by Alessa James
“Yeah, so who’s better?” Stace asked slyly.
My cheeks turned hot pink.
“Stace!”
“Come on! I’ll bet it’s Jayden, right? It’s gotta be!”
I caved.
“All right, yeah. Tyler’s sweet and everything, but I nearly died when Jayden kissed me.”
Stace squealed again.
“Shhh! Stace, Mrs. Keeley is going to hear us!”
“You are sooo lucky, though, Molly,” she pouted. “I wish Jayden Stone had kissed me! Twice!”
“Yeah, right! He only kissed me because stupid Mike Jensen made a stupid bet with him.”
Stupid bet.
“Yeah? So why’d he kiss you the second time?”
My stomach flipped, and I shrugged. Good question.
The next day, I told Tyler that I thought we’d be better off as friends. I probably should’ve been all messed up about it, because technically he was the first guy to ask me out. But we really hadn’t been going out that long. Besides, I kept telling myself that it was for the best. I had serious studying to do for my AP U.S. History test, and Tyler and I didn’t really have any … spark. Not that I would have even known what a “spark” was if it hadn’t been for Jayden, but still.
For the next few weeks, I studied a lot and did stuff with just the girls. Then Stace convinced me to go to one of the baseball games. I knew I shouldn’t go, but I agreed because I didn’t want to act like I was afraid — even though I still ducked into the girls’ bathroom any time I saw Jayden Stone or Mike Jensen, but especially Mike by himself.
There was something I had never told anyone — not even Stace. It had been at the very beginning of freshman year. Every afternoon when I had taken the bus home, Mike Jensen had followed me. It had seemed like every time I looked behind me, he had been right there, saying stupid stuff. Like “Hey, bookworm. Want an apple?” or “You think you’re too good for everyone, huh?” and other stupid, random stuff.
Anyway, something about it had totally scared me. Mike had always been a jerk — picking on other kids for no reason — but after that I really hadn’t wanted to be alone with him. Actually, scratch that. I had been totally creeped out, and every time I had gotten home after school, I had locked the door and called Mom at work to let her know I was home.
Finally one day I had worked up the nerve to tell him to leave me alone — even though I had been crazy terrified he was actually psycho enough to hurt me. Right after that, I had started going over to Stace’s to study in the afternoons. I didn’t want to be all paranoid and crazy, but I still didn’t want to take any chances that I would get stuck alone with Mike Jensen.
At the baseball game, all of us were sitting in the stands, watching the game, and I was seriously thinking I was going to kill Stace if she didn’t stop nudging me every time Jayden was up. Yeah, he looked totally hot with the ball cap pulled low over his eyes and everything, but Vicki Westfield was in the front row blowing him kisses and jumping up and down like she was his personal cheerleader. Ugh.
After the game, Stace and I hung out with Kelly and some other people for a while. I was supposed to get a ride with Stace and Mark, which beat waiting for the late bus, but when we got to Mark’s car, I saw Jayden, Mike, and a bunch of the guys from the baseball team hanging out by Mike’s truck.
There was music blasting out of the speakers, and it was easy to tell that this was just the pre-party. I would never in a million years show up at a baseball party. That’s where people went to get super drunk. On the Mondays after those parties, I always heard about fights breaking out. Mom would kill me if I even thought about going to one.
Looking over, I couldn’t help noticing that Vicki Westfield was hanging all over Jayden. Like that was any big surprise. But when he detached himself from her grip and came jogging toward us, my mouth dropped open and Stace turned to me, wide-eyed, like, “What could he want now?”
He stopped when he got to us, and I tried to look like I didn’t care. But my cheeks were burning. Jayden glanced at Stace and Mark before turning toward me.
“Molly? Can we talk?”
I was proud of myself for looking at him without flinching.
“What? You have another bet with Mike Jensen?” I snapped.
He took my hand in his, tight enough that I couldn’t pull away, and when he started pulling me toward the bleachers, I looked back at Stace, hoping she would make Mark wait so I wouldn’t get stuck without a ride.
“Scream if you need us!” Stace called out.
I smiled, knowing she would make Mark wait, at least until she knew I was okay. She wasn’t about to just leave me alone with a guy from the baseball team, even if it was Jayden Stone. Most, if not all of them, had reputations.
Jayden didn’t let go of my hand, and I couldn’t help noticing that his hand was warm and strong. It made me think of how it felt when he had touched my cheek … my waist … the back of my neck. It made squirm just thinking about it, which wasn’t good since I was trying to act like I was over his kiss. Both kisses.
The problem was that I totally wasn’t over anything. I wasn’t over Jayden’s kisses. I wasn’t over Jayden. And right now, I just wanted this year to be done so I could go down to the my dad’s for the summer and forget all about Jayden Stone, the stupid bet, and his kisses!
When I looked back, Stace and Mark were still staring. So was Mike Jensen … like he was all bent about Jayden talking to a nobody. What a freaking psycho! Suddenly I wanted to ask why Jayden was friends with someone like that. Then I remembered that Jayden had been in on Mike’s stupid bet, which made Jayden just as much of a jerk as Mike. Well, a jerk whose kiss made my legs weak.
I reminded myself that Jayden and Mike’s dads had started a construction company together, so the two of them were almost required to be buddies. Still. That didn’t mean I was going to forgive Jayden.
Jayden pulled me all the way behind the bleachers until we were alone. When he turned around and stared down at me, I lifted my chin, wanting to seem over it, but it was kind of hard when he was giving me his wry half-smile, his blue eyes shining. His wavy chocolate-brown hair was damp from the showers, and he smelled so good. I shook my head.
What was wrong with me? This guy had embarrassed me in front of half the freaking school! My cheeks flushed at the thought of Mike Jensen leering at me.
“It’s cute when you blush,” he said, leaning toward me.
I swallowed. Part of my brain was screaming that Jayden was a huge jerk. The other part was screaming how hot he was. Then I almost laughed as I thought about Stace calling him hawt.
“What do you want?” I demanded, wincing when my voice squeaked.
That had totally sounded braver in my head.
“Why did you think I asked you to the dance?” Jayden asked, his eyes turning serious.
I looked down and felt my eyes stinging. Really? Did he have to dig the knife in even deeper? Hadn’t he gotten a big enough laugh out of me? Suddenly my anger took over.
“Oh, I don’t know — because you wanted to embarrass some pathetic little girl who never goes to dances?”
His hand came up under my chin, forcing me to look up at him until I jerked away. He raised an eyebrow and gave me this look like, “Is that what you really think?” But what else was I supposed to think about their stupid, nasty bet? That it wasn’t mean? I backed up a step, and Jayden sighed.
“Molly, you’re a nice girl …”
Right. Nice and pathetic. A car horn beeped twice, and I jumped, afraid that Mark and Stace were going to take off. Turning back toward the parking lot, I started walking. When Jayden caught my arm again, I stopped. After a second, I turned to face him. He frowned and blew out his breath, exasperated.
“Are you ever going to let me explain?”
I looked down. Then I just pulled free of his grip and bolted, running back to Mark’s car as fast as I could. There wasn’t anything to explain.
* * *
With
a lot of practice, I got really good at avoiding Jayden and Mike. Tyler and I just went back to being friends, which worked out better for both of us. And in the afternoons, I took the bus home right after school and focused on my schoolwork. Things were simpler this way when I just avoided all guys.
Then one morning I got to my locker to drop off my books and found a rose and a card stuck in the vents. My first thought was that it was Tyler, wanting to get back together. But that seemed unlikely, because I had seen him staring at Emma Simmons, all schmoopy-eyed — all because she had asked him for a ride once. I opened the card and shivered when I started to read the note.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
I liked you
But you never had a clue
I looked around. The note wasn’t sweet or romantic. It was just creepy. Weird. Who left things like that in people’s lockers? One possibility made me sick to my stomach. A stalker? Like out of the movies? But who would stalk me? And why?
Later, when I told Stace and Kelly about the note, they were like, “Whatever, it’s probably just Tyler wanting to get back with you.” But he hadn’t been giving me “let’s get back together” looks or anything. Besides, we still talked, and it wasn’t like we had had a bad breakup. We had barely even gone out! Yeah, it had been nice to have someone to meet me at my locker and hold hands with and sit with at lunch, but after kissing Jayden, I was ready to wait for fireworks.
Hello! Frustrating! Why did Jayden have to kiss me — on a bet — right before Tyler asked me out? Then I remembered what Tyler said: the only reason he had asked me out was because Jayden had kissed me. Talk about weirdness! Like that somehow made me approachable? Yeah, definitely weird.
Sometimes I wished I was like Emma Simmons or Vicki Westfield who went to parties up in the hills and had wrapped guys around their pinkies. Emma and Vicki were what guys like Jayden — and apparently every other guy — wanted. I guess. But that wasn’t me.
Either way, I still couldn’t figure out, why Jayden had pulled me into the movie theater and kissed me until I couldn’t think straight. Unless it had been a total accident … like he had thought I was Vicki or something. But he had said my name, though! And the way he had said it … Mmm. Just thinking about it made me shiver.
That wasn’t the real world, though. And it wasn’t like Jayden Stone liked me. I mean, after the baseball game, he had said, “Molly, you’re a nice girl.” Which meant he thought I was a nice, pathetic little good girl who had never kissed anyone before him. But how did he even know that? For all he knew, I could be hooking up with every guy around!
Okay, that wasn’t even close to reality. But it wasn’t like I had gone around telling people that I had never kissed a guy before Jayden. Well, Stace and Kelly knew, but they were my friends. Now everybody in school knew that I had kissed Jayden — and it was all a big freaking joke to them.
During lunch, Stace pointed over at Jayden’s spot on the quad near the outdoor stage. She wasn’t doing it in a mean way. It was more in an “Oh my God, look who’s hanging out with Jayden and Mike!” kind of way. And I totally did a double take. It was Tyler, sitting off to the side looking kind of pathetic and mad as he watched Emma Simmons hanging all over Mike Jensen.
Secretly I was kind of relieved — for Tyler. Because maybe it meant he would stop hanging out over there. Mike was crazy, and while I couldn’t imagine Emma Simmons picking Tyler over Mike — not in a million years — I didn’t want to think about what would happen to Tyler if she did. Tyler was on the swim team, and the guys on the baseball team were kind of notorious for picking on the swimmers, especially JV.
Suddenly, it kind of felt like I had something in common with Tyler. We were obviously both crushing on the wrong people. And I didn’t think it was Tyler’s fault, either, really. Emma Simmons had come on really strong, and Tyler was obviously in way over his head. Just like me when I had gone to the dance with Jayden.
What had I been I thinking, anyway? Guys like Jayden would never notice a girl like me … unless it was all a stupid bet!
A couple of weeks passed, and I really tried to forget about everything that had happened with Jayden. Then I showed up at my locker after lunch one day, and when I opened the door, there was a little black jewelry box. I just stared at it like it was a poisonous snake or something. Afraid to even touch it, I left it there, trying to figure out who had the combination to my locker other than Stace.
I guess most girls would have been all giddy and excited to see a jewelry box left by a secret admirer. I was more scared or angry, or both. If it was from Tyler, why didn’t he just say he wanted to go out again? If it was Jayden — well, that just didn’t seem like his style. Jayden was smooth, charming. Direct.
Why would anyone leave weird stuff in my locker? Again — creepy. This time I didn’t even tell Stace about it.
Chapter 5: Party from Hell
When my phone buzzed super late on Saturday night, I sat up in bed and grabbed my phone from the nightstand. Looking down, I saw a text from Stace saying she was stuck at some house in the hills with Kelly, who was super drunk and acting out of control.
Kelly’s step-mom was a realtor, so sometimes Kelly would “borrow” a key from her and go hang out in one of the houses while there was nobody living there. She hadn’t gotten caught yet, so I guess she was feeling invincible or something. I never went with them, because I was afraid of getting caught.
After a while Stace and Kelly had kind of stopped telling me when they did it because I never went with them. Tonight, though, Stace’s text sounded really desperate. While I was figuring out what to do, she texted again and said that Kelly had drunk dialed all these people and invited them to the house. Stace really wanted to get out of there, but neither one of them could drive because they had both been drinking.
I had done this once before — driven out and picked them up. But that time they hadn’t invited a bunch of people. Besides, I totally didn’t want to get into the habit of being the friend who always went and bailed everyone out when they did stupid, crazy stuff. It’s not like I wanted to go driving around in the hills — in Mom’s car without her knowing — to show up at some empty house.
I did it, though. I got up, put on a pair of jeans, T-shirt, and a hoodie. Then I grabbed Mom’s car keys from the front table before sneaking out to the curb. It was really late, so I didn’t think Mom would wake up, but I’d probably get grounded if she did. Stace had texted me basic directions, but it was dark, so it took me forever to find the turnoff. From there, it was easy. And kind of scary. All I had to do was follow the parked cars.
When I saw Mike Jensen’s pickup, I got this nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach. I was so mad at Kelly! And poor Stace! Sure, she went up here with Kelly and everything, but she’d probably had no idea that Kelly was going to invite people like Mike Jensen.
I parked behind some other cars and took a few really deep breaths. All I had to do was go in there and grab Stace — and Kelly — put them in Mom’s car, and then drop them off. Easy. Or at least that was what I was hoping, anyway. When I got out of the car, there was music blasting. I kept telling myself over and over that all I had to do was grab my friends and make a run for it.
By the time I got to the house, the front door was wide open and there were people everywhere. I saw a couple of guys from the baseball team look over like, “What’s she doing here?” Girls like Stace, Kelly, and me didn’t go to parties like this. And if Kelly was sober right now, she’d probably be scared out of her mind, because she would be in so much trouble if the house got trashed.
When I found them, they were out back. I cringed. Kelly was hanging all over Mike Jensen, who was playing beer-pong with some other guys. Stace saw me and rushed over.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’ll owe you for like a million years.”
I smiled and squeezed her hand, but I was really thinking, “Stace, I’m gonna kill you tomorrow for making me come out here with
all these drunken psychos!”
“Come on. Let’s get Kelly and get out of here!” I yelled over the music.
I wanted to get out of here before Mom woke up, went down the hall, and found my bed empty!
We started walking toward Kelly, who was swaying on her feet as she watched the game of beer-pong. As we got closer, I saw that Mike Jensen was playing with … Tyler! My pulse jumped, and I just hoped that Tyler had the good sense to lose rather than get his face pounded over a stupid game.
Then again, Tyler was getting the crap kicked out of him anyway, so I didn’t think there was any real danger. All of a sudden Mike Jensen roared like he had just won NASCAR or something. Grinning, he looked around like he was surveying his kingdom. What a freaking jerk!
“Let’s see,” he leered over the music, his eyes narrowing. “I think I’m gonna choose — that one.”
I froze before we could get to Kelly, and then I glanced over at Stace.
“What does that mean?!”
She had this look, and I could tell instantly that she was really sorry. She leaned over and whispered in my ear really fast.
“They’ve been playing for favors … Like whoever wins gets to pick who they’re gonna go in one of the rooms.”
My face went pale, and I swallowed. I was seriously going to kill Kelly when I saw her on Monday morning. And I was never, ever going to drive anywhere in the middle of the night to pick anyone up. This sucked! And no way. I wasn’t going to go along with it. This wasn’t my party or my problem. I was just here to get Stace and Kelly and leave. I didn’t have to go anywhere with anyone.
There were plenty of girls here dying to go in the back with Mike “The Jerk” Jensen. Whatever! Let them. If other girls wanted to worship psycho jerks, then fine. Putting on a fearless face, I pointed at Kelly.