Jack Hammer

by Tabatha Vargo

  “How?” I asked.

  It seemed impossible. I’d fucked around too much. My grades were shit and my attendance was even shittier.

  Before Mr. Liam could answer, his classroom door opened and we both turned our heads toward the door. My heart kicked against my chest and I choked and coughed trying to swallow my next breath.

  It was Chelsey. The girl I couldn’t stop thinking about. The girl who was making me crazy even from afar. With her plain hair and clear complexion—her pouty lips and those fucking big, brown eyes that were somehow able to see through me. She was perfection. Untouched. Unspoiled by the bullshit around her. And I couldn’t seem to stop when it came to her. It was fucking annoying as hell.

  She looked flustered as she stood there staring at me. Her skin was flushed and had a pink tint. Her forehead and the skin above her top lip had a slight sheen of sweat like she’d run miles to the classroom. I grinned at her, and her flush deepened.

  She turned her attention away from me and moved to back out the door.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Liam. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” She talked fast in her rush to run away from me. “I’ll come back.”

  “Actually, Chelsey, you have perfect timing. Come sit.” He motioned to the chair next to me.

  I didn’t take my eyes off her as she walked slowly toward the desk. She didn’t look at me once as she slid into the chair and twisted her fingers nervously in her lap. I had the feeling I was going to like what Mr. Liam had to say next.

  “Do the two of you know each other?”

  “No,” she said.

  “Yes,” I said.

  We answered at the same time, and I looked over at Chelsey feeling a spark of annoyance. She threw a quick glance at me and then to Mr. Liam, licking her lips anxiously.

  “I mean, we’ve met, but I don’t know him,” she corrected herself.

  Nice save, I thought sourly.

  “Well, Chelsey, this is Blaine.” Mr. Liam motioned to me. “Blaine, this is the amazing, young lady who’s going to help you raise your grade.”

  “What?” Chelsey questioned, nearly jumping out of her desk.

  “Blaine needs the extra credit, as well. You both will work on the assignment together and turn it in at the end of next week.”

  “But—” She searched for some reason to object, but apparently came up empty handed.

  Mr. Liam frowned. “Is there a problem, Chelsey? Are you not comfortable working with Blaine?”

  “No!” she yelped. “It’s not that. I’m fine. It’ll actually be easier with a partner.”

  Nice save number two.

  “Great. Let’s just go over the assignment and the two of you can get started.”

  Twenty minutes later, Chelsey and I walked down an empty hallway toward the exit. Other than the obnoxious squeak of my sneakers on the floor, we were completely silent. She didn’t even look at me, much less speak to me, until we pushed through the doors and were outside.

  “Was this your idea?” she snapped, picking up her speed.

  I had no choice but to follow her or be left behind.

  “Believe me, spending an entire week doing this project with you is the last thing I wanted. But as it turns out, I need the grade and apparently, so do you.” She stopped and turned on me with angry eyes. I couldn’t help but goad her even further. I made a tsking sound and moved my finger back and forth. “A bad grade, Miss Ford? What would your parents think?”

  I’d officially ruffled her feathers and I was looking forward to smoothing them out.

  She sighed. “Look, I plan to take this assignment seriously. I need this extra credit, Blaine. I’m a good girl. I can’t have a bad grade.”

  “And what am I? A screw-up with no future? Someone you’d rather pretend you’ve never met? Like mother like daughter. Right, Princess Chelsey?”

  She was practically hissing when her hand came up. I caught her wrist before she could hit me, yanking her to me. She felt right against my body, and I wondered how something that felt so right could be so wrong.

  I bit back a moan when she moved against me to get free.

  “Let me go, Blaine.” She sounded fierce despite her small size.

  I had to give her credit, she knew how to be aggressive toward me. But I was still a part of her mind. She still thought about me, and I was still able to get a response from her. I could see it in her big, brown eyes when she looked up at me.

  She pushed at my chest and looked away. “This isn’t going to work. I’m going to ask Mr. Liam if we can work separately. I think it’ll be better for both of us.”

  “Are you that afraid to be alone with me, Chelsey?”

  Her eyes clashed with mine. “What?”

  “You are, aren’t you?” I chuckled sardonically. “I just can’t decide if you’re afraid because of your parents or because of yourself.”

  “My parents have nothing to do with this.”

  “Don’t they? You seemed to be on your mother’s side the morning after we got arrested.” I spewed the hard, angry words at her.

  Her eyes widened. “I wasn’t! What my mother said was horrible, Blaine! I never thought those things about you. I apologized for her words. ”

  “You did, but then in the next breath you said you just wanted to be friends. Like I wasn’t good enough or some shit.”

  I remembered the day almost a month ago like it was yesterday. I remembered how hurt I felt and how I wanted to hurt her even more than she was hurting me.

  Her eyes flashed with fire and then she took a calming breath. “Why are you so angry, anyway? You were the one who decided we shouldn’t even be friends. We both agreed, as in you and me, that it was better if we just went our separate ways, remember.”

  “Of course I remember!” I snapped. “But I didn’t think that meant pretending we’d never even met.”

  “Forgive me for not knowing the rules of our situation, Blaine.” She sighed in annoyance.

  I couldn’t blame her for being annoyed. I was being unfair. I was angry at her, but more at myself for letting an entire month go by without talking to her. Of course she wanted nothing to do with me. I’d jerked her around and all because of my stupid pride.

  “Look, I don’t either. I’ve never been this way with another girl,” I said honestly.

  She stopped pushing away from me and her body softened in my arms. “What do you mean? You’ve never been like what with another girl?”

  “For starters, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you,” I confessed.

  I stared her down, unwilling to look away or be ashamed of my words.

  “Blaine,” she started.

  I knew her next words were going to be bad so I interrupted her. I had a lot of damage control to do, and I was going to need this week with her.

  “Listen, I need this extra credit, too. Without it I won’t pass. I don’t want to be just another statistic, Chelsey.”

  It wasn’t a complete lie, but it was as close to the truth as I was going to get. I didn’t want to become her charity case.

  I wanted to tell her I wanted to spend time with her. I wanted her to tell her I couldn’t care less about passing or graduation or college, but when I was with her, that’s all I seemed to care about. Those things were important to her, and there was a strange ache inside of me begging to be important to her, too.

  “We can be partners, or friends, or whatever the hell you want. You can call the shots if you help me with this assignment, okay?”

  I hated that I sounded so desperate.

  She chewed on the inside of her bottom lip and watched me carefully. As much as I liked her eyes on me, I squirmed a little. She was looking for something, and I didn’t know if she was going to find it.

  “You promise you’re going to take this seriously?” she asked. “Because I won’t hesitate to take full credit on this if you’re just looking for an easy A.”

  I let her go and she stepped out of my arms. Instantly, I missed her warmth.


  “Nothing worth it is ever easy, Chelsey. This is definitely worth it.”

  I loved seeing the color fill her cheeks and the increase in her breathing when my words affected her.

  “Okay then. Partners.” She held out her hand and looked up at me, waiting for me to shake it.

  I moved my fingers against her palm and enjoyed her gasp and the shiver that ran through her body. My fingers closed around her palm and I pulled her to me again.

  She made a sweet sound as she landed against my chest, and I held in my own moan.

  “I usually like to seal a deal with a kiss.” I grinned down at her. “But since you’re calling the shots and all.”

  She licked her lips nervously and my eyes dropped to them. I wanted to pull her bottom lip between my teeth.

  “Unless.” I moved in.

  “Friends, Blaine.” She reminded me with a shaky voice and a hand on my chest.

  She pulled away from me and put distance between us.

  “Right. Friends,” I agreed.

  For now.

  “We should start right away,” she said. I could tell by the way her eyes moved over my face she was gauging my reaction. “I know the weekend is coming and you probably have big plans, but if we get a head start we might be able to get it done in less than a week.”

  She knew how much I enjoyed my weekends. She was checking to see how serious I was about the assignment.

  “The only plans I have is with a cute brunette with big, brown eyes.” I smiled down at her.

  “Friends don’t talk to each other like that, Blaine. You said you were going to take this seriously.”

  I stalked up to her, backing her up against the brick siding of the school. Resting my arm above her head, I leaned my body into hers.

  “Did you think I was talking about you, Little Doe?” I whispered, using the nickname I’d come up with for her. She blushed, and I ran my finger down the curve of her cheek. “And if I was talking about you, what makes you think I’m not being serious?”

  She swallowed hard. “Because you’re not. You’re teasing me. You like getting me all flustered and confused. Why?”

  “Because you’re different. You’re sweet, and that sweetness drives me fucking crazy.”

  She swallowed again before turning her face away from me. “So, you’re okay with starting right away?” she asked, avoiding my words and the obvious way her body was responding to me.

  I grinned down at her before stepping away and spreading my arms wide. “You’re the boss.”

  And until I managed to push past the guard I’d forced her to put up, she’d set the pace. I’d endure every second of her sweet torture. She was worth it.

  11

  CHELSEY

  IT WAS A LITTLE PAST MIDNIGHT, and there was a strange noise outside my bedroom window. My heart pounded in my throat in fear, and I sat silent as I wanted for the noise to sound again.

  My parents bought our house a few years before I was born and I grew up there. There were never any issues with sleeping alone in my room. I was never the kind of scary kid who pulled their blanket in their parent’s room and slept on the floor. But when the weird noise sounded throughout my space again, I felt panic.

  I didn’t believe in the supernatural or ghosts, so I was seriously starting to doubt my sanity. But then it sounded again and my body went tense. I sat up in my bed, holding my weight on my elbows, and held my breath. I listened for the noise again so I could try and pinpoint where it was coming from.

  I whimpered when I heard it again and a chill ran up my spine as I compared the sound to something or someone scratching outside my window. I stared out through the small opening in the curtains. The moon offered a tiny bit of light, but beyond that was only darkness.

  I was staring so hard, waiting for some mythical creature to come busting through my window, that when I saw a shadow move in the moonlight, I screamed. The sound hurt my own ears and I clamped my hand over my mouth.

  There was a brief stretch of silence, and then I heard a muffled voice from the other side of the window.

  “Are you purposely trying to wake up the entire neighborhood?” Blaine whispered through the window.

  My heart continued to pound wildly in my chest even after I recognized his voice. I scrambled off the bed and hurried toward the window, lifting it open.

  “What are you doing?” I hissed, looking back toward my bedroom door.

  I knew there was no way my scream had gone unheard. It was only a matter of time before my parents came charging into my room.

  He pushed his head in. “What does it look like?”

  My expression went slack and my face contorted with confusion as I tried to think around this entire situation.

  “What?” I asked, still confused.

  “Are you going to let me in or not?” He motioned for me to move out of his way.

  “Not. You scared the crap out of me. You had me thinking my room was haunted.”

  My rant was cut short as he pushed his way through the window. I couldn’t seem to breathe past the knot in my throat, and then it didn’t matter if I could or not because I was about to be dead.

  My head turned toward the door where light flooded the hallway, spilling into my room from underneath my bedroom door.

  “You have to—” I started.

  But when I turned to face him, he was already gone.

  My frown deepened as I twisted from side to side looking for Blaine, surprised by his quick disappearing act.

  “Blaine?” I whispered, chewing on my lip nervously. “Where did you go?”

  There was a light tap on my door before my father called my name softly from the other side.

  “Are you okay, honey? We heard you scream.” His voice sounded muffled through the thick wood.

  Taking a deep breath, I moved toward the door with one last look behind me. My room was still empty. I pulled it open and squinted against the bright, hallway light that spilled into my room.

  Concern deepened the lines on my father’s aging face as he looked me over and then past me for any harm.

  “I’m fine, Dad,” I said, sounding breathless.

  I pulled the door tightly to my side, hoping to block out as much of my room as possible.

  “We heard you scream.”

  I laughed nervously. “I thought I saw something outside my window.”

  He went on high alert, pushing his way into my room and toward my open window.

  Shit!

  I wanted to take back my last words, but it was too late.

  “What did you see?’ he asked frantically. “Did you see a person? Maybe I should call the police.”

  “No!” I shouted, almost falling forward in my outburst.

  My father turned around, giving me a strange look. My hands were up in the air and I dropped them to my sides. My face flamed in embarrassment.

  “It was a squirrel,” I lied. “Please. I feel silly. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

  He searched my face for a few seconds, and I managed to smile despite the pounding in my chest. The fact that Blaine was somewhere hidden in my room and my father could easily catch him was causing me to have a panic attack.

  My father smiled, putting his hands in his robe pockets. “You and your mother were never fans of the dark or anything creepy or crawly. I remember the Halloween when you were eight. You were dressed up as little red riding hood. You declared it your last Halloween because you were too afraid of the spooky costumes.”

  His smile softened at the memory, and I couldn’t help but return it.

  “I was a bit dramatic back then. I remember calling a big family meeting.” I chuckled.

  He laughed along with me. “Ah, yes. You made a pros and cons list that you went over with me and your mother.”

  I buried my flaming face in my hands knowing Blaine was listening and gathering up ammo against me.

  “Please, no more,” I complained.

  My father took a deep
breath and his shoulders dropped. He turned his head from side to side, looking at my walls. They were plastered in all things Columbia University.

  “Now my little girl is all grown up and going to be graduating soon.” Sadness darkened his eyes. “Soon you’ll be leaving to attend Columbia. Time’s moving too fast.”

  “Oh, Daddy.” I hugged him, laying my face flat against his chest. “I haven’t technically gotten into Columbia yet, you know?”

  “Yes you have,” he whispered.

  A few more seconds passed and then he squeezed my shoulders and stepped back.

  “I’ll let you go back to sleep.” He kissed my forehead and walked toward the door. Before he closed it he called my name and I turned toward him. “You let me know if that squirrel comes back. Okay?”

  He could hardly contain his smile.

  “I will.”

  And then he was gone, shutting out the light with him.

  I held my breath and didn’t move a muscle as I waited for the hall light to go off. Even when I was sure he was completely gone, I waited. A full two minutes went by before I moved to the door and pulled it open. Looking up and down the hall, I was satisfied that everything was as it should be.

  Closing the door softly, I turned the lock and leaned against it with a relieved sigh.

  “So, little red riding hood’s afraid of the big, bad wolf?” Blaine taunted from beside me. “Please tell me you still have that costume tucked away somewhere? Oh my God, it would be so tight on you now—all hugging your curves and shit.”

  I turned toward his voice to find him lying on my bed with his arms folded behind his head and his long legs stretched out.

  “Get out of my bed, Blaine,” I ordered, crossing my arms.

  At first I didn’t think he was going to move, but then he curled his tall frame from my bed and stalked toward me. He backed me against my bedroom door in three strides, before he pressed his palms flat against the hard wood at the sides of my head.

  “That’s a first,” he whispered.

  I lifted my head and met his gaze head on. “What’s a first?”