The Tomboy & The Movie Star: A Sweet YA Romance (Jackson High Series Book 3)

by M. L. Collins

  “Oh, man.” That explained the pain in his eyes when he mentioned that it hadn’t gone the way he’d hoped.

  “The poor boy,” Lolli said, reaching out and patting April’s hand.

  “I think it’s why he went to such great lengths to make sure the next important person in his life, liked him for himself.”

  “Now hold on,” Gigi said. “That timeline doesn’t make sense. He came here incognito before he knew Bernie. So how did he know to go to such great lengths?”

  Yeah. Everyone’s gazes whipped over to April.

  “That’s not exactly true,” she said. “Bernie applied for a grant from Grant’s charity foundation. When he read it, the letter reminded him of his own passion and drive. He was intrigued by a girl mechanic. The fact that you asked for funds for your school and not yourself impressed both of us. Grant fell for Bernie before he ever met her.”

  “He came to Texas and Jackson High to meet Bernie?” Lacey sighed. “That is so romantic. It’s like a movie.”

  “You know, Bernie.” Lolli looked at me and smiled. “Most movies have happy endings.”

  Did they?

  26

  Grant, Earl, Tammi & Marvin

  Bernie

  I woke up tired the next morning since I could hardly sleep that night. Every time I’d close my eyes I’d see Grant. Grant laughing in my garage. Grant surfing like some hot god on the TV screen. Grant snitching my lunch. Grant putting everything he had into learning about cars—for me.

  After throwing on jeans and a T-shirt for school, I reached for my phone to call Gigi to talk it over, but stopped before making the call. I didn’t need to call Gigi. She didn’t need to be my only lifeline anymore.

  I grabbed my boots and headed into the kitchen.

  “Hey, Lolli? What do you think Mama would do if she were in my shoes?”

  “Your mama was a true romantic, so my guess is if she were in your shoes, she’d be on the first plane to California to go after that boy.”

  “It’s one of my options.”

  “I’m happy to hear that,” Lolli said. “Just a heads up, I’m having the garage fumigated for termites, so it’ll be off limits for a few days.”

  Ugh. There went my escape and stress release for a few days. Maybe I could take up boxing this week.

  When I told Lacey I was thinking of flying out to L.A. to see Grant, she screamed so loudly that the teacher on duty in the cafeteria asked us to leave.

  “Yeeessss! I knew you wouldn’t let me down!”

  “That’s if I don’t chicken out. I still have to get through the rest of this week.”

  Trust me when I say school had been no fun. Because everybody had found out that Grant was Kingsly Grant. And everybody had heard about his famous Hollywood girlfriend. A few kids made sure to tell me about his girlfriend—you know, in case I didn’t know and so they could laugh at me. I thought I didn’t fit in before, but now that I was the butt of everyone’s jokes, I really didn’t fit in.

  Todd made auto shop class worse than usual. Although, maybe for the first time, I understood Todd. Kids who were bullied usually end up bullies themselves. Everything sort of fell into place after overhearing the way Todd’s father treated him. I figured he was embarrassed, knowing I had heard his father screaming at him. Knowing I had seen the tears in his eyes. So I was willing to ignore his obnoxiousness for a few days.

  I lasted a day. Because Todd had become even cockier pain-in-the butt Todd 2.0 since he beat me in the tech competition.

  “Loser alert,” Todd called as I walked into shop class. “Double loser between the competition and being dumped by a movie star. It must suck to be you, Bernard.”

  “Not as bad is it must suck to be you, Todd. You know what I just realized? I don’t need to compete with you anymore. And it has nothing to do with feeling sorry for you. Because I don’t. You’re old enough to know how bad it feels to get bullied.” I cocked an eyebrow at him. “Old enough to know that it sucks, yet you still do it to others. So, no. I don’t need to compete with you, but I will call you out every time I see you bully someone in school. Every. Time.”

  I enjoyed seeing the smirk fall from his face.

  By Thursday I was at the end of my rope. I ducked into a bathroom to escape for a few minutes. I needed a break. I needed time to regroup so I could go back out there and take more punishment.

  Guess who was in the bathroom? Yeah, Breanna Smith and her mean girl posse.

  “Look who it is! It’s Kingsly Grant’s reject.” She laughed and her girls joined in. “How does it feel to be his little piece on the side?”

  I wanted to turn around and walk right back out. I didn’t. I straightened my spine and kept moving. But then the craziest thing happened.

  “You know what’s funny?” Breanna snorted. “You thought you could compete with Talia. She’s, like, a supermodel.”

  That wasn’t the crazy thing. The crazy thing was just as I was walking past them to wash my hands and ignore them the way I always did—I heard a voice in my head. Grant’s voice telling me to stop fitting in. Telling me I wasn’t the problem; it was them. And his voice stopped me in my tracks. I turned around and walked right up to Breanna, staring directly into her eyes.

  “I’m not anyone’s reject. And I don’t need to compete because I’m the one who walked away. But I will share one thing…” I looked at her smirking face and let my lips slide into a big, slow smile. “Kingsly Grant is an amazing kisser. A-mazing.”

  That shut them all up. I won’t lie; I enjoyed the looks of shock and envy on their faces as I turned and walked out of the bathroom.

  A small victory in a week that felt like a battlefield.

  “Hey, Bernie! Come quick!” Lacey was standing at the end of a hallway, waving her arm at me. “You’re not going to believe this!”

  “I don’t know, Lace. It’s been a heck of a week.” In a bad way. I didn’t think I could take anything more.

  Lacey locked elbows with mine and walked me into the front foyer of the school where a large crowd was gathering and many students pushing through the series of doors to head outside.

  “Let’s go,” Lacey said, heading us outside also. Even more kids were standing outside along with many of the teachers, secretaries and even Principal Barstow.

  The crowd parted for us, clearing an opening like wind through a wheat field. That’s when I almost fell over.

  Because Kingsly Grant stood in front of a freshly painted Earl (Tahoe Turquoise!) and he held a boom box in his hands. As soon as his eyes met mine, he pushed the boom box on and held it over his head while he looked at me defiantly, unashamedly, and with a whole lot of something that made me go weak in the knees.

  “Holy cow. He’s recreating the Say Anything ‘boom box’ scene.” Lacey put her hand over her mouth. “I’m really going to need Grady to do this for me. Although I don’t recognize the song.”

  I did. “If I Could Build My Whole World Around You” by Tammi Terrell and Marvin Gaye. He was playing my favorite Motown song. For me. For us.

  He held his hand out to me and I walked straight into his arms and kissed him.

  Maybe people started cheering and whistling. Maybe that was fireworks exploding in my chest. Pretty sure I heard Principal Barstow call for all the students to get back inside. All I know is when we finally ran out of breath and Tammi and Marvin stopped singing, I pulled back and looked into the most beautiful blue eyes I’d ever seen.

  “I’m sorry,” Grant said. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you enough to tell you who I was sooner.”

  “It’s okay.” I lifted my hand to his jaw. “Your mom explained.”

  “I have to ask… Why did you throw the contest? I know you did. I saw the repair order. I don’t understand why you would do that. It was so important to you. You studied so hard. We studied so hard so we could win this for you. What happened?”

  “I realized that maybe Todd needed to win more than I did.”

  “What are you
going to do? I thought you needed the scholarship money.”

  “I do, but it turns out the Miss Armadillo Pageant awarded scholarships. Who knew? So I have enough to cover my first semester.”

  “What about needing to prove to your boss that you’re just as good a technician as a guy?”

  “I thought a lot about that. I was frustrated about not fitting in in a guy’s world. Angry that I had to jump through hoops that Todd or some other male mechanic didn’t have to.”

  “That’s not fair.”

  “Yeah, but someone recently reminded me that life isn’t fair. It’s not fair for anybody. Everybody has something that they have to deal with. Your mom gave you up and you had to watch your little brother get adopted before you. Not fair. I lost my mama, my dad lost the love of his life, and Lolli lost her daughter to cancer. None of that is fair.

  “So instead of throwing a fit over life’s unfairness, I have other options. There are all-female garages. Or maybe my dad and I will start a garage together. Or maybe I’ll teach. I’ll figure something out and I’ll be okay.”

  “Yes, you will.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead. “You amaze me.”

  “I know I’m not very girly and I have trouble expressing my emotions,” I said. “But I feel so very lucky you came into my life.”

  “It was more than luck. I had this gut feeling if I didn’t do this, I’d miss out on something important. Something I may never have gotten the chance at again.”

  “I get it. I do. This was your only chance to experience a normal life away from the spotlight.”

  “That’s not it. I thought it was too—for a long time—but it’s not. The important thing I would have missed out on—is meeting you.”

  Lolli was right. I’m more like Mama than I thought. Because my heart just went gooey like a marshmallow over a fire.

  “Can we talk about Earl? Because he’s beautiful! How did you sneak—” I blinked up at his smiling face. “Lolli helped you. She lied about the termite treatment.”

  “It’s a grand gesture like in the movies. I was trying to show you how I felt about you.”

  “Thank you.” I raised up on my toes and planted a kiss on his lips. “It love it.”

  “Two more things,” Grant said. “First, I’d like to take you somewhere, but it’s a surprise.”

  “You know how I am with surprises—especially after the last one.”

  “Hey, it turned out okay in the end, right?” Grant hit me with his bluer-than-blue gaze and every cell in my body gave a thumbs up.

  “True. I trust you, so okay, but if it’s Burger Barn, I want a tray of tots all for myself.”

  “So noted.” He laughed, but got serious right away. “Second, I’d like to make this official. What I’m saying is, Bernadette, will you be my girlfriend?”

  “You’re going to cost me money, Kingsly Grant.” The boyfriend bet. “But I’d love to be your girlfriend.”

  Grant smiled and leaned down and kissed me. “I’ll try to make it worth it.”

  “You already did.” Worth every penny.

  Epilogue

  Grant

  Okay, I might have downplayed the surprise a bit, but I didn’t want to freak Bernie out.

  “You own a private jet?” Bernie had stopped on the tarmac. “I just assumed we’d, you know, be flying on a commercial flight.”

  “I don’t own it. The studio rented it.” I wrapped my arm around her shoulders to keep us moving to the plane and up the set of stairs.

  We boarded, met the flight crew, and moved into the luxurious seating section to stow our bags and settle in.

  “This is not good,” Bernie said, buckling herself in while her head swiveled around taking it all in.

  “Why isn’t it good? I thought you’d like it.” Technically, this was only our fourth date, so, of course, I was trying to impress Bernie.

  “I’ve never flown before.”

  “Never?”

  “Nope. So, it’ll all be downhill from here.” She grinned over at me. “I’m kidding, but this is impressive.”

  “But wait—there’s more.” I grabbed out the movies I’d stashed in my travel bag and held them up. “I’ve planned this date carefully. For our inflight entertainment, I thought we could watch a Lord of the Rings movie. But I brought the Hobbit movies also in case you need a refresher.”

  “Excuse me, what?” Bernie’s eyes went wide and she reached out and took The Fellowship of the Ring from my hand. “Movies? They made the books into movies?”

  “You didn’t know? Of course, you didn’t.” I laughed. “How did a movie actor like me end up with a girl who hates movies?”

  “I don’t hate movies. I’ve just had…better things to do. Lacey forced me to watch another of your movies”—she darted her eyes to me and away—“and I get it.”

  “Get what?”

  “Get why you’re famous. You’re a talented actor.” She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes on me. “And I get the whole drooling female fans thing too. What I find amazing is that girls at Jackson didn’t find awkward nerdy Grant as hot as I did.”

  “I only needed one girl at Jackson to find me hot, and you did.”

  We ended up watching most of The Hobbit (we decided to start chronologically) on the three hour flight to L.A.

  Once we touched down, a limo waited to whisk us off.

  The surprise? I had an awards show to attend and I wanted Bernie to walk the red carpet with me. Partly just because I loved spending time with Bernie, but also because I wanted to make it clear to all the kids at Jackson High and my fans that Bernie was my girl. She hadn’t said anything, but Lacey had told me about how mean kids at school had been.

  Lacey and Lolli had helped me with the surprise and had packed a simple sheath of a dress (not a single ruffle or bow) in Bernie’s favorite Tahoe Turquoise and she looked gorgeous.

  “This is crazy.” Bernie leaned into me to hiss as the paparazzi and fans flashed their cameras and called our names (Yes, everyone knew who Bernie was.)

  Crazy, yes, but it was my life. At some point along the red carpet, as I stopped again and again to get interviewed by reporters, I lost Bernie. Literally lost her. I turned around and she was gone. I twisted my head around, trying to catch a glimpse of her turquoise gown but there were so many glittery gowns it was impossible.

  I’d just taken out my phone to call her when Lacey texted. She and Grady were over with Lolli & Gigi watching the awards show on television.

  Lacey: You totally lost our girl.

  Me: I didn’t lose her, I—did you see where she went?”

  I figured she wouldn’t be busting my chops otherwise.

  Lacey: Go back to the street where the cars are arriving. Just saw her talking with that hot actor from Stranger Things about his car (Grant says it’s a Lamborghini).

  Me: Thanks! She looks beautiful, doesn’t she?

  Lacey: She does. Lolli & Gigi cried when they saw her on TV. Grady says you don’t even look like a penguin in your tux (which is a compliment, I think.)

  Me: Haha. I’ve got to go find my girlfriend.

  Sure enough, I found her. I knew Bernie had no idea the guy she was giving advice to— while they leaned over his engine—was one of the hot up-and-coming actors up for best actor tonight.

  Before I could even call her name, Bernie stood up straight and turned her head, looking right at me with a bright smile. It was like she sensed I was there. Which I found very cool. I figured she’d enjoy the cars more than the famous people.

  Wait until I told her that the ABG Foundation had awarded the Devil’s Lap County School System enough money to run vocational classes for the next five years.

  Bernie had said she felt lucky that I’d come into her life.

  It wasn’t luck. It was pure intuition that guided us together.

  Like I said, the three times I’d acted on my intuition…were life-changing. In the best way.

  The Jackson High Series

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  Thank you for taking the time to read THE TOMBOY & THE MOVIE STAR. If you enjoyed it, it would be sweet if you have time to leave a review on Amazon. And I hope you’ll stick around for the next installment in the Jackson High Series. Thank you! ♥ M.L.

  Huge Heartfelt Thanks To…

  My readers! Thank you for loving the Jackson High Series! For loving quirky sweet romances that make you snicker, swoon, and sigh.

  To my amazing editors! You ladies are the bomb.

  To my Beta readers for reading through my not-very-pretty rough drafts. But, hey, it’s not like I forced you to listen to me sing.

  This one’s for you, Dad. I will miss you. Hope you and Mom are dancing in Heaven. Xoxo

  About the Author

  M.L. Collins has done stuff. Good stuff. Bad stuff. Fun stuff. Boring stuff. She believes in true love, laughing loud and often, being kind, and assuming the best in people until they show you otherwise. She loves classic rock, old Motown, and ’90s country music. She hates negative people, dill pickles, and scary movies. Loves windy days, dogs, and LOTR. She’s an unashamed lover of sprinkles on cupcakes.

  M.L. loves reading and writing quirky sweet romance novels that make you snicker, swoon, and sigh. She loves hearing from readers!

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