Candid (True Images Series)

by Michelle Pennington

  I grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. “Relax. He just means that he tried to make me do this whole spirit week thing.”

  “That’s a relief,” she said. Then looking at Lee, she added, “I thought I’d have to put you in the same category as Michael.”

  “What are you talking about?” Lee asked sweetly, but there was a menacing tone in his voice.

  “Oh, you know. Poor Sienna’s been fighting him off all day. I thought Sienna was going to deck him when he touched her rear after third hour.”

  “Thanks a lot, Marisol.” I reached over and put my hand over Lee’s clenched fist. “Look, it could have been an accident. He said it was. Don’t make a big deal out of it. I was kind of asking for it anyway. I shouldn’t have asked him to pair up with me for twin day. I knew what he was like.”

  “Nothing you did makes it ok for him to touch you.”

  “No, it doesn’t, but it’s not like I let him get away with it.” I turned his fist over and pried his hand open so I could lace my fingers through his. “Look, forget about it. I mean, you have to practice with the guy later.”

  Marisol started laughing, “Practice is dangerous enough. Will told me that Lee almost took Michael’s head off with the ball yesterday.”

  “Really?” I asked Lee.

  “It was just a pass. He should have been paying attention.”

  “Whatever,” Marisol continued. “Will said you were a bear the whole practice. It’s a good thing Michael got out of the way in time. Did you really throw the ball hard enough to break the cover off the fire alarm?”

  “I just cracked it a little. Where is Will? I’m going to go have a word with him.”

  Lee stalked away and Marisol eventually stopped laughing long enough to say, “Chica, that guy has it bad.”

  *****

  Lee let up about the whole spirit week thing. He continued to dress for it, but didn’t say another word when I didn’t. I had more important things to think about anyway.

  What was I thinking about? English? Math? World History? Nope. For the next week I forgot they existed because I was thinking about Homecoming and how to sway all the votes Katie’s way.

  Even the fierce powder puff game on Wednesday after school did little to distract me from it. I was really glad I was taking pictures of it and not playing. Very few of the girls escaped without an injury of some kind. Some really crazy tension erupted during the game and carried on through school the next day.

  This all added to the drama leading up to the election that would be held the next day during lunch. Jordan didn’t play, but most of the cheerleaders did. During the game, they seemed to have their sights set on beating Cecilia up every chance they got. Alyssa also played, and it was obvious she was gunning for Cecilia as well.

  I wasn’t sure how much of Alyssa’s aggression came from Jordan’s encouragement and how much came from her own jealousy over Cecelia getting so much of the attention after being on my blog. Fortunately for Cecilia, she was as tough as shoe leather and ran over more than one of the lighter cheerleaders.

  I had no doubt that Jordan was behind the attacks on Cecilia during the game. She had her sights set on bringing Cecilia down in the Homecoming election, and she didn’t have many qualms about sportsmanship. Through it all though, she made sure that I knew that she considered me to be her true opponent. Fortunately, she thought I wanted Cecilia to win.

  In fact, it was hard to keep a straight face when she ran me down outside the yearbook room after school on Thursday. When I saw her coming, my first instinct was to duck and cover, but I refused to be intimidated.

  “Oh, hey, Jordan. That’s a cute jacket!”

  Confusion darted across her face, but she recovered quickly. “Since when do you know anything about fashion?”

  I shrugged and said, “I don’t. What’s up?”

  “I just wanted to warn you that all your work to get Cecilia elected Homecoming Queen is a big waste of time.”

  “I’m not trying to get her elected,” I said, glad that I didn’t have to lie about it.

  “Don’t waste your breath. There was that article about all of her volunteer work in the school paper on Monday, the photos of her you put up on your blog, her little make-over, and the posters and fliers all over the school.”

  “Well, actually, Marisol Ramos did the makeover, the posters and fliers were done by the volleyball team, and the article in the paper was written by someone else. I don’t do much writing, just photography.”

  “Whatever. I know you’re behind it all. So too bad for you that Cecilia won’t be eligible after she gets suspended.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “She’s in the office right now. She was caught fighting in the parking lot a few minutes ago.”

  “With who?” I asked suspiciously.

  Jordan shrugged and looked pleased with herself. “How should I know? I just thought you should have some warning before you put any more effort into getting her elected.”

  I needed to look angry, or Jordan would suspect something. Fortunately, that wasn’t a problem. I had wanted Cecilia to get out of this with as little damage to herself as possible. Now she was going to be suspended for fighting, and I’d bet my favorite lens that Jordan had arranged it.

  I looked Jordan square in the eye and, with a ferocity that surprised me, said, “The homecoming queen is supposed to be someone who best represents this school. I guess if people think an evil, scheming cat is the best way to do that, you’ll have no problem getting elected. Otherwise, you’d better watch out – no matter who your competition is.”

  Jordan’s eyes were cold on me as she said, “When that crown is put on my head, I’ll be thinking about you.”

  She started to walk away, but I called after her, “I bet that bothers you, doesn’t it?”

  She turned back reluctantly to ask, “What?”

  “That someone like me has caused you so many problems.”

  Her eyes pierced me with honesty as she replied. “Only someone like you could have.”

  I stood watching her walk away, blind to everyone else around me. I knew what I meant by someone like me. What did she mean?

  “So what are we going to do now?”

  I turned to see Parker standing behind me. Had he been there the whole time? “We’re going to go find out what’s happening with Cecilia.”

  “No, I mean, about the plan. Cecilia was supposed to drop out and support Katie – not get disqualified.”

  “We go ahead with our plans. I don’t think it will make that much difference. We might even be able to spin it in Katie’s favor. Mostly though, we’re going to let Jordan gloat and think she’s won the thing. Do you have time to walk down to the office with me?”

  “Sure,” he said.

  The hallways were practically empty now since most kids scrambled out of school as soon as they could. Since there weren’t many people around to overhear us, I didn’t mind that Parker was talking more than he should have.

  “Do you think Jordan will know that it’s because of you that she lost?” he asked.

  “It won’t just be because of me. This won’t work without everyone else we’ve got on board. But I plan to let her know I had something to do with it. Is that terrible? That I want her to know she didn’t beat me after all?”

  “Maybe, but I’ve been wanting you to get her back since that day she pushed you into that muddy ditch in the seventh grade.”

  I came to a dead stop. “I forgot about that! I was wearing those new purple suede shoes my mom got me for Christmas. They were ruined. How’d you remember that?”

  “Well, I kind of had a crush on you then, and so it made me really, really mad.”

  “You had a crush on me in the seventh grade?”

  “And the eighth, and the ninth, etc…”

  “Are you serious? Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

  “Because I knew you didn’t like me the same way and I didn’t want to screw up ou
r friendship.”

  “You seem to be over it now, though.”

  He smiled wryly. “Good thing, too – huh? I can’t compete with Lee Franklin, that’s for sure. I admit that it was hard at first, seeing how much you liked him. But then, it was kind of nice to move on to liking girls that I actually had a chance with.”

  “And who’s that? I mean currently. I know you’re over Alyssa.”

  “I’m not saying another word. I don’t want to jinx it. Shouldn’t we get going?”

  “Oh yeah. Come on.”

  A few minutes later, we got to the office just as Cecilia was coming out. She had a bruise darkening her right cheekbone and a fat lip. Looking into the office, I saw that two other girls were in the principal’s office now.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “What does it look like?”

  “Who were you fighting with?” I asked motioning to the girls in the office.

  “A girl named Brandi and one named Ally or Alice or something.”

  “Alyssa,” Parker and I said together.

  “Yeah, that’s it. We’re all being suspended. Brandi is a cheerleader,which means she can’t cheer for Homecoming. I don’t have a volleyball game until Monday, so I’m good. They think it’s punishment enough for me to get disqualified from homecoming, which is kind of hilarious since I was going to drop out anyway.”

  “Wow. I guess I expected you to be upset or something.”

  “Nah. It’s pretty awesome that Jordan got so worried I’d beat her that she set up a fight to knock me out.”

  “So you think it was Jordan too?”

  “Of course it was. Why would that Brandi girl give up Homecoming just to fight me? We don’t even know each other. Alyssa actually seems to hate me for some reason, but I don’t remember ever doing anything to her so Jordan must have egged her on. I don’t mind. It was kind of nice getting back at her for all the times she came after me at the game last night.”

  I was relieved that she was reacting like this. “So we can count on you still supporting Katie tomorrow?”

  “For sure. Though I’ll have to do it from home. I can text with the best of them though.”

  “Great.” I looked at Parker. “I’ve got to get to work. You’re ready to get my blog post up for me though, right?”

  “I’ll get on it as soon as I get home.”

  “I think we need to go with plan B.”

  Parker stared at me unbelievingly. “Seriously?”

  “Jordan’s playing dirty. All we’re going to do is expose the truth.”

  “Maybe, but you’d better warn Lee or he’ll freak out.”

  “He’ll freak out regardless. I’d rather he freaked after he couldn’t talk me out of it.”

  Chapter 14

  I wasn’t sure how Lee spent his Thursday nights when he wasn’t at my house hanging out, but I was pretty sure he had other things to do besides checking my photo blog. He wasn’t coming over tonight because I had a later shift than usual, so I figured I had until the next morning at least before he got furious with me.

  Mom picked me up from work and dropped me off at home, saying she had some errands to run. More like she had a date with Mr. Greeley. Whatever. At least she wouldn’t be around to figure out how totally stressed out I was.

  I was fairly confident of victory tomorrow, but I was also certain that crap was going to hit the fan.

  Maybe a very long, very hot bath would help me relax.

  A few minutes later, I was thoroughly enjoying my hot soak. My mind was just sinking into that happy place where it wasn’t thinking about anything at all when the doorbell rang. Who in the world?

  Maybe it was just some kid selling candy bars or something. I had just decided they would go away when it rang again, and again, and again.

  I dragged myself out of the tub, toweled off and hurried into some clothes. I was still damp, and clumsy in my haste, so my foot got stuck halfway down the leg of my sweats. I lost my balance, fell over, and banged my elbow against the vanity on my way down. As I struggled, the doorbell kept ringing.

  I was so annoyed by this point that I forgot to be cautious and check to see who it was before opening the door. Luckily it was Lee.

  But he looked steaming mad, so I really wished it had been a kid selling candy after all.

  His eyebrows were drawn down in a deep furrow over his nose, his jaw was tense, and there was an angry vibe coming off him that felt potent.

  “Were you trying to wear out the doorbell?” I asked, rubbing my elbow.

  “Well, what took you so long to answer? Are you avoiding me? And why didn’t you answer your phone?”

  “I was taking a bath,” I said. “Why would I be avoiding you?”

  “I’m pretty sure you didn’t expect me to be happy when I saw your blog post tonight.”

  “Honestly, no, but I was hoping you wouldn’t see it tonight.”

  “Why wouldn’t I see it? I check it every day.”

  “You do? I didn’t know that.”

  “Look, can I come in? I feel stupid standing here in the doorway.”

  “Well, my mom isn’t here right now.”

  “Good. I wouldn’t be able to say half the things I want to say if she was.” Then he put an arm around my waist and pulled me with him as he came inside. After shutting the door behind us, he crossed his arms over his chest and said, “Sienna, you can’t put that picture up.”

  “I can and I did.”

  “Well, yeah, I know you did. But explain how that was a good idea.”

  “Lee, I told you I’d use it if I needed to. Jordan had Cecilia beat up after school today.”

  He paused. “Really? Wow.” I thought I had proven my point until he asked, “So, you wanted to give her a good reason to have you beat up too?”

  “No, of course not. It just made me so mad that she would pull something like that. I mean, she’s like some kind of mob boss or something, calling out hits on people.”

  “Exactly, Sienna. And now you’re going to be her number one target. She’s going to come after you with a vengeance and I don’t think you’re ready for it. What scares me most is that Caleb will too, and I can’t be around every minute to protect you.” His voice sounded choked off for a second and then he said, “You’ve got to take it down, Sienna. Maybe not many people have seen it yet.”

  “But, Lee…”

  “Look, I’m asking you, please. Let’s minimize the damage. I don’t want to have to worry about you every time we’re apart.”

  It was kind of hard to deny Lee anything he really set his mind to, and it wasn’t like I was looking forward to a life of fear. “Fine. If it will make you feel better.”

  “Immensely.”

  I went over to my laptop on the kitchen counter and sat down to work. Lee watched from behind me, his hand resting on the back of my bar stool, as I pulled up my blog. I checked and saw that I’d gotten about a hundred hits since I’d checked it before school that morning. It seemed like a lot, but not nearly as many as I would get in the coming hours.

  The title of the post said, “Who Would You Choose?” and there was a beautiful picture of a sweet and clean cut Katie Edwards next to the picture of Jordan and Caleb making out in the dim, yellow light of the theater hallway. This picture was condemning in so many ways - and would probably hurt Tyson when he found out about Jordan’s two timing - but I wanted people to know who she really was.

  On the other hand, I really couldn’t put Lee through this anymore.

  So, I edited the page to just have Katie’s picture and changed the title to, “Crown a Real Queen, Vote for Katie.” I viewed the final post and asked Lee, “There. How’s that?”

  “Much better. I just hope nobody took a screen shot of the old post. You sure got a lot of hits already. You couldn’t have had the post up for long. Didn’t you just get off work a little while ago?”

  “Yeah. Um, I had Parker put it up for me after school.”

  “Oh, you did, huh?
And I guess he didn’t have any problem helping you to endanger your life.”

  “I didn’t endanger my life. I just may have made it really scary and uncomfortable for a while. It’ll blow over.”

  “You do realize that Jordan isn’t going to just get over not being Homecoming Queen, don’t you?”

  “So I should just let her have it?”

  “I didn’t say that.” Lee paused and took a few steps as he rubbed his hand across his forehead. “Man, when I first met you, I thought you were just a quiet and kind of spacey girl who was a little obsessed with photography. I didn’t know you were really a fearless social vigilante, determined to set things right no matter the cost to you. I’m not sure which side of you I like better, but I know which side scares the heck out of me.”

  “I’m not fearless,” I whispered as I shut my laptop.

  I looked up at Lee, and he brushed some damp strands of hair out of my face. It wasn’t till then that I remembered I’d just thrown it up into a huge messy knot on top of my head before I got into the bath, not caring that pieces of it immediately began to fall out. Combined with my old ragged t-shirt and sweats, and I realized how awful I must look.

  But he wasn’t looking at me like I looked awful.

  From his expression, I could tell that he was exerting a tremendous amount of willpower to not kiss me. I was wishing he wasn’t quite so strong when the front door opened and my mom came in.

  Then I was really, really glad he had more will power than me. From the look on my mom’s face, I was in enough trouble as it was.

  “Sienna Marie Whitfield, what is going on?”

  “Nothing.”

  “What is Lee doing here while I’m gone? I don’t appreciate you sneaking him over as soon as my back is turned.”

  “I didn’t do that. I didn’t even ask him to come over.”

  “She really didn’t, Ms. Whitfield. And I had no idea you were gone till I got here.”

  “That doesn’t explain why you’re in my kitchen.”

  “Something important came up that we had to take care of. I was about to leave.”

  “What was so important you had to come into my house without permission?”