Joe ran to the center of the circle, gripping the waistband of his impossibly baggy jeans. The sheen of sweat was still visible on his, face making it apparent that he was as affected by the performance as the rest of us. Gripping the microphone tightly, he turned to the judges. “I’m glad I’m not you! You guys have a hell of a decision to make. So what’ll it be?”
“Spinja! Spinja! Spinja!”
If I thought the crowd’s energy was crazy before, I hadn’t seen anything yet. Each head careened forward, waiting for the final decision.
One by one the judges pointed toward Jacob, which caused the crowd to jump to their feet. Chaos broke out as people rushed the circle, all clamoring for their chance to congratulate the b-boy. In the midst of the commotion, I spotted Jacob reach out to shake Arrow’s hand. As I was admiring his good sportsmanship, I felt myself being shoved forward and nearly toppled over.
“Hey! Watch it!” Anna yelled out when her five dollar bottle of water purchased at the concession stand was knocked out of her hand. She angrily pushed back a lock of her lilac hair and frowned. “What do you say we get out of here? This event’s basically over. There’ll just be a few stragglers trying to open up another cypher, and believe me, it’ll be pretty lame.”
I glanced over my shoulder and spotted Jacob draping his arm across the shoulder of a really pretty Asian girl. Her almond shaped eyes beamed up in appreciation. It was ridiculous to even describe the amount of envy I felt and I was unwilling to subject myself to it anymore.
“Yeah, let’s go,” I agreed, feeling my heart deflate a little.
Hello, Thomas #2.
We pushed our way through the crowd, dodging elbows and even flying feet! We were almost home free when we suddenly heard, “Anna!”
I winced as I watched her turn around very slowly, as if she were plotting someone’s murder. In all honesty, she probably was.
“Never thought I’d see your face around here. Surprised you had the balls.” Anna’s ex walked up to us along with the brunette we had seen him with earlier. He ran his hand through a thick mess of black hair and shot us a cocky looking grin. Actually, it was more of a sneer.
“You disappoint me, Shawn. I would have thought you’d have figured out I’m not someone you can scare away.” Anna’s eyes scanned the poo-poo pants girl. “I see it didn’t take you long to find another skank. What happened to the first one?”
“You bitch!” The brunette charged forward, but Shawn held her back with a laugh.
“Calm down, Marla. She’s not worth it. Trust me. I would know. Why else do you think I dropped her?” The arrogant smile on his face grew wider.
Though my friendship with Anna was still fairly new and didn’t have a high level of loyalty and protectiveness between us yet, there was still something about his creepy smile that made me want to pummel him into the ground. I don’t know what came over me, but I found myself snapping, “If you’re such a big shot, why weren’t you out there battling with the rest of the guys? Seems to me you’re just all talk for someone so egotistical.”
As if noticing me for the first time, his gaze fell on my face in surprise. His teasing grin quickly transformed into a furious one. “What makes you think you can stand there and even talk to me?” He eyed me up and down with such distaste that it made goose bumps trickle up and down my arms. “From the looks of you, you’re just some wannabe Anna dragged in.”
Before I could answer, Anna jumped into the conversation. “Why didn’t you battle? Did you finally realize your boyish moves can’t compete with these real men?”
“My leg’s broken, if you must know.” There was a mischievous look in his eye that made me believe this conversation had taken a turn for the worse, if that was even possible.
Anna ran her tongue over her teeth and glanced down at his perfectly healthy legs. “They don’t look broken to me. You sure you’re just not too scared to battle Spinja again?”
Wait, he battled Spinja?
“My third leg is broken,” he replied with a wink. He grabbed at his crotch, crudely jostling it around while placing a peck on the brunette’s cheek. “Thanks to this lovely lady.”
If it were physically possible for smoke to come out of a human’s ears, it would have happened to Anna. Worried that she might do something rash, I grabbed onto her arm and started nudging her away. Before we could even move one inch, I noticed someone step into my periphery.
“Seriously, Shawn? Are you that much of a pussy that you need to pick on two innocent women instead of taking your frustrations out in the cypher? If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were still licking your wounds from the last time I roasted you.”
I froze. After my embarrassing word vomit in the bathroom line, I was worried to even steal a look at him. Who knew what else would come out of my mouth?
“Fuck off, Spinja. This isn’t about you,” Shawn spat out. Though he tried to maintain his tough façade, I couldn’t help but catch a glimpse of embarrassment on his face.
From the corner of my eye I spotted Jacob take a step forward and I couldn’t help but worry that a fight was about to break out with me standing right in the center of it! As I silently began to freak out, Anna cocked her head to the side curiously.
“Jacob, it’s fine. I can handle this myself,” she said coolly.
“You sure, Anna?”
Okay, what was going on? Was Anna friends with him?
“Yeah, Estelle and I were about to go anyway.” Anna grabbed my arm and shot Shawn one last dirty look.
“Who’s the pussy now?” poop pants girl asked with a huff.
Had Jacob not been there to hold Anna back, I was sure I’d be spending the rest of the afternoon in the Dean’s office. His arm shot out, just in time to block her tiny body from crashing into Poo Poo Pants’ even tinier one.
“Whoa, whoa!” Jacob snapped, shooting the girl an angry look. “Marla! Stop with that shit!”
“But she started it,” she hissed, sounding like a fifth-grader.
“And I’m going to finish it!” Anna growled. Her eyes flashed, looking almost feral.
Jacob rolled his eyes and kept his grip on Anna’s arm, grabbing mine with his other hand. His skin seared into my arm, electrifying me. I had to do my best to keep a level-head.
Stop acting like some schoolgirl.
Jacob kept his hold on us until we were in the safety of the main hallway. It was only when our feet hit the checkered floor did he release his grip. The absence of his warm fingers left a surprising void against my skin.
“Jesus, Anna. What is your problem?” he demanded, a shooting her a look of bewilderment.
“My problem?” she shrieked. She pointed toward the gym and scowled. “You’re asking the wrong person. Why don’t you go in there and interrogate Shawn? I was just minding my own business when my stupid ex decided to shove that dumbass slut in my face.”
Jacob pulled at the bottom of his shirt as if fanning himself, exposing his perfectly taut muscles. I had to look away to keep myself from gawking at the four…no wait, six…no eight pack on his abdomen.
“Why’d you even come here? You knew Shawn would be here.” He shot her a scowl, but unlike Shawn’s hateful expressions, I felt no malice in his look.
“I didn’t come here for him, if that’s what you’re implying,” Anna snapped.
He shrugged. “I’m not implying anything. I’m really asking you; why did you come?”
Anna motioned toward me. “I came for my roomie.”
As soon as Jacob glanced at me my heart immediately began to thrash. I wondered if there was any way he could hear it. I glanced around desperately, looking for any rock I could crawl under and hide.
Jacob’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “What’s your name again? Estelle?”
I nodded, the fact he remembered my name didn’t escape me. “Err…uh, yeah. Estelle Donovan.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Jacob Silas.”
“Hi,” I squeaked.
�
��Is this the first time you went to a battle?”
He’s still speaking to me?
I nodded again, afraid that if I spoke I’d vomit up random words again.
He smiled. “Well, hope jerks like Shawn don’t scare you away. We’re actually a pretty nice community.”
I nodded again, ‘Mute Estelle’ finally reborn.
His eyebrows furrowed slightly before he gazed back at Anna. “Just ignore Marla. You know as well as I do that she’ll be gone in a week or two.”
“Mmhmm,” Anna murmured, never losing the fierceness in her eyes.
Jacob turned to leave, but not before he glanced back at me. “Like I said, hope no one scared you off.”
He paused as if waiting for my response. This time I shook my head and managed to squeak, “Nah, I’m good.”
“Good, because you know, some of us are pretty amazing.” He flashed his pearly whites once again and pushed the door open, disappearing inside, leaving me gawking after him.
Anna chuckled beside me. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 7
Though my curiosity was killing me, I decided to play it cool that night instead of bombarding Anna with questions. I went about my normal routine of brushing my teeth, washing my face, and looking for the ever-missing remote.
“You know, it just hit me that we’ve been lucky enough to like the same shows,” Anna commented as she began to scan channels. “Definitely helped make our weeks of radio silence more bearable.”
“Yeah…” My mind was definitely not going to be able to concentrate on the zombie show she stopped on, though I have to admit, it was a relief to know my favorite character was still alive considering the five week cliffhanger the writers subjected us to.
“You’re thinking about Jacob, aren’t you?” she asked slyly.
My head snapped up as if tugged by a puppet string. “What? No!”
My roommate rolled her eyes. “C’mon. I thought we were bonding here. Didn’t I say I wanted a roomie who’d gossip about boys with me?”
I shifted uncomfortably. “Honestly, I feel kinda stupid about the whole thing.”
“Which one? Gossiping or Jacob?”
“Jacob,” I answered truthfully. I sighed and hugged my pillow to my chest. “I don’t even know him. I mean, how shallow can I be? Crushing on a guy because of how he looks? I should know better.”
Anna smiled in understanding. “Physical attraction is what draws us to our mates. Being infatuated with someone because you think he or she is cute is not grounds for making you a bad person.” She paused and motioned to a poster hanging above her bed. “Do you know who that is?”
I peered at the rugged actor who was brandishing what looked like a machine gun. “Yeah, it’s that guy from that one dystopian movie. What’s his name? Four or something?”
“Yes,” she replied with a dreamy smile. “I love him—like absolutely ‘I’m-going-to-find-him-and-have-babies-with-his-hot-English-self’ love him. Do I know him? Nope. Does it make me a bad person? Nope.”
“Funny, I always thought you just had that poster because you liked the whole post-apocalyptic, blazing guns kind of lifestyle. I mean you do have a penchant for wanting to murder people,” I teased.
“Assumptions!” she yelped.
“Sorry,” I said sheepishly. “I’m only joking.”
Anna rolled her eyes, but kept her lips in a slight smile. “So back to Jacob…it is just a crush, right?”
I frowned, taken aback. “What else would it be? I didn’t even know he existed until today.”
She shrugged. “Just wanted to make sure it wasn’t a ‘love at first sight’ type thing. Then I’d think you were crazy.”
“You just said you loved brown eyes over there,” I reminded her.
“I didn’t say I was in love with him. There’s a difference,” she clarified.
“Oh.” I bit my lip and pulled at a loose thread on my pillow case. I wasn’t sure I knew the difference. In fact, I was pretty certain I would never know the difference, yet for some reason I didn’t really care. Succumbing to curiosity or downright nosiness, I asked, “How do you know Jacob?”
“We’re all from Fresno. Him, me, Shawn.” She made a gagging noise and glanced back at our tiny television screen, which now showed a zombie chewing someone’s eyeball out. If you asked me, the scene was far more gag-inducing than Shawn was, but I guess I’d agree to disagree.
I rolled onto my stomach and propped my hands under my chin in interest. “Really? Were you all friends in high school?”
“Somewhat. I mean all those breakers sort of hang out with each other. They’re not all friends by any means, but they run in the same circles.”
“I can see that.” I frowned. “How’d you all end up down here?”
“Cal U has a big dance scene. It was inevitable all the guys would come down here. Me, on the other hand, would have much rather ended up in Los Angeles.”
“For what?”
“Design. I mean, this place has a pretty good art program, but I really want to learn how to do Special FX. There’s a huge school near Hollywood that specializes in all that.”
“What’s Special FX?”
“You know those monster makeups in movies?”
“Of course.”
“Well, it’s that.” Groaning, she threw herself onto her bed and let out a huge sigh of remorse. “I want to make monsters. I want to paint actors’ handsome faces and make them gruesome. Now look at me, stuck in Cal U majoring in Fine Arts like some sort of loser.”
Though I didn’t think a Fine Arts major warranted a “loser” label, I could now see why Anna was still reeling from her breakup with Shawn. Not wanting to bring up her ex again, I asked, “Is Jacob…nice?”
“Oh, yeah.” Her head bounced up and down. “He’s a really sweet guy. Very genuine and loyal. He’s a ‘what you see is what you get’ type dude.”
“That’s good to know.” Cue my beating heart.
“But he’s off limits,” she added quickly.
“Because of that girl he was with?” I looked up from my almost shredded pillow case and found Anna staring at me. “What?”
“Who? Gemma?” Her eyes twinkled with humor.
I shrugged. “If you’re talking about the exotic beauty, then yes, I guess that’s her.”
“You don’t have to worry about Gemma.” She threw her head back and laughed as if enjoying the world’s funniest joke. “She’s more like a little sister to him. She’s sort of his protégé. He taught her everything she knows about breaking.”
I looked back down, not wanting her to see the effect her words had on me. Truth be told, I was relieved, but still a bit jealous that Gemma shared something so special with Jacob. “Oh, that’s kind of cool.”
Anna exhaled loudly. “Estelle, I can totally read through your cool act.”
“What act?” I muttered.
“I’m not dumb.”
“I never said you were.”
She shook her head slowly and snorted. “Let’s put it this way. We both know this crush isn’t going to go away any time soon, so before you get your hopes up or anything, I feel it’s my duty to warn you that Jacob is the kind of guy who’s sort of anti-relationship.”
My heart instantly deflated. “So, he’s a player?”
“Quite the opposite.”
My eyebrows furrowed together. “I don’t get it.”
“You want commitment? This guy is the embodiment of the word. The bad thing is, he’s not available.”
“But you said—”
“He’s married to b-boying,” she clarified. “That’s all he wants to do. Day in and day out, breaking is his life. He has dreams about becoming a professional and wants to travel the world one day. I heard him say it himself—he doesn’t have time for women.”
I thought about all the hungry or should I say thirsty stares he received from the female audience at the battle and shook my head. “I don’t believe that.”
“An
d why not?”
“You saw all those girls at the battle. They looked like they were ready to pounce on him.”
“Kinda like the way you were looking at him?” she teased.
“I wasn’t looking at him like that!” It was a lie and we both knew it, but I was already embarrassed enough as it was…I was not about to admit to something so humiliating. Unfortunately, Anna was not about to drop it.
“Sure you were. You were totally undressing Mr. Amaaazing with your eyes.”
I blushed. “You’re so full of it.”
“I’m only joshing with you.” Her voice trailed off and her eyes darkened. “Take my advice, don’t even give into this little crush you have on him. It’s only going to end in crushing disappointment.”
“Nice pun.” Feeling a bit miffed, I shot back, “You don’t think I can land a guy like him?”
“No.” She shook her head. Once again the pangs of high school humiliation stung my core. Before I could get too worked up, Anna quickly added, “I know you won’t land a guy like him. Nobody can. Like I said, he’s married to dance. And guys like him don’t cheat.”
Chapter 8
Present
“E, did you try using your phone again?” It was the first thing Jacob had said to me in over an hour. Though I was still angry with him, I couldn’t help the slight skip of my heart from hearing my name on his lips.
“I told you, nobody’s answering. They probably think I’m calling them about work.” I sighed, feeling completely helpless. Who would have thought that years ago I would have paid someone to lock me in a room with Mr. Spinja. Now all I wanted to do was break free from my prison. I turned to find him still looking out the window. For some reason, the sight of him staring out into the night sky annoyed me. “You know this is all your fault, right?”
He turned around with an incredulous look on his face. “My fault? How is our getting locked in here my fault?”
Breaking Hearts (B-boy Book 2) Page 4
