Rumor Has It Box Set: The Complete Series, Books 1-5

by RH Tucker

  “I mean, you could’ve acted a little more jealous earlier today.”

  "Don't worry." He laughs. "If you ever tell me that again, I'll handcuff myself to you."

  “Oh, kinky,” Jen blurts out, nearly deflating the moment we’re having.

  “I thought you had to go to the bathroom?” I growl at her but keep my eyes on Carter.

  “I went already. All this excitement made me pee my pants.”

  I shake my head at my best friend, just as Carter kisses me again.

  “Sorry, bro.” Matt walks up behind him. “Coach wants us back in before the half starts.”

  “I know,” Carter grunts, but keeps a hold of me. “Text me after? Since, you know, you already have my number.”

  “I deleted it,” I respond, blushing.

  “I’ll take that as a good sign that you really do love me.”

  “My word isn’t good enough?”

  “Maybe.” He grins as I raise an eyebrow. “If you say it again.”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  “Oh, my God!” Jen yells. “You guys can totally send pics now. Let the sexting begin!”

  "Jen!" I yell at her, my cheeks blushing, as I watch her walk away towards the restroom.

  “I like your best friend.” Carter smirks.

  “Yeah, you want to trade?”

  “I heard that!”

  Epilogue

  Matt

  It’s been a month since Carter went all Juno and confessed his love for Emma, dropping three-pointers in a red headband, outing himself as BigBaller27. I'm happy for him. For them both.

  I nudge his shoulder, as I make my way to the lunch table and he scoots over for me. It's been a little weird basically changing friends. Jeremy is such an ass that I don't mind not sitting with him. But I didn't know Lucas has a huge crush on Jen. He doesn't eat lunch with us because he doesn't want to look stupid in front of her. At least, that's what he says. Which I find odd because Lucas has always been a smooth talker. Calm and confident. I think the real reason is that Jen's made it obvious she wants to go out with Franco.

  I guess they have two other friends, Micah and Lana, but Emma said they broke up. I know I'm still the new guy, so I don't get the details. I've crossed paths with him a couple of times, but every time I show up at the table for lunch, Micah conveniently takes off. Whatever.

  Spring break is coming up, and I'm excited to be heading to New York. My little brother and I are visiting my mom for the week and attending a comic book convention. I've been hiding my excitement though because not even Carter knows I'm a closet nerd. Actually, a HUGE closet nerd. I love to cosplay at conventions. And I don't just go out and buy the costumes; I make them from scratch. I always make sure I have a mask, so that if anyone from school is there, they won't recognize me. But being in New York, I can let my guard down. It's going to be awesome.

  “So, come on.” Carter nudges Emma’s shoulder. “You’ve been keeping us dangling here.”

  "Emma, this is ridiculous," Jen says. "We're all here now, and you wanted to tell us at the same time. Just spit it out."

  “But Micah isn’t here.”

  “He’s been spotty for the last couple weeks.”

  “I’m getting a little worried about him.”

  “Don’t be.” Jen waves her hand. “He’s fine. I can’t believe he broke up with Lana, but I see him in psychology. He’s okay.”

  “Emma,” Carter groans.

  "Okay, okay. So …" Emma reaches around into her backpack and pulls out a folded letter. The smile that spreads across her face is adorable. No wonder Carter fell so hard. "I got the scholarship!" she cries out.

  “Ohmygod!” Jen shouts.

  “Congrats, Emma,” I offer.

  "See." Carter wraps an arm around her. "I told you you were gonna get it." He leans over and kisses her.

  “There were a lot of great artists who submitted their work.”

  “Yeah, but your work is awesome.”

  “Hey, I’m gonna grab a drink. You guys want anything?” I get up from the table.

  “Pepsi.” Carter and Emma say at the same time, then smile at each other.

  I’m happy for them, I really am. But that cutesy, say it at the same time thing? I do everything can to not roll my eyes.

  After I pay for the sodas from the snack stand, I start to head back when I see the screen of a laptop open. It’s on a YouTube channel about comic books, anime, and all things nerd. Everything I love.

  “He’s so hot.” One of the girls says, leaning over her friend.

  It’s a channel I’ve seen before. The host is some college guy who calls himself Geek Dood, which is also the name of his show, and he’s going over the latest X-Men release. He looks like one of those hot college guys that girls drool over. These ones obviously are. Except one, and that’s when I notice who they are.

  Izzy Jacobs, and her two friends.

  “Yeah, he’s cute,” Izzy says, still staring at the screen. “But how does this guy have so many more subscribers than my page? Does sex sell that much?”

  “Yes,” her friends say in unison. “Izzy, if you wear something a little more revealing, you’d gain a thousand new subscribers.”

  A grin hits my lips. Isabel Jacobs is hot. She's curvy in all the right places. She's got olive-toned skin, with shoulder-length black hair. And she's known around the school by anyone who likes pop culture stuff because she hosts her own YouTube channel, SoCal Nerd Girl. She covers all the things I love that no one knows about. And it's not just a few hundred followers she has. If I remember right, I think she has over thirty thousand subscribers.

  My eyes float back to the screen because I don't think this is an episode I've seen of Geek Dood, and now he's talking about a new cross-over that Marvel Comics is doing with X-Men and the Avengers. I'm so pre-occupied with the video, it's not until I hear a cough that my attention is diverted back to the girls.

  “Did you need something, Mr. President?” Izzy looks over at me.

  “Oh, no. Sorry.” I can feel my face getting red and turn to leave.

  She knows who I am, as does most of the school. Not because I'm some popular jock, though I guess you could say I am that, but because I'm class president.

  Carter never brings it up, because he knows I only did it to get my dad off my back, but yeah. I’ve been teasingly called ‘Mr. President’ more times than I like to remember this year.

  But since I'm secretly a fanboy, I'm much more acquainted with Izzy than just knowing her from school. I always watch her YouTube videos, another thing no one knows. And I'll make it out of high school in just a few more months without anyone finding out because like Carter, I do have a rep I like to keep. I'm not as popular as him, but I have my moments. And I like them. I plan on keeping it that way.

  True to You

  Rumor Has It, Book 2

  Chapter 1

  Matt

  “And now, for the part we’ve all been waiting for. It’s almost prom season!”

  Yvette pierces the audio so much that I signal to Kip to lower the dial, so a loud screech doesn’t get sent out through the school.

  Morning announcements aren’t my favorite thing about being a part of student council. But, being student body president, I guess I’m supposed to be the one to make sure things run smoothly. Although, Yvette is our vice-president, so I don’t know why I can’t handle other things. In the end, it doesn’t really matter. I didn’t get the position because I want to go into politics or campaigned my ass off. I got it because I’m popular. So did she. And the only reason I ran for student body president was because of my father.

  My dad’s a big shot defense attorney that works twenty-hour days, seven days a week. My brother and I live with him since neither of us wanted to move to New York with my mom when they divorced three years ago. The divorce sucked. Royally. Because I love my mom. She’s great. She’s also a lawyer and had just been hired by this huge firm just as the
divorce was being finalized. It was hard, but I love California. It’s all I’ve known. Plus, all my friends are here.

  So, yeah, it sucked. But she brings us out as much as she can, which means we get to spend Thanksgiving, Christmas, and summers out in New York City. It’s pretty awesome when you make friends with your parent’s workmate’s kids, and they take you out partying in Manhattan and Brooklyn until three in the morning.

  Anyways, back to my dad, Mr. Big-Time-Defense-Attorney. He’s been one for twenty years and has pretty much hounded me about becoming one myself. But I refuse. Flat out refuse. I see all the work he and my mom have done over the years and how much they love it. I, on the other hand, just see piles of paperwork and court hearings. That’s definitely not what I want to do. The thing is, I have no clue what I actually do want to do.

  My dad tried to get me to do mock trial, but I keep telling him we’ve got a full team. I have no idea if Woodbridge even has a mock trial team. But this year, he said if I wasn’t going to do that, at least do something that would give me experience. Experience? In what? People talking? I’m a popular guy, not to brag or anything, and I hang out with Lucas Mitchell and my best friend, Carter Dixon, two of the most popular guys in school. I don’t need to go out of my way to be in student council to get some type of experience. Just to appease him I decided to throw my name in the hat. And wouldn’t you know it, I got the most votes for president.

  Which brings us back to Yvette, our vice-president. She’s been going on and on, actually now that I’m looking at my phone, almost three minutes over our allotted morning announcements time about prom. And she’s talking about the prom court of course.

  Only seniors are eligible for prom court. I would say Carter is a shoe in for it, but after his fall from grace with all the rumors spread about him, he probably won’t get any votes, if he’s even on the ballot. I’m assuming I’ll probably be nominated, but the nominations aren’t for a while, so why the hell is Yvette going on and on about them?

  I clear my throat loudly, which gets her attention.

  “My bad.” She gives a smile to the camera that says, I’m trying to act embarrassed, but I’m not really embarrassed, because I’m Yvette Morales, and I’m the bad bitch that is running prom court this year.

  And, yeah, she probably is.

  Yvette Morales is to the girls at Woodbridge High what Carter Dixon used to be to the guys. She’s the man. Er… woman. But, she’s also the classic ‘mean girl’. Seriously, if I didn’t know any better, I’d have thought Mean Girls was a biopic about Yvette Morales, where Rachel McAdams character was actually Yvette, but they named her Regina George to avoid any lawsuits. Oh, and she wants me.

  Okay, I know that sounds like a douchebag thing to say. And conceited. But it’s the truth. She makes sure I know it every time I walk by her. I could honestly file a sexual harassment suit against her if I wanted to, for how many times she’s pinched my ass. It’s ridiculous. I probably have a permanent red mark from it.

  “Those are the announcements for today,” Greg, our student body treasurer, finally chimes in. “Be sure to enjoy the day and have a terrific spring break. Stay safe out there.”

  They both sit still, smiling at the camera. Greg’s already said he wants to major in broadcasting after high school, so he plays the role of newscaster perfectly.

  “And, we’re out,” Kip calls out. He’s one of the students in the broadcasting room who helps put on the morning announcements show.

  “Good job,” I say to everyone, but Yvette immediately looks at me and gives me a sultry smile.

  The teacher calls us back to our desks, and for the rest of first period, we start getting things in line for the distribution of yearbooks, our senior trip, our final senior pep rally, and, of course, prom.

  The bell rings for the end of class, and I grab my backpack. But not before Yvette makes her way over.

  “So, Matt, any plans for prom?”

  “Not really,” I answer coolly. And it’s true, I haven’t even thought about it. It’s still over a month away.

  She lets out a laugh, at what I don’t know, and then throws her hair back over her shoulder. “Sarah and I are going dress shopping this weekend. I don’t know if I’ll get anything, but I want to make sure I find something I like. What about spring break?”

  “Yeah. My brother and I are visiting my mom out in New York.”

  “New York?” She squeals. “Oh, bring me back a souvenir,” she adds as she grabs my arm.

  “Uh, yeah. Sure,” I say as I detangle myself from her and make my way out of the door. “Later, Yvette.”

  I head down the hallway and turn the corner, bumping right into Izzy Jacobs.

  “Oh shit, sorry.” I steady myself and reach out because it looks like she might fall over. But she steadies herself and my hand, that was reaching out for her arm, now connects with her boob. And not just a light brush. I was trying to grab her arm, but I grab her instead. I jerk my hand back, and I know my cheeks are blushing. “Ah—sorry,” I spit out again.

  “Dang, Mr. President. Trying to pull a Bill Clinton?”

  “What?” I gape, not giving a second thought to the nickname I’ve grown annoyed with this year.

  “It’s so easy with guys.”

  “Very funny.” My nervousness eases a bit. “Seriously, sorry.”

  “It’s all good, Matt,” she says as she starts walking away.

  I turn around to watch as she leaves. Izzy Jacobs. Now that’s a girl that I’d love to go out with. She’s kind of popular in school, but not because of anything school related. She’s mostly known as a nerd, which she is. And she’s totally fine with that. She runs her own YouTube channel called So Cal Nerd Girl, where she reviews comics, manga, anime, and pretty much all things pop culture. It’s right up my alley. Not that anyone knows that about me. Not even Carter knows that I’m a closet fanboy.

  I love comic books, collectibles, and all that stuff. And the biggest nerd thing I do? I cosplay. I make my own costumes and go to comic book conventions dressed up as a character. I’ve dressed up as a The Flash, Master Chief from Halo, and Star-Lord. Yep, everything has a mask. That way if anyone is around, I can keep it a secret. At the end of Spring Break, my brother and I will be attending Big Apple PopCon, where I’ll be cosplaying again. I’m super excited for that.

  So yeah, Izzy Jacobs is definitely my type. Not to mention she’s gorgeous, curvy, and if my unintentional brush with second base is anything to go off, maybe a C cup? Shoulder length jet-black hair and a little bit of makeup, but nothing overboard. And these incredible amber eyes. Yeah, she’s awesome. And maybe in another life, I might think about asking her out. We’d probably get along great, with all kinds of things in common. But this is the life I have. My life of popular jock, student body president - one of the ‘cool kids’. I’m not complaining about it. Which is why I’m not going out of my way to ask Izzy out. I’ve spent high school just doing the normal stuff like, hanging out with friends, hitting the beaches, having occasional girlfriends, and since most of my friends have been on the popular kids’ side of the spectrum, it’s been relatively smooth.

  No need to rock the boat now.

  Chapter 2

  Izzy

  “Dang, Mr. President.” I look up at Matt Hillard as I stop myself from stumbling back. “Trying to pull a Bill Clinton?”

  “What?” His jaw drops, and I can’t help but crack a smile.

  If it was someone else, I might’ve played it out a little longer, making them squirm, but Matt’s always seemed like a good guy. He’s insanely hot and our class president, but he’s never let either of those things give him an ego. At least, not that I’ve seen. He’s got dark brown shaggy hair that seems all over the place but also made up at the same time. Almost like beach head, which makes sense, since he’s got a great golden tan, no doubt from hitting said beach. And he’s got a little scruff under his chin too, which I find really sexy. My last boyfriend had a little, and I loved it. P
lus, Matt stood by his best friend when his reputation imploded last month, which means he’s loyal. That’s endearing.

  “It’s so easy with guys.”

  “Very funny.” He smirks, the red in his face dying down a little. “Seriously, sorry.”

  “It’s all good.” I wave him off and keep heading to my next class. Maybe I’ll make fun of him later in our sociology class. Even if he doesn’t have an ego, it’s always good to keep a possible future one in check.

  As I make my way to my next class, I can already feel the excitement about next weekend. Just one week until I’m in the Big Apple. Talk about your first time in New York. It’s even better that I’m getting flown out there. Next weekend is Big Apple PopCon. It’s one of the biggest comic book and pop culture conventions on the east coast and I got invited to attend and be a guest judge for their cosplay contest because of my YouTube channel. I’ve got thirty-two thousand subscribers, which isn’t huge as far as top YouTubers go, but one of my subscribers likes my show and is a big-time cosplayer. She’s one of the judges and recommended me as the third judge. How awesome is that?

  Peeking around, I check for any teachers before I pull out my phone and start recording myself.

  “What’s up, people? So Cal Nerd Girl here.” I smile and make sure I tilt my head at the right angle. “Just making a super quick update at school, but I gotta be fast because I’ve already been warned once about filming at school.” I look around again. It’s all clear. “Okay, last week I said I had a big surprise, and I’m so excited about it, that I just had to post a quick update. No, not revealing it yet, but the reveal will come a week from tomorrow. And, I’ll give you a hint. I’ll be in New York for it!”

  I can’t keep the smile from spreading ear to ear. Just then, Veronica wraps her arm around me. “Oh, is Nerd Girl filming in school again?” She giggles, looking up at my phone.