by Alessa James
“Come on! We’re going!”
“House rules, little girl. We go out back, or your little friend isn’t going home.”
Suddenly I saw Jayden. He walked past me, through the crowd that was forming around the table. Every single person was watching our tense little standoff.
“You haven’t played me yet,” Jayden said, his tone humorous, but also a little defiant.
My heart started really pounding. I hadn’t spoken a word to Jayden since our weird conversation after the baseball game — and I hadn’t been that nice to him that day. Instead, I had just run off. And now he was here sticking up for me. Sort of.
“Rules are rules,” Mike shot back. “I get to choose whoever I want.”
“What? Afraid I’ll beat you?” Jayden said, picking up one of the balls.
This really seemed to piss off Mike, which I didn’t think was good. I just stood there, wanting this all to go away. If Mom woke up and found out I was gone … I’d be grounded for life.
“All right. Let’s get this done,” Mike said, thumping the table with an open palm.
When they started playing, I thought maybe Stace, Kelly, and me could sneak back to Mom’s car, but there were too many baseball guys there watching us, and Kelly was really unsteady on her feet, anyway. We would have to carry her to get her to the car. I just kept thinking how I was seriously going to kill her on Monday for getting me into this. I had never really watched anybody play beer-pong before, but it looked like Jayden was really trying to win. It was sweet … and it also made my heart hammer like it was trying to jump out of my chest.
Every time Mike scored a point, my heart sank. The last thing I wanted to do — ever — was go into some empty room with him. I would not, I repeat, would not go anywhere alone with Mike. Over my dead body.
Almost everyone at the party had packed together, watching their game like it was a battle to the death. It was really strange — really, really strange — that Jayden was being this super competitive with Mike. With their dads running a company together, they had been hanging around together since at least middle school. Plus, Jayden was always really laid back, and most of the time he could talk Mike down when he got out of control.
All of a sudden everybody started whooping and screaming, and that’s when I realized that Jayden had won the game. The front of his shirt was damp and his chocolate-brown hair was a little wild. When he started walking toward me, my breathing totally stopped. Stace was whispering frantically in my ear, but I couldn’t hear anything she was telling me.
My head started spinning when Jayden came up, grabbed my hand, and started tugging me toward the back of the house. I followed after him, but my feet felt like they were floating. I glanced back once at Mike, who looked like he was ready to kill somebody, and I was just glad it wasn’t me.
When we got inside the house, Jayden opened a door, and I followed him inside. The room was empty and dark. A small bedroom with nothing in it. He closed the door behind us and turned to face me. I could tell he wasn’t happy.
“What are you doing here?” he snapped.
Feeling defensive, I stood up a little straighter.
“Stace texted me and said she was stuck here with Kelly who was really drunk and had invited half the baseball team. She’s my best friend, and she needed my help.”
“Well, you should’ve called me, and I would’ve taken them home,” Jayden smirked.
“Uh, yeah. I don’t have your number!”
“Give me your phone,” he said with a half-smile.
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to give you my number so you don’t have to pick up your drunk friends in the middle of the night. And I’m going to take your number, just in case.”
“Oh.”
He held out his hand for my phone, and I gave it to him, feeling like a jerk.
“Sorry,” I added. “I mean, thanks for saving me out there.”
I bit my lip before I could mention how scary Mike was. But that reminded me. If Jayden was such a jerk, then why did he bother standing up to Mike for me? Handing my phone back to me, Jayden stepped closer, and I swallowed nervously. It wasn’t that I was afraid of him, even though he was obviously tough enough to stand up to Mike. Or maybe that’s why I wasn’t afraid of him. He had stood up to Mike for me … to save me from being all alone with Mike.
Just the thought of being in a dark room with Mike made me wince. Mike was the last guy I’d want to kiss ever. He wasn’t bad looking or anything. Plenty of girls thought he was hot. But I didn’t. He had a meanness in his eyes, like he didn’t care about anyone or anything. I shuddered thinking about his cold stare.
“Little Molly,” Jayden said in a husky voice, making me forget all about Mike. “Can you promise me that you’re never going to come to one of these parties again unless I’m with you?”
I swallowed again and nodded, not sure what he meant. Then he pointed at my purse.
“Do you have lipstick in there?”
I nodded again, really confused this time.
“Put some on,” he said urgently, like it was life or death.
“O-okay.”
I took out the tube of lip gloss and put some on. Then I kind of shrugged at Jayden like, “Well?” But when he leaned toward me, I started breathing really fast. A second later, he put his hands on the sides of my face and gave me this heart-melting smile before his lips brushed my ear.
“I’ve been waiting to do this again,” he whispered against my ear.
Then I realized he was going to kiss me — again! But what I was really wondering was: could it possibly be as good as the last time? His breath was warm against my throat, and I felt his fingers slip into my hair, which was down for once—mostly because Stace had woken me up in the middle of the freaking night.
Jayden pulled back and looked at me again, his blue eyes shining in the little bit of light that was coming in from the window across the room. Then he brought his thumb up and brushed my lower lip so lightly — like he knew it drove me crazy.
I closed my eyes and shivered, leaning toward him as my legs went weak. But nothing happened. I was a little afraid to open my eyes, afraid if I did, I’d see the entire school standing there watching us like at the dance. Finally, I peeked and Jayden was smiling that half-smile of his.
“Sweet Molly. So sweet,” Jayden murmured.
He leaned down slowly, so slowly, until his lips were a breath away from mine. My heart was going a mile a minute, and I totally couldn’t feel my toes. What was he waiting for?! I whimpered a little bit. I just couldn’t help it. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was dying to feel his lips on mine again. I was almost going to beg. Then Jayden kind of chuckled in the back of his throat.
“That’s what I was waiting for, little Molly.”
His lips brushed mine again. And then again. He wrapped one arm around my waist as his other hand came behind my neck and brought me in closer. His lips were gentle, but coaxing and really warm as they teased mine over and over. Then his kiss became more urgent as his lips parted mine. I gasped, and my heart pounded when he growled deep in his chest. We were kissing and kissing, his hands pulling me closer and closer until I almost couldn’t stand it. My skin was on fire, and I just wanted — things I shouldn’t.
I wanted Jayden to really like me. I wanted to be his girlfriend … and that was just laughable.
Pulling away, I saw some of my lipstick on his mouth, and suddenly I understood why he had asked about the lipstick. He didn’t want it to look like we just came back here and hung out. Which was kind of funny, because we totally didn’t just hang out.
Kissing Jayden Stone was turning into a real habit. A really bad habit. How was I supposed to get over him now? Because it wasn’t like he really liked me. He was just saving me from Mike Jensen because he felt guilty about the bet.
The door to the room suddenly burst open, and the music jolted me out of my trance. When I finally looked over at the door, I flinched and
felt my chest tighten. Mike Jensen was watching us with his cold, hard stare. Like he was wishing we’d both just explode into dust right in front of him. For a second, I wanted to yell at Mike. What was he looking all pissed about anyway? Mike Jensen was the one who had dared Jayden to kiss me in the first place! What now? Was he mad because Jayden had stuck up for me? I hated him. He was horrible. Awful.
And I was … totally confused.
Chapter 6: Presents from Strangers
On Monday morning, I realized I was super glad that Kelly had been so out of it at the party. Because then there was at least one person Saturday night who didn’t remember the whole weird showdown with Jayden and Mike. But things got even worse when I got to school, because apparently Mike had decided to mess up Tyler — probably because he couldn’t mess with Jayden.
Actually, I was pretty sure Mike had been looking for somebody to pound on after Jayden had beaten him at that stupid game. What … a … psycho.
For the rest of the weekend, I had seriously not been able to stop thinking about Jayden. So, of course, with nothing better to do after I finished my homework, I had been incredibly stupid and baked a batch of brownies — with extra chocolate chips — on Sunday night to give to him. On the way to school, though, I had finally realized that everybody was going to know if I left them on his desk in Mr. Franklin’s class. Bad idea!
I brought them to school anyway, and I was planning on sharing them with Stace, and even Kelly, who I was still mad at — until I found out about poor Tyler. The principal had pulled him into the office and asked him who pummeled him over the weekend. But Tyler would never tell. Nobody would. Not if they wanted to live to the end of the day. The only person who could stand up to Mike Jensen and not get pounded was Jayden. Mike was mean, but I didn’t think he was stupid, either. Jayden could handle himself and wouldn’t put up with Mike pulling some kind of power trip with him.
I went and found Tyler at nutrition. It was awful. His eye was all swollen up, and he had a split lip. It made me so mad. Mike Jensen was such a psycho! Why was he always picking on the quiet kids who never gave him any grief whatsoever? I was also wondering why Jayden would let Mike go after poor Tyler — until I remembered that he had followed me when I went to drop off Stace and Kelly.
When he had walked us outside, I’d told him a few times that we’d be fine, but he had insisted on following me all the way back to my house. After dropping off Stace and Kelly and driving to my house, I had practically fainted in relief seeing that the lights were all still out, which meant Mom hadn’t woken up. Then Jayden had pulled up behind me. I had totally thought he was going to take off. Instead, he had turned off the engine and walked me to the door.
Then, I had kind of reached up and wiped some of the lipstick from Jayden’s cheek. For a long time, he had just stared down at me with this serious look, like he was going to say something. I had desperately wanted to ask him why he had kissed me in the first place. Because why go through with that jerky bet, make me look totally stupid, and then save me and kiss me senseless out of my mind every other time he saw me? I knew it wasn’t because he liked me. More like he felt bad. What he didn’t know was that he was making me totally fall for him even more than before. Which sucked!
Because we were too different. He was popular, too popular. And I was just me, quiet little Molly.
* * *
I couldn’t explain how it happened, but I kind of started going out with Tyler again. Maybe it was the brownies that did it. Really. Mom’s brownies are that good. And Tyler seemed to think it was a bigger gesture than I had intended. So, when he came and started sitting with us on the quad again, I wasn’t about to be all snotty about it. Plus, I still felt bad for him. And he was cute. Not in a Jayden Stone kind of way, but I seriously had to stop comparing every real guy to a fantasy guy! Because that’s what Jayden was. He was a total fantasy. The fact that we had kissed — three freaking times — was nuts.
The weird thing, though, was that it seemed like Jayden had liked it when we kissed. Every time, he had made it sound like I was something tempting and tasty. But after the night of the party, he kind of avoided me. Maybe he thought we were even or something. He had made that stupid bet with Mike, then he had saved me — and now maybe he thought we were even.
The problem was that I didn’t want it to be over. I knew we couldn’t date. Because guys on the baseball team didn’t date girls like me. It was in the rulebook or something. Besides, Jayden had a reputation on the team, and the other guys would totally harass him if he went out with someone like me for real.
We just didn’t fit together. Except when we were kissing. Just the thought made me shiver.
My phone buzzed while I was in Trig, and I took it out really carefully and looked down. The text was from Stace … and it was a picture of Jayden on the quad! He was looking off to the side, totally unaware that anybody was taking his picture.
Stacy Conrad! I yelled in my head.
Was she trying to drive me nuts and make it impossible for me to forget about Jayden Stone? And the note in her text was totally embarrassing.
A present for you! Love, Stace!
I was going to kill her! Or hug her. This was totally awful and wonderful. Because the picture was so great. He looked so hot. I tried not to stare at it, but it was really hard. All through class, I told myself that I would delete it. I couldn’t, though.
I was just super relieved that Tyler didn’t sit next to me in Trig. If he saw some totally hot photo of Jayden on my phone, it would just be totally awkward. He would probably think that Jayden had sent it to me or something. Well, that wouldn’t make sense since Jayden didn’t even look like he knew anyone was taking his picture. But, still. It wouldn’t be good if anyone saw the picture.
Besides, even if I wasn’t the most exciting girl in school, I was good for Tyler right now. His ego — and his face — had taken a serious beating. Kind of like my ego had taken a beating after the dance … something else that also happened to be totally Mike Jensen’s fault.
Someone needed to put that guy in his place. But it wasn’t going to be me. Or Tyler. It was best if people like us just stayed off his radar from now on. Which meant I had to stay away from Jayden, because Mike and Jayden were friends. I totally would’ve been better off thinking Jayden was a jerk like Mike, but I knew he wasn’t.
First off, every time he kissed me, it felt like I was floating. And second, he had totally saved me from Mike. So, I couldn’t really blame him for the dance thing, because he did seem sorry about it.
When I got another text before Trig ended, I thought it was just Stace messing with me again. But it was Mom. The note said that Grams had tripped over Daisy, that yappy little Chihuahua she loved so much. She had a broken her hip and was in the hospital. I started getting all teary-eyed until I read that Grams was okay. She just needed help once she got back home. So Mom, Aunt Jenny, and Aunt Carol were going to take turns staying with her.
Mom’s note said she was leaving the car with me, and she had already called Stace’s mom and asked if I could stay over there while she was gone. At lunch, when we all met up on the quad, Stace and Kelly gave me big hugs since Stace’s mom had already texted her. Stace totally knew what I was going through. Her grandma had suffered a stroke last year, and Stace had cried for days.
Even if they had almost gotten me into serious trouble with Mike Jensen … and Mom, I was still lucky to have Stace and Kelly. They were good friends. I knew they’d be there when I needed them, so I was glad I’d stuck my neck out for them. Thinking about the party, I glanced over to where Jayden’s group hung out. He had his guitar and Vicki Westfield was staring at him like she wanted to eat him. Then again, probably half the girls in school were, too.
Turning, I caught Mike Jensen looking at me with his cold, creepy stare. What was his deal? Emma Simmons was hanging all over him and he was giving me creepy looks? What a freaking jerk! Hadn’t he intimidated me and messed up my life enough already?
After lunch, I walked over to my locker. As soon as I pulled open the door, my heart totally jumped out of my chest. The little black box I had found in my locker, which I had brought to the lost and found, was sitting on top of my books. I picked it up and grabbed the note underneath it.
Think you’re too good for everyone?
I couldn’t help it. I clapped my hand over my mouth and totally started bawling. I didn’t even care that people were passing by and staring at my meltdown. I was scared out of my mind, and my thoughts were just going a mile-a-minute. Then I turned and saw Jayden at the other end of the hall. I looked away fast, trying to pretend everything was normal and fine when it totally wasn’t. The bell was going to ring at any second, but I knew if I tried to go to class I was going to throw up or freak out in front of everyone.
This wasn’t supposed to happen to me! I was shy, quiet — I never did anything to anybody! And now somebody was leaving scary, weird letters in my locker.
“Molly?”
I reached up and swiped at my eyes before I turned around to face Jayden. His crystal clear blue eyes were serious when he saw how bad I’d been crying, which just made me start to cry even harder.
“Molly, what happened?”
I hiccupped and tried to say something, but I just ended up sobbing. Before I knew it, Jayden was wrapping me in his arms, and I was crying all over his soft T-shirt. When Mrs. Gillman, who I’d had for geometry freshman year, stuck her head out her door looking annoyed, I heard Jayden say something about taking me to the nurse’s office.
He put his arm around my shoulders and started leading me away from the classrooms until we got to the quad. Then, instead of continuing to the offices, he stopped on the steps to the amphitheater. This was where he usually hung out during lunch, and I never came over here, even when his band had played a few times. The music was good, but Jayden playing guitar — not to mention the sight of his biceps when he played — was the main reason girls screamed.