by Cassie Mae
I have to hold in my laughter at her answer to: What do you hope to achieve in life? Her cute handwriting—I’m assuming it belongs to a she—has a sense of humor, stating, “I’m going to find myself a sugar daddy, spend all his money and sleep with the pool boy, just so I can keep up the cliché.”
My eyes jet to the top right hand corner where her name is.
Brea Mason.
“Sweet!”
Everyone looks at me, a few people chuckling, and my face gets hot.
Mr. Radford clicks the next screen on the PowerPoint. “I’m glad you’re excited Sierra, but if you could keep the outbursts to yourself till the presentation is over, I’d appreciate it.”
More giggles, and Sydney is shaking with laughter next to me. I nudge her, bumping her a little into Adam who slides over and kicks his feet up. He’s taken out one of his many books and hidden it behind his folder, glasses reflecting the screen in front of us, but his eyes do nothing but stare at his book.
I twirl my pencil in my hand, all torn up inside because I feel bad for the semi-rejection one of my buddies just had, but I’m also reeling about having Levi’s sister as my mentee. How freaking awesome! I do a little jig in my seat as I look at more of her snarky answers to the boring questions.
The lights click on and all of us blink a few times. Some people wake up from their impromptu naps.
“Okay, now that you know what your responsibilities are, make sure you document your experience and turn it in for credit. We’ll be taking a trip to Jameson Middle on Wednesday. Make sure your parents sign the permission slip, and bring your own survey to give to your assigned eighth grader. That’s it, unless there are any questions.”
I think there are questions, but the people in this room are smart enough to keep them to themselves so we can all go home.
“All right, you’re dismissed.”
Adam’s out of the room so fast, you’d think there was a bomb in the building. I make a mental note to call him later, while I tug on Sydney’s sleeve so she doesn’t jet out too.
“What’s going on with you and—”
“So, who’s the girl you’ll be bestowing your wisdom on?” Sydney cuts me off, eyes desperate for me to follow her change of subject.
Damn her puppy dog face. “You won’t believe my luck.” I grab her shoulders and shake. “Levi’s sister, Brea.”
She laughs at my big doofy smile and shakes me back. “Do you realize what this means? You could be inside his house. Maybe get to see his room.”
“What?”
She drops her arms at the same time as me, and her weapon of a hand scratches mine again. “Were you not paying attention, Sierra? This stuff is going to be time consuming. You’re supposed to really become friends with this person. Do things together after school and shit.”
“Well, good. That’s even better.” All this time with Levi’s sister, he’s bound to notice how amazing I am. Giving and loving to his own flesh and blood. Can I get a “hey-o!”
I nearly skip out the door, and Sydney skips with me. I love that she shares my enthusiasm over an unattainable guy. Or maybe she’s just overcompensating for whatever the heck is going on with her love life.
Maybe she’ll tell me over IM or text or something. Stuff is easier to say when it’s not in person. Computer and phone screens are excellent buffers.
Oh, if only I had my phone now to text Levi about who I get to mentor. Our conversation could lead to endless possibilities. Like confessions of love or something awesome like that.
“Call you later?” Sydney says as we part ways. Her eyes are desperate again, like she wants to talk, but doesn’t want to do it to my face.
“Definitely,” I say with a smile and wave. Yes, phones are excellent buffers.
Chapter 4
I totally rock the video games with a half-naked man.
A day without my phone is like a day without… I don’t know… my hair. Like it’s always been there, so when it’s suddenly not, you forget and you just fall into the habit of thinking it’s there. I’ve reached for my pocket a thousand times today then mentally yelled, “Damn it!”
So first thing I do when I get to my house is locate the thing.
After flitting through my Pinterest for way too long, I get a text from Dad, who still hasn’t mastered the art. His autocorrect is all over the place.
Dad: Sahara, I need you to conspire with the dishes before your master gets home. Thanksgiving very much. Ill be there at tenth.
Good thing I’m an auto-translator.
I crank up the music and shake my booty while I wash the dishes. Dad’s hoping with his next check he can get the dishwasher fixed, but I think Zoe is surprising him by paying for it. They needed that vacation and shouldn’t feel guilty for taking it. So I suppose I can do my share in the meantime. No job for me till I’m out of high school. Mom set that rule when Zoe started paying rent. I think they feel weird about us offering to help out around the house. Financially, I mean.
I sort of love how our dish soap smells. I’m sniffing my hands as I dry them off, giving my phone the evil glare for not ringing. Come on, Sydney. I want deets.
There’s never anything good on TV at this time, but I turn it on anyway. Slumping onto the couch, I kick my feet up on the coffee table and smell my hands a few more times. It’s like apple Jolly Ranchers. So good. I wonder if I could bathe in it. I bet Levi couldn’t resist a candy scented girl.
I hear a key in the door, and I immediately stop sniffing my fingers. My feet plop on the floor because Mom always gives me “the look” when she sees them up there.
But it’s not Mom. It’s Zak, fumbling with keys and carrying about twenty grocery bags.
“Help?” he squeaks as he stumbles into the foyer. I laugh and I run to catch a gallon of milk that’s about to slip from his grasp and spatter all over our floor.
“Why do you always grab so much?” I ask, setting the milk in the fridge while he slams all the bags onto the counter. “It’s not like our driveway is that far away.”
He shrugs as Mom walks in with a couple bags and shuts the door behind her. “Thank you, Zak.”
“No problem,” he heaves, immediately unloading all the food and putting it away. Mom looks as if she could wrap him up in a bear hug if she wasn’t so exhausted. Instead, she smiles and trudges up the stairs, I’m sure straight to her big comfy bed for a nap.
I reach in a bag and grab a box of granola bars and Ritz crackers. “Are you in between classes or something?”
He nods, taking the boxes from my hands and setting them in the cupboard next to the fridge. “Got one more tonight, then I’ll be back to kick Zoe and Levi’s butts in Tekken Tag.”
The V8 bottle slips from my fingers and then there’s juice all over the kitchen floor. Zak hops out of the way, letting out an “Oiy!” while I let out a much more offensive term.
“Um…” I say, sidestepping the mess to get the paper towels, “what did you say?”
He raises an eyebrow, and squats to help me with the mess while the hem of his plaid over-shirt dangles dangerously close to the juice on the floor. “Uh, I’m going to win at Tekken Tag?”
The V8 soaks through the paper towel instantly, and I end up just slopping the juice around while I focus on Zak’s confused face. “You said Levi’s coming over?”
He smirks, tearing off another towel and spreading it on the floor. “Yeah. You want to play with us? We’ll make a tournament out of it.”
He’s totally asking because I’m so obvious about my uber crush. Well, at least he seems to have figured it out. Zoe acts like she doesn’t have a clue, and Levi of course, acts as if I’m still that little fourteen-year-old he first met two years ago.
Except today. It was all sorts of magical.
And even though I suck at video games, I’m nodding my head off my neck and Zak snorts at me.
We get the rest of the V8 cleaned up, and all the groceries where they belong before Zak says something.
/> “Do you know what time your dad’ll be home?”
“Um, his text said ‘tenth,’ but I’m pretty sure he meant ten.” I pause, watching Zak nod and his face lose some of its color. “But it’s okay if you’re here that late. I mean, it’s not like he doesn’t like you.” It’s true. Mom and Dad love Zak so much I think they want to adopt the guy. Though, if they find out about the sleepovers, they may think differently.
“Nah, I just needed to ask him something.” His face loses more color, and he starts clicking the light saber keychain he has clipped to his holey jeans. “I-I’ll see ya later.”
Weirdo. But I guess that’s the norm for him, so I wave and watch him jog to his truck and speed off around the corner.
Time to prep this body and face for Levi! That’s why he couldn’t go over his fingering or whatever with Blinky. He’s coming to my house! To see Zoe, but I don’t care. I’ll take what I can get.
My feet won’t stop dancing as I pluck, shave, powder, and lotion (with candy apple scented lotion). I’m surprised I look as good as I do with all the happy dancing. I pull out one of my inventions I made from my dad’s old dress shirt. It’s a skirt now, knee length and looks like I’ve got a hoodie tied around the waist, but it’s actually torn and sewn on. (A style I totally ripped off of Zendaya. That girl has some sa-weet outfits.) Then I pair it with a racerback bra and giant scoop neck. I examine my butt from every angle in the mirror in Zoe’s room since I think I want to substitute one of her nerdy shirts instead of my scoop since it’s a game night. But she barges in with sweat on her hairline and smelling of movie theater popcorn and forbids me to touch any of her precious babies before she jumps in the shower, and I head downstairs.
I pace the kitchen and reapply my lip gloss every twenty seconds, wishing Levi and Zak would get here already.
After a half hour of non-stop stomach butterflies, Zoe bounds down the stairs, skipping the last one and lands in a squat. She’s wearing a mushroom shirt that says “1UP” on it, and a pair of skinny jeans. Super cute, and I pull my phone out and snap a picture to put on Pinterest.
She hops on the counter and flips her long, wet, red hair over her shoulder. “Where are you going?”
I clear my throat and pretend I‘m looking for something in the fridge. “Nowhere. Zak said I could hang with you guys.”
She cocks her head to the side. “You want to play video games?”
“Why not?”
She laughs, but says, “Okay.” Thank heavens she drops it. Nothing like your older sister telling one of her best buds her baby sister has a thing for him. Totally embarrassing.
“Hey, off the counter.” Mom shuffles into the kitchen, and Zoe slides to the floor.
The doorbell rings, and both me and Zoe race to answer it. She hip bumps me so hard I slam into the wall, and she laughs as I make sure she didn’t ruin my four hours of Levi prepping.
The second the door opens, she barrels into Zak, as if she didn’t just see him this morning. They do this gross kiss that sounds much juicier than I think either of them intended. Levi gives me a face like we’re sharing some sort of inside joke. I let out a snort giggle type thing that makes me feel like a pig in a skirt. Oiy.
Zoe stays glued to Zak as she invites the boys in, and they march off into video game lover’s bliss. Levi shoves his hands into his khaki shorts and shakes his head. I give a great blowfish impression as I shut the door.
“What is that?” he asks.
“What is what?”
“That lotion or whatever you’re wearing. It smells good. Like apples.”
Holy heat in my cheeks. “You’re good. That’s exactly what it is.”
“I like it.”
“T-thanks.”
“Hey losers!” Zoe shouts from the next room. “Get in here before we start without you.”
Like it matters if they start without us, but Levi heads into the living room and flops down on the couch. He grabs a controller from Zak. Zoe tosses one to me, and I fumble all over myself to catch it. Thanks for the warning, sis!
How do I even hold this thing? I’ve played with the white controllers, but this one is black and it’s smaller. I have no idea what to do with it.
Levi clears his throat and pats the seat next to him, kinking his neck. My feet go so fast to take him up on the invitation I trip on the rug and fall into the couch. My boob almost pops right out of my bra.
“Are you okay?” he asks as my loving sister and her boyfriend laugh. Levi looks like he wants to laugh too, but he’s nice enough not to.
“Totally fine.” I smile and sit straight, praising the design on this skirt because if I went short I would’ve flashed Zak underwear.
Zoe butt wiggles her way to shut off the lights, and the TV glow is now the only thing that allows me to see Levi’s pretty face. I smile when he looks at me, hoping I don’t have any gloss on my teeth.
Mom pops her head in and says, “Not too late, Sierra. You’ve got school tomorrow.”
Oh. My. Gosh. Did she just give me a bedtime? I’m not five, Mom! If Levi wasn’t sitting on it, I’d crawl under the couch cushions and die of embarrassment.
I wave her off, and we all say goodnight as she goes upstairs. The second we hear her bedroom door shut, my sister snuggles in between Zak’s legs on the floor in front of us, giving him another way too slimy kiss. It’s cute (kind of) but also about ten million degrees of uncomfortable with Levi sitting next to me. I want to snuggle, too, but there’s no way I’m making the first move.
“Boys against girls?” Zak offers, saying it into Zoe’s ear loud enough so that we all hear him.
“Heck no!” Zoe says, elbowing him in the gut. “You invited Sierra. I say you have to have her on your team.”
Way to throw me under the bus! But I really don’t blame her either. I shove her shoulder, and she winks at me.
Levi opens his mouth, but it’s Zak who speaks up first. “I’m cool with that. We’ll still kick your butts.” He throws his head back, grazing my knee with his dark brown hair. “Right, Sierra?”
“Uh…” I’m so horrible at trash talk. Especially since I have no skills whatsoever to back it up. “Sure?”
“That’s the spirit!” He pumps the air with his controller, then starts scrolling through all these options of scary guys with lizard tails and spikes and crap.
“Go with Jin,” Levi whispers at me. I jolt from the warm breath hitting my neck and then mentally smack myself for being so jumpy. “He’s the easiest to control and his moves are pretty kickass.”
“I don’t even know what buttons to push.”
He smiles, and my butt melts into the cushion. “Just hit them all. Seems to work for me.”
“Hey, no pointers, traitor.” Zoe reaches over and whacks Levi’s knee, then snuggles back into Zak.
Levi helps me pick out the Jin character guy, who is this normal buff dude without a shirt. No spikes or tail, so at least he’s not scary looking. But he makes this noise like “Hoiyah!” when you select him. I giggle.
The screen flashes to this lava pit thing, and Zak is talking about how he’ll tag me when he needs to regenerate, so I can sit tight till I see my shirtless guy come on. But I’m shaking some freaky nerves as the game counts down to “Fight!”
Zoe gets on her knees and starts shoving the controller at the TV while screaming what buttons she’s pushing. Zak tries to move her out of the way, but she blocks him and kicks his ass. He shouts, “Cheater!” and then all of a sudden my half naked guy shows up on the screen.
I let out a “Yikes!” and just start smacking all the buttons simultaneously. My Jin dude is pretty darn good. The health on Zoe’s girl with the braids slides down so fast, I almost stand up and start dancing.
When her health goes to red, suddenly there’s another guy in the ring with full health, and Zoe turns around to actually tackle me.
I squeal and keep smashing buttons as I leap over the back of the couch, just as Zak grabs Zoe’s middle and pins her
to the floor. “Get him, Sierra!” he shouts at me. Levi’s bashing the controller the same as I am, but I’m a better random-button-pusher. A loud “K.O!” sounds on the screen, and I victory dance behind the couch. My fingers hurt, and my cheeks are sore from laughing, and I don’t think I’ll ever judge Zoe for liking video games again.
Then the deep voice on the TV says, “Round Two” and I’m too slow to fight Levi back. And I forget I can tag Zak so my shirtless guy dies after about ten seconds.
Zak’s still sitting on Zoe, yelling at me to get ready for the final round, and I’m shaking and laughing, and Levi’s looking so darn cute when he says, “Your ass is mine.”
Take my ass! Take it, you sexy man, you!
I almost faint behind the couch from his smile, and I press tag this time before Levi kills my character. The two guys battle it out while Zoe tries to reach the controller Zak knocked from her hands.
“Success!” Zak says when Levi’s character falls to the ground. He stands up and shakes his butt in Zoe’s face, that light saber keychain lighting up every time it hits his body. I’m laughing so hard I fall over the couch, my head almost hitting Levi’s legs.
“Next round?” Zak asks, once we’ve all caught our breath and I’m back on the cushion next to Levi. His leg is touching mine. Totally, one-hundred percent, full-on leg touching. It’s on fire. Seriously sending up smoke. When I look down, it’s a shade redder than my left leg, which now feels left out.
Zoe pulls Zak back down so he’s behind her again, and they bump into mine and Levi’s amazing leg connection, and break it because Levi slides over so Zak’s not leaning on him. Boo.
We play another few hundred rounds, no more cheating, and I’m rarely needed since Zak does just fine on his own, but my fingers are still sore by the time Dad walks through the door at 10:15.
Zak was totally owning Zoe until his hands freeze on the controller and her character kills his about five seconds later. I almost ask him why he didn’t tag me, but on look at his white face and his bug eyes as he watches Dad make me forget what I was going to say.
