by Jillian Dodd
“Dawson! Behave!”
“Sorry, okay. Love you, Keatie. I’ll text you before I go to sleep.”
“K, bye.”
And then I walked out his door.
Who is stalking me, apparently?
Aiden.
Looking more god like than ever, in a plain white T-shirt that shows off his golden tan skin and a pair of white basketball shorts, with little red stripes down the side.
He grabs my hand, says, “Come here.” And I follow him up to his room.
He shuts his door, locks it, dazzles me with a smile and says, “So, only had twelve tonight. But we won!”
“Yeah, you all played great. Really. Riley’s really stepping up.”
“He is. That and we had a secret weapon.”
“What’s that?”
“Motivation.”
“I saw the clovers on the footballs. That your doing?”
“Yeah. This really cool girl wished me luck and offered me dances. So I gave a little motivational speech before the game. Showed everyone that I drew them on the game balls, prayed Coach wouldn’t kill me, and it was a big hit. We went out there pretty pumped up.”
“It was awesome, really.”
“So I didn’t have a chance to pick twelve new songs, okay if we do some of the old ones?”
“Are we dancing tonight?”
“Heck yeah.”
He hits his ipod to play and pulls me in close. We sway to the music, grind a little, I look into eyes. He gets so close to me. Like before. It’s like our faces have a forcefield just around them.
He is toying with my forcefield.
Firing shots, trying to find its weakness.
And what’s up with that?
Because I clearly told Kirk, or Scotty, whoever is in charge of that stuff on the starship, shields DOWN! (So many of these scenes with Aiden and Keatyn were not changed, because, well, he is amazing!)
But he WILL NOT kiss me. He is totally teasing me, totally playing with me, and it pisses me off, and makes me weak at the knees at the same time.
Remember how I said it feels like time stood still when I kissed him. It feels that way when I dance with him. Like we are the only two people on this green earth, and we’re okay with that. And before I realize it, we’ve gone through not just twelve songs, but all twenty nine on his original playlist. Rap music blares on, and I look at the clock.
Oh shit!
Shit!!!
“Aiden!! I’m thirty six minutes late!!!”
I go tearing out of there.
Check in and receive a very stern warning and over one hundred minutes of detention.
Worth every second.
I mean, our team won, right?
I’m in the dorm, downstairs, dealing with being late.
And maybe slightly traumatized.
I have texts, lots of texts:
Dawson: Almost done :)
Katelyn: You are 12 minutes late for curfew. Where are you?
Katelyn: Texted Dawson, to tell you you were late, you are not with him???? Where are you??? And now you are 15 minutes late.
Dawson: Where are you? I thought you were going back to your dorm?
Katelyn: I’m freaking out, 18 minutes late.
Katelyn: Text me for god’s sake.
Maggie: Katelyn is trying to find you.Where are you?
Annie: Why aren’t you in your dorm? Why aren’t you answering? She says Dawson doesn’t know where you are.
Riley: Katelyn has texted everyone wanting to know where you are. Where are you?
Dawson: Text me when you get in. I’m getting worried, Keatie :(
Katelyn: You ARE 27 MINUTES LATE!!!! (First of all, Katie, you need to chill out!)
Dallas: Heard you are MIA, have a sneaking suspicion you are uh, tutoring. If so, use Dallas as your excuse. I will always have your back. But you better text me back and tell me. (Secondly, Dallas is wise beyond his years. And a really good friend.)
Katelyn: 32 MINUTES!!
Me to Katelyn: I’m in the dorm. Will be up in a few. Getting my ass chewed first. Tell everyone you were texting I’m fine. K?
Katelyn: THANK GOD! And K :)
Me to Dallas: I love you, seriously. And you are correct. I told you he is a powerful one. I got lost in his eyes and lost all track of time.
Dallas: Why do I have a feeling you have something to do with the four leafed clover. He gave you one before dance tryouts, right? (And observant, too!)
Me: Right. And again before my speech. I just decided to like pay it forward. He wished me luck, I knew it was a rough game, I have school spirit, wanted you to win, offered up some more dances, that’s where I was.
Dallas: Was it just dancing?
Me: Yes. I have a bf.
Dallas: If you were my gf, I wouldn’t want you dancing with Aiden, I wouldn’t give a shit about school spirit. (Exactly. Love how he calls her out on this.)
Me: I’m a freshman, I’m into school spirit.
Dallas: Then next time, you motivate me:) (But then. LOL. Let’s get high and kiss.)
Me: So what were we doing, why was I late?
Dallas: You were helping me study for our English test tomorrow and we were both so tired, we fell asleep.
Me: We have a English test tomorrow??!!
Dallas: Yes...go study. love you :) you seriously need to talk me up to Katie, she’s cute too. I deserve it.
me: Done :)
me to Dawson: Hey, sorry. I’m fine. Was studying with Dallas, fell asleep in his room. Will be in detention for the rest of my life :(
Dawson: Aw, it’s okay. I was just worried about you. Love you. Night <3
I walk in my room, and if I didn’t get my ass chewed enough, Katie starts in on me. And really, I’m not in the mood. I tell her about Dallas, tell her I’m tired, tell her goodnight.
Lay in my bed and dream about greek gods in white T-shirts. Then when I hear her sleeping, I get back up and study for the stupid test.
Friday, September 16th
I’ve got to get more sleep.
7:10 am
Social committee meeting. Got to sleep at 3am. Woke up at 6. Put on our slinky away game outfits for dance, and marched my half naked ass down to the meeting room.
And maybe I was a couple minutes late, and Peyton gave me an evil glance.
So bite me, Barbie.
Aiden, however, flashed me that blazing smile and just his teeth are worth getting up for. I sit down next to Brad. He looks at me, whispers, “Rough night?” (Didn’t you have that guy in high school? The one worth getting up for? Although, sometimes he didn’t know you actually existed, but whatever.)
I nod yes. He leans down and reaches in his backpack, pulls out a red bull, and I nearly kiss him.
“Ohmigawd, thank you,” I whisper
back. “You are so my new best friend.”
He grins.
Peyton and Aiden are going on and on about the other plans for our Parisian weekend. They’ve gotten a lot of buy in and have lots of support and everything is going well, but they don’t have a catchy name yet. A slogan.
They are all brainstorming. I’m in a brain fog, half trying to sleep with my eyes open and half listening to the lame things they are coming up with. They say things like, A Night in Paris, A weekend in Paris, I see London, I see France, (which personally I thought was kinda clever) Cougars & Croissants, Berets and Beignets, Viva la France, Bonjour, LaAmore.
And Peyton is going on about how she doesn’t like any of those. How it should evoke romance.
I’m still barely awake, I’m sort of daydreaming, and I wistfully think what Aiden told me that day, because it sounded so romantic. And I think maybe I whispered it out loud, “Top of the Eiffel Tower, sunset.” (This is the best thing ever. . . )
“What did you say,” Brad says.
“Huh, what?” There goes my daydream.
“What did you just say about the Eiffel tower?”
I think, and then say quietly, “Uh, top of the
Eiffel Tower, sunset.”
Peyton hears and says, “Oh, that’s it. That sounds so romantic. Top of the Eiffel Tower at sunset. I love it.”
I gulp realizing what I’ve just done. I don’t dare look at Aiden, but I do. He does his thing, where he stares at me, looks into my soul, grabs it and won’t let go.
Then he blinks slowly, and his mouth starts that slow buildup to a smile. The little smirk, the smile, the full wattage grin.
And I’m thinking, oh shit.
I’ve got to get more sleep!!
After the meeting, I avoid Aiden, run out of the meeting to the safety of Riley and my first class.
Riley says, “So, Dallas told me about last night. He seemed a bit suspicious if you ask me. What’s going on?”
“What’s going on is I’m up doing your history homework half the night, while you snore away. Then I’m so exhausted I fall asleep trying to study for English with Dallas.”
“Hmm, okay. So you excited for today?”
“Uh, for the away game?”
“No, baby. They’re going to announce student council officers today. Like at the end of this class.”
“Oh wow, I forgot about that.”
“You must need more sleep. You doing okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“I think you’re gonna win. Not sure which office, but definitely win. Dallas and I were doing some polling yesterday after we voted. It was looking good. Well it was looking good til Dallas starting in on his new poll, which was bra colors and trying to guess a girl’s cup size.” (Dallas and his Panties for the Poor and cup sizes and pick-up lines are awesome. Makes me love him even more because he always can make me laugh.)
He leans in toward me, “He’s not very good at it. Now me. I am good at it. Pretty sure I am physic.”
I fold my hands in prayer and close my eyes.
“What are you doing?”
“Praying that the freshman girls will be protected from your evil ways.”
“Naughty ways, maybe, but not evil. You should know, baby.”
“I still don’t know why I let you call me baby. I should be taking offense to it.”
“It fits.”
“That and that’s what Tommy calls all us girls. I think it’s kinda comforting.”
“Good. Now give me your worksheet, so I can copy it quick.”
Our teacher drones on and on and thanks to the redbull and the cup of coffee I snagged before class, I have enough of a caffeine buzz to keep me awake. Sorta.
The dean comes over the announcements and says, “And now time for Freshman Student Council officer results. Your new President is Benjamin Roberts, Your new Vice president is Keatyn Monroe.......”
Riley starts cheering and hugging me, and I don’t get to hear who got secretary. I’m feeling pretty freaking happy though. And it’s really not a surprise that I came in second to Benjamin, I mean he did promise an ipad in every hand. I think some president ran on that platform sometime in history, like maybe during the depression. Did he promise a chicken in every kitchen, or a cow in every barn or something like that?
Rest of today was a blur.
11:30 pm
Rest of today was a blur. Six more classes, lunch, soccer, lots of congratulations. I got my long ass detention waved until tomorrow morning, since I had to get on the bus at five for the trip to the away football game, talked excitedly with Maggie and Katie about tonight’s after party, then danced and cheered for the team. We lost though. Bummer.
Now I find myself sitting on the bus with Aiden sitting next to me. Don’t ask me how it happened. Clearly the fates have collided or something. I did really try and get on Dawson’s bus. But then Aiden had my arm and was guiding me on the other bus, toward the very back, and I didn’t resist.
And Dawson’s mad at me. He had a rough game, got sacked four times.
Dawson: Why aren’t you on this bus?
Me: I tried. Coach told me it was full.
Dawson: I saved you a seat.
Me: Well, you should have told Coach, cuz he wouldn’t let me on.
Dawson: :(
Me: I know. But I’m just gonna sleep. We can party when we get back.
Dawson: Congrats again, I have some tequila shots calling your name:)
Me: Sounds fun <3
Saturday, Sept 17th
You can call me Shark.
6:54 am
Alarm goes off at 6. I’m, well I want to say I am tired, but truth is, I’m a bit hungover. Dawson and I did celebrate last night. And I think I had like maybe one too many shots. I wasn’t like raging drunk or shit faced or anything, just well pretty tipsy and okay, fine, so maybe I was drunk. Just not hammered drunk in a bad way. Don’t remember what happened kind of way. Because I clearly remember what happened. I wanted to drag Dawson back to his room, and he told me no. (Join me in a few snaps for Dawson.)
That I was drunk.
And then walked me home.
Hit the snooze three more times, decide it might be smart not to be late, looked up online, thanking God that there is no dress code for Saturday detentions. Wore a ponytail, ball cap, shorts, T-shirt and Uggs, ran and grabbed a latte, whole grain muffin and some fruit.
Eating it at the detention desk at 6:55 and very proud of myself for being early to detention. Which now that I think about it, seems extremely uncool.
To my surprise there are four other kids in Saturday detention and when the teacher walks out to get more coffee, I ask why everyone's there.
Like what they did. (I will point out that I didn't consider the fact at this moment that I am living a scene from the movie, The Breakfast Club.)
So there was Sam, who said, “But you can call me Shark.” He got caught taking bets on the freshman elections.
"Oh, what were my odd?"
“You were a long shot to lose, sweets. Legs like that, no way you'd lose.”
Then there was Amanda. Amanda sorta looks like a bad girl. Jet black hair, kinda a Joan Jett shaggy look. I can't decide if she's trying to look rockerish or slightly goth. She’s funny as shit though, and I instantly like her smart ass wise cracks.
Obviously it was this talent that led her to detention. Turns out she's fancies herself as an actress, is excited for drama production tryouts, which are coming up in a few weeks.
You should totally try out, she tells me, “We’re doing this comedy. It’s called The Bachelor Prince. It’s like this spoof of the reality show, only there are two princes and they are in a reality show style race to see who can find their true love first. The one that wins, gets to be King. There’s a part you would be so perfect for. There’s this sweet girl from Texas that falls in love for real with the good prince, but then the bad prince tries to keep them apart. It’s like not a lead, but has a big impact on the show. Have you ever thought about acting?”
Then she's a smart ass to herself. “I mean you do everything else.” (I love this line!)
“Um, I have thought about acting a little, my dad was a model and acted some.”
Before she can ask his name, I say, “But he died though.”
And she says, “I'm sorry.” (Obviously that got cut.)
There's an guy from the cross country team that hazed a freshman. He tied his shoes together under the bleachers. Funny if you ask me and not that haze worthy, but the kid fell down and knocked out a front tooth, so everyone was all freaked out about that.
Then there is an overachieving sophomore girl, who is actually in my french class, named Marie, that did actually fall asleep and miss curfew. She was in the library and apparently the librarian did not see her because she was working on a laminating project for something. By like an hour. She is also mortified that she would ever find herself in detention as she has “Never had one in my ENTIRE life!" (I also really like Shark’s character. I can so picture him. Walking around, taking bets, chip on his shoulder, flask in his pocket. He was just supposed to be in this scene, but I liked him so much, he ended up being more impo
rtant and even a love interest for Whitney!)
“So how bout you?” she asks me.
“Wait,” Shark says. “Let's guess and make some odds.”
Everyone seems to think this sounds fun.
And I'm curious to know what these people, who have never met me, think I would get into trouble for.
Won't bore us with the lengthy discussion, but here's what they came out with and the odds:
3:1 Was caught in the boys dorm with her boyfriend.
“Ohmigawd, he is sooooo dreamy.”
6:1 Talked back to a teacher.
2:1 Caught in another boy’s dorm room
“I heard you were in some other boys room studying.”
4:1 Got caught smoking weed.
“Oh, I would think those odds would be lower, doesn't everyone from California do that?”
“No silly, she would have gotten kicked out for that.”
“No, you don’t get kicked out. Just a short suspension.”
8:1 Got lost trying to find her way back to her dorm.
“I mean she is blonde AND on the dance team.”
“Hey, I'm also in the student council, the literary club, the french club and the social committee.”
“How did you get on the social committee?”
“Yeah, freshman never get on that.”
“It’s a long story, but a teacher asked me to. I'm in French Two cuz I've lived in France some, and I'm tutoring someone.”
“Who?”
“Aiden. Do you know him?”
“Ohmigawd! EVERYONE knows Aiden. He's as hot as they come.”
“So who's hotter Aiden or Dawson?
“Ohhhh tough choice.”
“I have new odds. 3:1 your going to break up with Dawson and end up with Aiden.”
“Uh no. Dawson might break up with me. Well I don’t know, he is so sweet and we get along really well. Plus he's hot.”
“Yeah I'm not at all gay, but the guy is really dreamy.”
We all laugh.