by Sherri Renee
Although I knew it was a bad idea. A very bad idea. The only person I could think of who might be able to steal the crown from George was Matt.
Chapter 3
“What do you think about Matt?” I asked Michelle in my most nonchalant voice as we strolled down the hall to our next class. Thankfully, Mr. Thicke had asked George to stay after class to talk about his project. I appreciated the reprieve.
Knowing George he would be all innocence and excuses: Did I kiss Misty Holly? Well, of course not. Our lips just happened to get stuck together when we bumped into each other.
I rolled my eyes as I imagined his excuses. I’d invested entirely too much time on that guy. He might have been a star quarterback, but I’d been the one to teach him the importance of making connections. And schmoozing. Schmoozing never hurt anyone’s popularity.
“Nice dress, Allison! Great shoes, Tina.” I threw out a couple of compliments to ensure I reached my own schmoozing quota in for the day.
“Thanks, Kristen!” Both girls beamed back at me.
I wasn’t as shallow as I sounded. I really did like Allison’s dress and Tina’s shoes. I just took the extra step to let them know.
“Matt?” Michelle scrunched up her nose and gave me a funny look. “As in your sexy neighbor Matt who you won’t give the time of day? That Matt?”
“What?” I let out a choked laugh and cut her a look from the corner of my eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know exactly what I mean. That boy bends over backward to tell you ‘hi’ and hold doors for you, and you go and act like he’s invisible or something. I guess you can see him now?” Michelle tossed her hair and sashayed down the hall, giving me a teasing smile.
I wasn’t that bad, was I? Picking a piece of hair off my shirt, I said, “I do not act like he’s invisible. He’s just so full of himself I don’t want to add to his delusions.” I tipped my chin defensively and clung to my books.
Michelle ignored my response. “He’s so hot. That little dimple in his cheek when he smiles . . .” Michelle pressed a finger to her own cheek and let out a sigh.
I fought a sigh of my own as I remembered exactly how adorable that dimple was up close and personal.
“And those muscles,” Michelle continued listing his assets. “Umm . . . Have you seen him without a shirt?”
I rubbed my forehead and quickly looked away. The reminder of my stare fest of his taut belly the night before was too fresh in my mind to hide. “Hmm,” I answered noncommittally.
Michelle skillfully skirted around a group of kids talking in the middle of the hall without missing a step. “I saw him playing basketball with a few guys the other day. When his shirt came off all the girls in the gym lost brain cells.” She laughed. “Myself included. So what got you thinking about Matt?”
Should I tell Michelle my plan to demolish George or keep it a total secret? Was I seriously even considering it? Deciding I wouldn’t bring it up until I was sure, I shrugged and pasted a bored look on my face.
“He stopped by my locker today.” I shrugged again to cover the shudder that ran through me at the memory of his body so close to mine I could have reached out and touched that muscular stomach, leaned up and pressed my lips to his.
Michelle walked into our next class and sat down, digging through her bag for a pen. “That’s strange, isn’t it?” Her forehead wrinkled. “What’d he want?”
I shook my head to clear the distracting images of my neighbor and tried to come up with a response. To give me a hard time about staring at him probably wasn’t the safest answer. It would lead to all the questions I wanted to avoid. “I’m not really sure,” I said evasively.
“Weird. So, anyway, how are we taking that cheating creep of an ex-boyfriend of yours down?” Michelle twisted in her seat to face me, and her eyes gleamed with possibilities.
Chairs scraped on the floor as students filed into class and a giggle came from the back corner where Rosie and Jerry flirted every day. Michelle didn’t even glance back at them. “We have to strip him of his popularity,” she said firmly. “No more sitting at the best table at lunch—ours. No more dating the most popular girl—you. That will hit him where it counts the most.” She nodded hard. “In his pride.”
And that’s why she was my best friend. We thought alike. “I can’t believe he cheated on me,” I said, frowning as I thought about it. “I mean, if he wanted to be with someone else he could have broken up with me first.”
“He wanted to have his cake and eat it too,” Michelle said with a dour nod.
I scrunched my face at the crude thought those words brought to mind while Michelle laughed. “You know what I mean.”
She swung her black hair over her shoulder and got serious again. “You need to dominate prom.” She pointed a finger at me. “Find yourself a date that will steal the title of prom king right out from under George.” She pursed her lips then broke into a wide smile. “I know!” She clapped her hands. “You should go with Matt!”
Yep, we definitely thought alike.
Chapter 4
The day went by fast with the last period bell ringing before I knew it. The fact that Michelle thought Matt would be a good replacement for George gave me a lot to think about. Would he go along with my plan? Pretend to be my boyfriend until after we were safely elected prom king and queen?
I bunched my lips to the side. Not too likely. He didn’t seem like the type who would even go to prom. But maybe I could find a way to bribe him to do it.
I’d have to get him to work on his wardrobe. I gathered up my books and headed to my locker. Not that I minded his worn jeans and snug t-shirts. My cheeks heated as I realized I could picture his body under those clothes all too well.
I tugged my locker open with a loud clank and every thought in my head evaporated when a bundle of miniature white roses fell out, landing on my black boots.
“What the . . .” I bent to pick up the lovely flowers, reflexively bringing the delicate little blooms up to my nose. Sweet. Such a lovely, sweet fragrance. Did Matt leave them? My heart sped up and a tiny smile tipped my lips.
“Hey.” The last voice in the world I wanted to hear crowed from just above. “Like the flowers?”
The sweet scent turned cloying. George. I should have known. He was trying to buy his way out of trouble with me. Like the time he completely forgot about our date and brought me a box of chocolates the next day to make up for it. At the time I thought it was sweet. Now, it just seemed conniving. Mess up. Buy a present. All is forgiven. Cheating on me wasn’t something he could buy his way out of.
I stood up and shoved the flowers against his solid chest, pushing him back a full step. His eyes widened in surprise as I caught him off guard. Petals fell to the floor in a shower of white where I knew their pureness and beauty would soon be trampled by hundreds of feet and crushed into an ugly mess.
I stared down at the petals feeling empty as it hit me how symbolic they were of our relationship. What had once been beautiful and happy was now dirty and ruined.
I was so tired all of a sudden. Drained. “What do you want, George?”
“I wanted to give my girlfriend a little gift.” His brows bunched as he watched my expression closely. “Guess you don’t like flowers?”
I gave him a disgusted look. “I don’t like my boyfriend kissing other girls.” I slammed my locker shut and turned towards the door with my head high in the air, prepared to make a dramatic exit.
“Don’t you walk away from me.” George grabbed my arm and spun me around.
I gasped with surprise.
He stepped close, closer than Matt had been that morning, until we were almost nose to nose. His preppy, good guy expression morphed into something dark and dangerous. I stared wide-eyed at the transformation, too shocked to say anything. I hardly recognized him.
“We have this year planned out,” he hissed at me. “You’re going to forget all about Misty Holly. She was nothing more than a distrac
tion since you couldn’t be bothered to go to that party with me. I told you I wanted you there. You should have gone.” He sounded like a petulant three-year-old.
Who was this guy? We’d been dating for months. I’d never seen an inkling of a temper. Well, other than on the football field. George was known to get a little rough when he played, but everyone blew it off as part of being a competitive athlete. Maybe there was more to it than that.
“Let me go, George.” I tugged against his iron-grip. “You’re hurting me.” I regretted the words when George’s smile turned self-satisfied. Hurting me was exactly what he’d been going for.
The hall was surprisingly empty. Not that I would have called for help if anyone had been there. How embarrassing would that be? Help, my boyfriend of forever has morphed into a scary monster overnight. Yeah, people would think I was nuts. I had to figure a way out of this on my own.
“George,” I scrambled for the right words, “I think there’s been a misunderstanding or something. I just think it’s time for us to break up. It’s not you. It’s me.” I threw a little Psych 101 in my speech for good measure. “I really hope we can still be friends. You’ve always been such a good friend. Someone I could depend on.”
I decided I was scooping it on a little too thick so snapped my lips closed on the rest of the words that wanted to babble out and gave him what I hoped was an innocent look.
“Shut up!” George shook my arm, rattling my entire body, and bent close. “Don’t try to pull that with me. Don’t you remember who tutored you in Mr. Larsen’s psychology class?”
My eyes widened as I did remember.
“Exactly,” he added smugly at my look.
Darn. He’d always done better in that class than me. I tried to take a step back as his hot breath seared my cheek, but he held tight.
He gave my arm another shake that was more degrading than painful. I felt like a helpless rag-doll in his grasp. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling at all.
“Here’s how things are going to go. Nothing has changed between us. We’re still the perfect couple. I’ll still dote on you, and you’ll keep batting those long lashes at me. Everyone’s going to love us and vote for us for prom king and queen, just like we planned. Once we’ve won, I’ll let you know if I still need you or not.”
“Kristen?” Funny how a voice I hadn’t heard often could be so familiar, so safe.
“Beat it!” George glared at Matt over my head, trying to intimate him with his look.
Matt held his ground, completely nonplussed. “Everything okay here?” he asked with his dark eyes fixed on my face.
“Um . . .” I looked from Matt to George. “Yep!” I said brightly. “Everything’s great. Maybe you can take me home, though, since you live next door. George was just telling me he wouldn’t be able to.”
George’s fingers dug into my skin. I winced as I imagined the purple bruises I’d be sporting tomorrow. I gave him a pointed look. I wasn’t calling him out. If he didn’t let me go he’d be the one drawing attention to what was going on.
George snarled and dropped my arm before turning to Matt with a forced smile. “Yeah, that’d be great, man. Have to get in some extra weight time or the coach will be all over me.”
We both stared at Matt. Me hopefully, and George with anger burning behind his fake smile. Matt looked back and forth between us, obviously not convinced that was all that was going on, but thankfully he went along with it. “Sure. I can take you home,” he finally said. “Ready?”
Boy, was I ever. I started to nod and took a step towards him before George pulled me back and pressed his lips to mine in a punishing kiss. Tears sprang to my eyes as he crushed his lips against mine so hard my teeth cut through the tender inner flesh of my bottom lip. I pushed against his chest, trying to get away from his punishing kiss. Thankfully he made it brief.
“Take good care of my girlfriend,” he threw over his shoulder with another smirk at me as he strode away.
I couldn’t move. I felt a strange combination of numb and violated. My thoughts were all over the place. They started with “I’m going to kill George” and ended with “what should I do now?” Should I tell my parents? Matt? Would anyone believe me? Okay, my parents would believe me completely. The problem with that was what they might do about it. Would they call the police? Tell the principal?
George hadn’t really done anything worth reporting yet, but they wouldn’t let me keep going to school with a boy if they thought he was dangerous. Would they make me transfer to another school for the remainder of my senior year? Maybe do homeschool online or something? I imagined being shut in my room alone day after day with my computer as my only friend as senior year dragged on. That wasn’t happening.
Was George dangerous or just being a jerk? Everyone had bad days. I shook my head to shake off that excuse. No way was I going to be one of those girls. Bad day or not, he’d intentionally hurt me. Not okay. I pressed my fingers to my bruised lips.
“Kristen?” I jumped when Matt gently touched my arm. “Are you okay?” He dipped his head to look me in the eye but kept his distance. There was no smirk on his face, no smugness in his eyes. I found myself wanting to pour out everything to him. Or cry on his shoulder.
“I . . .” I shook my head and clamped my lips together. I wasn’t going to do either with a virtual stranger. Especially not a hot stranger like Matt. “Can we just go?”
Chapter 5
Matt held the door for me when we got to his black muscle car. Tough guy had manners, I thought with a quiet smile. I looked around while Matt walked to his side to get in. The car was older. I knew very little about cars, but I guessed it was some kind of classic.
Everything was clean and shiny inside. Completely unlike George’s brand new pickup that was littered with fast food wrappers and empty soft drink cans.
Matt climbed in and shut the door but didn’t start the car. He dug around in the console and pulled out a clean tissue. After studying my face, he leaned in to dab at my lips with it.
I swatted his hand away in surprise. “What’re you doing?” The contact flustered me. It was suddenly too hot in the car. I wished he’d roll down a window or turn on the air conditioner even though it was in the forties outside.
His voice, when he answered, was soft, soothing, but his eyes held depths of anger. “You’re bleeding,” he said, reaching over again to dab the corner of my mouth. “I can’t believe you choose to date a Roid like that.”
I was left speechless as I processed what he’d just said. I sat quietly as he wiped my lips. His eyes narrowed in concentration as he worked. Apparently satisfied he’d cleaned me up the best he could, he balled up the tissue and threw it in the cup holder before starting the car.
A steady vibration rumbled through me as the car came to life with a deep purr. I wasn’t sure if the trembling I felt was simply the car or the after-effect of Matt taking care of me so gently.
Unfortunately, the coppery taste of blood hit my tongue and anger burned away the fog of numbness I’d been under. How dare George treat me like that? He wasn’t the most considerate guy in the world, but before today I would have bet anything that he would never hurt a girl. Especially not me, the girl he claimed to love.
At the same time, Matt had no right making judgments about things he didn’t understand.
“I don’t see how who I’m dating is any of your concern,” I said, crossing my arms.
Matt blinked once and shook his head as if he couldn’t believe I just said that. I kinda couldn’t believe I’d said it either. Was I really sticking up for George after he cheated on me and then treated me so bad?
“You’re right. It’s absolutely none of my business.” Matt pulled out of the parking lot with a squeal of tires. I understood why this was called a muscle car. It had a lot more power than my car. I cringed and secured my seatbelt. Grabbing for something to hang on to, I watched him from the corner of my eyes. His hands clenched the steering wheel like he might tear it fro
m the drive shaft at any second.
We flew by other cars, passing those that were going too slow for Matt before weaving back into our lane. I nervously peeked at the speedometer and saw he was going the speed limit. His driving just felt fast. Dangerous.
I sat as close to the door as I could and stewed. I was mad at George and wanted to take it out on someone, but Matt was the only person here and he was too agreeable to pick a fight with. I looked out the window and absently rubbed my swollen lip. I knew I was being irrational. Matt was going out of his way to be nice to me, and I’d lashed out at him. I didn’t quite have it in me to apologize yet.
“What’s a Roid?” I asked after a few minutes, more to break the silence than out of curiosity.
Matt turned a look of disbelief on me. “You don’t know what a Roid is, and you’re dating one?” He shook his head. “A Roid’s someone who uses steroids.”
“Steroids? Those are illegal.” My voice sounded all prim and proper, even to me, and Matt rolled his eyes before looking back at the road. My own eyes widened at the thought of my boyfriend using illegal drugs. I’d have known something like that, sensed it or something, wouldn’t I?
“George wouldn’t do that.” I again heard the goody-two-shoes in my tone, but couldn’t help myself. Matt didn’t know what he was talking about. “Plus he plays sports. Wouldn’t he have to pass drug tests or something?”
Matt let out a harsh laugh. “If the coach is providing the ‘roids I’m sure he has ways of helping his guys look clean when it comes time for testing.”
I sat back in my seat. My head was starting to throb with the beginning of a headache and my lip burned. I was furious at George. He’d been rotten, but I didn’t believe he was using drugs. I laid my head against the smooth leather headrest and took a deep breath. The cool scent of mint mingled with warm leather.
