There was a second girl now.
This one with pitch black hair, fair skin, bright red lipstick on her pencil thin lips. Her eyes were as dark as her hair and she was as skinny as the other bitch but a few inches shorter.
“Stay in line, whore,” she said.
I stepped again and Beth grabbed my wrist.
I looked at Beth then back at the two bitches.
“Don’t step in my way,” the first girl said. “Ever. Stay in line where you belong.”
“What the fuck are you even doing here anyway?” the second girl asked.
I didn’t respond.
I should have had some kind of comeback but I didn’t.
“Our halls,” the first girl said. “Our rules. Our building. Step out of line and you go down.”
“Worse than Beth when she remembers how her Daddy doesn’t love her anymore so she takes the first dick she can to forget about it,” the second girl said.
My eyes went wide.
Beth just stood there like me.
The two girls finally walked away.
I ripped my hand away from Beth’s.
I looked at her.
“Blair and Vicky,” she said. “There’s levels, Ti. Dumb bitch. Regular bitch. Evil bitch. And rotten bitch.”
“Which are they?” I asked.
“Above rotten bitch,” Beth said, looking uneasy. “A level that doesn’t even have a name.”
I touched my cheek. “Great.”
Beth closed in on me. “You’re going to need a friend or two to understand this place, Ti. Whatever you want to be while you’re here, be it. But you can’t do it alone. Especially with the rulz…”
“Fuck the rules,” I said. “I don’t follow rules.”
“No, Ti, not those kind of rules,” Beth said. “I’m talking rulz with a z.”
“What is that?”
“Everything wrong with this fucking place,” Beth said. A bell rang. “I’ll see you later, Ti.”
“Bye,” I whispered.
Beth hurried away.
I stood there, shaking my head.
What the hell did ‘rulz’ stand for?
five
The day was almost over.
That’s what I kept telling myself over and over.
I couldn’t get a real feel on Beth but I agreed to hang out with her after school. I figured there were two sides to everyone. The side you showed inside Bay Falls High and the side you showed outside of it. And that went for any town or school.
That didn’t mean me and Beth were going to end up as best friends sharing our darkest secrets with each other. And if that did happen I was pretty sure I’d win that contest. Even if Beth’s father did take off on her, big fucking deal. My father was never part of my life and my mother was probably right now puking her guts out because she couldn’t get her next fix.
Go, Ti, you’re killing it, girl…
I felt like burying my head into my locker and screaming.
I was late for every class, most of which was on purpose. It was nice to take a break, a breather in between classes and just explore the halls on my own. Nobody cared either because I was just the new girl. It also didn’t help that I had a class with Blair and Vicky. And Blair stared at me the entire time. And when class was over, Vicky handed me a piece of paper with her lips kissed to it and the word whore written in the middle of her lips.
Like they knew anything about me.
I flicked the piece of paper into my locker and thought about just leaving.
Ditch the last couple of classes and call it a day.
I took a deep breath and my eyes went wide.
I smelled something.
Not perfume. Not cologne.
Smoke.
Not fire smoke either.
Cigarette smoke.
I shut my locker and gasped.
There was a guy standing at the next locker. His back against it. Foot up against the bottom locker. Head back. A cigarette touching his lips. I watched as he closed his lips and took a drag.
He was clean cut with a chiseled from stone jaw. Messy dark hair that was somehow still put together perfectly. Everything about him screamed in my mind to run like hell. To definitely ditch school right now.
Right fucking now, Ti.
Wearing a dark gray v-neck t-shirt with arms that were filled with muscles that poured out of the shirt for days, he just stood there and smoked as though I was invisible.
Typical.
He took another drag and made an O with his lips and made circles of smoke that danced into the air before slowly turning into nothing.
That’s when he slowly turned his head to look at me.
His eyes were a honey gold color. The kind that broke promises and hearts without words. But maybe, as sweet as his eyes looked his face told a different story. Even with lips that looked a little delicious and tempting.
I stood my ground, waiting for someone else to smell the smoke and see what would happen then.
Just exactly who was this guy to get away with smoking inside the school?
I waited for the smoke detectors to pick up on it too.
I imagined the sprinklers going off…
My eyes tried to stay on his face but took a quick detour to the v-line on his shirt. He was built for that kind of shirt. And the bottom of the shirt was purposely pulled up over his belt. Black leather with a silver buckle. His jeans were faded at the top. Those bitchy prissy jeans that you bought for hundreds of dollars to look messed up.
He didn’t say a word to me though.
He brought the cigarette to his mouth again and took another drag.
Putting his head back, he parted his lips and let the smoke slowly lift from his mouth. His throat… mygod… it was fucking hot in the worst way possible.
When he lowered his gaze to me again, he extended his right hand and offered me the cigarette.
“No,” I said. “I’m good.”
He stepped toward me and I stepped back.
“I didn’t fucking ask,” he finally spoke.
His voice sliced through me. A bold and dominate voice that could shake the building into rubble.
He opened my locker and gently placed the cigarette down on the edge so the smoking tip stuck out.
I hurried to grab the cigarette. “What the hell is this?”
He smirked. He winked.
Then he turned and started to walk away.
His back was built wide and strong.
He screamed temptation and danger.
He turned down the hallway and I stood there holding the lit cigarette.
I shut my locker, my eyes staring forward, my mind telling me to put the cigarette out.
Yet my heart begged to smell the smoke for a few seconds longer.
Because that smell and the look of that boy…
I let out a soft ‘oohhh’ sound like a complete fool.
“Tinsley Ditkiss.”
I turned, my eyes going wide.
There stood Principal Jacobson.
And there I stood with a lit cigarette.
Fuck.
* * *
Bad enough I was caught standing there with a lit cigarette.
Bad enough the sound of my name made me cringe.
Tinsley Ditkiss.
Bad enough I watched as Principal Jacobson took the cigarette from me and held it out like it was a lit firecracker.
Now I was in his office (again) and I was told to sit in a leather chair, only to endure him pacing back and forth behind his desk. Part of me wondered if he had once dreamed of becoming a lawyer or a judge.
The way he walked in silence for so long left me feeling tired.
And on the tip of my tongue was ‘it wasn’t mine!’ which was something he probably heard all the time.
So I waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Finally, he stopped and folded his arms.
“Speak,” he said.
“All
this suspense makes me actually want a cigarette,” I said with a smile.
Stupid, Ti. Really stupid.
“Is that funny to you?”
“It kind of is,” I said. “That wasn’t my cigarette. I don’t smoke either.”
“Of course. So you were holding it for a friend?”
“Actually, no.”
“Then who were you holding it for?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“That’s the truth. There was a guy in the hallway smoking. He gave me the cigarette and walked away. It was weird.”
“And I’m supposed to believe that?”
I let out a sigh. “Okay. So no matter what I say here you’re going to have a response. So do whatever you would do to someone you caught smoking. Fair enough?”
Principal Jacobson just stared me down.
Nothing about him was threatening at all. He looked skinny enough to be blown away in the wind. But his eyes were beady and smart. That was what made him look scary.
“I know who you are, Tinsley,” he said. “Everything about your life.”
“Meaning?”
“I told Claire I wasn’t sure what the point of you being here was. But she is very convincing.”
The way he said convincing I pictured Claire on top of him, riding him, getting her way.
So. Fucking. Gross.
“I’m sorry about your mother,” Principal Jacobson said.
“Okay.”
“My understanding is she is getting the help she needs. Which is good. And my understanding is that’s the reason you’re here. So I’m going to forget about what just happened. I guess I’m going to believe you. You say that the cigarette wasn’t yours, then fine. My advice is to watch who you associate with.”
“Of course,” I said.
“You may go now.”
I stood up. “Thank you. I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?”
“I don’t know. I just felt like I should say that. Seems logical. Apologize and leave.”
“How about you just leave?”
I shut my mouth and got the hell out of there.
I cut down a hallway and saw a gold color door. That seemed to be the colors of Bay Falls High. Everything was gold, black, luxurious, yet rustic.
Whatever.
I pushed the door open and found myself in a garden type thing. But at least I was outside. I was out of that damn building for now. First days were the worst. Always the worst. Which was probably the same stuff people were telling Mom.
The walkway was made up of smooth, misshaped stone. It twisted and turned through an array of greens, flowers and smells that were really soothing. It was probably the most beautiful part of Bay Falls High.
I caught myself smiling as I put my hands out and felt the touch of the greens.
Suddenly things weren’t so…
I sniffed the air.
No.
I opened my eyes.
I sniffed the air again.
Fuck. No.
My feet stopped moving and I slowly started to back up.
“No use, love,” a voice said. “I already know you’re there.”
My heart picked up its pace and I told myself I wasn’t going to run and hide.
Not from this guy.
He tried to get me into trouble and that backfired.
So screw you, dude.
I walked forward with purpose and lifted an eyebrow.
As I came around another bend I saw him standing there with a foot up on a stone bench in the middle of the garden.
He leaned on his right leg and looked like everything wrong that made everything right.
And all that did was make me regret not enjoying myself after Devin and I broke up. He was quick to do his thing and I was the one who felt so sad and messed up. I should have been kissing a hundred boys, amongst doing other things.
Now I was at the mercy of this killer cute guy smoking outside the school.
I reminded myself once again where I was coming from. That this guy was just some pretty rich boy.
“Thanks for getting me into trouble in there,” I said.
“What was the punishment?” he asked, taking his foot off the bench.
Standing tall, that v-cut shirt driving the v-part of mine crazy.
“Nothing,” I said. “Got out of it.”
“Oh yeah? How’d you pull that off?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I asked. “Maybe next time try harder. Or just leave me alone.”
I took a few steps and he blocked the way. “Not going to happen, love.”
“You know, the only thing you love is yourself. Right? Cool, tough guy. You don’t know anything about me. Who I am. Where I came from. Or that I’m not interested in anything to do with you.”
That was all the tough girl talk I could muster at the moment.
And it was draining.
It took all my might to not have my knees smacking together or have me sweating in uncomfortable places.
I told myself if I could just stand up to this guy he’d back down.
Instead of backing down he brought the cigarette back to his lips. He took a deep drag and held it for a couple seconds as he lowered his mouth down to my face.
I started to slink back but he was quick, putting his right hand to my back. His hand was big, fingers spreading wide across my entire back, holding me from getting away.
Just like on the beach with that other one, I couldn’t move. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t punch him. I couldn’t knee him in the balls.
I was frozen once again.
He gently parted his lips and the smoke hit my face.
That smell of the smoke… right up my nose, into my mouth, burning my eyes, engulfing my entire face.
And I just stood there taking it.
He exhaled so fucking slow. The cloud all around me. His hand against my back keeping me in place.
Then it was over.
It was done.
The smoke was gone.
I could breathe fresh air (even if my first few breaths were stained with the smoke).
And he was moving too.
The guy.
This guy.
“What’s your name?” I called out.
I whipped around and he just kept walking.
Going around the bend I had come from.
So I followed.
Against any sense of judgment that I should have had.
When I went around the bend to find sexy smoker (yup, that was his name now) he was already gone.
Which seemed impossible.
Unless he knew of a secret path or something.
Which was possible.
Because I was the new girl.
“Fuck,” I whispered.
“Lost, girl?” a voice asked.
I screamed and spun around, swinging my hand.
I finally got the nerve to do something.
Except when my hand connected with his face, it wasn’t the him I thought.
I had just slapped a complete and total stranger.
* * *
“I’m so sorry,” I said.
“Damn, girl,” he said. “Did I forget to call you back or something?”
“What?”
This new guy (like, seriously, where the fuck did they come from?) closed in on me.
He smelled like the beach. He had dirty blonde hair parted to the side and blue eyes that were innocent to adults and cruel to girls like me. A smile that filled up his face. Dimples that made my fingertips tingle to touch them. Wearing a short sleeved white shirt with the top three buttons undone to show off his bare skin underneath. Bare skin that was toned and cut meaning it should have been shown off.
“Where’s the fire?” he asked.
I blinked fast and shook my head. “There’s no fire.”
“You smell like smoke, girl.”
“That was…” I turned my head. “I… some guy was smoking
.”
“And you were that close to him?”
“What? No. I mean, not by choice.”
“Damn. Sounds like a rough first day.”
“First day…”
“Don’t worry about it, girl,” he said. He touched my chin and winked. “Take a deep breath. Relax. It’s okay.”
I nodded. “Thanks. I’m Ti.”
“I’m Kip,” he said.
Finally, a name for one of these guys I kept running into.
“Kip,” I said. “Thanks for telling me your name.”
“Why’s that?”
“You wouldn’t believe me.”
“Whoa, whoa,” he said. “Don’t tell me what I believe or don’t.”
“Okay… there was another guy. The one smoking.”
“Right. The one you didn’t get close to but secretly did.”
I swallowed hard. “He was smoking in school and handed me the cigarette and I got caught. But I didn’t get into trouble. So whatever.”
“Okay. Who else?”
“Well, I don’t know who he was or where he was from. It was at the beach.”
“You a beach bum, girl?” Kip asked.
God his eyes knew how to sparkle. And his nose, cheeks, lips, teeth… just… damn…
“Not really,” I said. “I just saw someone there.”
“Lots of people at the beach.”
“This was different.”
“How so?”
That first voice rang through my head. The warning of getting amnesia and getting homesick.
“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “I have to go. I need to find my way out of here.”
I took a step and Kip grabbed my hand. He used his other hand to trace ticklish lines up and down all my fingers at once.
“That’s the problem here, Ti,” Kip whispered. “Once you’re lost here… you’re lost for good.”
I pulled my hand away. “Oh yeah?”
He nodded. “What’d you see at the beach? Something wild? People fucking in the ocean?”
“What?” I yelled.
“You never did that?”
My face burned red.
Kip let out a groan. “Damn, girl, where are you from?”
“Getting naked and into the ocean?” I asked. “Not my thing.”
“Well, we could make it your thing,” Kip said.
So, again, perfect blue eyes with one thing in mind behind them.
UNtouched: a bay falls high novel Page 4