Rebound Boyfriend

by Daphne James Huff

  “His cousin, Andie, is in my math class. She gave me some details on him.”

  That would explain how Staci had gotten him all lined up as an option for me. If only she paid as much attention to her own romantic pursuits as she did mine. If I hadn’t been so scared of Finn Weston, I might have done something to help push that along for her. But I had enough on my plate right now.

  “Did she say where he might have run off to?” I asked.

  “Sammi, chill. Ryan is not who you have to worry about. Jeremiah is the liar.”

  He hadn’t been lying, but he hadn’t told me the whole truth either. I had promised Staci I wouldn’t talk to him anymore outside of project stuff, but this was still bugging me.

  What hold did Linzie have over him? And how could it be more powerful than his self-professed love for me?

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  When Jeremiah came up to my locker in between classes, I quickly squashed my excitement. My conversation with Staci was still fresh in my mind, and I reminded myself that this guy was a liar.

  A beautiful, perfect liar.

  “I have some bad news,” he said, staring down at his feet, his face scrunched up in what I normally would have found an adorable way.

  “Worse than dumping me for my best friend?” I said before I could think better of it.

  The tinge in his cheeks felt good to see at least. Man, did it kill me to be like this with him. But what other option did I have? Swoon all over him in the hallway? Demand answers he clearly didn’t want to give me?

  “It’s about our history project,” he said, ignoring my catty remark.

  My heart dropped into my stomach, all thoughts of finding out his secrets vanishing.

  “You got the file, didn’t you?” I said, my pulse pounding in my ears. “I deleted it from my phone, Jeremiah, once I uploaded it to that file sharing thing you sent me.”

  He cleared his throat and peeked up at me, his eyebrows pulled together. The normally adorable gesture had me in a state of total panic.

  “There isn’t an automatic backup on your phone, is there?” he asked, his normally confident voice almost a whisper. “I can’t seem to find it.”

  “What do you mean, you can’t find it?” My voice echoed loud above the hallway chatter, and a few people turned their heads to stare at me. I must have looked as furious as I felt, because they quickly scuttled away. It was a good thing, too, because depending on the next words out of Jeremiah’s mouth, heads were about to roll.

  “I got the email saying you sent it, and I opened it once, but now it’s nowhere on the site.”

  The air around me was so hot I could barely breathe.

  “I’m not sure I understand.” The words came out in a rush, sucking the breath from my lungs.

  “I’m so sorry, Sammi, I stayed up all night looking, but…” He trailed off and ran his hands through his hair. “I lost it.”

  “You lost the video?” This had to be a joke. “The project is due in a week. We don’t have time to redo it. You were supposed to be spending the past two weeks editing. I already wrote my half of the paper.”

  “I know, I’m so sorry,” he said, his hands running through his hair again. It was so ruffled, it looked like he’d been through a windstorm. “I’ll talk to Mr. Carter, explain what happened and that it was my fault.”

  “He won’t believe you,” I said, shaking my head, unable to stop the tears from falling. I brushed them away, but more and more took their place. Whispering buzzed around us in the hall, and I turned slightly away, trying to hide them as best I could. I didn’t need an audience for my world crumbling around me. “I’m already on his list; he won’t give me another chance.”

  “What do you mean?” he said, his brow furrowed. “What happened?”

  “I—I—” I clamped my lips shut. I couldn’t tell him. I hadn’t back in December when we’d been together, why would I tell him now? It was over, anyway, I couldn’t change the past. I just had to be sure that this project was great, and it was going to be my saving grace.

  Except Jeremiah had lost it.

  “Sam, I’m doing all I can to help you,” he said, his eyes begging me for forgiveness there was no way I was about to give. “I really am so sorry.”

  Anger bubbled up inside me, hot like lava. He kept apologizing. For breaking up with me. For kissing me. Now for ruining the project.

  “Don’t.” I held up a hand, my chest heaving. My heart burned at the nickname. I closed my eyes, fighting back the tears that wanted to escape. “You have no idea what you’ve done. I needed this grade, Jeremiah.”

  “I know how important it is—”

  “No, you don’t,” I cut him off again. He couldn’t know just how important. The weeks of anxiety about Mr. Carter’s class had finally started to leave me, and I had actually been feeling hopeful again. “You have no idea what you’ve done.”

  He reached an arm out, ready to hold me as I cried like he’d done countless times before. And yet here I was, ready to cry because of him again. I pushed his arm away.

  “I’ll talk to Mr. Carter, I’ll do everything I can to make this better.”

  I shook my head.

  “How many times are you going to let me down, Jeremiah?” I said, turning my fiery gaze to his. He looked down.

  “I can’t do this anymore,” I said. “We’re done. For good.”

  Staci wouldn’t have to worry anymore. Any feelings I had for Jeremiah were officially gone—forever.

  Staci was patting my arm reassuringly during a break between classes, when Veronica made an appearance at my locker.

  “What do you want?” I snarled, not in the mood for whatever she had in store for me. She could be both an excellent ally and a terrible enemy, so I knew I should be more careful. But today, I didn’t really care. My academic future was so uncertain at this point, it didn’t really matter what was happening socially.

  Her lips twitched just an inch at my rude tone and glaring eyes, but she quickly put on a wide smile. “I wanted to say thanks for inviting me to your party last month.”

  “Oh, sure,” I said, dropping the arms I had folded protectively across my chest. I gave her a weak smile. “I hope you had fun.”

  She flushed and nodded. Apparently, she had a little more than fun. Was she just here to rub it in?

  “To repay the favor, I wanted to let you know about something I may have heard.” She leaned in to whisper this, with an exaggerated wink.

  Staci cocked an eyebrow at me. Getting firsthand information from Veronica was a pretty special deal without her asking for anything in exchange. She must have found her soulmate or something at the party to be in this generous of a mood.

  “Jeremiah and Linzie are fighting,” Veronica said. “Like, all the time. If they’re not making out, they’re yelling at each other.”

  I felt like yelling at Jeremiah, too, at the moment, so this wasn’t particularly interesting.

  “Okay?” I tried not to roll my eyes. “Is that it? Every couple fights, Veronica.”

  She shook her head and took a step closer. I was already leaning against the lockers next to mine and couldn’t move away from her invading presence. She was making me think about the very person I wanted to think about the least, and if I could have run in the other direction without causing a scene, I would have.

  But I still needed to hear what she knew.

  “It’s like…he doesn’t even seem to like her,” Veronica said, her eyebrows furrowed. “I’ve been trying to figure it out for weeks. He seems to hate her, but then is still with her.”

  I held back a laugh. I was still with Ryan, despite my less-than-lukewarm feelings for him. Lots of people were with someone they didn’t really like.

  I didn’t want to say that to Veronica, of course.

  “Well, thanks, but I’m not sure why you think I’d care,” I said with a shrug. “I’m with Ryan.”

  She gave me a look that let me know she probably knew more about my
true feelings than even I did myself.

  “Well, be that as it may, I just don’t think Jeremiah is totally over you,” she said. “I wish I knew more about why he broke up with you. But that’s all I have for now.”

  With that, she turned on her heels and disappeared into the crowded hallway like the gossipy ghost she was.

  “Well, that was pointless,” said Staci, shaking her hair back as I closed my locker. “All she did was stir up more trouble. Rude.”

  Despite everything that had happened over the past few days, my traitorous heart fluttered. My head may have been furious with Jeremiah, but my heart hadn’t quite caught up. Maybe there’s still a chance for us, it whispered. He’d said it, and now Veronica had basically confirmed it: he didn’t want to be with Linzie. Maybe there could still be something…once I’d cooled off about the history project. For about a year.

  “He said he was doing everything he could to help me for the project,” I mumbled, my eyes wide and eager and my heart gaining traction over my brain. I was met with Staci’s stony stare.

  “So you’re back to mooning pointlessly over that jerk just because of what the gossip queen says?”

  My wildly beating shuddered to a stop and dropped into my stomach.

  “No,” I said, frowning. Thinking about the lost history project got my blood boiling again. It was the worst thing that could have happened, at the worst possible time.

  But he hadn’t done it on purpose, whereas the more I thought about it, the more Ryan seemed to be willingly taking on the role of the worst boyfriend ever. He was still mysteriously absent and hadn’t responded to any of my texts all day.

  “Good, glad to see you’ve remembered you’re with Ryan now.”

  “Not for much longer,” I said, unable to stop the words from coming out.

  “You can’t break up with him!” Staci cried, her eyes wide. “Valentine’s Day is almost here. You won’t have a bouquet.”

  I shrugged.

  “Neither will you. We can give each other one.”

  She scoffed.

  “Like old maids, great,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’d rather have nothing than a pity bouquet.”

  Her cheeks flushed, and I thought of her failed attempt to snag Finn Weston’s attention last week.

  Had that night at the pizza place really only been a week ago? I had actually been feeling okay about Ryan that night, but so much had happened in a matter of days, the emotional roller coaster was making me ill. I wanted to get off, the sooner the better.

  “Why are you still pushing Ryan?” I asked, annoyed at Staci because she’d been the one to suggest him. “He’s not even here, consoling me for my history project disaster.”

  “He’s probably just busy with basketball stuff.”

  “Their season ended three days ago with that spectacular loss I missed because I had a concussion, probably from a ball he threw.”

  Staci bit her lip, confirming a sneaking suspicion I’d had since Saturday night. I hadn’t asked who’d thrown the ball, but since no one had volunteered the information, I figured it had to be Ryan. Anyone else on the team would have apologized already, even someone from the opposing team.

  “He’s just the worst boyfriend ever, admit it. I’d rather be single for Valentine’s Day and buy my own bouquet than keep pretending. It isn’t fair to him. Or me.”

  “But—but it just has to work,” she cried, and I stepped back.

  The roar of hallway noise was deafening, but we weren’t entirely oblivious to those around us. And Veronica had only just dashed away. She didn’t need any more ammunition against the squad even if we were mostly done for the year.

  “Why? Because your stupid cards told you?”

  She blinked but didn’t say anything. My blood boiled for an entirely different reason.

  “Staci, I can’t freaking believe you. I need a friend, not a magician.” My hands were shaking from anger, and I balled them into fists at my sides. More and more people were looking now, our raised voices echoing louder than the buzz of chatter around us.

  “But it was all there!” She was wringing her hands, her brow furrowed. “You’d go through a dark period, then there’d be joy at the end with someone new coming into your life.”

  “First of all, you know I don’t believe in all this, so stop pushing.”

  “But it was all there! Jeremiah isn’t the one for you. It’d be stupid to ignore the signs.”

  “So I’m stupid now?”

  “No, that’s not what I—”

  “Don’t. Just don’t.” I held up a hand to stop her. “I need a friend, a best friend, to actually talk to. Not a deck of playing cards.”

  I pushed past her to storm off to my next class. There was a sudden hush as I passed through the hall, followed by an even louder chatter than before. My stomach clenched at the thought of the rumors that would start now. I’d never had the blowup I needed with Linzie, so apparently this was taking its place.

  I had hoped Staci would take Linzie’s place in a different way, though.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  When Ryan finally made an appearance at my locker after school, I was ready to strangle him. He’d been nowhere to be found all day, and I needed a little support right now. Rather than endure forty-five minutes of icy silence next to Staci, I’d spent AP Chemistry sitting with some random guy who could barely talk to me. On top of that, I’d caught a glance of Linzie and Jeremiah making out yet again in between classes, so Veronica was clearly just trying to stir something up.

  My rage only intensified at the look on Ryan’s face. While he’d never gazed at me adoringly, he’d at least always seemed pleased to see me. Today he actually had the gall to be angry. When he’d been the one ignoring me all day.

  This was getting unbelievable.

  “What?” I snarled, unable to control myself.

  “I overheard Veronica telling someone something,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

  My heart screeched to a stop then sped up to hummingbird pace. Whatever acid reply I had been preparing dried up on my tongue.

  “She’s a total gossip,” I said, waving my hand. I glanced at the crush of students around us, talking loudly, excited about the end of the school day. This wasn’t the ideal location for my third fight of the day, but at least people would be more focused on leaving than sticking around to see it. Hopefully.

  “Yeah but she’s right like, ninety-five percent of the time.” He frowned.

  My heart was beating faster. What exactly had he overheard?

  “Have you...” He swallowed and tried again. “Have you been hanging out with Jeremiah?”

  Crash. It was all falling apart.

  “We’re doing a history project together,” I said, my heart screaming at the lie of omission. Though since Jeremiah was on my growing list of people who were ticking me off right now, it was closer to the truth than it would have been a week ago.

  “She said you guys do more than that.” He stared at me, his eyes hard and searching for confirmation in mine.

  So much for Veronica thanking me. She was the worst double-crosser out there.

  I pulled out the meanest head cheerleader sneer I could.

  “Look, I don’t have time for someone who trusts that wannabe gossip girl more than his own girlfriend.” I flipped my hair over my shoulder.

  My heart broke a little at the hurt in his eyes. I’d never been mean to him, but had I ever really been that nice?

  Staci had said to chew him up and spit him out. To mold him into what I needed.

  Well, I’d been trying, and what had it gotten me? Honestly, it had been making me feel pretty gross, to always be correcting him and reminding him of what he had to do. And Ryan didn’t look that happy about it either.

  “I believe you, I just...” Ryan sighed and rubbed a hand over his short hair. “I don’t really want to spend Valentine’s Day with you.”

  “What?” My stomach lurched.

 
; The actual romantic meal or presents thing wasn’t a big deal. It was the school day that mattered most. Girls walked around with outrageous bouquets; it was a competition to see whose was biggest, prettiest, or had the most expensive flowers. There was an unofficial voting organized by—who else?—Veronica.

  “We don’t have to go out to dinner or anything fancy,” I said, running a hand down his arm, switching into damage control mode. Ryan was all I had now, I reminded myself. “Just a bouquet is fine. I’ll help you pick it out since it’s your first year doing it.”

  I remembered freshman year placing third and being thrilled. Then sophomore and junior I didn’t have a boyfriend, which had made it tough to see everyone else with their flowers. But this year was supposed to be different. Jeremiah had teased me even as early as November with the ridiculous bouquet he was planning.

  I knew in the grand scheme of things it was not that important. My history grade was actually what would impact my life in a major way. Getting into college mattered more than winning some silly bouquet competition.

  Ryan couldn’t help me with history or with college. But he could make sure I beat Linzie’s flowers.

  “I don’t need your help,” he said, moving away from my touch. “You really think I’m an idiot, don’t you?”

  “What? No, I don’t. Why would you say that?”

  Not an idiot, I thought to myself. Just inexperienced.

  I bit my lip.

  He sighed. The halls were almost empty now. I had half a mind to go peeking inside all the doorways to be sure that Veronica wasn’t snooping.

  “You didn’t even console me after the game on Saturday,” he said.

  My temper flared again. “I had a head injury. That you didn’t even ask about on Sunday.” Was he serious? He was a junior with another year of playing. If anyone needed consoling, it was Jeremiah. Would his offer at Murray State even be a possibility now? He had college stress to worry about too.