I can’t do this to Kerri. I can’t sit here any longer. I have to be there for her. I pop up and grab my phone and keys and her dad’s old sweatshirt then head out to my car. The game is at our school, so I don’t even have to go very far.
It’s an important game, and cars overflow the parking lot, so I have to park around the block. I jog to the nearest gym entrance, by the concession stands, suddenly desperate not to miss another moment.
I burst through the glass doors and stumble into a crowd of people milling around in the concession area. It must be half time. I know the players aren’t allowed to have their cell phones out during the game, but maybe I can get Kerri’s attention and let her know I’m here for her.
I’m so focused that I don’t even see Mia until I almost slam into her. She’s carrying a bag of popcorn and a soda, and she jumps and spills a little.
“Mia! How’s the game going?”
She gives me a weird look. “Haven’t you been watching? I thought you were here cheering on Mallory.”
I scowl. “No, I told Mallory I wasn’t coming. I could tell she didn’t really like me, she was just using me. I assume Kerri put her up to it.”
“So, why are you here now?”
I sigh and rake a hand through my hair. “Because I still care about her even if she doesn’t care about me.”
Mia flings her arms out, sloshing soda and flinging popcorn. “Of course she cares about you, Connor! She cares about you a LOT. She just doesn’t think you feel the same.”
“Wait, are you saying Kerri likes me?”
Mia chuckles. “Duh! Why do you think she wants you around all the time? It’s not just about her silly superstitions.”
I shake my head, confused. “Then why did she go out with Jake?”
Mia sighs and rolls her eyes. “Because she thought you weren’t into her. She thinks you’re still into Mallory.”
“Mallory isn’t as great as I thought she was.” I frown. “Besides, why would I spend so much time with Kerri if I didn’t like her?”
Mia shrugs. “That’s what I told her, but she didn’t believe me because you never told her how you feel.”
I scrunch my face, still not understanding. “So, why did Kerri encourage Mallory to ask me out?”
“It was a test. Kerri figured if Mallory asked you out, she’d find out for sure if you still liked her.”
I slap a hand over my face. “I failed, didn’t I?”
“Yep.” Mia presses her lips together and nods her head.
I rub a hand over my face and hair. “I went out with Mallory because I’ve been fantasizing about her since the moment I met her, and I thought Kerri was interested in Jake, but I had a terrible time, and I couldn’t stop thinking about Kerri. I thought Kerri was just using me, and that’s why I didn’t want to come today. But I realized I don’t care if she’s using me. I just want to make her happy.”
Mia’s lips curl in a smile. “You make her happy, Connor, but you have to tell her how you feel.”
I nod. “I will. Today. Is it half time? How is she playing?” We start walking towards the gym.
Mia holds her popcorn out to me, and I take a handful. “She’s actually doing great. They’re ahead by 20.” Mia sticks her popcorn under her arm and grabs my shoulder. “But Connor, I don’t think you should tell her you’re here.”
“Why not?”
“Because if Mallory told her you weren’t coming, that means she knows she’s doing this all on her own. I think it would be good for her to realize she doesn’t always need a good luck charm to succeed.”
I wince. It makes sense, but I hate to let her feel abandoned like that.
“Trust me, Connor. It would be a good thing for her.”
I nod. “Okay, yeah. I can see your point.” Mia smiles and pats me on the shoulder like a puppy who just learned a trick or something.
“Hey, is there room for me to sit with you guys?”
Mia shakes her head. “Sorry, we’re crammed in there like sardines.”
“Okay, no problem. I’ll squeeze in somewhere else.” We enter the gym right as the buzzer rings, and I scan the bleachers for an opening, but the place is packed. Finally, I take a spot on the opposing side.
I would never believe the Blazers were winning if I didn’t see the proof on the scoreboard, because they play like crap the whole third quarter. Kerri is missing shots left and right and practically handing the ball to her opponents. The Blazers lose most of their lead, and Coach Kavanagh calls a time out in the fourth quarter.
I can’t hear what she’s saying, but I’m pretty sure she’s giving them hell. Whatever she says, it sparks a fire under Kerri, though, and she bursts back onto the court like an avenger, ready to take back the game. She fights with the Buccaneers, losing a point to them for every one she gains, but when she sinks an amazing three-pointer in the last ten seconds, she cinches the win.
She’s not content with that, though, and she lands one more basket before the final buzzer rings, bringing the Blazers ahead by three. The crowd explodes, and her teammates attack her, lifting her up on their shoulders. The look of pride on her face is worth any pain she might have endured, thinking she was on her own.
My heart swells as I watch her revel in her victory. Mia, Austin, and her brothers join her on the court, and she’s laughing, and smiling, and jumping up and down. I’m desperate to go hug her, and congratulate her, and tell her how happy I am for her, but Mia’s right. Kerri needs to own this win.
I slip out the side door before she sees me and head back to my car. I’m pulling into my driveway when my phone buzzes with a text from her.
We won our game. Would you like to come celebrate at Romano’s with me?
Huh. I wasn’t expecting that. Maybe Mia encouraged her. I’m not going to turn down the opportunity to see her, though, so I text right back.
That’s great, Ker. I’ll be there
I turn around and head for the little Italian restaurant, smiling so hard I can’t close my mouth.
I pull in to the restaurant right behind her and park a few spots away. When I get out, she’s talking to her friends and family. They wave at me, and she gives me a smile. “Go on in and order. I need to talk to Connor for a minute,” I hear her say.
I walk over to her with my hands in my pockets and my head down, peeking up at her from under my lashes, not sure how this is going to go. Her eyes are sparkling like emeralds, her freckles dancing on her milky skin, and she still has that giant smile on her face. She looks beautiful.
“Congratulations, Kerri. I’m really proud of you. You did it, even without a good luck charm.”
She nods, grinning. “Yeah, I guess I did.” Then her smile falters, and she drops her head. “I’m sorry I’ve been using you.”
I shake my head. “You can only use someone if they let you. Every moment I spent with you, I wanted to be there.”
“You did?”
I give her a little grin. “Yeah, Kerri. I did. I like being with you… I like you.”
She sucks in a breath, and her face splits open again. “I like you, too, Connor, and not just because you’re my lucky charm.”
“Do you think I could ever be more than that to you?”
“You already are.”
I reach for her, and she steps closer. My arms slide around her waist, and my head tilts and leans toward hers. My mouth touches hers, tentatively at first because I’ve never kissed anyone before. But her fingers dig into my sides, pulling me closer, and I let our bodies press together as I take a taste.
She’s fresh from the shower, and she’s warm and smells like ripe apples. I can’t get enough of her. We touch and kiss till we’re both short of breath. Finally, I pull away when I can’t take any more. Her hands are on my hips, and her thumb skims over the ring in my front pocket.
“Oh, yeah, I found something of yours.” I stick a hand in my pocket and pull out the ring, holding it in my open palm.
Her mouth falls open, an
d her eyes get big. “My Claddagh ring! Where did you find it?”
“In my car.”
“Thank you.” She reaches for it, but I pick it up with my other hand and look at the design — two hands holding a heart.
“I read something about these rings. I guess they’re supposed to be a sign of your relationship status.”
She nods, staring at me. I hand it over, and she slides the ring on her right hand with the heart facing towards her.
“What does it mean when you wear it that way?” I whisper.
“It means someone has captured my heart.”
I can’t help the smile that takes over my face, and I lean in to kiss her again.
To be continued in…
GET YOUR COPY NOW
KC wants payback for Jake’s cruel prank, but is she getting revenge or falling in love?
KC can’t wait for a chance to start over in a new school, until Jake Matthews humiliates her in front of everyone with an epic April Fools’ joke.
KC soon learns she isn’t the first person to suffer from one of Jake’s notorious pranks, and she won’t be the last. Jake’s already lined up his next cruel stunt—a bet between the popular boys with enough intended victims to turn the entire school upside down.
When KC attempts to exact her own revenge by creating an online persona set on winning Jake’s heart—just so she can tear it apart—she never expected to actually fall for him.
But what happens when Jake finds out the girl he’s in love with is also his sworn enemy?
GET YOUR COPY NOW
1
JAKE
The alarm on my phone jolts me awake, and I jump out of bed, grinning like a madman, instead of hitting snooze a dozen times. For once real life is going to be better than my dreams. Today is my favorite day of the whole year, and it’s going to be the best one ever.
My plan is simple but brilliant, and if it turns out like I imagine, I’m going to be a legend.
I take a shower and put on my Joker tee shirt in honor of the occasion then cheek myself out in the mirror. Jack Nicholson’s face leers at me from the shirt, one eye covered by a slip of paper that asks, “Why so serious?”
I grin back at him and run a hand through my hair, pop a zit that’s making me look like Rudolph, then head to the kitchen for some breakfast. I pour a bowl of Trix before I discover there’s no milk in the fridge. Of course not.
Domestic details like milk for the cereal or bread for the peanut butter and jelly aren’t that important to my workaholic parents. I leave the bowl of cereal on the spotless counter out of spite and scrounge for something else to eat. We have an industrial-size refrigerator with nothing but condiments in it. I growl and slam the door shut. Oh well, at least I’m up early enough I have time to stop for something.
I ask Siri about the weather and decide it’s warm enough to take my bike, so I slide on my leather jacket and double check my bag for the essential ingredient to my evil plan. One tiny bottle is all I need to go down in history as the best prankster ever.
“I’m leaving for school, see you tonight,” I call out.
“Bye, Son. Have a great day!” I holler back to myself because there’s no one else here to say it.
I head out to the garage and climb onto my Kawasaki Ninja, roaring out of the driveway like my ass is on fire. It pretty much is with this thing under it. I stop at McDonald’s for some breakfast, wishing there was a way to drink coffee on a motorcycle. Not that I need the caffeine; I’m hyped up enough on endorphins.
When I get to school, I grab the McDonald’s bag and start looking for one of my buddies. I see Dylan digging through his locker. Perfect. Cautious enough to do a good job, but reckless enough to think it’s a great idea.
“Hey man, I got a McGriddle with your name on it if you help me out with something.” I hold the bag up to Dylan’s face so he can get a whiff of it, and his stomach growls his answer.
“Can I eat first?” He slams his locker shut and reaches for the McDonald’s bag, but I yank it away before he can get to it.
“Nope, but I promise it’ll only take a minute.” He narrows his eyes at me when he sees my devious grin.
“What kind of trouble are you up to?”
“The best kind, obviously. It’s April Fools’ Day.” I grin and wiggle my eyebrows.
Dylan rolls his eyes at me. “Let me guess, you’re going to prank someone.”
“Not just someone. Everyone.” My eyes light up and I smile evilly. Go big or go home, right? I’m a junior, so I’ve got to step up my game a little from the smaller pranks that just target one or two people.
“Will you leave me out of it if I help you?”
I shrug. “As long as you don’t want ketchup on your hamburger. Follow me.” I wave the bag and lead Dylan to the cafeteria.
It’s almost time for school to start, and most of the kids at this school are too lazy to get here early enough for breakfast, so there aren’t very many people in here, but I still want Dylan as a shield and a lookout.
I head to the condiment station on the side of the room where there are big dispensers for ketchup and mustard plus packets of salt, pepper, and mayo. There’s even a bottle of Texas Pete. Hot sauce for wussies. It’s not nearly strong enough for what I have in mind.
I position Dylan so he’s blocking me from the rest of the cafeteria and he’s facing the kitchen so he can warn me if any of the staff starts looking at me. It would’ve been nice to have another person on that side to completely hide me from view, but that might look more suspicious. Plus, the fewer accomplices I have, the less likely I am to get ratted out.
I want the whole school to know what I did, but I don’t want to get in trouble.
I set my bag down on the counter beside me, blocking the view of my hands, then pull a glass jar out of the front compartment.
“What is that?” Dylan watches me with curiosity.
“Just a little hot sauce.” I smirk.
Dylan grins and nods his head in approval. “This is gonna be awesome.”
I don’t mention that it’s not just any hot sauce. It’s Artifact Acute Burn 1 Million Scoville Pepper Extract, one of the world’s hottest hot sauces. 1000 times hotter than Sriracha. Literally.
I special ordered it off the internet, and it came in a skull-shaped bottle sealed with red wax that makes it look like its brain is exploding. That’s pretty much what will happen to anyone who eats it. I transferred the contents to an old jelly jar because I wanted to keep the collectible bottle, and I knew I’d have to dispose of the evidence as soon as possible.
When Dylan says the coast is clear, I pull the top off the ketchup dispenser and dump in the entire jar of hot sauce. It’s less than two ounces, so there’s plenty of room to add it to the mostly-full container, but it’s enough to ignite the lips of anyone who takes the smallest taste of the laced ketchup. I stir it around a bit with the part of the pump that goes inside the container then put the top back on.
“Let’s try it.” Dylan reaches for one of those little paper cups, but I grab his arm to stop him.
“No, dude. Believe me. You don’t want to do that.”
He widens his eyes and stares at me with a combination of fear and admiration. “What kind of sauce is that?”
“It’s not Texas Pete, I’ll tell you that.”
I wipe my fingerprints off the jar and the ketchup dispenser with a napkin, I guess because I’ve watched too many detective shows, then shove the empty jar into the trash, burying it under a bunch of other crap.
“I don’t have to warn you not to tell a soul what just happened here, do I?” I give Dylan a menacing stare-down.
Dylan makes a cross on his chest with his finger then zips his lips with a pretend zipper. “I won’t say a word, my friend. But you know everyone is going to finger you, anyway, right?”
I grin gleefully. “Absolutely. But they won’t be able to prove it.”
The kitchen is serving waffles this morning, so hopefully n
o one will use the ketchup until lunch time. I plan to be one of the first people in here so I can watch every minute as my brilliant prank unfolds around me.
Dylan and I eat our McGriddles as we walk to first period, and the combination of grease, sugar, and adrenaline has me jittery and manic. I need to pull off some smaller pranks to take the edge off before I end up pulling the fire alarm or something. I have a bunch of smaller pranks planned for today, but I don’t have time for any of them right now.
When I see my friend Austin sucking face with his girlfriend, Mia, the waistband of his Calvin Kleins sticking out above his jeans, I can’t resist the temptation.
I veer across the hallway and slide behind him, grabbing his underwear and yanking it up till I can see the leg holes. Austin yowls and whips around, ready to deck me, but I duck out of the way and take off down the hallway cackling. Nothing beats a wedgie for pure, prank hilarity.
When I get to first period, I do a double take because there’s a girl I don’t recognize sitting in my normal spot. At least, I think it’s a girl. Is she new here?
“Hey, that’s my seat.”
She looks up at me, and I can tell she’s definitely a girl because she’s really pretty, but she either doesn’t know it or doesn’t want anyone else to because she’s covered it all up with dark, goth makeup. She has chin-length, messy, brown hair that looks a lot like my brother’s hair when he’s way past due for a haircut, and she’s wearing black jeans, heavy, black boots, and an oversized, black tee shirt that hides any boobs she might have.
“The teacher said I could sit anywhere.”
“Well, we don’t have assigned seats or anything, but I’ve been sitting in that desk all semester. That one’s usually empty.” I point to the desk beside her.
“Good, you can sit there, then,” she retorts then goes back to staring at the front of the classroom.
Okay, then. Nice to meet you, too, Miss Personality.
Good Luck Charm Page 17
