Halftime had just ended when Debbie came barreling onto the field. Her hair was slightly out of place and her legs had a layer of dust on them.
Quickly, I scrambled over, while the other girls got into position.
“What happened?”
Her mouth formed a sneer and then it flattened. “Nothing. I’ll tell you later.”
She pushed past me and dusted off her legs before she grabbed her pom-poms off the ground. I studied her for a second. She’d left to meet Kelley. Apparently nothing good happened, but what did? My glance around netted me nothing. He hadn’t come after her. My concern made it hard to get through the rest of the game as Debbie refused to talk during the breaks.
When I piled in her car after the game because my parents hadn’t come, she had no choice but to speak.
“What?” she snapped. “Can’t you give it a rest already?”
I breathed through her anger, trying to hold back my own. “Look, I know something happened between you and Kelley. Spill!”
The long breath she exhaled could have gone on for days. “Okay.” She shifted the car back in park because we hadn’t moved from the spot yet. “You need to stay away from that guy. He’s bad news.”
My forehead wrinkled in confusion. “What guy? Kelley?” She nodded, but so slowly my heartbeats slowed. “Just tell me what he did to you.”
It had to be bad considering she didn’t blurt it out. Debbie wasn’t one for keeping secrets, or so I’d thought.
“He tried to rape me.”
I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand. “Are you okay? How could you not say anything? We need to go to the police.”
Vehemently she shook her head. “No way I’m going to the cops. What do you think they’re going to do? It will be his word against mine.”
There was panic in her eyes as she glanced out the window, as if the people walking through the parking lot could hear us. I reached out a hand and clasped her arm.
“I’ll be there with you.”
Her eyes snapped back to mine. “No! I’m not. Do you know how they treat rape victims?”
I couldn’t say that I did. You heard stuff on the news occasionally, but nobody I knew had ever been hurt that way.
After I shook my head, she sniped, “They make them out to be whores. They’ll ask me all kinds of questions about my sex life.”
“You haven’t had sex.” It hadn’t been a question. She would have told me, right?
“No, but I’ve done everything. And you know how guys are.” I didn’t, but I let her continue. “They’ll say I’m easy or that I’ve done this or that.”
I stared at my best friend, wondering what I really knew about her. What was this and that? And what guys?
“My parents will know I’m not their precious little daughter. I can’t do it. I won’t do it,” she practically yelled.
My shoulders slumped a little. But I tried one more time. “What if he does it to some other girl?”
She shrugged. “Not my problem. So promise me you won’t say a word.”
“Debbie—”
“Promise me.”
I closed my eyes in defeat. “I promise.”
“And stay away from him. He mentioned your name.”
That caught my attention. “What?”
“It was nothing. It just sounded like he may try to talk to you next.”
My jaw couldn’t have been opened any wider. “Why would he do that? That’s crazy. He knows you’re my best friend.” Okay, I wasn’t sure of that. “He has to know you’d tell me.”
“Just stay away from him,” she said again.
Then she shifted the car in drive and took me home. Music filled the silence between us as I didn’t pepper her with any more questions. She obviously didn’t want to talk about it. I wasn’t stupid enough to think it wouldn’t be hard telling the cops. But I didn’t understand why she didn’t care that he could do it to someone else. And why would he target me? Something seemed off. But how could I possibly doubt my best friend over a guy I barely knew? One who hadn’t been nice enough to help me when I dropped the cupcakes. One who’d made crude comments about my body. Maybe he was a creeper, even if he hardly seemed the type to have to force a girl to do anything.
After school on Monday, I stared at the cursed ring on my finger. Debbie was right. I hid in the library so I wouldn’t have to sit with my boyfriend at lunch. I wasn’t in love with Ox. But what was love? I headed to the room where I tutored along with some other students with good grades who needed an extracurricular activity on their college applications. Though I had to admit I liked helping people and had toyed with the idea of becoming a teacher.
When the classroom door opened twenty minutes later, I didn’t bother looking up. Students came and went during the session as needed. Only the mood in the room shifted. Slowly, I glanced up to find my worst nightmare. His eyes searched the room before landing on me. My heart sped up and my stomach took a nosedive. I don’t know what he saw in my expression, but he headed in my direction anyway.
“I need you.”
Any other time, those words might have been powerful, even romantic. But after what he did to Debbie, I suddenly believed she’d been right that he’d targeted me.
“I’m sorry, but I’m helping someone right now. You have to wait your turn. Anyone who frees up first can help you.”
A freshman with a face suffering from a bout of acne sat next to me as I helped him with algebra.
“I don’t want someone. I want you. Dude, beat it.”
Carl, with his mop of ginger curls, grabbed his stuff and took off out of the room. Kelley’s I’m going to kick your ass expression had been enough to do the trick.
He sat without my permission. With my eyes narrowed, I attempted to get up from my seat and find someone else who needed assistance. He gripped my arm, stopping me.
“You’re a bully,” I spat.
“Maybe, but that kid didn’t need your help either. Did you see how he was looking at you?”
“No.” I hadn’t. Carl wasn’t dumb and seemed to get the concepts, although he claimed he didn’t. “It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m here to help people.”
“And I need help. Mr. Wilks sent me here to find you. I need to get caught up and fast. He said you’re the best person to get me there. Although I can think of better ways we can spend our time together.”
I was flattered that my trig teacher placed me in high regards. But his last statement made me roll my eyes, and I chose to ignore it, ignore him the best I could. Only, it was hard to ignore his kissable lips. And why was I thinking like that? Time to bring the conversation around. “Why didn’t he help you himself?”
Seemingly having an answer for everything, he said, “I need to get caught up with all my subjects, not just math.” Then he leaned forward, and my breath caught thinking he might kiss me. “I passed Biology and Chemistry, but maybe we could work on some practical application of Physics.”
Was he flirting with me? Suddenly hot, I reached for my next words and blurt them out. “Let me see your schedule.”
The paper slid through the pages of one of the books he carried as he pulled it out. When he held it out, I made sure I didn’t touch him. Only my eyes locked on his lips a second too long, and I watched them curl into a smirk before I jerked my gaze to the paper in my hand.
He was in AP Algebra 2, which surprised me. We didn’t share classes, but his schedule didn’t include one remedial class. Talk about not judging a book by its cover. He’d been too pretty to be smart too, and boy I was wrong.
“Based on your schedule, I don’t see why you can’t help yourself. I’m sure there are other more willing victims for you to prey on.”
Crap, I hadn’t meant to say that. He rubbed me the right way, not the wrong like he should have. He smelled faintly of soap and his hair flopped over his left eye. A part of me wanted to reach out and push it back.
“Victim?”
I swallowed, because the w
ay he said it, I felt like I was on the witness stand. His whole flirty smile had darkened into a scowl.
“Is that how she played it? She didn’t like I wasn’t into her and she tells you she’s a victim. Maybe she didn’t like that I told her she should be more like you.”
He stood, and I felt small because I’d judged him based on hearsay.
“You know what? I can figure this out myself. I don’t have time for this shit. Lying about shit like that ain’t cool. And of course you believe her because I don’t wear the right clothes or I’m not from the right part of town.”
He plucked the schedule from my hand and stalked out of the room with his stuff. I sat dumbfounded as the classroom was way too quiet, and I realized that everyone had been watching us. The thing about it was, I didn’t know him. But his actions and words had me questioning the truth of my friend’s story, and I hated myself for that.
After checking on Mom, I’d spend the rest of the night between worrying about her and worrying about what one girl thought of me. I shouldn’t give a rat’s ass about the latter. Yet, I couldn’t get the gorgeous girl out of my head. Smart, confident enough to speak her mind, and beautiful was a deadly combination. Most girls I messed around with were more into clothes and reality shows.
I’d chosen poorly with Debbie and decided I should have gone with the sure thing when my mind wanted option number three, Lenny. Over the next week in school, I decided to move on and cut my losses and try and forget about the unforgettable girl.
A tap on my shoulder pulled me away from the blonde who was so ready for my kind of fun. Debbie’s stories hadn’t reached everyone, or maybe some just didn’t believe her. I glanced over my shoulder to see the tiny girl who’d invaded my every waking thought over the past week.
“Hey, give me a minute. Then I’ll find you, and you can give me the tour you were talking about,” I said to the blonde in front of me.
I squeezed her waist, sending her into a giggling fit.
“Don’t be too long,” she replied with better things to come.
She sauntered away. Her short skirt swayed with promise that I’d end my drought that night. Over a week of not getting any made me stupid like what I was about to do. I crossed my arms over my chest and turned around to glare at the brunette.
Her eyes were laser tag focused on my sure thing’s back as she walked away.
“What is it you want?” I asked, gaining her attention.
Whip fast, she turned to face me again. Only she met my eyes a second before turning her gaze to the floor.
“I’m, uh…Debbie cleared some things up.”
I wasn’t going to make this easy for her. She’d summed me up without giving me a chance to defend myself. Plus, she was cute as hell when she blushed. “You’re what?”
Her gray eyes rose, chin up, and she said, “I’m sorry, okay? I was given bad information, and I treated you horribly because of it. I want to help you get caught up.”
“There are things you can help me with.” I let my gaze fall over her, watching her pout change as I made myself clear. We didn’t have classes together, so I hadn’t seen her all day. She wore jeans and a tee that fit her. And even though she was all but covered, my imagination filled in the blanks. “But today’s no good.” I glanced behind me, but the blonde was gone. “And I can’t risk missing dinner.”
I had just enough time to make good with the blonde and walk the few miles home.
“If you think being crude will scare me off, you’re wrong. Let me buy you dinner?”
She didn’t have to buy me anything. I could feast on her all day.
“I’m not some charity case.”
She frowned, not getting it. “It’s not charity. I totally owe you for how I treated you. I’ll buy you dinner at the diner just down the street, and I can help get you caught up.”
The fact that I was wavering was a bad sign. I knew better.
“What will your boyfriend have to say about it?”
Joel had pointed the guy out as if in warning. Although he was one of a kind and stood out like a Cyclopes, I would have pieced it together myself. He was about my height, but stockier. He probably packed a serious punch, but he would be slow to my quick moves and have to catch me first.
“What can he say? It’s not like this is a date. Besides, he doesn’t own me.”
Her defiance was cute. But then everything she did I found cute. I reached out and touched her hand. Her skin was as soft as I imagined. Then I held it up, ring finger sparkled in the light from the windows.
“This ring seems to say otherwise.”
She snatched her hand from mine. You would think she’d been burned the way her eyes flared.
“It’s a promise ring. Not an engagement ring.”
Interesting choice of words. “Could have fooled me and not what’s being said around school. Guy doesn’t put a ring like that on a girl for a promise. He’s stating his claim loud and clear that you are his forever.”
“It’s a promise ring,” she said, and I scoffed. “Now do you want to go get burgers or not?”
Blonde forgotten, I shrugged. “Will I get in trouble for being out with the town’s princess?”
“I am not…” She snapped her lips closed and didn’t bother saying anything else. She stalked down the hall, and I moved to follow.
The view from behind was just as good as the front. My dick leaped for joy thinking he was getting some action. I groaned a bit, remembering the sure thing I left behind for the sure no, yet I followed like a dog wanted a bone.
She hadn’t lied. The diner was only a few blocks away. Seeing that it was just after four, the place was deserted. School was over and it wasn’t a Friday night. Everyone who didn’t have to be at school had gone home somewhere, to study or to bang. And I wasn’t doing either. The pretense that we were going to study was lost on her, because I hadn’t brought a book with me. Not that she’d given me time. She had a backpack, but we didn’t share any classes, to my utter disappointment. Needling her in class could have been the highlight of my day.
“Burger,” she said to the waitress who appeared.
Then they both turned their eyes on me. I’d been watching Lenny, studying her face like the answers to a pop quiz were there. She was more than pretty. Yet, she didn’t paint her face or even wear that gloss shit on her lips. I wanted to kiss her and that was a first. I did it mostly because I had to on occasion. Wanting it was an entirely different thing.
“Yeah, what she’s having,” I said to end the scrutiny the two were giving me. “And fries.”
“Fries come with it, hon,” the older woman said. She stared at me. Finally, I turned my attention to her and stared back. Turned out she wasn’t exactly that much older than me. Maybe two or three years at most, and she had a decent smile. I was used to older girls. They liked me, and I liked them back. They didn’t play the games girls my age did.
“I’ll have a Sprite,” Lenny said, gaining the woman’s attention.
The cute waitress shifted her focus back to me. “Shake, vanilla.”
“Coming right up.”
She sauntered off with swaying hips. I watched in appreciation.
Lenny’s finger snapped in front of my face. “Are we going to study or what?”
“I didn’t bring any books.” When she started to frown, I added, “It’s not like you gave me any time to get to my locker.”
“I thought that was your locker.”
“No, that was her locker. You know, how you interrupted us.”
“Interrupted. You should be thanking me. She’s been passed around the entire football team.”
With an arched brow, I said, “I thought you knew better than to believe rumors.”
She sagged in her seat. “You’re right. That was mean. I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t know why I said that.”
“I know why,” I tossed out.
Straightening, her eyes challenged me, and I liked it. “Why’s that?”
“I…I…” she sputtered. “I’m not jealous.”
“Snapping your finger in my face so I wouldn’t check out our waitress.”
“That’s not true.”
“Lie to yourself. It’s okay.”
“I have a boyfriend.” Though she was grasping at reasons.
“Yeah, where is he?”
She closed her mouth and good thing. I imagined all kinds of things as our waitress materialized with piping hot food in record time. Then again, we were the only customers. The smells made my stomach stretch. It totally beat the school lunches I forced down unless I wanted to starve.
After the waitress set down our food, she placed the bill face down with her number face up near me. Lenny snagged it like a snake strike.
“I’ve got this,” she declared.
I smirked because she was so jealous. Bad thing was, her declaration that had nothing to do with me couldn’t have been truer. She had my complete attention like no other girl had ever before. I couldn’t resist needling her.
“Sure you do. But I’m pretty sure that phone number is for me.”
Her mouth dropped open. “She’s like too old for you. You’re like sixteen, right?”
“Soon to be seventeen.”
“Then I’m doing you a favor. She could go to jail.”
The paper crumpled in her hands. And I decided not to point out that the waitress not going to jail was a favor to her and not to me.
“Are you going to catch me up with school or what?” I asked, shoving a fry in my mouth.
“You said you didn’t have your books.”
“So, tell me all I need to know about my teachers. What they expect and shit. Who’s the hardest...yeah, that kind of stuff.”
And she did while we ate. She made me laugh as she gave me the lowdown, giving me rumors and pointing them out as unsubstantiated. Her use of a word like that made me wonder more about her. She was smart and beautiful, which only made me more interested when I shouldn’t have been.
Chasing Butterflies Page 6
