Secrets of a Southern Belle

Chapter 4

Molly spoke so loud that my grandma looked at us with her eyebrows raised. We now had her full attention.

"I don't know."  I left out the part about what I saw at school. "I just saw him when I got the funnel cakes. He walked in with Parker."

"Are you talking about the boy that the Dixon boy hangs around?" Gigi asked as she leaned down from behind me, obviously snooping.

The halftime whistle blew, indicating that the second quarter was over. People began to shuffle around us as the marching band made their way onto the field. It got a whole lot louder around us.

"Yeah," Savannah answered my grandma. "Rae saw him and Rhett when she got the food."

Now we got my mom's attention.

"Rhett Dixon is here?" My mom butted in, clearly shocked.

"That's strange. The last time I saw..." Gigi whispered to herself.

I looked over at Savannah and Molly who were looking around and gossiping like there was something to be scared about; maybe there was. Truthfully, a lot of people don't know a lot about the Dixons, so everything we hear could be made up. That thought doesn't make them any less scary though. The unknown is what makes us fearful. Maybe that's why I'm so paranoid. I really don't know the guy.

While my friends are off in their own world, I turn to my mom and Gigi.  "Why do you think they are here? Isn't that weird?"

My grandma had a strange look on her face and was staring off towards the food stands before she looked down at me.  "It is weird," she simply answered and continued to stare off into the distance.

My mom replied, "Yes, it is. Stay away from them, Rae. There could be many reasons why they are here, and most likely none of them are good."

"Yes, ma'am."  I sighed from not getting an answer.

Unfortunately, I've always been a curious soul, which tends to get me in trouble.  I wished I didn't see Parker suspiciously hand something to Rhett, especially because of the rumors about him and his dad being in the drug business. Now I wanted to know if they were true. It's one thing to hear about it, but seeing something like that got me curious about them, and now the thought of all of it has my head spinning.

I carefully scanned the area for the boys the entire halftime show. I didn't even notice the looks Blake and her friend Shelby were giving me anymore. Molly kept pointing it out, but I was too focused on the direction of the entrance to care.

Despite my effort of looking, I didn't see them. Another whistle blew, and the players made their way back onto the field. I thought that maybe directing my attention to Wesley would get my mind off of my curiosity, but there was no such luck. For the rest of the game, I absentmindedly bounced my attention back and forth between Wesley and the walkway to the left of me. Savannah and Molly tried to start some small talk, but I answered with short responses.

I felt my grandma's tense hands on my shoulders, squeezing a little bit tighter after a few seconds. I looked back to the field and realized that Sawyer had the ball again and was running towards the end zone. I glanced back to see my mom standing while holding a sign for my brother. She was anxiously bobbing up and down.

"Run, Sawyer!" My mom yelled.

Sawyer spun around a player that got too close to him and continued to run until he made it to the field goal, where he threw the ball down. Everyone was now screaming as "All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled played on the loud speaker.  The Darling Wolves were jumping around and hugging each other from their victory. I didn't even realize I was standing and clapping with everyone else until I felt Gigi grab my shoulder.