I laughed, my voice echoing around.
“Keep going, girl.”
That voice echoed back at me and I froze.
My hair whipped around into my face and I hurried to move it.
Kip started to rock his hips, smiling at me. “Keep going, girl. I love your moves.”
“I don’t love yours,” I hurried to say.
“I call bullshit on that,” Kip said. “The proof is here…”
He pointed to his lips.
I looked right at Barr, who sat on a sink, smoking a cigarette.
“What’s with you guys and the girls bathroom?” I asked.
“Simple, love,” Barr said. “It’s where the girls hang out.”
“Easy pickings,” Kip said.
“Gross,” I said.
“Not even close,” Kip said.
“So am I easy pickings?” I asked.
“Heard you got popped by Jacobson,” Pres said as he leaned against the back wall.
“It’s fine,” I said. “I’m leaving right now. Just came to go pee.”
Kip opened one of the stall doors. “Have at it, girl. We won’t peek. Much.”
He grinned.
Blue eyes. Dimples. Blonde hair. Surfer dude. Good kisser. Jokester.
Heart… swoon…
“I’ll guard the door for her,” Barr said.
He jumped off the sink.
He walked right up to me and looked down at me.
“I’ll probably peek though,” he whispered.
Honey gold eyes. No grin. No smile. Super serious. Fucking serious. Crazy wild kisser. Aggressive as fuck.
Body… swoon…
I swallowed hard. “Sorry. I am not going to the bathroom with you here.”
“Number two?” Kip asked.
“Gross again,” I said.
“What?” Kip asked. “You’re telling me that you never-”
“That’s enough of that,” Pres said. “We just came to check on you.”
“You keep doing that,” I said. “Any reason why?”
“Just your lucky day,” Barr said.
“And last night?” I asked.
“Just your lucky night,” Kip said.
Pres put a hand to each of their backs. “Let’s go. Let Tinsley squirt in peace.”
“Squirt,” Kip said. “Nice.”
Barr lifted his hand without the cigarette in it and wiggled his pointer and middle fingers super-fast. “Squirt…”
My face burned hot and there was no way to hide it.
I leaned against the bathroom stall.
My body, mind, and heart were in a collision where the pieces were thrown around so nothing much made sense. Down was up. Up was down. Red was blue. Blue was red.
Kip and Barr walked out of the bathroom, leaving me alone with Pres.
“You did good, sugar,” he said.
“What?”
“With that whore,” he said. “And her little skid mark.”
I laughed. “That’s pretty accurate for Vicky.”
“Proud of you for holding your ground,” Pres said.
He touched my chin. No. He held my chin. With his thumb and pointer.
I felt my lips tinging, aching for that one last kiss to complete the fucked up madness of me and the Rulz.
What in the fuck is wrong with me?
Pres was tall, wide, perfect… he smelled like everything that could save me from… everything. I was twisted and scrambled and had no idea what I was doing or what to do next.
“Enjoy your day off, sugar,” he whispered. “And don’t worry about Jacobson. If he gives you anymore hell about anything you tell me. I’ll handle him.”
“What are you going to do? Kill him?”
I grinned.
Pres didn’t.
He lowered his lips down to my ear. “Whatever it takes to make sure you’re okay, Tinsley.”
Pres then pressed his entire body against mine, but only for a quick second.
Then he slipped away, leaving the girls bathroom.
Leaving me with my jaw dropped.
Leaving me with my nose in the air, smelling the air and that wicked combo of Pres’s cologne, Barr’s cigarette smoke, and Kip’s ocean smell.
I bent my knees and slid down the outside of the bathroom stall.
I buried my face into my hands.
I wanted to scream.
I wanted to cry.
Instead, I just smiled…
* * *
“If you girls need anything, bother Maria,” Claire said as she walked around the back of the pool. “She’s here until ten. Make sure you have her cook something. Or if you order something, let her go pick it up. She looks tired and bored in there.”
“Want me to break something so she has to clean it up?” I asked.
“Rich snob,” Gi whispered to me.
I threw my hair over my left shoulder. “Fuck off.”
“Real nice language,” Claire said.
“Learned it from you,” I said to her.
She laughed. “Just make sure you get back to your mother in one piece when the time comes.”
“Hot date tonight?” Iris asked with no care or filter.
“Me?” Claire asked. “I wish.”
“What happened to the hottie in the suit?” Iris asked.
I felt seriously uncomfortable.
“You girls mind your own business,” Claire said.
She walked away and I leaned forward and grabbed Iris by the hair. I pulled hard enough that she had to walk into the pool down the steps.
“What the fuck?” I growled.
Iris slapped me in the face to get me to let her go.
I stood up and was taller than her since I was on the step above her.
“I was just helping you,” Iris said.
“Leave that go,” I said. “Seriously. I don’t want to get involved in it.”
“You already are, Ti,” Iris said. “You’re knee deep.”
“You two need to cool it,” Gi said. “We still have to hear the rest of this story. I mean, our new girl here is becoming a fucking legend throughout the halls of BFH.”
“How so?” I asked.
“Taking on bitches. Screwdrivers. Messages scratched into cars. The Rulz chasing your ass down. Jacobson going easy on you. I mean… wow.”
“Not to mention the bathroom porno scene today,” Iris said.
“Please,” I said. “I had to pee.”
“I bet that’s what they all say,” Iris said.
“Who?”
“All the girls they’ve fucked.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Gi said. “I mean… it’s the Rulz. It’s not like they’re precious little virgins just walking around acting tough.”
“No shit,” I said.
“If you think for a second they’re not fucking anything that walks all the while flirting with you, you’re crazy,” Iris said.
“Thanks for that,” I said.
“That’s vicious,” Gi said.
“Am I wrong?” Iris asked.
I looked at Gi.
She shook her head. “No. You’re right.”
I stepped back out of the pool and turned.
Manwhores.
I hugged myself and couldn’t figure out why it bothered me so much.
They weren’t mine.
I wasn’t theirs.
We were just…
I looked back at Gi and Iris.
They were talking and laughing.
They were friends. Best friends. True friends.
And when this all came to an end, they would still be friends.
And I’d be gone again.
They’d probably tell me they’d text or whatever.
But I hadn’t heard from Ruby or Amelia in a while. Which just proved that distance and time were like an eraser in a way.
I walked from the pool through the side path that led to the beach.
I stood at th
e top of the beach and listened to waves crashing, catching the sight of white caps of waves hitting the shore only when the moonlight hit it the right way.
Alone, full of thoughts… ugh.
“Hey.”
Iris stepped up next to me.
“Hey,” I said.
“You know I’m a horrible bitch, right?”
“The worst.”
“The absolute worst,” Iris said.
I looked at her.
We both smiled.
“They aren’t nice guys,” Iris said.
“Who?”
“Who the hell do you think?”
“Oh. Right. Sorry.”
“Just hear me out, Ti. They are not nice guys. At all. Ever.”
“Then why…”
“Exactly,” Iris said. “The question is why. And it’ll always be that. They will want something. Or demand something. Or just flat out get something.”
“From me?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said. “From you.”
“That’s the thing, Iris, I have nothing to give,” I said. “I have no money. I don’t own anything. There’s no house. No car. No secret bank account. There’s no family. I don’t remember my father. My mother is in rehab. And if they think for a second they’re going to get something from Claire…” I shook my head. “She’s not even family to me. She was our landlady, Iris. She’s doing this as a favor. And if it came down to me or money, what do you think she’d choose?”
Iris nodded. “I know.”
“So what do they want?”
“I don’t know,” Iris said. “But you need to be careful with them. I get it. They’re fucking hot. They’re fucking gorgeous. Everything about them is so smooth and bad ass and whatever else your vagina tells your brain to think…”
I laughed. “Now you’re making me sound like a guy.”
“So? We may not have dicks that make us make bad decisions… we have something worse.”
“What?”
“Hearts,” Iris said. “It’s like our vaginas hurry to tell our mind what to think and do but stop at our heart to get that shit involved. At least with guys, they just swing their dick, forget they have a brain, and act stupid.”
“True,” I said. “So true.”
We both then just stared out to the ocean.
Iris gently touched my hand and then took it.
She squeezed it tight.
She leaned toward me. “Don’t worry, I won’t try kissing you or anything.”
“Okay. Good. My track record on turning down kisses is really bad right now.”
“Trust me, I don’t blame you there,” she said.
We stood there in silence again as my mind poured over a million thoughts. And of course my heart was involved… along with that other thing Iris mentioned.
But there was one question that stuck out.
When you have all the money you could ever have in the world… what would you want as some kind of payment?
seventeen
In my locker was a screwdriver.
Not jammed into the door of the locker, but just resting inside. Right where there always seemed to be something waiting from them. That’s what they were in my mind. Not the Rulz. Not the guys. Not even by their first names. Because I wasn’t sure which one, or was it all, of them were the ones who left stuff for me to find.
I stood there and stared at the screwdriver for a few seconds.
I casually looked over my shoulder and saw the spot where I had stabbed the wall with a screwdriver. Right through Blair’s stupid fucking invoice for her car.
There was no hole in the wall now.
Just a piece of paper hung up over the hole.
For a summer reading program.
How fun it was to read over the summer! Take a book to the beach! Read an eBook at the beach!
OMG! How fucking cool!
NOT.
I closed my locker and waited for Beth but she never showed.
I hadn’t seen her since the incident with Blair and Vicky.
I did text her. And she did respond. But I wanted to tell her in person that things were cool. That I was sorry she was there when Vicky started slashing at us with the screwdriver. In a way I did feel bad for Beth. She had been the first person to talk to me. The day she came out of Jacobson’s office faking period cramps… how perfect, right?
My plate was getting full.
Like really full.
But then an idea came to me.
Something that I could try.
Claire obviously had some kind of hold over Jacobson. And I had something like the protection of Pres, Barr, and Kip.
But I also needed to understand more about them and why they were doing what they were doing.
I bit my lip, ripped open my locker, and grabbed the screwdriver.
I tucked it into my bag and walked the hall to class alone.
Just to think.
* * *
“Thought you were a ghost,” Gi said.
“Ohhhh,” Iris said, wiggling her fingers at me.
"I tried this new thing today where I don’t cause trouble,” I said.
“That’s lame,” Iris said.
“But class is over,” I said.
“Trouble time?” Iris said.
“Tons of it,” Gi said.
“You never know,” I said. “I’m going to go take a walk. Sit in the bleachers. Think about some things.”
“Or you could get drunk with me tonight at Roman’s party,” Iris said.
“Are you really going to that?” Gi asked.
“It’s a party,” Iris said. “Of course I’m going. I’m not leaving town. It’s right on the beach. I mean… do I have to keep selling it?”
“I don’t know what I’m doing yet tonight,” I said.
They both looked at me.
They shook their heads.
“What?” I asked.
“Can’t take your hand off the hot stove, Ti,” Gi whispered.
“Or away from the hard dick,” Iris said.
“First off…” I showed my hands. “Nothing burned here. My hands are clean. Of burns and fuckpoles.”
Iris snorted. “Fuckpoles?”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“I don’t know whether I love you or hate you, Ti,” Gi said.
I wiggled my fingers now. “I know what I’m doing here.”
“No you don’t,” Gi said. “You have no fucking idea what you’re doing here.”
“But she’s faking it, right?” Iris asked.
I didn’t respond.
Instead I just walked away, leaving them behind.
“I’ll text you,” Iris said. “I’ll pick you up later.”
“Unless you’re stuck to a fuckpole,” Gi yelled.
I put up both middle fingers and just kept walking.
It was the first moment where I truly felt like I maybe belonged there. That I was comfortable in the hallways of BFH.
I knew that feeling could last all of ten seconds so I didn’t get too lost in it.
But I did what I said I was going to do.
I went to the bleachers.
Walking through the giant stadium to the football field, like it was some huge professional team.
And it didn’t shock me to see Brando and Maverick standing together, talking, shirtless, sweating, Brando spinning a football on the palm of his hand. There was a group of guys on the opposite sideline, drinking water and whatever else, waiting for Brando and Maverick to give them the next command.
I took one more step and then saw them.
Pres, Barr, and Kip.
All three walking from another part of the field toward Brando and Maverick.
Brando gave a head nod and when Maverick looked, he put his head back like he was pissed off.
Maverick then patted Brando’s shoulder and pointed to the other side of the field. Brando shook his head and stood next to Maverick.
All I could think about was the
ditch.
If they were going to fight.
If something crazy was about to go down.
Barr put a hand out and stopped Kip from walking, letting Pres finish the walk by himself. Barr lit up a cigarette. Kip folded his arms.
I could feel the tension from the distance I was at.
Pres walked right up to Brando and Maverick. There were no handshakes. No fist bumps. No stupid looking bro hugs.
They talked.
I obviously couldn’t hear a word they were saying.
I couldn’t read their lips either.
It also didn’t help that my eyes keep looking to Barr and Kip.
As though they were broken up into two groups.
Group A: those who have made out with Tinsley.
Group B: those who have not made out with Tinsley.
Those stupid kisses were going to haunt me for the rest of my life.
Finally, Pres nodded and backed away.
When he turned, Brando and Maverick looked at each other, eyes wide, and it looked like they both sighed at the same time.
I still waited, intrigued by whatever just happened.
Pres walked to Barr and Kip.
They broke apart and Pres kept walking.
Barr flicked his half smoked cigarette toward Brando and Maverick before turning. Kip had nothing to flick so he just turned and walked.
When they were out of sight, I came into sight.
Maverick jogged to the sidelines while Brando tossed the football into the air and caught it.
“Think you can throw it to me?” I asked.
He spun around, missing his next catch.
The ball hit the field and Brando didn’t move his eyes from me.
“New girl,” he said.
“Tinsley,” I said.
Brando shook his head. “What’s this?”
“Curious about something. I wanted to talk to Maverick. But he walked away.”
“Nothing to talk about.”
“Yes there is,” I said. “You’re afraid of them. So is Maverick. He was giving me fuck me eyes that one day and you pulled him away when Pres was watching.”
“Your point?”
“Why?” I asked.
“There’s plenty of pieces around BFH. We don’t even have to try to get it. Why bother with a new girl? Heard where you came from too. If we wanted to make a run at you, we’d need to double up.”
“Double up?” I asked.
“Wear two condoms,” Brando said with a cocky grin.
UNtouched: a bay falls high novel Page 16