by Amy Brown
I climb out of the car, and wave to my mom. She smiles, and drives away toward the mall. When I walk into the coffee house, it’s packed. My nerves spike as everybody turns to stare at me.
“Oh look, it’s the snooty new girl,” a stunning brunette, approximately my age, announces loudly. She’s sitting at a tall pub style table with another girl who has long auburn hair. That girl is staring too. Even though I have no idea who they are, both of them are looking at me with pure disdain.
My cheeks warm, but I lift my chin and scan the crowd for Mason. I pray he’s here somewhere. I’m not sure why I feel his presence will shield me somehow. But at least he’d be a familiar face. When I spy him all the way across the room my stomach sinks. He has his back to me, and, of course, he has to be on the opposite side of the long room. Gritting my teeth, I move toward him, ignoring the whispering and giggles from the brunette and her friend. Unfortunately, I have to pass them to get to Mason.
I keep my focus on Mason’s back, which is probably why I don’t notice the brunette sticking her foot out to trip me. My shoe hangs up on her boot, and with horror I realize I’m falling. Thankfully, instinct takes over, and I get my hands down in the nick of time. I might’ve smashed my face on the painted cement floor if my reactions weren’t quick enough. Even so, my knees slam onto the hard surface, and I grunt in pain. It hurts so much, I’m afraid I cracked my kneecap for a split second. But I keep my face emotionless. I’ll be damned if I’ll show those bitches cackling a foot from me how much pain I’m in.
Some of the other kids are laughing now too. My face feels like it’s on fire as I manage to scramble to my feet. I glare at the brunette, my hands clenched. I want to punch her stupid smirking face. But I’m alone and friendless, and judging by how everyone is snickering at me, they’re on her side.
“What a klutz,” she rasps, smothering her laughter with her hand.
“Maybe they don’t know how to walk where she comes from.” The redhead with her sneers.
Everybody is staring at me now. Literally everybody. Even Mason. Across the room our eyes meet, and he looks confused. I don’t know if he saw me fall or not, because I was busy fumbling around on the floor. One things for sure, he isn’t coming to my rescue.
“Are you okay?” A male voice comes from behind me.
When I turn, there’s a tall, slender guy my age standing there, looking concerned. His eyes are dark blue, and he touches my elbow as if trying to steady me. He’s so good looking, for a moment I’m speechless. Mostly I can’t find words because I’m flabbergasted that he’s bothering to inquire if I’m injured or not, but also I’m mute because he’s so attractive.
He leans closer, his gaze scanning my face. “Did you hit your head?”
“N… no.” I run a shaky hand over my hair. My knees and the palms of my hands are throbbing, but I don’t think anything is broken after all.
The girl who tripped me looks puzzled, and annoyed, by the guy’s obvious concern for me. “Why are you wasting your time on her, Jeremy?” she snaps.
He turns to her. “Why are you picking on new students?”
She narrows her eyes. “What?” She sounds mystified by his question.
“You heard me, Sophia.” He puts his hand on the small of my back. “You’re not representing Longhorn Academy very well.”
The redhead laughs looking completely mystified. “Jeremy, what are you up to?”
“Keep quiet, Jules.” Jeremy scowls, but then focuses on me again. “Can I get you a drink?” He hesitates. “I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.”
“Charity. My name is Charity,” I say breathlessly.
Mason suddenly appears at my elbow. “What are you doing here Jeremy?” He sounds annoyed, and I’m not sure why. It’s a public place, why shouldn’t Jeremy be here?
“Having coffee,” Jeremy says smoothly. “What are you doing here?”
Mason’s gaze flicks to me. “I’m here to study with Charity.”
“Oh really?” Jeremy raises his dark brows.
“Pretty sure I told you and Travis that at lunch.”
“Did you?” Jeremy looks blank.
“Uh, yeah. Remember when you wanted to come over to my house and play Assassin’s Creed on the Xbox, but I told you I was busy?” Mason’s tone is borderline rude.
Jeremy narrows his eyes. “No. Can’t say I recall that.”
“Seriously?” Mason gives a hard laugh.
I have no idea who’s telling the truth, but when Mason grabs hold of my arm, I have little choice other than to follow him to his table. I don’t even have a chance to say thank you or goodbye to Jeremy because Mason’s fingers are digging into my skin. I’d have to yank my arm away, and make a scene to make him let go. Frankly, I’ve had enough attention for today. So, I allow him to lead me to his table across the room.
I glance over my shoulder, and give Jeremy a weak smile. His expression is odd. He doesn’t look warm and concerned anymore, he looks pissed. When he notices me looking at him, however, he plasters on a pleasant smile.
I have no idea why Mason seems so offended that I was talking to Jeremy. Judging by Mason’s unfriendly expression when we sit down at his table, his possessive behavior has nothing to do with liking me.
I decide not to worry about Mason’s pissy mood. I’m just relieved everybody has finally stopped staring at me. I sigh and meet Mason’s gaze. “Thanks again for studying with me.”
Mason nods slowly, and mumbles, “Sure. Wouldn’t want you thinking Longhorn Academy doesn’t welcome transfer students.”
I scan the crowd of students who only moments ago were laughing and jeering at me. “Yeah, we wouldn’t want that.”
Chapter Six
Mason
Un-fucking believable.
What the hell is Jeremy playing at? He knew perfectly well I was meeting Charity here today. He’s the one who told me to cultivate a relationship with her, now he’s interfering? Does he think I can’t handle the task?
Charity stares at me with an expression somewhere between annoyed and confused. I can’t blame her because I’m acting weird. It’s hard to describe the emotions I felt when Sophia tripped her. I was surprised to feel anger at Sophia. Charity isn’t my problem, but I definitely felt strange watching her fall. For a split-second, I almost went to help her. Then sanity returned. No way am I risking my popularity for her.
“Do you know Jeremy well?” Charity asks.
She must know I do, since I mentioned him coming to my house to play games. Of course, we weren’t very friendly with each other, so maybe she’s confused by our obvious animosity. I can’t even figure out what Jeremy’s angle was in coming to her rescue.
I nod. “Yes. He’s one of my friends.”
She squints at me. “You didn’t seem very… friendly with each other.”
“We’re friends.”
I can’t very well tell her I was pissed at Jeremy for interfering with my plans to seduce, dump, and humiliate her. But I am mad that he tried to circumvent my alone time with Charity. If I’m going to succeed, I don’t need him confusing her. I’ll need all the time I can get to worm my way into her emotions. That will take finesse because Charity isn’t dumb, and she isn’t particularly approachable.
Although she seems quite taken with Jeremy.
Probably because he played the part of the hero. Who doesn’t love a hero?
But why had he done that? By standing up for Charity, not only did he butt into my time with her, he also risked incurring Sophia’s wrath. Defending Charity did not endear him to Sophia, and Sophia has a lot of power with the girls of Longhorn Academy. She’s the Supreme Bitch. If girls don’t want to be tormented the entire school year, they kiss up to Sophia, or live to regret it. Her and that ginger-bitch friend of hers, Jules, can be a real nightmare.
I mean, I felt bad for Charity when Sophia tripped her, but I wasn’t about to play social suicide by getting involved. I’ve got my own problems just trying to stay in Jeremy
’s good graces. Which brings me back to being puzzled about why he interfered, since it was all his idea in the first place for me to seduce Charity.
“Would you like a coffee?” I ask, hoping to distract her from talking about Jeremy.
She reaches into her back pocket, and pulls out a twenty. “Sure.”
I wave her money away. “I’ve got it. What would you like?”
She frowns. “I can buy my own drink.”
“No it’s fine.” I stand.
“You’re already giving your time and sharing your book with me.” She looks up at me, her eyes wide and blue. “I should buy you a drink.”
I can’t remember the last time a girl offered to pay for anything. Most of the girls at Longhorn Academy are pretty spoiled. Dutch isn’t in their vocabulary. I happen to know this chick lives in a trailer park. Why is she the first girl in years to offer to pay for something? “You can buy next time.”
She fingers the twenty-dollar bill. “I’d feel better if you’d let me pay.”
When I think about where she lives, I can’t imagine she has the money to be buying me coffee. I can’t imagine she has the money to buy herself coffee. Once again, I’m struck by how different she is than most girls. “Like I said, next time.”
She wrinkles her brow. “I don’t know.”
I sigh. “Charity, it’s a cup of coffee, not a house.”
She gnaws on her bottom lip. “I really don’t mind chipping in.”
My God, she’s as stubborn as a goat. “I’m buying this time, and that is that,” I say firmly.
She doesn’t look pleased, but she says, “Okay.”
“You still haven’t told me what you want.”
She gives a self-deprecating smile. “Oh, yeah.”
Her smile is breathtaking. I honestly have to catch my breath at the sight. She’s ridiculously pretty. Maybe that’s why Jeremy jumped in to defend her. Perhaps he couldn’t help himself. Even though she’s withdrawn, and her expression is guarded, there’s something vulnerable about Charity.
She bites her lower lip. “I’ll have…” She wrinkles her brow. “Do you think they have hot chocolate?”
I can’t help but smile because she sounds like a little kid. “They do.”
Her eyes sparkle with excitement. “Do you think they have whipped cream?”
My smile widens. “Yep.” She looks like the concept of hot chocolate with whipped cream is the most amazing thing in the world. “What size would you like?” I expect her to say small. The girls always say small. Most girls I’ve known live in constant terror of calories.
“Large, please.” She leans forward. “With extra whipped cream, if they’ll let me have it.”
If they’ll let me have it?
“Of course they will. I’ll see to it.” I’m acting like I’m Sir Lancelot slaying a dragon for her, and we’re talking about whipped cream.
“Thank you,” she says softly.
My copy of Where the Crawdads Sing is on the table. I gesture to it. “Why don’t you start reading, while I go get the coffee?”
“Good idea.” She picks up the book with a smile.
I head toward the register. It’s still crowded, but it’s thinned out a little bit. There are about four people ahead of me in line. I’m staring at the menu trying to decide what I want, when Sophia walks up to me.
“Hello again,” she says softly.
I’m surprised she’s coming up to me, so I’m a bit tongue tied. Why is she so friendly to me lately? I actually get the feeling she’s attracted to me, which seems nuts. My dad just got a promotion at work, maybe she’s aware of that?
She laughs. “Remember you delivered a pizza to me the other day?” She must know I remember. She’s one of the most popular girls in school.
I nod. “Two large pizzas with extra spinach and vegetarian chorizo.”
“Awww, you remembered my order.” She looks flattered.
“To be fair, I only had three deliveries that night.” I’m guessing with a girl like Sophia it’s best to play hard to get. They don’t respect you if you fall all over them.
She gives a fake pout. “So then I’m not special?”
“Nah. You’ll always have a special place in my heart, Sophia.” I smirk. I’m still puzzled by why she’s giving me attention. She’s not really the kind of girl I’m usually attracted to, and I wouldn’t think I’m cool enough to warrant her attention. It has to be my dad’s promotion.
She puts her hand on my arm, and her skin is soft and cool. I’m a little surprised I don’t feel anything when she touches me. I felt way more when Charity’s hair tickled my elbow than I do with Sophia’s hand on my arm. That makes absolutely no sense. Sophia is sexy as fuck. I should definitely feel something.
“You should come over and sit with me and Jules.” She holds my gaze. “Unless you prefer to sit with the new girl?”
This is tricky. She’s putting me on the spot. But I know she finds be attractive, so I decide to play that card. “Wish I could.” I lean down, pressing my mouth to her ear as if I’m telling her a secret. “I’d much rather sit with you. But Mrs. Dunbar is making me study with that bitch, Charity, until her books come in.”
She shivers. “Really?” She pulls back to study my face. “She’s forcing you?”
I nod. “Not sure when I became the keeper of the charity cases. But I don’t want Mrs. Dunbar pissed at me. I need all A’s this semester.”
“True.” She smirks. “Charity Case. That can be her nickname.”
I force a smile. “Good one.”
“I can’t believe she’d make you babysit that white trash.” She shoots a malevolent glare in the direction of Charity. “I wish the school would stop letting these poor kids in. They make our school look bad.”
Since all scholarship kids have to have excellent GPAs, I’m not quite sure what she means. Does she mean physical appearance? Charity doesn’t look any different than any of the other girls in the school. In fact, Charity looks a lot better than 99% of the other girls. Maybe that’s what Sophia doesn’t like. I wonder what Sophia would think of me if she’d seen me jerking off to thoughts of Charity earlier today.
I’d like to stay on Sophia’s good side, so I say, “I know what you mean. Why can’t they just go to Pine View High with the rest of the trash?”
She smiles. “Exactly.” Sophia lets go of my arm because it’s my turn to order. “Well, I’ll see you at school tomorrow, Mason.”
“Yep.”
“Have fun hanging out with Charity Case,” she whispers, giving me a conspiratorial smile. She wanders away, looking smug.
I haven’t had many conversations with Sophia until recently. I went to grammar school and junior high with her, like most of the kids at Longhorn Academy. When puberty hit, Sophia was one of the girls who developed boobs early on. That was when she started getting attention from the boys and she got popular. Somewhere along the line that popularity turned into power.
I don’t tend to think about the hierarchy at school too much, but Sofia’s behavior toward Charity has me thinking about it now. Our school is divided between the richest kids, rich kids, and poor kids. The richest kids are The Elites. We basically control the school’s social scene, since our parents are the richest. Among the male Elites, Travis, Jeremy, and I are the top. Sophia, Jules, and, Chrissy Blunt are the leaders of the girls.
I’m definitely popular, but Travis is very popular. I benefit from his status because he’s my bestie. Jeremy became my friend by default because he was friends with Travis. I like Jeremy, and we’ve had lots of good times over the years. But he’s power-hungry, and I’m not. He loves bossing people around, and that sometimes causes friction between us because he wants to boss me around too. Jeremy seems to take my easy-going nature for submissiveness. He’s got me all wrong. I don’t like fighting with people if I don’t have to, but I will if you push me hard enough.
I place my drink order, and once it’s ready, I return to my table with th
e beverages. Charity has on a pair of red reading glasses. They don’t look like prescription; they look like the cheap kind you get at a drugstore. She looks up when I approach, and pulls them off quickly. She must think they don’t look good on her, which is funny, because they look adorable. She could wear Mr. Magoo glasses and still look sexy.
“One large hot chocolate with extra, extra whipped cream.” I set her cup down in front of her. Then I take my seat across from her.
She pops the lid off of her cup, her eyes wide with excitement. “I haven’t had hot chocolate in a really long time.” She sips her drink, and then sighs after she swallows.
“Good?”
She nods. “Delicious.” She has a little whipped cream on her upper lip, and when she licks it off, my dick warms. “This might be the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had.”
“Is that right?”
I’m annoyed by how easily this chick gets me hard. I’m acting like a kid going through puberty all over again. All it takes is the brush of her hand, or a whiff of her cologne, and my dick gets stiff. I’m still not sure why Sophia had no effect on me. She’s bangin’ hot. I should want to fuck Sophia, not Charity. Sophia would be much better for my social standing than Charity. Jesus, fucking Charity, for any reason other than humiliating her, could get me ostracized at school.
“What did you get?” She asks.
“Hot caramel latte.” I lift my glass in a sort of salute, and take a drink. It’s hot and it burns my tongue, but I don’t want to show that. I set my cup down, and distract myself by pointing to the book. “While you’re reading, I certainly hope you’re paying special attention to narrative style, and the social implications of the book.” I mimic Mrs. Dunbar’s voice.
She laughs. “I am. Don’t forget to pay special attention to the cultural implications too.”
“Oh, yeah. I almost forgot those.”