The Game of Hearts

17 // Here Comes the Joker

Chapter 17 - Here Comes the Joker

"Girl, tell me what you're doing on the other side?

And so, just tell me what you're doing with that other guy?

Cause I ain't got patience to slow down the bass

Your friends are all wasted

They need it, they chase it"

I didn't exactly know how to react to what Matthew had just done, so instead I just got out of the car. Matthew soon followed me, staring at the rowing club.

"I'm going to change  in the locker room and then I'll get my shell, so you can go forward and wait near the river."

"Do you need help getting your shell?" Matthew questioned.

"Probably."

"Then I'll wait at the boat house." Matthew replied and I shrugged.

I went to the female locker room and quickly put on my rowing suit and then I met Matthew near the boat house. I entered, Matthew followed me (not before giving a quick glance to my suit) and I started taking my shell out. Matthew helped me and we managed to get to the river's edge, where my class was talking, waiting for the practice to begin.

Matthew and I placed the shell on the grass and I saw Lori and Roxy coming in our direction.

"Hi, girls!" I greeted.

"Hello!" Roxy saluted but Lori just kept staring at Matthew. He put on a smile on his face.

"I'm Matthew." He introduced himself as the sociable guy he was.

"Lori, and this is Roxy." Lori replied back, visibly interested in him. 

"Where is Dylan?" Roxy questioned, frowning at the sight of me bringing a boy other than him.

"He went to his basketball practice. I was late and Matthew offered to give me a ride."

"And where's Ellie?" Lori then asked.

"Sick." I replied. Moments later some of my classmates came towards us. Matthew frowned at the sight of the tanned, shirtless muscular guys, but we, the girls, were already used to it. Not that I was complaining, of course.

Some of the girls were checking Matthew out and he started talking to them. James, a dark-haired guy with green eyes, pulled me aside.

"Who is he?" He questioned, annoyed, pointing at Matthew.

"A guy from my school. Why?" James and I weren't exactly friends, we didn't talk much, and everytime we did we ended up arguing because we were always competing with each other. He probably competed more with me than with the other guys.

"He's flirting with Andrea." James stated. I glanced up at Matthew seeing him talking with a strawberry-blonde haired girl, Andrea, James' girlfriend.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Well, what do you want me to do?"

James too crossed his arms over his muscular and shirtless chest which I was trying hard not to stare at, even if I had already seen it thousands of times, and looked at me with an incredulously look on his face.

"Seriously, you're gonna let your boyfriend flirt with them?"

"He's not my boyfriend, James." I firmly told him.

"He might not be, but I sure as hell will not let him flirt with my girl. So, you either tell him that or I do, and we both know that if it's me it will not end up good." James stated as decisively as me.