"See ya," Sicily said before she hung up and limped up the stairs.
* * * * *
"So you guys went on a piercing-slash-tattoo date?" Zane asked, grinning from ear-to-ear.
It was around seven in the evening when Zane arrived at Sicily's and he was just in time since the pizza was delivered a few minutes later. Sicily had taken care of everything right after she talked to him. Calling Pizza Hut and picking out a couple of DVDs she wanted to watch. Zane made his way to the living room and Sicily greeted him with a quick hug.
"I ordered both Pepperoni and a Meat Lovers Pizza," Sicily said, running a hand through her long dark-brown hair. "Pig out. It's just the two of us here. Matt is with his friends. Mom and Dad are in a late-night meeting and the servants are off for the night."
Zane smirked before he said, "If you wanted some alone time with me, you just had to tell me," and then winked.
The two sat beside each other on the living room couch and cuddled closer to each other until Zane's arm found its way around Sicily's waist. She rested her hand on Zane's lap. The DVD, She's The Man, began playing and midway through the movie, the two forgot about the flick they were watching.
"So what happened a while ago? Why did you sound sad when you called me?" Zane asked.
Sicily raised her eyebrow and asked, "I sounded sad?"
Her friend simply nodded in answer.
"Oh," she said to herself. "It was just that Lucas told me to leave and it all happened so…randomly."
"Why?"
"His parents are getting a divorce," Sicily said and Zane just nodded.
He didn't look surprise at all, and that confused her.
"His dad came to mom's office this morning," Zane said, squeezing Sicily's hip. "Apparently, she's his lawyer."
"Oh."
"Yes, oh," Zane repeated. "You might think that his parents divorce is kind of a karmic payback for being an ass to everyone all these years."
Sicily pressed her lips together and kept her mouth shut. If she spoke up, she might say something she would later regret. She even thought of defending Lucas. For one thing no one deserved this, and it wasn’t just Lucas that would suffer, but also Theodore.
But she had noticed lately that her attitude towards Lucas was changing. In fact it was getting harder and harder to keep up her bitchy attitude with anyone. Being a bitch was a form of protection. She was a bitch. She needed to stay that way.
"Don't tell me you've fallen for his charms," Zane said, looking at his friend.
Sicily stared right back at him, her lips forming a thin line, and in response, he nudged her, waking her up from her reverie.
"Fuck no," she said automatically.
"Then why have you been so quiet?"
"He's just been nice to me all day today. And I watched him comfort his ten year old brother, before I left. That has to be hard. On top of all that, his eighteenth birthday was a couple days ago, and his parents just ignored it…or forgot about it, both suck," she said. "I guess I just got too caught up in his pain and was being a little sympathetic."
Sicily was ashamed of herself for acting so stupid and, well maybe a little infatuated. She had brought her guard down and she slapped herself in the head. That wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to hate him. She had to ignore how nice he’d been for one day, and concentrate on the years of abusive treatment.
A couple of hours of being nice wasn’t going to change anything.
"Well, I kind of understand," Zane said in response. "I guess you were just basking in the moment and making the most out of it."
"Exactly that," Sicily said and then scratched her head in slight irritation. "I'm not going to let that ass get to me."
"You know you can't escape your babysitting duties," Zane said as he chuckled. "And he's not so bad, he's fu-"
"He's fun," Sicily cut. "Yes, I know that already. I just have to inoculate myself against his fun side. After all, I'm just going to see him twice this week. I should be able to keep hating him, easily. This will work."
Zane laughed before he smirked. "Of course," he said mischief in his tone. He thought about her choice of words. With a gleam in his eye that Sicily didn’t see, he murmured, "You two would work…"
Chapter 7: Some Love School, Everyone Loves Gossip
Sicily Carmichael stepped out of her silver convertible and placed her bug-eye sunglasses over her head the moment she walked onto the familiar cobblestone pathway at Sun Coast Valley High School. She carried herself with an innate air of confidence. When a group of six other cheerleaders met her at the bottom of the steps that led to the school’s main entrance, Sicily kept walking with her head and chin raised. She simply acknowledged the group with a slight nod of her head.
Bailey and Vanessa lead the pack, falling in beside Sicily while the others trailed behind.
Sicily brushed aside a few compliments, she merely smiled at the six of them before saying, "It's cold, but sunny today." Everyone except for Bailey seemed to hang on every word that left her mouth. "Hopefully it will stay that way, I’d like to have a couple of days of good weather."
"After the trouble you got into for injuring Lucas," Cassie, a petite blonde, returned. "Honey, in my opinion, you need a break from all the drama."
"It must suck like hell for you to have to take care of someone like Mercer," another one said.
"Oh, Hun," Vanessa intervened, cutting off the others. "He may be an ass, but he's damn hot."
Everyone agreed with a curt nod, and Sicily couldn't help but roll her eyes and sigh in slight irritation. Lucas messed up her mind. Nice one minute a jerk the next. She really didn't want to hear her friends talking about him in such a dreamy way. Yes, he was hot, but his attitude overshadowed his physical beauty. Unfortunately for Sicily, everyone else seemed to disagree with her.
"I honestly wouldn't mind doing him," Bailey said, teasingly. Which made her best friend, Sicily slap her arm. "That devil's drop-dead gorgeous."
"Dear, you may want to bang him," Sicily said in a tone of mock-apathy. "But I'm not sure he would want to do the same to you."
"According to my doctor, jealousy's not healthy for anyone and you're no exception," Bailey returned, smiling mischievously at her friend.
Sicily frowned and said, “And in my opinion, you wouldn't get prime action doing it with someone with only one functioning arm."
Bailey jumped in with, "You don't need an arm in order to climax, during sex, yo-"
"Guys, shut up!" Vanessa quickly cut in as she looked at her two closest friends in disgust. "Sex talk? Really?" she asked with her eyebrows furrowed together. "Eww."
"That's not the worst part yet," Sicily said, letting her sunglasses hang on her shirt. "We're talking about Mercer here." Sicily didn’t want to talk about him. She didn’t want to picture him naked, or imagine his kiss. Hell, she was doing exactly that and it wasn’t grossing her out. She was confused and didn't get why.
And it was worse because it seemed that all of a sudden, everyone was talking about Lucas Mercer and how she broke one of his arms. When she stepped into her homeroom, everyone immediately looked at her and the whispering started. If that wasn't bad enough, some even had the nerve to come up to her and ask what happened. They wanted the full story.
"Sicily, we haven't talked in so long!" Tara, the star player of the women's softball team, asked as soon as she made it to the cheerleader’s side. "We have a lot of things to catch up on!"
"And I'm sure all the other people in this school can tell you what happened," she said without emphasis, and unwilling to even pretend to be friendly.
Although she was surrounded by them, Sicily still hated people who were plastic to her. And everyone was plastic, maybe with the exception of Vanessa and sometimes Bailey among the girls. Zane and a few of the guys in her group were also more down to earth and real.
She knew all too well that she was fake to a lot of the kids at school. But that didn't matter to her. What did was the fact that mo
st of the people she knew, especially those in her clique, were just friends with her because of her popularity and the privileges that came with being part of the upper echelon of high school.
Sicily shook her head without saying anything. Finally the she-jock furrowed her eyebrows before she stalked away, realizing that she wasn't going to get anything juicy from the cheerleader.
"What was that all about?" Bryce, a close friend of Sicily's, asked the moment he entered the classroom. "I didn't know you two were tight."
"We aren't," Sicily quickly filled him in before she sat at her usual place which was in the middle of the room. "Just like everyone else, she was trying to get some juice on Mercer and what I did to him."
“Ahhhh,” he said, running a hand through his hair. That action explained the disheveled mop on his head. He took the seat beside his friend's, setting his notebooks and textbook on the desk before he went back to talking to Sicily. "Now that attitude is not what I would call user-friendly," he said winking.
Sicily grinned immaturely and conceitedly before she opened her mouth to say, "When it comes to pissing people off, hell, I'm unbeatable."
"Oh, baby," Bryce said, about to laugh. "You know you're a bitch."
"Damn right I am." Sicily grinned.
* * * * *
Lucas Mercer wasn't the least bit excited about going back to school. It was the first time he’d seen Marina since Winter Break started, and he hadn’t missed it. He especially didn’t want to be here today. He entered the school's main building, his face set in a sneer, his movements slow and relaxed. His good arm and hand holding his backpack over one shoulder.
The doors opened, and the majority of the people that crowded the hallways turned around to watch him. They would all want to know what happened, or they would have heard and just wanted to commiserate with him. Not because they cared, but because of who he was.
Several girls squealed and ran up. He hated how all the women drooled over him. And the guys who were jealous of Lucas’ effect on the female student body, talked about him behind his back.
He was used to being the center of attention, but suddenly, he felt unsure of himself. The injury and the situation with his parents had taken a toll on his self-esteem. At least the swelling in his tongue had gone down enough that he didn’t lisp very often. That would have been the last straw. Starting school with a speech impediment would have been hell.
"Damn," he said to himself, rubbing his head with his only useful hand. He didn't know what to do. He was confused, and lost, and there was no one to help him. He tried not to let the divorce and everything that came with it get to him. He had succeeded for the last few days, but his tough guy shell had started to break the moment the school bell rang.
He cursed the Heavens above for such great timing. He could have handled the thing with his parents better if he wasn’t injured. And Sicily had served as a distraction, helping him get over himself.
Where was she when he needed someone to take his mind of his troubles? He sighed. That girl was another problem. She was messing with his head. But before he could analyze his feeling about her, a hand clamped down on his shoulder and brought him back to the present.
"It's still so early, but you already have a crowd," Tanner teased as he patted his friend's shoulder lightly. "What do you do, how do you do it, and why don’t you just transfer some of whatever it is to me?"
Lucas only looked at his friend and shook his head before he turned his gaze around to scan the room and the crowd that had gathered around him. The group was a mixture of different cliques and the only thing binding them together was Lucas' presence. Even he didn't know why people did this type of thing. But for a few seconds he would bask in the attention, the admiration these people gave him. He knew it was superficial, but he would let it feed his ego, an ego that had been trampled into the ground because he couldn’t play ball right now, by his parents divorce, and even by Sicily’s attitude.
Okay, that was enough mindless basking for anyone. "Can you tell them to scatter?" Lucas asked his friend. "Or disperse? Whatever you call it."
Tanner tried, but it really didn’t work. After a couple of minutes Mallory, Adriana, and Zack, joined the two.
"Hey guys," Mallory said cheerily which took Lucas aback.
"It's eight in the morning," he returned in disbelief. "Why are you so happy?"
"Is it a crime to smile?" the head cheerleader returned as she let her hair rest on one side of her shoulders. "God, Luke, you're so moody."
"It's not my fault my parents are getting a divorce," he said in a very low whisper that no one heard.
The morning went by quickly, and before he knew it, Lucas was on his way to his Gym class, like he was going to be able to do anything. He had gotten a semester–long assignment which was to simply research Basketball, its history, the rules, the players, techniques, and blah, blah, blah.
He should be headed to the library, but instead he was drawn to the gym. He knew he wouldn’t be allowed to play, but he could watch, and torture himself. He didn't bother going through the changing room since he wasn't in the mood to joke and laugh around with his friends. Hell, if they were going to play around, he would probably be the center of their jokes.
He sat on the stands and waited for the class to start. Today the gym class was playing basketball, his favorite. He was just going to spend an hour watching everyone else shoot, score, defend, and steal…adding insult to his injury.
And knowing his friends there would be a lot of teasing winks as they tried to make him jealous by attempting the shots he would have done.
"God," he drawled, rolling his eyes. "Life's unfair."
"Hey Mercer!" Tanner called out, his face mischievous. "Watch this!" And the torture started.
Tanner Fox was dribbling the ball at a rhythmic pace as he ran and went to the line. In a swift manner, he lunged himself forward, jumped as high as he possibly could and dunked the ball into the net. His teammates cheered in unison. Lucas had to give his friend credit, clapping his good hand on his knee.
Tanner had improved since they last played together, and that worried Lucas. Tanner would end up an extra month of playing time. The basketball season ended in the first week or two of February, so Tanner could use this time to his advantage. If any college scouts had been watching Lucas, they would have only November and December to go on. He was going to be left behind. He wasn't going to be the best anymore. Anger flared up inside him. It was all Sicily's fault.
"Lucas! Did you see that?" Tanner said, halting his friend's reverie.
Lucas blinked his eyes in a rapid fashion. He needed to change his focus. He leveled his cloudy grey eyes on his friend's. Lucas worked to control his expression when he noticed that several people were staring at him. When he knew he wore his signature smirk, only then did he trust himself to answer. "Yeah, I saw that," he said blandly. "The execution was commendable. You just have to watch your footwork."
Tanner rolled his eyes discreetly before he ruffled his hair even more and turned back to his friend. "Commendable?" he asked in mock disbelief. "I was actually going for remarkable, or admirable, just to let you know."
And again, Lucas only smirked as he maintained the careful air of arrogance that intimidated almost everyone. He leaned his back against the upper step of the bleacher and squared one of his legs putting it over the free one.
"My parents taught me that honesty is always the best policy," he said, slowly. "I don't want to ruin years of breeding just for your benefit."
Tanner smirked. His facial expression wasn’t as narcissistic as Lucas' but it was close. He turned his back on his friend as he joined his other classmates, as they gathered around their gym teacher. There was going to be another game, but this time it was going to be guys versus girls.
From where he sat, Lucas could see his teammates smirking while the ladies started whispering and squealing since they didn't know how they were going to make it through the next class period. The guy
s removed their shirts, showing off perfectly toned abs, hoping to make it even harder for the girls to compete.
"Are you ready to lose?" Carlisle, one of the leading varsity point guards called out to the women who had gathered at one corner of the gym. Like every other jock in Marina, he smirked and flashed his straight white teeth while the majority of the women they were up against sighed in admiration.
A tall ebony-haired Latina girl was the only one unfazed with Carlisle's features. Her name was Maria, and she was his girlfriend. "I'm ready to lose when you're ready to find another girl-friend," she said in reply. Those standing behind her laughed hysterically, the loudest being Mallory.
"You wouldn't dare," he returned.
"If you love me, you'll let us win." She was, of course, only joking but she wanted to prolong her boyfriend's agony. She groaned at the way he bit his lip in thoughtfulness. He was really thinking whether he should play or not. After a while, he came to a decision.
"Sorry babe," he said grinning as he walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the lips. "I have this little thing called pride that won’t allow me to do that, no even for you sweet cheeks."
"Ugh!" Mallory randomly shouted. "Break up with him!"
She was taking things too seriously, and this amused Lucas who was enjoying at the moment the scene in front of him.
"You seriously wouldn't dare, would you?" Maria's boyfriend whispered to her. What he got as an answer was a small peck and this immediately made him smile.
"Don't worry," he then returned, reassuring her. "I won't block you or steal your balls, but I will Mal's."
Lucas found this the perfect opportunity to join in on the conversation. He placed his hands on the sides of his mouth before he shouted and said, "Mal's got no balls! You don't have anything to worry about!"
Hearing the sound of her name, Mallory looked at Lucas and frowned in disdain. She had no idea why she was still attracted to an ass like him. He often treated her like dirt and when they actually got along, it was all just for play and wild fun. At least she had it better than Sicily. Mallory would do a lot to keep Lucas from paying any attention to Sicily. She smiled. She already had done a lot to keep things that way. And now she had even more reason to hate the bitch. Sicily deserved anything she got after practically telling the whole world about her eating disorder.
Breaking the Arm, Healing the Heart Page 9
