Sucker for the Boss

by Blue Sky Books

“No. The Zombie Takeover III will be an adventure!” Heather said and rolled her eyes.

  “We’ll watch it tomorrow night Heather. This will be good for us. We need to experience at least one major high school party before we’re off to college” Sarah said as they walked out of the school building together.

  “Who says I’ll be attending any parties in college?” Heather threw her friend a sour look.

  “It might not be your choice” Sarah snapped back and they both grew silent. They usually avoided the topic of college because it reminded them that their time together was limited. A few more months and they would be off to different colleges in different ends of the country. Heather and Sarah had been friends since they were six years old and it was hard imagining a life without the presence of the other.

  “No, you’re right. We need to experience this together. It’ll be fun” Heather said, trying to lighten up the mood and gave her friend another hug. Sarah smiled back at her.

  “Great so come over at around 9? And wear something nice?” Sarah said, she was walking backwards away from Heather, in the direction of her own house.

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Heather snapped at her and looked down to examine the frayed jeans and the leather boots she was wearing.

  “We don’t have a theme for the party and it is especially not ‘Cowgirl’!” Sarah yelled back at her and immediately turned around and ran away. She clearly didn’t want to stay and have Heather chase after her for her brutal comment.

  “You’ll pay for that!” Heather screamed at her as she watched her best friend running away while she laughed. She shook her head, a faint smile remained on her face.

  “Alright. So we need to figure this outfit thing out then” Heather mumbled to herself as she started walking towards her own house. She wasn’t sure what Sarah meant by “something nice” but one thing she could be certain of was that she wasn’t referring to anything from her plaid-shirt-collection.

  *****

  Heather had locked herself in the bathroom for nearly an hour and her younger sister had banged on the door at least twice. Eyeliner is tricky business! She had finally managed to draw the perfect winged black lines around her eyelids after watching a step-by-step video online. The chocolate shade of lipstick she had borrowed from her mother. The floor of her room was now covered with all the clothes she owned, from which she picked a black lycra mini skirt she had never worn and a thin beige blouse that her mother had forced her to buy a year ago.

  Heather looked at herself in the mirror one last time before letting her sister in. She had managed to comb her usually wavy black hair into a straight sheen and her outfit seemed to fit her fairly well. She stepped into her mother’s gold sandals and twirled around to look at herself from all angles. Whatever, she said to herself and rolled her eyes. She couldn’t deny that she felt good with what she saw in the mirror.

  When she checked her watch it was already fifteen minutes past 9 PM so she hurried out of the bathroom, giving her ten year old sister a quick hug before heading downstairs.

  “You’ll need to carry a purse honey” her mother said to her as she smiled at how different her daughter looked.

  “I’m just carrying my cellphone, which will be fine in my hand” Heather said and kissed her mother on her cheek before rushing to the door.

  “Don’t feel the need to rush back home” she heard her mother yell out to her with a laugh in her voice, just as she banged the door shut behind her.

  “What is up with everybody today!” she growled to herself and took in a deep breath. She hadn’t been to this kind of a party ever before. Out of choice initially and then she and Sarah stopped getting invites anyway. It hadn’t taken long for Heather and Sarah to be tagged as the school nerds, not that they minded much anymore. The bullying had stopped a few years ago as they all grew up and Heather had learnt to take it in her stride. She knew she was smart, way smarter than anybody in her class and she didn’t care anymore what they thought of her. Not even Shaun Hollister.

  It took Heather ten minutes to reach Sarah’s house which was already thumping with loud music. The front door was open and she could see people walking around with plastic glasses of beer and talking loudly over the music. Heather entered the house grudgingly, already regretting her decision. When she entered she saw a few people turn to look at her and she registered the surprised/shocked expressions on their faces.

  “Heather!” Sarah squealed from one end of the room, waving her arms wildly about. “I thought you were going to bail on me” she added as she came up to her and gave her a hug. There were still people looking at them and Heather had never felt more self conscious.

  “People are staring at us Sarah” Heather whispered into her friend’s ears.

  “That’s because you look gorgeous and nobody expected you to clean up so well” Sarah said with a laugh. “Let’s get you a drink. You’ll feel better” she added and dragged Heather by her arm towards the kitchen which was now overflowing with people trying to get their own drinks.

  “Oh God Heather! I didn’t think you owned anything other than plaid shirts!” Sarah’s twin brother Jack said when he saw them entering the kitchen. He already had two opened bottles of beer in his hands which he handed over to both of them.

  “You have a weird way of complimenting people Jack” Heather said and rolled her eyes.

  “I’m glad you could make it. We placed bets on whether you’d come or not” Jack said with a laugh and walked away from them when he saw one of his friends wave to him from behind them.

  Heather widened her eyes with a fake angry look at Sarah who only giggled and dragged Heather outside to the backyard.

  “So this is what a house party looks like” Heather said and took a gulp of her beer. She didn’t necessarily like beer but she had nothing else to do with her hands. They were both leaning against the railings of the patio and watching their classmates and people they didn’t recognize, gyrate with the music and flirt.

  “I guess so” Sarah said, almost dreamily, “Wait is that Shaun Hollister?” she said excitedly and directed Heather’s attention towards the massive trampoline that Sarah and Jack’s parents had installed for them ten years ago.

  When Heather looked she saw Shaun Hollister bouncing up and down the trampoline, in a boxing stance. One of his buddies was on it too and they were both trying to mock-box each other. People seemed to have gathered around them to watch what was going on and were cheering and clapping.

  Shaun and his friend were both clearly drunk as they continued to bounce on the trampoline and throw random punches at each other. Heather couldn’t help but laugh, in her eyes Shaun was making a fool of himself. In a few minutes the two of them gave up, after not having managed to successfully box each other, but the people around them clapped nonetheless. Shaun, in his usual, self absorbed manner jumped off the trampoline and took a bow.

  When he straightened up, to Heather’s embarrassment he caught her eye, she was staring at him, and he winked. He had a large smile spread across his face and a few strands of his hair fell across his eyes. He had never looked more hot. Heather blushed and immediately looked away, but she could sense that he was still looking at her.

  “C’mon Sarah. Let’s go inside” she said quickly, her head was still hung low and she could feel her cheeks burning up. Just before she turned around she lifted her gaze towards him again and he was still looking. To Heather’s absolute horror he blew her a kiss and took a huge gulp of beer from the bottle in his hand. Heather immediately turned and ran back into the house.

  *****

  It would have appeared to be just another day to anybody else. Heather was back in her blue frayed jeans and black and red plaid shirt. Sarah was lying next to her on the grass reading a book. But things were definitely different, for Heather at least. She couldn’t get Shaun Hollister out of her mind. After staring at a group of girls running track for a few minutes, she finally realized that Sarah had been trying to get her
attention for sometime now.

  “Sorry I was thinking about something” she said, trying to cover her tracks. But she forgot how Sarah knew her too well.

  “Yeah right. You’re thinking about Shaun’s something” she said and giggled.

  “Stop it Sarah. I was thinking about college if you want to know” Heather said and lay down on the grass, her head knocked against Sarah’s.

  “Yeah? What about it?” Sarah asked. A grudging and sombre tone had entered her voice which Heather recognized as sadness.

  “We don’t have to talk about it, I know we agreed to not discuss college for a few more weeks” Heather said and blinked at the clouds in the sky.

  “It’s alright. We can talk about it if something about college is bothering you” Sarah said but their conversation was stopped abruptly as a shadow fell over them. For a few seconds Heather didn’t know what was going on but soon realized that Jack was peering over them with a huge smile on his face.

  “Are we interrupting your romance?” Jack said with a laugh as the two girls sat up.

  “What do you want Jack?” Sarah shook her head at her brother annoyedly.

  That’s when Heather noticed Shaun, standing a few feet away from them. He was grinning at her. His hands were dug deep into the low hanging pockets of his jeans. He was wearing a basic white T-shirt that clung to his body and outlined the muscles on his abdomen. Heather froze up and immediately threw frightened glances at Sarah.

  “What’s going on?” Sarah asked her and Jack and Sarah both turned to look at Shaun standing away from them. He was still grinning at Heather.

  “Right so I have a favor to ask of you Heather” Jack turned back to her and started explaining. “You know the final Biology assignment right? We were wondering if you could give Shaun a hand with that”. None of the words coming out of Jack’s mouth made any sense to her. She was too shocked and embarrassed to say anything.

  Shaun walked closer to them then and spoke to Heather and Sarah himself, mainly to Heather.

  “I know we’ve never been friends and you have no reason to do this, but it’s a genuine request. I’ll owe you big time” he said, the million dollar smile, which displayed his beautiful pearly whites, never left his face. Heather still hadn’t said a word. She had a look of shock and discomfort on her face that Jack was trying to figure out.

  “What’s up Heather? You in or not?” Jack coaxed her to speak.

  “Of course she’ll help Shaun out. Won’t she?” Sarah chimed in and nudged Heather with her elbow in her ribs. That sort of brought Heather out of her trance-like state and she cleared her throat, turning her attention from Jack to Sarah. She didn’t want to look at Shaun directly.

  “Yeah sure. Whatever” she managed to say.

  “Thanks Heather. I really need an A on the project or I won’t pass. And then I can kiss college and boxing goodbye” a pleading tone had entered Shaun’s voice and they all noticed it. Everybody’s attention was on Heather to say something encouraging to him.

  “Yeah sure. Whatever” she said again and she saw Sarah roll her eyes.

  “Great. Can you come over to our place tomorrow after school? Our parents are away for one more week so you guys can study in peace” Jack said and started pulling Shaun away from them. He was still smiling at Heather and Sarah as he walked backwards.

  “What is the matter with you?” Sarah growled at her through gritted teeth once the boys had gone out of earshot. “The hottest boy in the whole school comes to you for help, talks and smiles at you and all you can say is “whatever”!” Sarah had widened her eyes as she spoke to Heather. She looked genuinely angry with her.

  “I lied earlier Sarah” Heather blurted out. She nearly cried. “I was thinking about Shaun earlier. I’ve been thinking about him constantly since that party. He winked at me and blew me a kiss!” Heather’s words were jumbled up and it made her even more anxious when Sarah started laughing.

  “Stop laughing at me Sarah. I can’t help it!”

  “I know you can’t. That’s really cute. I didn’t think a boy could ever have a paralyzing effect on you!” Sarah was nearly rolling on the grass with laughter as Heather looked on with dismay.

  “This is serious Sarah. How am I supposed to help him with his Biology project if I can’t talk to him or look him in the eye?” Heather was pleading with her friend now. She knew she was going to be in a lot of embarrassing trouble if they didn’t come up with a plan soon.

  Sarah finally sat up again, clutching her stomach as a few giggles continued to escape her lips. She patted Heather on her back and wiped tears away from her eyes.

  “There There Heather! We’ll figure something out. I just didn’t think he was your type!”

  *****

  Heather knocked on Sarah’s front door impatiently the following evening. She had the hood of her sweatshirt up and her head was bent low. Sarah opened the door to let her in and had a wild-eyed look on her face.

  “You look like you’re hiding from the law!” she said in terms of greeting her best friend. Heather brushed past her and walked into the house. She was an hour early as agreed with Sarah. They needed time to prepare.

  “Honestly, I don’t know what I’m doing” Heather said and pulled her hood down. Sarah crossed her arms across her chest and eyed Heather from foot to toe.

  “First of all, you need to do something about your nerves” Sarah said and walked over to the kitchen as Heather followed her.

  “You guys can sit and study in here. Jack will be up in his room and I’ll be in the living room watching TV” she said as they sat down at the dining table.

  “I need you to be very close” Heather said, she couldn’t stop tapping her feet, a nervous tick.

  “I’ll be well within earshot Heather. Just relax” Sarah said with a smile. She looked almost as worried as Heather felt.

  “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’ve never been this nervous before. This is probably how people feel when they haven’t studied for a test” Heather said, nervously looking around her. Sarah rolled her eyes.

  “You like him Heather. That is what it is” she said and sank back in her chair, crossing her arms again.

  “What is there to like? Apart from his good looks we have nothing in common” Heather was tired of feeling this way. She had barely gotten any sleep the previous night and had not managed to pay attention in school at all. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt this way.

  “Those good looks are good enough. I can bet that any girl in school would give a leg to be in your position right now. It’s only natural that you feel this nervous around him. I can’t stop giggling myself if he looks at me” Sarah said dreamily.

  “But this is unhealthy Sarah. How am I going to be an icon for young girls around the country? How will I be a strong independent and career-driven woman in life if I feel dizzy every time Shaun Hollister looks my way?” Heather was very close to giving up. Sarah could sense that so she stood up and came over to her to give her a hug.

  “Don’t worry, you can be a strong independent and career-driven woman after you’ve left this town and Shaun Hollister is out of your life” Sarah said, rubbing her left arm. Heather patted Sarah’s hand and was genuinely grateful to have a friend like her.

  “I guess you’re right. I can’t help my instincts” she said and let out a huge sigh. “Anyway, so what is this big plan that you were dying to tell me about?” Sarah was excited again. She skipped over to one of the cupboards and pulled out a spectacle case from it.

  Heather was confused but decided to play along, “Are those glasses?” she asked Sarah as she brought the case back to her and placed it in front of her on the table.

  “Yep. They’re my grandfather’s. Bless his soul” she said with a chirpy voice and sat back down. Heather’s brows were crossed as she opened the case. Thick black rimmed oval glasses stared back at her and she took them out and studied them closely. The lenses were very thick as well, and when she look
ed through them at arm’s length, everything looked absurdly magnified.

  “What are these? Like +20?” Heather looked away and blinked her eyes to bring her vision back to normal.

  “My grandfather had very poor eyesight towards the end. They’re +11” Sarah said with a laugh.

  “And why are you giving them to me?” Heather laid the glasses aside.

  “So you can wear them when Shaun is here. You won’t be able to see him at all” Sarah had a victorious look on her face which Heather failed to understand.

  “You want me to wear the glasses in front of him, so that I can’t see him? What on Earth is that going to achieve?”

  “See the problem is that you freeze up when he looks at you. You’re paralyzed by his good looks. But if you can’t see him, only hear his voice, then you can be yourself” Sarah explained. She still appeared to be very happy with herself.

  “You’re joking right? How am I going to help him study if I can’t see a thing?” Heather eyed the glasses from the corner of her eye.

  “As if you need to look at a book to teach him what he needs to learn” Sarah rolled her eyes, but the compliment didn't have its desired affect on Heather.

  “Of course I do! What are you talking about? And if I wear these for too long, I’ll go blind!” Heather got up from her chair, she had raised her voice louder than she had intended to.

  “Relax. They’re just going to act as a fail-safe you know? Just in case you feel you’re freezing up, put them on and they’ll help you relax. You won’t have to embarrass yourself then” Sarah tried to explain again, the grin didn’t leave her face.

  “This is the craziest plan I’ve ever been a party to! I don’t know why I made you in-charge of coming up with a solution”

  There was a loud rap on the door and they both exchanged looks. Within seconds they could hear Jack skipping down the steps and opening the front door. Heather’s heart stopped beating the moment she heard Shaun’s voice.

  “He’s here. He’s early” she whispered to Sarah in horror.