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.

"Fine." I agreed, pleased that James had the decency to come talk to me before starting some quarrel with Matthew.

I reached Matthew and took him aside, earning some looks of dissatisfaction from the girls around him.

"Matthew, I know it's in your nature to be the center of attention and to flirt with every girl, but that's really annoying some of the guys here and the last thing I want is to have fights in rowing."

"I wasn't flirting with them, I was being nice." Matthew declared.

"Then you shouldn't be winking, smirking and passing your hands through your hair all the time. See? This is why I don't want popular people here. You managed to piss some guys off, and you're only one. Imagine if every popular person from school comes here."

Matthew was about to respond but Mr. Yanks, my rowing coach, clapped his hands and started talking, initiating the practice.

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Two hours later, the rowing practice was finished. It was 7.30 pm and I was tired and wet. The most surprising thing was that Matthew had stayed there, watching the practice. He could have gone home, but he didn't. After taking a quick shower, changing to my normal clothes and putting my shell inside the boat house, I went to meet him.

"Hey there." He said, standing up from the bench he was sitting on.

"Hi. You know, you didn't have to stay here the whole practice."

"But I didn't know If you would need a lift home."

"You could have gone and then come back."

"I preferred to stay here. It's actually pretty cool watching you guys row, you in particularly. Now, I no I'm no expert on rowing, but why didn't you tell me you were one of the bests at your class?"

I shrugged, but inside I was happy with his comment.

"And who's that black-haired guy? It seems to me that you two like to compete with each other." Matthew noticed. I was descovering that he was more insightful than what he let show.

"He's James." I answered, amused by the fact that both of them had asked me about the other. "I know him since I entered rowing, he enrolled here at the same time. Over the years we haven't talked much, and when we do we usually argue with each other. I guess it's because we're both really competitive and we like to compete against each other."

"Hmm." Matthew's lips straightened to a line.

"He has a girlfriend." I said in a teasing tone, amused by how Matthew seemed jealous.

"Oh." Matthew sighed, his face relaxed and he smiled.

"Well, are you ready to go?" He questioned me and I bit my lip to stop me from laughing at him. Seeing him jealous was actually fun.

"Yes." Once I finished talking my phone rang from inside my sports bag. I picked it up and answered it.

"Hi, Dylan." I said.

"Hey. Look, the basketball practice is going to end up later today, so I can't pick you up." I could hear the concern in Dylan's voice and I smiled at how caring he was. "Can you ask your parents to go get you--?"

"Don't worry, Dylan, I already have a lift, but thanks." I knew he wasn't going to be happy once he discovered who my lift was.

"Oh. Who?"

"...Matthew."

There was silence from the other side of the line.

"Dylan?"

I heard him growl but he finally said "I seriously don't think I wanna know how the hell he's the one giving you a lift, but I just hope he gets you home safely. I need to go back to practice now."

"Sure. Good practice! Bye." I replied and he hung up. I sighed, knowing that he was angry.

"Everything alright?" Matthew interrogated. "Did Dylan get mad because I'm driving you?" See what I was saying? Insightful. 

"Probably." I shrugged. "But it's none of his business."

"Face it

You want it, you crave it

Believe when I say that you'll know once you taste us

All of your friends have been here for too long

They must be waiting for you to move on."

Picture on the side is James, and the actor who plays him is Adam Gregory.

And the music of this chapter is "Friends" by Chase Atlantic, which I absolutely adore!