the dance squad?” Jake persuaded.

“No,” Eric replied again. “Jason, or Nelson can take her. Perhaps even Ryan.”

“You know I don’t like dance squad women. It’s only cheerleaders for me,” Ryan replied with a laugh.

“Whoops, forgot, sorry,” Eric chuckled. He glanced at his watch. “Hey guys, it’s 12:30. Wanna go shoot some hoops, before heading back?”

Everyone nodded, and they headed around the back of his house to his indoor basketball court. Eric ambled along, all the while thinking about the competition and being paired with Cheyenne. He would take the qualifying test today, he decided. Right before basketball practice started.

Eric glanced back one more time at the lake, before heading in to the court. Yup, he loved living the high life, and after he had hit rock bottom a few years ago, it only got better every day.

He jogged into the gym, picked up a spare basketball and shot it with perfect aim. It made a slight swishing sound as it sailed through the net.

Perfect.

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Sapphire got out of the last class of the day, exhausted beyond belief. Earlier in the day, she had been paired with Nelson Roberts for an AP English assignment, and he didn’t understand a thing she explained to him. He just smirked at her a couple of times, and stared off into space, until the period had ended. They were supposed to have had a test, but the teacher had pushed it back a couple of days, because she felt some of her students weren’t prepared. And she had looked directly at Nelson. So now Sapphire had to tutor him for the next two class periods.

Sapphire almost headed to the bus stop, but then abruptly stopped and turned around to head the other way, when she realized that the National Academic Competition meeting had been changed to this afternoon.

Why is everything so off-schedule today?

She was grumpy. And she had good reason to be. First off, there was no ice cream left at the TCBY booth, when she had gone into the gym, then the Nelson thing, and now a meeting after school, on a day when all she would have liked to do was to go home and take a long nap, and indulge in some good television shows. Or a cheesy romance novel.

She was so immersed in her thoughts that she wasn’t looking where she was going, and she collided headfirst with another body.

“Ummf,” she let out meekly, as all of her books fell to the floor, and she herself went down with them. She sat, sprawled on the floor for a couple of seconds, before looking up to see whom she had head-butted.

Great, I wondered if this day could get any worse, and apparently it could.

Staring down at her was the gorgeous face of Eric Jacobs.

The second time, today. Arggh, not again. I can’t make conversation with him. I just can’t!

“Hey Sapphire. Should watch where you’re going next time, huh?” Eric asked, flashing her a roguish grin.

God, he is so handsome... Get your mind out of the gutter, Sapphire! And at least get up!

“Sorry,” she said softly, and hastily got up from her compromising position on the ground. “Was thinking about something, that’s all. Guess I was thinking too hard,” she said, with a small smile.

“Guess you were,” Eric replied, and bent down to gather up her fallen books.

“I’ll get them,” she protested weakly.

He held out his hand to stop her arm. “Hey chill. I’ve got them,” he said, and retrieved all of her textbooks and the occasional notebook. When he was done, he piled them into her arms, and grinned. “There you go. Where are you headed?”

“Umm, thanks,” she muttered and adjusted the heavy load of books in her hands. “Actually, I’m going to the National Academic Competition meeting. Apparently she’s moved it up from the 17th. I’m sorry, I didn’t know, otherwise I would have told you so this morning. Now you can’t go, can you?” Sapphire asked, happy at this sudden realization.

“On the contrary, I’ve qualified!” Eric said with a smirk.

For the first time Sapphire looked sharply into his eyes. Eric took a slight step back at the abrupt movement.

She really does have nice eyes, he thought to himself involuntarily.

“What do you mean, you’ve qualified? When did you take the test?” Sapphire asked curiously.

Great, now I can say bye to my potential scholarship money and title.

“Well, I decided to skip US History and take the test. Ms. Blue had a free period at that time and she let me,” Eric replied, matter-of-factly.

“Umm, that’s great. Welcome on board,” she murmured.

“Thanks,” he replied, and flashed her another grin.

He needs to stop with those charming grins. No wonder 99 of the girls at Lakeview were raving mad about him. God, they need to look past his exterior, but obviously they are not capable of doing so.

He hadn’t said anything mean to her, though, so she couldn’t really hate him for anything, other than the fact that he stood in her way for the title.

“We’re here,” he stated, startling her out of her reverie. Without realizing it, they had walked all the way to the meeting room. She walked inside first, and noticed that the room was already filled with all the people who had qualified for the trip. She split from Eric, and took a seat next to a girl she knew from her physics class, Sarah Malley. She noted that Eric had gone to sit next to Cheyenne Robins.

How perfectly cliché. Eric, the smart, handsome, popular male basketball captain, with the beautiful and intelligent girls’ volleyball captain. A match surely made in heaven.

From what she could see, they were flirting up a storm. Typical Eric, from what she’d seen of him, in the past.

“Hey Sapphire, you excited about the competition?” Sarah asked her.

“What?” Sapphire, asked, broken from her train of thought. She smiled over at Sarah, and said meekly, “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

Sarah smirked. “I noticed. You were to busy looking at Eric. No worries, I understand why you weren’t paying attention. Happens to me all the time when that blue-eyed, black-haired hottie is around,” Sarah exclaimed with a sigh. “Look at the way his shirt brings out the color of his eyes,” Sarah continued.

“No, Sarah. I wasn’t distracted thinking about Eric,” Sapphire lied. “I was just thinking off into space.”

She’s right though, Sarah grudgingly admitted, the navy blue shirt is perfect for his eyes. Certainly, Cheyenne seems to think so.

“Sure, sure,” Sarah replied. “Anyways, I was just asking you about the competition. You know, if you’re excited about the road trip, the prizes, your male partner…” Sarah trailed off.

Instantly Sapphire jerked her head up and gazed at Sarah. “What do you mean by male partner?”

“You didn’t hear?” Sarah asked with a laugh. “The committee says that we must be put into male and female pairs, so that we could ‘integrate’ or whatever. Hey, I’m excited. What if I get Eric as my partner?” Sarah sighed dreamily.

Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my GOD!! Male partner, for a whole two months of competition, and on a personal road trip, too! Maybe I should just drop out of the competition right now.

But she knew she wouldn’t. The competition meant too much to her. Sapphire quickly searched the room, and noted all the guys in the room. She knew three of them, excluding Eric, and she guessed she’d be okay if she were paired with any of them. But the rest she didn’t know at all, and the prospect of being paired with one of them, sent chills up her spine.

“Alright, my smarties,” Ms. Blue, the competition coordinator for Lakeview, called out, coming into the room. “Sorry for bringing up the meeting, but space was limited, and I couldn’t let anybody else take the tests. Today was the last day for those who wanted to try out. I’m glad to say Eric Jacobs has tried out and made it today,” she smiled proudly at the school’s hero.

The group clapped, and Cheyenne seemed to simper up to him even more. He seemed to love every moment of it too.

“Now for the partners!” Ms. Blue exclaimed excitedly.

Oh no, oh no.

“Sarah Malley, and John Collins,” Ms. Blue stated. Sarah groaned and moved to sit next to John.

“Cheyenne Robins and Xavier Rodriguez,” Ms. Blue continued. Cheyenne’s sweet expression fell, and she quickly raised her hand. Ms. Blue noted this, and immediately went on to say that there wouldn’t be any partner changes. Sapphire looked over at Eric’s face, and noticed that he too, wore the same expression Cheyenne did.

Sapphire grinned inwardly. Ha! So mister I-have-it-all, finally doesn’t get something he wants. I wonder how he feels now, knowing he has to be stuck with some other ordinary girl.

“Sapphire Johnson and Eric Jacobs!”

What?

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A/N: Sorry guys. Long time no update, and I don’t know if anyone is still reading this or Bejeweled Eyes. But I promise, I will update both! So did you like this chapter? Mostly dialogue, but I felt it was necessary. Hahahaha, now they are paired together. Mr. Hotshot, and Ms. Nobody. I can’t wait to start writing about the road trip a few chapters from now. It will be veeery interesting, and veeery romantic (well not at the very beginning, but I’ve got several plans up my sleeve!) Please, please, please review, with a cherry on top!!

Till next time,

GlamorouslyStressed