You're What I Want (Y.A Series Book 4)

by Sarah Tork

  She cringed. “What kind of a friend would ask another to do that?”

  This was low, even for Latisha. I shook my head, thinking about that lying, despicable fraud urging her closest confidante to come take me out.

  “A horrible friend,” I answered.

  Stacey Two nodded frantically, totally agreeing with me. She’d seen the light and not a moment too soon, because if she’d come for me, you best know I would have taken that girl out in front of everyone, ruining her social status for the rest of the year, and since high school would probably be the highlight of her life, her mistake would have scarred her for life.

  “She told me if I didn’t fight for Tom during lunch I’d have to find a new group of friends,” she confessed, visibly shaking in terror.

  I shook my index finger at her. “And she says she’s nothing like Donna. She really is Donna’s protégé.”

  “What am I going to do? I know we fought at Wilsons, but I wasn’t going to actually hit you. You’d kick my ass. I don’t want to fight you. Please tell me I won’t have to fight you?” she cried, glancing around the hallway in a panic, looking for someone to save her.

  Unbeknown to her, her savior stood in front of her. I’d save her from a lifetime of humiliation and panic attacks about that one time in high school she dared go against the god, the swimming champion, and the warrior that was I, Jenna Sabini.

  I grabbed her shoulder and gave it a shake. “Listen to me, Stacey. You don’t have to fight anyone. There are three things I believe in: friendship, loyalty, and swimming.”

  She sucked in a breath, her pink glossy lips puckering. “Me too. I believe in friendship, loyalty, and shopping,” she added, using three fingers.

  “Lovely.” I patted her delicate shoulder. “Anyways, Latisha has broken every rule in my book.”

  Stacey Two nodded. “She’s broken every rule in my book too. She totally went shopping without me last Saturday.”

  “Oh, the tragedy.” I put my arm over her shoulder. “Come, young one, you have much to learn. We’re off to the cafeteria. It’s time our dear old friend Latisha learned a few lessons in humility.”

  Stacey smiled sweetly. “Hey, you didn’t call me Stacey Two!”

  Shame filled me. Over the years the number of times my words had left me embarrassed were less than a handful. Walking side by side with a girl I horrifically called a name other than her own had me feeling like a monster idiot. Her only crime was being Latisha’s friend, and that shouldn’t have given me the right to berate her.

  “I’m sorry for calling you that in the first place. It was wrong of me. I’ll never call you that again, Stacey,” I promised her.

  She blinked, seeming shocked at my apology. “Thanks. Apology accepted.”

  We entered the cafeteria, feeling eyes everywhere wondering why Jenna “The Wave, Superstar Swimmer” Sabini was walking side by side with Stacey… formerly Stacey Two.

  Tom was sitting by Peter with the rest of the baseball players, deep in discussion with serious expressions. He didn’t notice me enter with Stacey. Annabelle was sitting next to James, looking cozy, laughing at him acting like a fool. But I guess she had radar, because she looked up and spotted me at record speed.

  Annabelle had perfected the art of confused expressions. The girl on my right, walking side by side with me, had my best buddy eyeing me with confusion that screamed, “What are you doing!”

  I would have too if I’d seen her walking inside the cafeteria with Stacey. But there was no time to explain things to her. I had a menace to find and serve a giant whooping in front of everyone for trying to get Stacey to start a fight with me. I gave Annabelle a nod so she’d relax. She didn’t, but who had time for that right now.

  “Now, where is Latisha?” I searched the room and found her with the “hot” girls, sitting three tables away from the baseball team’s table. “Ah, there she is, and wearing nothing just as usual.”

  With most of her stomach out in an oversized aqua-blue sports bra/halter top thing, and low-rise black skinny jeans that were a crouch away from a thong slip, Latisha rose from her center seat, eyeing Stacey and me with an evil scowl.

  “I have the same jeans, but in a size smaller. They’re so cute. But that top, ugh. I told her not to buy that top, it is so scandalous. She thinks it’ll help her get Roy,” Stacey chimed in. “She’s totally trying to bait him with all that extra skin out. He hasn’t looked her way once, but that won’t stop her. Tomorrow she’s so going to wear a pink sequined mini skirt that shows her butt cheeks if she like bends over… so scandalous.”

  “Interesting. She is officially obsessed,” I concurred, shaking my head slowly as Latisha made her way toward us. “Let’s go to her table and have a little chat on the hierarchy of life.”

  Stacey gasped quietly. “Like, like, like… like what are you going to do to her?”

  I grinned. “My friend, welcome to Jenna’s world, where right will always rule out wrong.” I eyed her evilly. “I’m going to annihilate her.”

  “Well look it here, garbage day,” Fresh Meat said, ending her jab with a cackle. I glanced away from Stacey to Latisha, standing in front of us with a hand to her bared waist.

  I checked my right, and Stacey had vanished into thin air.

  What?

  Where’d she go?

  I searched the cafeteria for a second but Latisha wasn’t having it. She cleared her throat loudly.

  “You’re poor, Jenna. You guys have to sell your house. I heard your dad spill about the state of your finances to my dad, who’s a real estate broker. And you should know, your dad won’t even make any money on your house ’cause he has like a second mortgage on it,” she whispered.

  She continued saying things to me but I could barely hear. My entire body went numb, my mind turned into mush. I wanted to respond and put her in her place but she was saying things that were hitting too close to home, things I’d been keeping to myself for the longest time.

  I didn’t want to cry in front of her.

  And by the looks of her, she was far from finished. Latisha was going to milk my stunned position. “Hey, if you need money, I could always use someone to wash my brand new Beemer.”

  My heart was on the verge of collapsing.

  “If you speak up, and bring all your friends into this, I’ll tell the whole cafeteria that we’re about to have a huge begging problem.” Latisha whispered. “I’ll give you a quarter to shut up. In fact, here’s a dollar. Take the dollar, Jenna. Take the dollar… superstar.” Latisha held a dollar in her palm.

  Feeling like I had no choice, because I was scared she’d announce my family’s financial situation to everyone, I slowly took the dollar from her palm.

  She sneered like a cocky champion would have. “That’s right, put it in to your pocket.”

  I did.

  I wanted to snap out of this, but I couldn’t. Latisha basked in my silence and continued her tirade of madness. “Now here’s what you are going to do. From now on, you’re going to butt out of my business, and Roy is my business. You dumb idiot.”

  She still wasn’t finished. “And break up with Tom. Stacey wants him, and I promised him to her if she stayed loyal to me. You fell for it, miss speedy queen. Guess you’re not such a huge winner, after all.”

  I remained silent and Latisha basked, allowing herself to grow angrier. “I want you to know something, you’re not invincible. You walk the hallways of school, thinking you’re this queen athlete. You’re not better than me. You’re nothing, Jenna Sabini. You can’t even get a scholarship, that’s the kind of loser you are.”

  The winner began to cackle as she prepared for the final blow. “By the way, tell your loser dad that he’s a joke of a mechanic. My dad’s on his way to your disgusting garage to get his money back for a horrible job done on his Beemer.”

  The knife deep in my stomach, Latisha’s firm grip dug it deeper as I stared stunned at the monster I might have helped create.

  Her lips ri
ppled. “You’re not at my level, and the sooner you realize that the better off everyone will be.”

  *~*~*

  *JENNA*

  Multiple toilets flushed.

  All except for mine.

  I slid down the wall and sat on the floor, taking in Annabelle’s favorite stall. I could see why now. There was room to sit.

  Speaking of Annabelle, it didn’t take long for my best friend to find me. It was weird, because this situation was a total role reversal. She was in here, trying to save the day, just like I’d tried doing when it was her crying in a bathroom stall.

  She knew exactly which stall I was in too. Best friends thought alike. We’re closer than that, though. Sisters.

  I heard her stop outside the stall and gently knock.

  “Jenna?” she called.

  “Yeah,” I responded, reaching underneath the stall for her hand.

  The washroom was now empty, so she took a seat on the cold tile floor and grabbed my hand, giving it a squeeze. “What happened?”

  “It’s my turn, right, Anna?” I sighed, feeling pitiful. “You’re on that side of the stall, helping me post annihilation.”

  Her grip tightened on my hand. “Stop trying to change the subject. You were so happy one minute, charging at Latisha, ready to give her crap, then you got quiet, and let her talk… and then you just left the cafeteria without a word.”

  “Do you think Tom saw what happened?” I asked, feeling a tiny glimmer of happiness he wasn’t close enough to see me get my butt handed to me.

  “I’m not sure; I wasn’t paying attention to anyone else but you. But after you left, he asked where you ran off to.”

  “He saw me run out?” My heart stopped beating. “Did you tell him why? I hope you just told him I had bad cramps.”

  “I just told him you had bathroom issues.”

  I sighed in relief. “Damn, you could have made this whole thing more funny if you wanted to.”

  “I don’t see anything funny about this,” Annabelle hissed. “In fact I’m getting angry. You need to tell me exactly what happened with Latisha. I’m a second away from marching back inside the cafeteria and making her tell me.”

  “How?” I asked, honestly curious. “By beating it out of her?”

  “If I have to, I will. She probably deserves a nice smack, probably at least ten. You don’t get affected like this. Shit, Jenna, what happened?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it, it’s stupid,” I said.

  “If you don’t tell me in the next ten seconds, I’m going to have to break in and kill you.”

  “You’re going to kill me if I don’t tell you what happened?” I smiled warmly. My BFF/sister/closest confidante cared enough to threaten me with murder.

  “Yep, it’s the penalty for keeping things from your best friend. I know you read the rule book,” Annabelle reminded me.

  Feeling deflated again, I sighed with a sad smile. “Dude, I need a hug.”

  “What happened? Tell me,” Annabelle urged.

  “It’s stupid.” I exhaled my frustration out.

  “It’s not stupid. You are upset right now. People like Latisha don’t make you upset, not to this point at least,” Annabelle stated.

  “There are some nasty people in this school.”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice. Remember what happened in here like a month ago?”

  “Yeah; in fact, I had a run-in with that psycho’s protégé, taking swings at me like she knew shit.” I gulped mid explanation. “Her dad’s a broker and my parents might sell our house.”

  “Keep going,” Annabelle pushed.

  “It’s like she had all this knowledge about my family’s finances and couldn’t wait to jab me with it.”

  “What?” Annabelle screeched in disbelief. “She threatened to use it against you?”

  “She was going to put me on blast in front of the entire cafeteria if I talked back to her.”

  “The nerve of that idiot!”

  With another haggard breath, I kept going. “And that she would announce to the entire cafeteria that I was a beggar, about to be homeless, and that I needed charity or something. Her voodoo left me in a state of shock. Witchcraft stuff, Anna. She had a buck in her hand and I felt like I had no choice but to take it… so I did? Jesus… Christ. I can’t believe that happened.” I felt sick to my stomach at the memory.

  “That’s it, I’m going to kill her!”

  “What? Don’t bother.” I released her hand and exited the stall. “The damage is done. She’s wounded me.”

  “That’s insane.” Annabelle got off the floor and stood in front of me. “This is a problem. We need justice.”

  I eyed the empty bathroom and decided I wasn’t ready to leave. I plopped back down. “And we will, but I’d like to sit here for the next five minutes, if you don’t mind.”

  “Well, fine. But I’m sitting with you.” Annabelle plopped back down and sat next to me on the cold floor.

  I sighed and eyed the door. “What about James?”

  Annabelle rolled her eyes. “Best friends for life will trump egotistic boyfriends during lunch. Besides, he’s fine re-enacting that soccer team—baseball team debacle from a month ago… for the millionth time. God, help me. If I have to hear one more time about how he conquered….”

  James performing that infamous scene was annoying her too. Wonderful. I wanted to cry, but held tears back. “Thanks, banana.”

  She wrapped her arm around my shoulder and squeezed me. “No problem, warrior princess.”

  We sat in silence for a few minutes, until I remembered something.

  “Where’s Dana?” I asked.

  Annabelle snorted, shaking her head. “Where do you think?”

  “Beside her man, probably,” I concluded.

  “Well she looked like she wanted to follow you out, but she kept holding Roy’s hand like she was scared to let go,” Annabelle explained. “It was kind of funny, kind of sad, and really scary… because she’s supposed to be a good friend.”

  “Whatever.” I shook my head, disappointed.

  My body began to shake.

  Hiding in a bathroom was so unlike me, and it was all because of that idiot. “Latisha is going to get it, just wait and see. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but she’s turned into a bigger monster than Donna. She’s grown six heads in the last month.”

  Annabelle chuckled, bumping her shoulder into mine. “I don’t know about that.”

  My phone vibrated, chiming with an incoming text.

  Tom: I’m waiting outside. Come out and tell me what happened?

  Waiting outside the washroom, my boyfriend exemplified wild and angry to its fullest description. His presence alone took up a section of the hallway, while his closest friends stood a few lockers back, eyeing our reunion with their spectator glasses on. Annabelle exited right after and went to James, who waited with Peter and a few others. I searched the hallway quickly for Latisha and her crew, but they were nowhere in sight. Sighing in relief, I went straight for Tom.

  “What happened?” he asked, engulfing me in a cozy hug. His smell calmed my nerves. “There’re rumors going around that Latisha tried getting smart with you in the cafeteria, and that she insulted you and your family. Is it true?”

  I snuggled closer to his chest, hoping his navy-blue sweater jacket shielded my reddened face from prying eyes awaiting news that would either confirm or deny “cafeteria gate.”

  “It’s just some stupid girl stuff,” I mumbled into his shirt. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

  “You sure?” His voice sounded worried. “Because if that idiot tried something funny with you, I won’t be cool about it. She and the ‘hot’ girls are giving everyone headaches, acting like they’re something special when they’re not. Peter’s done with them too. One of them mouthed off to Becky last weekend and now she won’t return his texts. God, I sound like a chick right now. Please shoot me.”

  So that was the reason why Bec
ky was MIA from school today. Note to self, text Becky for the 411, and to plan an epic soul-destroying revenge plot.

  “Not right now. I need you to stay with me like this. Hash-tag more important.” I hugged him tighter, not caring who saw.

  Call me Queen PDA.

  I didn’t give a damn.

  CHAPTER 14

  *JENNA*

  Tom had practice after school and Annabelle went MIA, skipping History altogether. I’d get the 411 from her later. Mom had a nail appointment this afternoon, so getting home was up to me, but I chose to go somewhere else instead.

  My dad’s auto shop, located a twenty-minute bus ride away. I crossed the street, feeling an emptiness that was nothing like hunger, or even the disappointment of losing a swim meet. This was a new feeling.

  His auto shop was located behind a plaza at the end of a block.

  When Dad spotted me crossing the street, he seemed bewildered. “Jenna, what are you doing here?” he asked from beneath the hood of an old truck.

  “Can’t a daughter come and see her pops every now and then.” I forced myself to smirk, but it came out in this desperate attempt to smile and chuckle… like a ha-ha-ha-cringe smile, my tooth hurts… kind of way.

  Dad eyed me. He closed the hood of the truck and wiped his greasy hands with a dirty rag hanging off the pocket of his overall. “Why would you want to hang out here? This place is boring. Go hang out with your friends.”

  He entered the office, this small room with forms and handwritten receipts, with stacks of paper and folders in towers scattered over every available surface. It needed an organizer’s touch but Dad wouldn’t have it, stating he had a good system going on.

  “Don’t got too many of those right now,” I mumbled, following him inside and taking a seat.

  Dad grabbed two bottles of orange juice from the mini fridge that also served as a printer platform. “What about Annabelle?” he asked, handing me a bottle.

  Uncapping it, I took a long drink before answering. “Oh, yeah, her. She’s good, but she’s probably with her boyfriend right now, or will be.”