“There's an after party,” Levi said to nobody in particular.
Michelle looked around at their small group of friends; Alissa, the math whiz, Tiffany, a linguist, and Bev, the environmental sciences major. They had turned their eyes up thoughtfully at the mention of the after party. Levi was always in the know about these things, considering his close relationship with the student activities staff. He was the kind of person who belonged at an after party, smart, attractive, well-groomed and well-dressed, but Michelle was not.
“Count me out,” she said, shaking her head. “I have to study.”
Although she was tempted to go so that she could have an excuse to spend more time with Levi, she didn't want to waste her time being anywhere near Zach. His sex sounds would echo in her ears whenever she was forced into making chit chat with him, and it was embarrassing.
“Me too,” Bev said.
“I should study, but I think my brain will fry if I spend one more night in front of my computer screen,” Tiffany said with a loud sigh.
“I'd rather party,” Alissa said. Out of the four girls, she was the one who enjoyed the party scene the most, and they could usually count on her to be shirking her homework in order to guzzle down a beer or two. She was smart enough in her field to get away with that though, and could deal with numbers in her head as if she were a calculator. Michelle was always impressed by this skill.
She parted ways with her friends and headed back to her dorm room. Somehow she had made the mistake of joining a co-ed dorm, which meant that she and Zach were stuck next to each other; at least until the end of the term. She knew exactly why he was there – to scout out the women of interest in the area and lure them into his messy room, so they could have loud, obnoxious sex ridiculously close to where Michelle was trying to sleep or study. She herself had simply marked the wrong box on the dorm application papers and been unpleasantly surprised by the outcome.
Michelle decided to shower quickly while the rest of campus was out celebrating the victory out on the field. It was always more peaceful when people who didn't stake their lifeblood on sports weren't around. She was, of course, only referring to Zach.
Chapter 2
Michelle took her time in the shower, using more hot water than she normally felt comfortable using. Most of the people in her dorm were sports lovers, so they wouldn't be coming home to shower for the rest of the night if she was lucky. She soaped her hair up lavishly and inhaled the aromas, her thoughts returning to Levi.
Would he ever like her back? It was hard to say. She would have to do something to catch his attention if that was truly what she wanted. She stood in front of the mirror, foggy now from the steam, and studied her reflection. When her curly, hair was wet, it was heavy and straight, much easier to pull back and style. Without any hair care products, it was constantly a mess. She had taken to pulling it into a loose pony tail or bun so she wouldn't have to deal with it.
She wore glasses with a thick black frame, a look that labelled her the queen of all geeks. Behind them, she was hiding eyes, deep as pools and as clear as rain. Her complexion was perfect, fortunately, and her face was beautiful in its own right, but she hid it constantly with those large frames and a serious demeanor. She rarely wore dresses or high heels or anything impractical at all, and couldn't navigate her way around makeup to save her life. There was nothing much in it for her, she decided. No makeup could make her look prettier.
Still, she couldn't help but admire her slender body and large breasts, the long, finely sculpted legs that curved in all the right places. She had an athletic build but no use for it, though she did go for runs every morning to maintain her good figure. It was the only time she could feel safe running and able to hide her bouncing breasts from prying eyes. They were embarrassing, and often uncomfortable, but she was proud of them in all their perfection, round and supple, flawless and firm. It was a body most women would envy, but she did nothing to advertise it to the world, choosing instead to keep it her own special secret. If a man could see past her nerdiness, maybe he would be lucky enough to see the rest of her as well.
She was lucky enough that the showers were located right across the hallway from her dorm room. She would probably have gone crazy if there were people on both sides of her room and across from it, especially if they were all like Zach. She shuddered at the thought and wrapped her fluffy pink towel around her body, hoping to slip into her dorm room undetected.
As soon as she opened the door she groaned. There was Zach, smiling arrogantly as one of the cheerleaders grinned up at him adoringly. The sight was enough to make her want to puke, and she walked past them quickly with her eyes to the ground. She hoped to let herself into the room and cursed loudly to herself when she realized there was one small problem – she had locked herself out.
She struggled with the door in her towel as Zach wrapped his strong, tan arms around the cheerleader and kissed her slowly, their sickening smacks piercing into Michelle's thoughts.
“Congratulations on winning the big game!” she exclaimed, hoping to break them up. If she had to hear one more giggle she would scream. “Next stop, championships, right?”
Zach broke away from the kiss briefly, running his hand through his tousled blonde hair and fixing his deep blue eyes onto Michelle.
“Yup. Thanks,” he said, before resuming his lip work.
She struggled with the door, sighing loudly before Zach finally noticed.
“Having trouble there, champ?” he asked condescendingly, raising an eyebrow at her.
She gritted her teeth, feeling his eyes roaming her up and down. Her towel was puffy enough to hide her cleavage – she had chosen it for that purpose – so hopefully she would escape his “female meat” radar. Not that he would ever consider having sex with a geek like her, which was to her benefit.
He glanced at the door and broke away from the cheerleader for a moment, who was giggling hysterically, covering her mouth as if somebody would reprimand her for teasing a less fortunate person but not caring very much whether she was in trouble for it or not.
“Here,” Zach said, touching Michelle's shoulder with two skilled fingers to move her away from the door and giving it a loud, square kick. She had to recover from the unexpected touch, and pursed her lips as a loud bang echoed through the hallways. She heard a splintering sound and cringed, wondering how much she would have to pay for the damages. The door flew open as if Zach was just opening a jar of pickles, and Michelle ducked inside.
“Thanks...champ,” she said begrudgingly.
“Yup,” Zach answered. He didn't give her a second glance before he was in front of the cheerleader again. Michelle closed the door and got dressed, extremely embarrassed but grateful that she didn't have to be out in that hallway a second longer.
Chapter 3
“Damn it, Zach,” Michelle grumbled to herself.
Zach’s sex life was very active, which would have been fine if it hadn't been active so close to her dorm room. The cheerleader from the hallway (she found out from a passionate cry that her name was Allie) was moaning loudly, and Zach's masculine grunts were piercing through the paper thin walls and right through her headphones. If she turned the music up any louder she wouldn't be able to concentrate on her studying. Enough was enough.
“If you guys don't shut up I'm coming in there with a hose!” Michelle exclaimed, knocking loudly on the wall.
She heard Zach groan and throw something – it sounded like a football – at the wall. It hit with the sound of vibrating boards and she buried her head under her pillow in frustration. If she couldn't study, maybe she could sleep and wake up early to find a time when she could. The meathead would be sleeping his heart out until well past noon.
“What's wrong with that girl?” she heard the cheerleader ask.
“She's just a geek,” Zach said, and Michelle could almost imagine him shrugging.
It filled her with a surprising amount of fury, and she slipped under the covers and
closed her eyes, surprised to find hot, burning tears seeping through her tightly closed eyelids. Zach was right. She was just a geek. There was no way any boy would be interested in her, especially not someone as great as Levi.
As she tried to sleep, hugging the pillow tightly over her ears and trying to drown out the obnoxious carnal grunts and groans of Zach and the cheerleader, her thoughts drifted to the football game. She had been sitting right next to Levi, who was rapt with interest, taking notes as thoughts occurred to him and smiling over at her whenever their team would score any points. She took it as an encouraging sign, especially when their knees suddenly touched and he did nothing to stop it or change it or move his leg away from her. Maybe that meant something. Maybe Levi could learn to see past her geeky facade and love her for the person she was on the inside. Maybe to Levi, looks wouldn't matter at all.
She fell asleep with a faint smile on her lips, hoping this was the case.
***
Zach woke up and rubbed his bleary eyes. He had been dreading waking up next to Allie, who had been after him for months. He thought it would be fun to put things off and make her wait, but he quickly realized that was a mistake. The night before they'd had intense rounds of sex, and he soon saw the look in her eyes. She was attached to him. He was her prize and she wouldn't want to let him go. It was her birthright as head cheerleader to end up dating captain of the football team. In her eyes, they were meant to be together forever; or at least until the end of the season.
Zach had always had a hard time sticking with one woman for very long. There were just so many to choose from that he found it impossible to be content hiding himself away and denying himself the freedom to explore other options. Besides, there had never been any one girl who was still on his mind after they had sex. Maybe if it was serious to him he would have been able to commit, but none of the girls he was with were particularly captivating.
He sat up in his bed, still naked from the night before, and looked down at the sheets. Fortunately, Allie was gone, and he sighed in relief. Sex was fun, but it was messy. He bunched the sheets up and dumped them in his hamper. Zach wrapped a towel around his waist and headed to the showers across the hall.
He emerged just as Michelle was poking her head out of the doorway. They glared at each other.
“Why do you have to be such a priss?” he asked.
Her clear, hazel eyes made their way up his perfect six pack and rested on his own.
“Why do you have to be such a pig?” she asked.
This wasn't the first exchange like this that they had shared. The two had dealt with many differences in the past. For example, Zach had once brought a friend of hers to his dorm room, a lab partner, and broken her heart with Michelle listening.
“Listen, babe,” he had said. “This isn't something serious, you know. It's just a little fun. Now come here...”
The girl had been crying all day after that, trying to text him and beg for a second chance. The next time Michelle had seen him she was livid and cursed him out, telling him that if he was brain dead his looks wouldn't make a damn bit of difference in the future, and he should be more careful with the way he treated girls.
On another occasion, Zach had been standing outside his dorm room with a group of football players, and one of them started making fun of Michelle. Zach laughed along and did nothing to defend her, so the next day, she had slipped rotten bologna under his door while he was out. By the time he came back, the whole place reeked and Michelle had the last laugh.
Their petty rivalry went on and on. Zach shook his head as he thought about it, soaping up his lean, athletic body and patting himself dry. He dressed quickly so he wouldn't be late for a meeting with his coach.
“Morrison,” coach said gruffly. “You're in some shit if you don't deal with this.”
“Deal with what?” Zach asked, taking a slip of paper from his coach's hand.
“This class – seems you won't be able to play football if you don't pass. Your last shot is to ace a term paper. If you can't do that, then you're going to be out. You can kiss football good bye.”
“But coach, how am I supposed to pass this? I don't know anything about this stuff!”
“Maybe you should have been paying attention instead of goofing off!” his coach said, smacking him upside the head with a rolled up playbook. “All I know is you had better find yourself a tutor or you're going to be watching the championships from the bleachers.”
Coach gave Zach a long, hard look before he nodded. He would have to find a tutor.
Chapter 4
Zach made his way miserably to the food court at the University. There was no way he would be able to live with himself if he wasn't able to play in the championship game. This whole team would hate him, and he would be blamed for letting the school down.
Across the room, he saw Michelle standing next to the student body president, Levi Fredericks. Levi was a grade-A asshole, at least in Zach's book. But for some reason Michelle was looking at him as if he were some kind of Greek God that came down to earth.
Zach chuckled to himself about how unlikely it seemed that Michelle would ever have a crush on anybody. Especially with the way she seemed to judge him and all the women who came out of his dorm room. Would finding a boyfriend tame the beast? He laughed again at the thought, before an idea occurred to him. Michelle was really smart, so maybe she would be able to help him pass his term paper.
Levi left Michelle alone to wait in line for pizza. Zach took the opportunity to saunter over to her, grinning with an arrogant look on his face. She sighed deeply and rolled her eyes, looking away from him.
“You like him don't you?" Zach said with a delighted grin.
Michelle just gazed off into the distance, her expression darkening. He could tell that she couldn't stand him any more than he liked her, and knowing that his teasing was getting on her nerves made him want to do it more.
“This makes me want to film a documentary on nerd love,” Zach said. “You two would be so dweeby for each other, it would be perfect.”
“Go to hell, Zach," Michelle mumbled.
“Speaking of nerds, something funny happened today. The coach told me that if I don't pass this term paper, I won't be able to play in football anymore. I have to find a tutor.”
“What does that have to do with me?" Michelle asked, still not looking at Zach. She crossed her arms over her breasts and frowned.
“Well, you're the biggest nerd I know, studying at all hours of the night. I thought maybe you could help me out."
“Yeah right," she said. “Why don't you ask, 'oh, Allllliiiiiiieeee' to help you out?"
Zach laughed despite himself.
“All right, suit yourself,” he said casually with a shrug. “It's not like my options are limited."
Except that they were. Zach didn't know any other person with brainpower that rivaled Michelle's, so he sat in the cafeteria, watching her with Levi thoughtfully. When Levi left without a second glance back at Michelle, but Michelle kept her puppy dog eyes fixed on his back, a sudden and powerful idea struck him. He thought back to how unexpectedly good she had looked in her towel. Zach had been surprised by how shapely and attractive she was – that is, once you got her out of those glasses, peeled off all her clothes, and got her a little flustered. If he could just convince her to soften up her look a little bit, she probably wouldn't have any trouble finding a boyfriend. That would make her a lot happier, maybe even happy enough to leave him and his conquests alone. It also gave him the leverage he needed to convince her to help him to study.
“Hey there, nerd love," he said, approaching her table and sitting down as if they were friends.
“Oh my God, Zach, what do you want now?”
“Listen, let's make a deal. I'm pretty much a professional at how to date. Why don't you let me give you some pointers? We'll fix you up and get you out on a date with that dorky Levi guy.”
“Levi would never want to date me," Michelle said
, crestfallen. It had an unexpected bearing on Zach, and he felt a tug of guilt. Levi would be stupid not to want to date her. Who else would match his dweebiness? It was obvious that Michelle had low self esteem, and she had probably been thinking about how inadequate her appearance was when it came to attracting the men that she liked. It was the perfect chance for Zach to act. It was now or never.
“I know exactly what men want," Zach said. “I mean, last time I checked I was one.”
This got a little smile on Michelle's face.
“Look, I saw you in the hallway in your towel. You're not unattractive, necessarily. You're a little nerdy, but we can work on that. Just let me help you. All you have to do is to help me write my term paper and you will get the guy of your dreams. I promise. I will talk to him myself if I have to.”
Michelle sighed deeply and was quiet for a moment before finally nodding reluctantly.
“All right, you have a deal. Let's meet tomorrow at six."
Zach's handsome face lit up with a broad smile and she rolled her eyes again. What had she gotten herself into?
Chapter 5
The next day, Michelle spent a lot of time preparing her dorm room for the study session. She laid out the books and had her laptop turned on in case they needed to use the Internet to for research. Zach arrived half an hour late, a bag of Cheetos in tow. He grabbed a chair and sat backwards on it, with his legs spread widely and his arms folded over the back of the chair, leaning his chin in the crook of his arm as he watched her like she was a foreign specimen.
She had to admit that it was strange having his larger-than-life presence in her tiny dorm room. He was something of a celebrity on campus, and, not one to act star struck, she liked to keep their interactions to a minimum. But now, here he was, waiting for her to help him. It felt very surreal.
“So what is the topic of your term paper?" she finally asked him.
Romance: Zach (A College Bad Boy Romance) Page 53
