But Ally is a church girl. And sweet.
So though I want to go for Ally, I know I never will.
Still, I don’t eat the cookie. I just dreamily sniff it. And don’t care who sees. My friends on the hockey team playfully razz me about it and call me soft. I let them. They know I can—and will—bash their faces in if they give me an excuse; but it has to be more than being teased about Ally. The truth is, I don’t mind being teased about her.
After all, just getting a cookie from her rocked my world. So face it, I deserve to be teased. It’s hilarious. I (Griff, the Grief-Master) am soft for the church girl.
At least for today.
CHAPTER 5
I probably wouldn’t have gone on to give it much more thought—me and Ally Grange, I mean. The two personages from that sentence were from two different worlds. Mine was full of hockey and chaos, and well, okay, I’m just going to say it: violence. But Ally’s seemed full of butterflies and rainbows. And she was dating this poetry guy, Baker, that to me, seemed pretty much like a girl. So, it kind of let me know I wasn’t her type. As if I needed proof. Which I didn’t. But there it was, in my face.
Still, I have to tell you this stalker thing I did though. It wasn’t on purpose. It just happened because I’d said (apparently) some impolite or inappropriate (who knows?) stuff in one of my classes. For once, instead of getting assigned detention, I got assigned to clean up (aka: pick up garbage) in the seating area of our school’s theater. It was after school though—so it was basically detention. But it wasn’t in the library. Like I said, it was in the school’s theater.
I didn’t bother to turn on the lights. I wasn’t too picky about missing stuff, and really there wasn’t that much to pick up. We’re not allowed to eat in there or anything, so there was just an occasional candy bar wrapper, or balled up wad of paper, or an airplane made from a concert program. (Lots of those.) Anyway, I was working in the dim light, which was almost total darkness, but my eyes had adjusted because I’d been there so long.
I was just finishing up, when the stage lights turned on. I froze when I saw it was Ally that turned them on. She thought she was alone, and I thought about slinking out the back door (‘cause I got to tell you, people do embarrassing things when they think they’re alone) but for some reason, I couldn’t move. Instead, I tilted my head and watched her sit down at the piano. Then I lunged into the nearest seat once she started to play. I got my own private piano concert—the first one I ever attended. It rocked. It probably had a lot to do with that it came from Ally. But man, she could play. I was always a fan of music, but not so much the piano. Not until that day. But suddenly I became a big fan—at least of Ally’s.
I would have sat there listening to her all night, but then Baker came in—and they started giving each other soft kisses. That got me out of there fast—and put me into the arms of this wild chick, Aspen Taylor.
Aspen seemed surprised by my sudden, unexpected kisses. She was at her locker at the time. I turned her around and then I was kissing her—mostly just because she was there. She just went with it though—my sudden attention, my mouth on hers. Some girls are like that. You don’t need to ask—or talk. You can just grab. And kiss. Then walk away. Only, I wasn’t walking away. I was holding her tighter and tighter, trying to get Ally’s haunting beautiful music out of my head.
Aspen tried to talk in the midst our make-out, while I was busy at her neck. “I just had detention. Where were you?” she murmured, just making conversation.
But I didn’t want conversation. I wanted the church girl out of my head. Fast. Now.
“Looking for you,” I told her, sending a trail of kisses down the curve of her neck. “Can we go to your house?”
CHAPTER 6
I didn’t particularly like enjoying Ally’s music so much. I mean, while I’d been in the auditorium listening to it, it had filled me with an awe-like peace. Which was something. My life was never peaceful. Ever. It just wasn’t. But seeing graceful Ally play that piano, and hearing her beautiful, stirring music—it was sort of like a little bit of heaven had crept into my heart. And my soul. But THEN, seeing her kissing that tool, Baker—that had been more like hell to my soul. And no, I didn’t enjoy it. Yet, I couldn’t get either out of my head—Ally’s music or the sight of her kissing another guy.
It made me restless. And avoid her—which was kind of easy because we didn’t have any classes together. But not super easy, because she spent a lot of time in the school library. And that’s where detention was held—on the other side of the library. So, a lot of times I’d look up, and there she’d be, in the room across from me with her soft, blond hair falling over her pretty face as she sat hunched at a table scribbling in a notebook. I don’t think she had a clue that I’d watch her. But I would.
Seeing her, lost in her own little dreamy world, it made me think about her. A lot. Way more than I felt comfortable. But seeing her also filled me with a strange peace that I never had before. And I can’t really explain it. Maybe it was from hearing her beautiful music—or maybe just because I knew about her. She was so good. All churchy and into volunteer work. That sort of thing wasn’t really my scene, but I had to admire it about her. And I just kind of knew when I’d hear about volunteer stuff going on at school, Ally was behind it. Or a least part of it. Maybe that was why she had a glow about her—one that maybe no one else could see. But I did. Big time. Only, I didn’t want to. The thing was, though, I had no choice. There it was—making me stare at her like a freaking stalker.
Then one day, I saw her haphazardly gather her things and shoot up from her seat. She scrambled out of the library like she was late for something. I tilted my head, seeing that she forgot her notebook at the table. My eyebrows rose. Her notebook.
For a long time I just stared at it from my spot across the room. I kept expecting her to come back. To remember that she left it. After all, it seemed she never went anywhere without it. But after a long time went by with it just sitting there, open at that empty table, I figured she wasn’t coming back. After that, I started to worry someone else would come along and get their hands on it—and read Glowing Ally’s notebook. The thought had me anxious. Especially when Lacy Webber came into the library after her cheerleading practice. Thinking of Lacy reading Ally’s story—or whatever Ally wrote in that notebook of hers that got her all dreamy-eyed—it made my stomach clench up. Lacy was one cold chick. And Ally was the kind of sweet girl Lacy ate for lunch. There was no way I could let Lacy read that notebook.
I narrowed my eyes, watching Lacy. She got the wrong idea though, and waved to me, excited-like. She started to skip towards me, but Mr. Hicks, the detention supervisor for the day, stopped her with the warning growl, “Detention.”
That’s all it usually took for most students to go, ‘Oh, yeah. That’s why Griffin is here in the library—detention.’
Lacy was no different. She got it. She gave me a little smile with a shrug, like ‘Oh, I forgot, you’re a loser.’
… but not one she’d mind kissing again. She made that clear by the way she kept looking at me while she whispered with her friends. And now—unfortunately—she thought I was interested in her … since I’d been staring at her. Great. The girl was hard to shake before, now it was going to be impossible.
At least she wasn’t anywhere near the notebook. She was about three tables away from it. She and her cheerleading cohorts, Sabrina and Jade, were too busy whispering and shooting glances at me to notice the book. But man, they were probably all three going to be after me now. Again.
I guess Hailey was pretty much right. I don’t want girls following me around after I’ve kissed them. I kind of want them to just disappear.
Finally, Mr. Hicks tells me I can go for the day. Five minutes early. Decent of him—I guess. I head over to Ally’s notebook.
Lacy and her friends hop up from their seats to follow me, but Mr. Hicks stops them. He says in this stern voice he has, “This is the library, ladies. Not a so
cial club.”
He escorts them out of the library. For the first time in my life I’m grateful for a teacher’s intervention.
I grab Ally’s notebook, and I swear, I have every intention in the world of just closing it and going to find her. That’s all I want to do—give her back her notebook, and spare her from prying eyes reading it. That’s it.
Only man, as I’m closing the book, I see my name written in it. My. Name. My heart does this violent slam against my chest. Why would Cookie Girl write about me? What would she say?
I swallow, then my eyes involuntarily scan the page. It’s a song. Glowing Ally Grange wrote a friggin’ song—about me.
The thing is—it’s adorable.
It’s about me carrying her books for her that day. And she wrote another song right next it about me too. One about eating a burrito with me in the school cafeteria—which she never did. Ever. But I eat a burrito at school almost everyday, so it’s cute. Ally’s stalking me. Fantasizing about me. Wants to eat lunch with me.
I smile.
Awesome.
Suddenly it’s like the world is a bright shining rainbow—like I’m seeing it through Ally’s eyes. Like puppies are going to start dancing around.
But then of course I have to go home—and believe me, there’s no puppies dancing there.
CHAPTER 7
I’m not going to lie: Ally’s songs were weird. But I was so into her cute kind of weird, that I wanted her. Bad.
I figured me giving her back her notebook would be my way in with her. So, that morning I was prepared. I had Ally’s notebook in my backpack—and I had my backpack on my back, and I was ready to stroll up to her and let her see that maybe I deserved another cinnamon baked treat. Or maybe even another song about me, since she had songs in there titled stuff like—My Neighbor Gave Me The Cutest Cuddly Kitten, and If My Boyfriend Forgets My Recital Again I Think I’m Going To Scream.
I just read those titles randomly as I was shutting her notebook. I didn’t snoop through it or anything. I swear. Though I did see she also had another song in there about me called, Griffin Piper Melts My Heart. Actually, the title went like this, AKA: He Carried My Books; AKA: His Hands Are Rough But His Heart Is … I’m not exactly sure what it said, but I’m sure it was girly and nice, though weird, and so of course I loved it. And I really wanted to give her notebook back to her so she could continue with her weirdness.
And also, you know, I wanted to make a move.
“I’m going to gouge his eyes out—and then hers too.” Those beautiful words came from Hailey. Her latest boyfriend was now her ex-boyfriend, and he was already dating someone new, and he seemed to only be doing it to piss Hailey off … and it was working.
She started writing him a hate letter that she titled, “Why you suck and why you must die.”
She was at my locker as she wrote it, ranting curse words as she scribbled stuff down. Every once in a while, my friend Mason would help her out. He’s creative with curse words.
In between helping Hailey with her “You Suck” paper, he was rummaging through my locker and telling me about this “juicy” fan-girl he met at a party the other night.
“I know I let you borrow my history book,” he kept saying in between telling me about “slurping” and “hair-gel” and something about an abandoned house. I wasn’t really listening. Don’t get me wrong, Mason is on my hockey team and if I was ever going to rank my friends (which I don’t, but for some reason Hailey always tries to get me to)—but I guess Mason would probably be my “best” friend. I guess. Hailey says he is. I let her think those kinds of things if she wants, ’cause I don’t care. And it truly doesn’t matter as far as I can tell. I mean, I get invited to everyone’s parties and everyone pretty much loves me. Or if they don’t they keep it to themselves, since I’m a pretty big guy and I pretty much own the hockey team (not literally).
Anyway, this is how things went that morning at my locker: I was thinking about Ally, Hailey was writing a hate letter to her ex-boyfriend, and Mason was telling us about this “juicy” girl he met at a party. (But I’m going to tell you something about Mason, just as a side note: he was in love with his for-a-month-or-two-only stepsister, Summer Baker. He’d never admit it, since, you know, that sister-situation thing, but he had it for her bad and we all knew it. Still we let him talk about other girls—it’s not like they didn’t exist in his life—it’s just we knew they’d disappear if he ever got his hands on Summer—well, his lips on her.)
So, anyway, Mason was talking about some chick that he didn’t really care about—and meanwhile, I was scanning around for the one I suddenly did care about—Cookie Girl. I didn’t tell Mason or Hailey about this though. One, because I knew Hailey would freak out. I mean, I don’t normally chase girls. Or look for them. If they are around, awesome. If they’re not? Well, one will probably come along any minute. Like I said, I’m lazy.
But I was actually in lookout mode for Ally. But see, you have to understand: Ally was a sweet church girl—and that freaked Hailey out, bad. I swear, if any time it even seemed I was interested in Ally, Hailey would growl and show her canines and practically bite my head off. She said Ally would “corrupt me.” No joke. Hailey claimed I was “impressionable.” She did ever since that cookie incident. She said I was looking for someone to worship—which is weird because she also said I was “heartless” when it came to girls. So, she kind of worked both sides of the fence.
Anyway, it had me looking for Ally while trying to not look like I was looking for anyone.
It ended up being easy to spot the pretty, glowing church girl though—once I looked around. I mean, I glanced up, and—whoa! Her eyes were on me.
My pulse thumped wild.
She was standing with her two friends—Jazz and Destiny (I didn’t actually know their names back then) but they seemed to be standing where they were so they could watch me. And whisper about me. It made me wonder how long—as in weeks … or months (???)—they’d been doing that. Stalking me. Without me noticing. A huge smile grew on my lips. And my heart pounded hard. Cookie Girl had been watching me. Cool. Especially because, you know, I’d been secretly thinking about her.
So, yeah, my pulse jack-hammered to look up and find her eyes on me—like Whoa, I’m being violated. It was so cool. Because it was her—Cookie Girl.
For a minute I just rubbed my chin, watching her watch me from her far off safe distance across the crowded school hallway.
We stood like that for a good full minute, I’d say. Because I was just enjoying it—being manhandled by her pretty eyes.
After my few savored moments of pure staring seduction, I strolled away from Mason and Hailey without a word. Left Mason to try to like a girl he didn’t. And left Hailey because I didn’t want her to make a scene over the fact I was—yes—actually into Church Girl. And who knows, maybe I would worship her … if she gave me a chance. (After all, I dug the stalking … and the glowing.)
As I sauntered toward wide-eyed Ally, at first she just stared at me, with her pretty frosted lips parted slightly, like Wow, he’s getting really close. Maybe we’ll brush arms or something. But when I got closer to her still and she actually figured out I was actually coming over to her—not just in her general direction—but, to her, specifically. Suddenly, she gasped the words, “Holy Smokes!”—loud. Like she saw a zombie rise from the dead or something. THEN, instead of letting me give her the notebook—or say a word—she bolted away from me. Lightening fast.
What the—???
I watched her run away with my eyebrows quirked, and my lips spreading into a huge grin. Man, the chick was weird.
I wanted her. Bad.
CHAPTER 8
Okay, I had absolutely no clue what that was about—why Ally took off running away from me like she did. I scratched my chin watching her run through the crowded hallway, darting through student traffic—fleeing from me … though she’d just been staring at me.
I sighed with a faint grin, my heart
beating with a strange mixture of amusement, bewilderment, and, curiously, a tiny bit of delight. Not delight that she ran from me, of course. Just delight that she was so entertaining. I mean, I enjoy the unexpected. And wow, that had been unexpected.
I cocked my head as I watched her disappear, and breathed out a tiny laugh.
Finally, I turned back to my locker, finding Mason and Hailey laughing their heads off at what just went down.
“Forget your deodorant this morning, Grief Master?” Mason called out.
“Apparently,” I grinned, turning back one last time to see where Ally had run off to, but she was long gone.
I shook my head, but I was smiling.
Weird, man.
“What was that about?” Mason asked when I slunk back to my ransacked locker, Ally’s notebook still in my backpack. His eyes twinkled. “You wanted another cookie?”
Still smiling, I lied. “Of course.”
I tried to make it sound like, ‘Why else would I talk to her?’
But Hailey stared at me suspiciously. Like she was pretty sure I was a traitor.
No way was I going to let her know about Ally’s notebook. She’d burn it. Or read it. … Or read it and then burn it. And do some sort of voodoo curse on it.
Mason, I might have told if we were alone. He wasn’t a hater of nice people. They didn’t make him want to bite the heads off puppies.
But Hailey was another story. (Watch out puppies.)
CHAPTER 9
Despite what happened that morning, you would have thought—probably—that me giving Ally back her notebook would be cake. Well anyway, I thought that. And if you thought it too, you’d be wrong. Dead wrong. The chick wouldn’t let me near her. I mean that literally. If she saw me coming towards her, she darted the other way. Every. Time.
Her Kiss (Griffin) Page 2
