I tape the backs of the hearts before handing them off to Addy and Chase. Jared sighs. “Are you really going to ignore me now?”
Yes. Yes, I most certainly am.
“Okay, I can take a hint. I’ll see you bright and early in Chemistry, partner.”
Adaline waits a moment then she blurts out, “Okay, seriously why did you do that?”
“For sanity purposes. Can we get back to doing this?”
Addy rolls her eyes. Chase remains silent and continues putting up hearts. “J, not every guy is going to be like Mark. Jared came over here to talk to you, and you blew him off. Why would you do that?”
“He’s friends with Mark. Rachel was practically dry-humping him in the hall not even less than an hour ago.”
Chase clears his throat. “I don’t want to get into this whole weird conversation but for the record, Jared is as far from Mark as you can possibly get. And I wouldn’t label them as buddies.”
Right. Still doesn’t explain away the whole Rachel business, does it?
Chapter Seven
Jared
On my drive home from school, I feel more frustrated than ever. There is no way to win a girl like Juliet. I should toss in the rag and call it quits. Just keep staring at her from afar and hopefully, I eventually move on.
My cell rings from the cup holder in my truck. I pick it up and swipe my finger not really paying attention to whose name appeared on the screen. “Hello?”
“Jared. Where the hell are you?” Tyler asks.
“I had to be back home early. I told you that.”
“Oh right. Sorry man you had to get stuck with Rachel.”
I groan. “Yeah, that was not cool.”
“Did you get to talk to Juliet any?”
I snort. “Not exactly. What’s with all the questions?”
“Layla wanted to know. She’s rooting for you.”
“Tell your girlfriend I’m pretty sure her sister hates my guts.”
“I’m sure she doesn’t. Hey man, we on for Moe’s on Friday?”
“Yeah.”
“Cool. Thanks for the help man.”
“No prob. Gotta bounce off of here. I just got home.”
“Awesome. Later, man.”
I pull right into my driveway. The blinds are open, the house is all lit. My father peeks through the wooden slates and I take a deep breath. I’m not an irresponsible kid. I’m not an asshole for the most part. When my parents say hey this is curfew, I follow. I’ve always managed straight A’s and to be the top of my game, but this right here. This watching and making sure I come home, probably so they can ambush me with questions-crap is getting old. I’m seventeen for goodness sakes. Lately, I feel like they don’t trust me at all.
I step into the house and start to make my way to the stairs. “Hold up a minute, Jared. We need to have a talk about your performance earlier,” my dad says.
It takes everything in me not to roll my eyes. He is the king of holding grudges or something. He won’t let anything go until he has the final word. I shift and take a seat on the end of the couch in the far corner of the living room away from his recliner chair.
“I need to know if there is something you want to tell me? Maybe you have a girlfriend in your life that is creating distractions. Do you have a problem with a teacher I need to know about? Everything you did was sloppy and wrong. So, where was your head?”
I rub my hands along my jean covered knees. “I was focused on the drills, Dad. I’m sorry I didn’t do as well today.”
“No.” He stares me down like he’s trying to pry and pull apart every section of my brain until he finds the answer he wants. “It’s a damn girl, isn’t it? How many times do I have to tell you, women are nothing but a distraction? Get through high school, serve your time at college, go into the NFL, and then pick any woman you want. Hit the damn goals we set first!”
The goals you set! I didn’t ask for this. He’s not going to stifle my chances with Juliet, even if I’m already doing splendid enough in that department. If I find a way to ask her out and she agrees he will not stop me from seeing her. Screw his plans.
“There aren’t any girls.” I am not about to inform him of the last time I even took a girl out. Let’s just say it wasn’t even a date. There was a whole lot of us and we equally paired out one girl for every guy. The girl I ended up with was named Trina. She had a habit of twirling her gum around her finger. That is really disgusting.
“Well, whatever it is you better get it the hell out of your head come tomorrow because you’re going to be doing double drills to make up for this cluster of a day.”
I nod. “Yes, sir.” I start to rise from my chair.
“Another thing, why did you get a C in Chemistry today? Something about some girl blowing up a project. Yeah, your teachers love to gab. If your partner can’t do the work I suggest you switch or do all of it before she screws up your average.”
I feel a burn spread across my face and coat my ears. Wonder what else my teachers like to talk about with my dad? Have any of them caught me staring at Juliet in class? I hope the hell not. I’d love to tell my dad that Juliet is the smartest person in our grade probably the whole school and our screw up today was possibly my fault. She didn’t know she was going to get stuck with me as a partner. Hell, just from the look on her face I could tell she obviously didn’t want to be partners let alone near me.
My dad waits in silence for my response, but I say nothing. What could I really say to this tyrant? “You’ve got it all wrong?” He’s never wrong. So, there is no point in arguing.
He grunts then says, “You’re excused. If you have homework get it done.”
I head upstairs in the sanctity of my room. I’m barely in there for five seconds before my door flies open and Justin comes barreling in. He hops on my bed while I slump at my desk. “What do you want?” I ask in an irritated tone.
“It’s the hot cheerleader, isn’t it? Rachel or whatever her name is. Her sister is a year older than me and she’s fine.”
I glare at my little brother. “Rachel Little is not as hot as everyone thinks she is. Why do you care so much?”
“It sucks when you bail. I get stuck dealing with Dad in super D-mode.”“When isn’t he?” I point out.
Justin shrugs and I turn away from him and crack open my trig book. “In any case, he asked me relentlessly if you had a girlfriend he didn’t know about,” he says.
I snort. “There isn’t any. Can we stop talking about this? I’ve got to get my homework finished.”
“You need to stop being Dad’s puppet. That’s all I’m saying.”
I swivel my chair and face him. “Kind of impossible to do anything when my life is practically mapped out every second of the damn day there, moron.”
He folds his arms. “Not impossible. I’ve got a date with Cindy Harper this weekend.”
“The hell you do!” I don’t even know this Cindy girl, but I call bullshit on his so-called date. Dad has us running drills and he’s got his library shit on Saturday. Some study group or whatever. So, there is no chance he’s doing anything he says.
The little shit grins at me. “I do. Why do you think I go to the library every Saturday?”
Wow. I’m impressed. That means my little brother has more dates than I do. He’s also figured out a sly loophole to dad’s regimen. The sneaky bastard.
I turn away from him and continue to mull over my trig. “Well, good for you. You can leave now.”
“Oh no. I know this game.” I glance over at him as he hops off my bed, picks up one of my yearbooks and begins leafing through it.
I shut my eyes and then shake my head. “You won’t let this go, will you?” I ask.
“Twenty bucks and I might.”
I glare at him. “Piss off.”
“Hey, movie tickets and mall dates have been adding up.”
“Well, don’t look at me to help you out.”
I turn back to my homework and start working
through my problems. Justin reads off names. “Audrey Albright. Nope. Hmmm. Sarah Fisher. Nope. Dude, come on, no reaction. Really? She’s cute.”
But her voice is shrilly. And Audrey is nice but I’m not into her.
My brother keeps naming off names and just when I think he’s about to give up he says, “Juliet Valentine. Ouuu or Layla Valentine. Holy shit they’re hot twins. Oh! Yes! Which one is it or is it both?”
“Get out.”
“Not until you tell me.”
I’m not telling him anything no matter how much he pesters. He’s about two seconds away from me personally tossing him from my room.
“Fine, I’ll just call them. Their mom’s face is all over town with signs that say Love is just a phone call away.”
I drop my pencil and growl. “I’m not going to tell you. Get the hell out of my room.”
“Testy.”
I shoot him a look that lets him know I’m not playing around. “Fine. I’m leaving but I’m also going to give you some advice.”
“What could you possibly tell me oh wise one,” I pop off.
“Ask her out.”
He sounds exactly like Tyler. Which kind of annoys me.
“I would but there are a few problems with that. One she doesn’t date football players.” His mouth falls open. “Long story. The second problem, I don’t have a lot of time, and she deserves someone who does.” Because how shitty would it be if I said in the middle of our date, “Sorry, babe. We have to cut this short because I have a curfew.” No girl will be down with that.
He shakes his head at me.
“What?” I ask.
“Dude, you’re supposed to be my big bro. I’m supposed to be learning from you, not the other way around. You can make time. I do. Nothing is stopping you but you.”
Who is this person in front of me? “What are you talking about?”
He slaps my yearbook shut and leans forward on his elbows. I swivel back to my homework and ignore my eighth-grade brother.
While I’m working my way through a set of problems my brother asks, “When are you going to ask her out?”
“Ask who out?”
“Jeez man, the girl you like. When are you going to ask her out?”
“Didn’t I tell you to leave? And none of your dang business. Buzz off.”
He grumbles. “Jare, don’t be such a dork.”
I grab my soft palm size stuffed football and launch it right at his face. He catches it before it smacks him in the mouth and laughs. “Gotta do better than that.”
“I’ve got work to do. Get out.”
“Lame.” He finally leaves and I’m stuck wondering about his words. Is it possible to have a relationship, keep up with my grades, and still be the football puppet my dad wants me to be?
Chapter Eight
Juliet
“Juliet, you better not let Mom see you,” Layla says.
“Why? I brushed my hair.”
“Not that, your shirt. And what kind of example is this setting for the Junior Elites fundraiser?”
Like I care about that fundraiser. I told them selling flowers and candy was ridiculous. There are a lot of single people, and that’s just rubbing it in their face. What are they supposed to do, buy themselves a sucker and pretend it’s from someone else?
I push past my sister, jacket unzipped and make my way out the door. Tyler rolls up in our drive, laughing. He gets out of his Cherokee and says, “Juliet, your shirts get better and better every day.”
“Don’t encourage her. Our mom will kill her if she sees her in that.”
I roll my eyes.
Tyler kisses my sister then goes around his SUV and opens her door. Ugh. It’s so sweet; it makes me mad. Layla never cared about chivalry before. I, on the other hand, have dreamed about guys opening doors for me and lending a hand every once in a while. Here she is getting all of it. Why? Don’t get me wrong I’m happy for her but it sucks watching her live out her happy ever after while I’m miserable.
I slide into my Wrangler, toss my bookbag in the back then leave. On my way to Adaline’s, I hit almost every red light. As I’m sitting at the last light waiting for the dumb thing to turn green, an old truck pulls up next to me blaring music so loud, I can no longer hear my own. I look over at the driver to glare at him. It’s Jared.
What, having every class with me and trying to steal my top of the class spot isn’t good enough? Now he wants to ruin my morning by drowning out my Oasis with his … What is that he’s listening to? Ememin?
He won’t win this battle. I roll down my window and crank the volume, face ahead, and dance to Wonderwall.
I glance over at him. He stares at me with a cocky grin. Jared revs his engine. I do the same because I’m not going to be outdone.
When the light turns green, I zip past him, laughing. I glance in my rearview mirror and notice Jared is still at the light. Hahaha. I win.
“Wow,” Addy eyes my shirt. “You’re um … really taking this whole ‘I hate love’ thing to a whole new level,” Addy says as she slips into my Wrangler. I hate driving with a coat on, so my clothing choices are always out there for everyone to see, even in winter.
“What’s wrong with my outfit?”
“Your shirt says, Bite me Cupid. How did your mom react to that?”
“She didn’t see it.”
I pull out of her place and head back to the light where I’d left Jared in the dust.
“Hey, isn’t that Jared Black? He looks like he’s having car trouble.”
Jared’s leaning over his car, hood up, tinkering with the engine and blowing on his hands every few seconds.
Part of me feels guilty that his truck is all broken down. To make matters even worse, here comes my uncle Harvey.
“Crap,” I say as my uncle waves at me. Now I can’t just keep driving and pretend I don’t see Jared. My mom will have my hide if I don’t offer him a ride to school.
So, when the light turns green, I turn and pull off to the side of the road. “Um. What are we doing?” Addy asks.
“Gonna see if Jared needs a jump or a ride or whatever.”
I get out as Addy looks like she’s about to watch the most entertaining show on Earth. I stomp over to my uncle and smile. “Don’t tell me you’re having trouble too?” he says.
“Nope. Besides, you know I can fix it if I was.”
He nods. “Damn right, you can. You know this one then I take it?” he juts a thumb at Jared.
“He’s my lab partner, so I can’t afford for him to be late.”
“Ah. Well, you better get a move on then.”
Jared’s back in his truck by now.
I walk over to the passenger side. He’s banging on the steering and cursing. I try the handle, and lucky for me the thing is unlocked. “Hey, let’s go.”
Jared looks over at me. His blue eyes are wide and almost dazzling. Oh jeez. Dazzling eyes? Get a hold of yourself, Valentine.
“What?”
“It’s quite simple. I’m giving you a ride to school.”
“Uh …” He rubs the back of his neck. This must be a habit of his whenever he’s stuck on what to say or something. It’s kind of cute, but right now I’m getting annoyed.
“Jared, get your butt in gear. I can’t be late.”
“All right. I’m coming.”
He finally gets out, grabs his things, and he goes over to talk to my uncle. I give them both the wrap it up sign. My uncle pats Jared’s shoulder and then Jared makes his way toward me.
“Jeez, you take forever,” I growl.
“You need to learn some patience.”
“You could say thank you.”
Once he’s in the vehicle, I take a deep breath and instantly regret doing this. He smells delicious, and man I hate it! I put on my turn signal and pull onto the road the second the road is clear.
“Is my seat up far enough for you, Jared?” Addy asks.
I roll my eyes. God, her too. How many people just go around f
alling all over themselves for him?
“It’s fine. Thanks for asking.”
He says thanks to her but not to me for giving him a ride? Great. This will be the last time I will ever be nice to him.
“Are you ladies excited about the love-gram sales?” Jared asks.
I make a grunting noise. Addy says. “Absolutely. This one here not so much.”
I narrow my eyes at her then grumble as I shift back to the road. “It’s dumb, just like having those hearts everywhere.”
Turning us into the school’s parking lot, I roll up to a spot and park. Addy gets out, but Jared remains in the back. “Are you waiting for something?” I ask.
“Not really. I just wanted to say thanks.”
“Took you long enough.”
“I know.”
What the heck is that supposed to mean?
Chapter Nine
Juliet
I wish I had pretended to be sick today. Every corner of this place is crawling with squealing girls jabbering about how many stupid love-grams they got this morning. It’s beyond irritating and rather embarrassing. There is no need for all this, it’s just candy and flowers. Chase meets me in the hall between second and third period. He greets me with a laugh. “Juliet, your face is so funny, what’s wrong?”
“Do you even have to ask?”
We slip into our English Lit class. Hannah Monroe bumps into me with her arms full of love-grams. I’m almost tempted to knock into her accidentally on purpose and stomp on them, but that would be super mean.
As if Chase is reading my dark thoughts, he whispers, “Don’t rain on their parades, Julie-bean. You’ll feel like shit later.” He’s right. I would.
I stick my tongue out and take my seat. Our desks are set up in rows of eight desks on the left side of the room facing two rows of eight desks on the right. I pull out my notebook and pen then set them on my desk. Chase and I are on the right and in the front row. Jared is on the left, front row, and he’s staring at me.
Right Kiss Wrong Guy (Offsides #2) Page 4