by Amanda Heath
I want to fan my face, but I know that would make it obvious, so I just sit there trapped. “I’m going to go get my homework done guys,” I tell the group as I look away from Channing. They groan and moan, making me roll my eyes. “I have so much to do. Plus I’m hung-over and tired.”
I finally make my escape and get to my house. Maggie is waiting by the door, so I let her in with me. I grab my backpack from the bedroom and lay everything out on the coffee table. Then I get to work.
An hour later, there’s a knock on the door. I startle but get up anyway. I assume its Rachel, wanting to get her bag, which I moved to the couch. But you know what they say about assuming: it makes an ass out of you and me.
When I open the door, Channing is standing there. My breath hitches and my stomach clenches. He put his sunglasses back on, so I can’t see what he’s thinking. He never says a word, but he moves the hair from my shoulder. My chest flutters at the light touch and my palms get sweaty. He leans over it, placing a sweet kiss there. It’s like he’s trying to kiss my booboo better. I think I might swoon.
When he stands back up, he just turns and goes.
I think Royal was right when he said I was in a world of trouble.
Chapter 14
THE NEXT MORNING, my stomach is a mass of nerves. I have to see him today. He is in three of my classes, and I sit at the same table he does for lunch. I’ll have to be around him, and not jump his bones.
I have no idea what is going on between us. It’s confusing and my thoughts and feelings don’t know which way to turn. Oh one hand, he’s hot, sexy, and knows what he’s doing in that department. On the other hand, he’s mean, arrogant, and intimidating.
I don’t even know what I want concerning him either. Do I want to date him, or pretend it never happened? I may not be experienced when it comes to sex, but I’m pretty sure it’s not like that with everyone. Plus I’ve never been so drawn to anyone. It’s driving me nuts.
I pull Dancer up to a spot in the school parking lot. I thought I might have a little bit before I had to deal with him, but the second I see his Jag, my stomach flutters and my throat goes dry.
Channing is leaning on his car, parked in the row above me and a few cars down. Our group is standing around him, chatting. Then I notice something that makes my stomach drop. Jasmine is wrapped around his body like a blanket. His arm is around her waist and he leans over to whisper something in her ear. She giggles and I want to walk over there and punch her in the face.
Great. Now I’m jealous.
Well, I guess this means he wants to pretend it never happened. I’m a little disappointed, but I should have seen this coming. I wouldn’t be able to handle Channing. He’d be way too much for me. I’m pretty sure he would consume me.
I finally get out of my car, after glaring holes into the happy couple. I slam the door and wince. Everyone is now staring at me. I force a smile and wave, heading for the front doors. Vince catcalls me and I flip him off, earning a few chuckles. I don’t usually hang with them unless I have to. While Royal likes to flirt, Vince is a total perv and I’d rather not go over there and let him undress me with his eyes.
Rachel leaves the group and heads into the building with me. “Natasha gets exiled and Jasmine moves in. I should have seen that coming,” she mutters rummaging around in her bag.
“I didn’t know Natasha and Channing were dating?” I know she acted like she was, but I never saw him give her anything but friendship.
“Oh they weren’t, but Natasha called dibs. Now that she’s out, Jasmine has dibs. I just didn’t expect him to actually hook up with her.” We stop at my locker and I furrow my brows.
“They hooked up?” I ask when I shouldn’t. I don’t want to know who he’s been with. It’s none of my business.
She shakes her head up and down, “Yeah at the party on Saturday. You remember yesterday he had all those scratches on his back?” I nod, and for some reason I feel relief course through my body. “Apparently it was her. I never took her for a wild thing. She seems like she would lie there and take it.”
I sputter at her blinking my eyes. “Wow, Rach. That was bit much.”
She rolls her eyes before hoisting her bag up her arm. “I’m just calling it like I see it. Anyway, I have to go. See you at lunch!” she calls over her shoulder as she leaves.
I turn back to my locker, moving stuff around, trying to find my notes for AP English. When someone stops at the locker next to mine, I freeze. I can feel his eyes on me, taking me in. I decided to go with the scarf but since I was hung-over on Sunday, I totally forgot I had to wear my uniform. So I’m wearing a black scarf with my blue polo. Not as cute, but the mark is still there.
“Are we going to pretend nothing happened?” Channing questions softly.
I almost jump out of my skin at the sound of his voice. I haven’t heard it directed at me in a while, so the sound of it sends chills down my spine. I close my locker door gently and look up at him. He’s also wearing a blue polo and you know he’s rocking it. And the blue makes his eyes pop. I’m seriously standing here trying not to drool.
I think about what he asked me and say the first thing that comes to my mind, “Is that what you want?” I don’t know what I want, so I’m simply going to let him lead. I’m still new to how to treat a one-night stand.
He looks at me for a few seconds before he responds. “Yes.” His answer hits me like a ton of bricks. I think my knees might buckle and I feel tears in the back of my throat. I hadn’t hoped things would change between us. I just didn’t know I had hoped he would at least be nice to me now.
Feeling angry and rejected, I do something I shouldn’t have. I look away from him and open my locker back up. I feel him walk past me as he leaves, so I check out the corner of my eye to make sure he’s not looking. No, he’s down at the end of the hall talking to Royal. I quickly take off my scarf and toss it in my locker. I grab some concealer out of my bag and dab it on my neck. The mark is too dark to be completely covered, so everyone is going to see it. And when they do, I’m going to say it was from someone else. Never Channing Southerland.
***
When I sit down at lunch, Rachel is on me immediately. “What the hell, Paisley!” she plops down in the seat next to mine. Her eyes are huge and she looks kind of hurt. “Why didn’t you tell me you hooked up with someone? We are girls; we are supposed to share that kind of thing.”
I sigh and look around before I say anything. Lola is the only other one at the table and she’s typing on her phone. “Because it wasn’t a big deal. I got drunk and made out with some random guy at the party.”
“Is this before or after you went to bed?” She eyes me suspiciously.
“Before. He’d been checking me out all night. He cornered me in the kitchen and I was a little horny, so I made out with him. I stopped it before it went too far.” I blush when Lola looks up from her phone and squints her eyes at me.
Rachel rolls her eyes. “You hooked up with a random stranger? What is wrong with you? Did you even get his name?” She fires questions at me left and right.
“Yes I got his name. I’m not totally stupid. Why do you think I didn’t sleep with him? And his name is Chad.” I really hope there isn’t a Chad at this school.
“Hmm I don’t know any Chad. But whatever. Don’t do that again. Now I’m going to worry about you every time we go to a party!” she exclaims, getting up from the table. “Let’s go get something to eat.”
I join her in line and listen to her get on to me. I wonder if she would get on to me if she knew it was Channing? Probably not. She’d probably start planning our wedding. The poor girl needs a boyfriend. I should set her up with Kellan. I’ve seen the way they look at each other. She doesn’t know how to make a move, and he’s too scared of Royal. Though considering Royal and Kellan have known each other all their lives, you’d think he wouldn’t have a problem with it.
When we make it back to the table everyone is there. Kellan and Brody have a
lready interrogated me, so that’s where I got the name Chad. And I know Channing saw me in English, but of course he wouldn’t say anything. Though I know I feel his eyes burning holes in my neck.
“Little Miss goodie, Paisley Vaughn, actually did something bad. I’m so proud of you,” Royal says, sitting down next to me. Vince looks put out and glares at me. I don’t even want to acknowledge that. I never even pretended to flirt with him. What I do with Royal is just fun.
“It wasn’t my first party, nor was it the first time I hooked up with a random guy. Why it’s any of your business, I don’t know.” I didn’t mean to snap the last part, but hell I’m tired of everyone giving me the second degree. “If I had known it was going to be this big deal, I would have left my scarf on,” I mutter under my breath.
“Why did you take the scarf off?” Royal asks me, but looks at Channing.
“Because it’s too hot in here to wear it,” I mutter that too, but he hears me. Honestly I think Royal hears everything and knows everything. The dude is scary insightful. I just hope it leaves me alone.
They all go back to normal after that. They have no reason to believe I was lying. I’ve never lied to them before. Besides I only did it to drive Channing nuts, which I’m sure is working. I can still feel his eyes on my neck. Then a great idea comes over me.
I picked up carrots today, so I take one and dip it in ranch. I look back at my chemistry book and slowly put the tip of the carrot in my mouth. I suck off the ranch and dip it back in. I bring it back up to my mouth and repeat. When I’m pretty sure I have his attention, I look up. There’s that look in his eyes. The one he had while he was inside me. It makes my insides light on fire, and my body burn.
Then I take a bite out of the carrot and smirk at him. Take that Channing Southerland. Who does he think he is? I mean seriously. Yeah we might have hooked up, but that doesn’t mean he needs to act like an asshole. Frankly, I just wish he would treat me with indifference. All this being mean to me and crap is getting old.
“You’re playing with fire,” Royal whispers in my ear.
I look up at him and blink. “Huh?” Did he witness my little show?
He looks around before he whispers in my ear. “You’re playing with fire. One of these days he’s going to explode, and I don’t know if you’re going to be able to handle the heat.” He straightens back up and starts talking to Kellan.
All I can do is stare wide-eyed at the table in front of me.
Then I make a decision. Royal’s right. I’m sure I’ll never survive Channing Southerland, so I’m not even going to try. From now on I’m going to ignore him and go on with my life, as if I didn’t know what it’s like to be held by him.
For some reason that makes me want to cry.
Chapter 15
I STARTED A war. And while I thought I was done with Channing, now it’s like he doesn’t want to let me go. I’ve spent the past couple of days trying to figure a way out from under him. I didn’t want this war. I got angry and jealous, so my actions were rash and not thought out. I never meant for any of this.
I should start from fifth period that day. The day when I challenged him at lunch. Little did I know I was challenging him. I only wanted to mess with his head. He likes to act likes he not attracted to me, but I know he is. Maybe he doesn’t realize I can see all those emotions in his eyes.
Anyway, in AP chemistry, I had to get up and help Mrs. Harrison with an experiment. The second I stood up to go to the front of the class, I heard Channing cough, “Slut” into his hand. I immediately freeze and turn back to face him. Was that supposed to bother me? Yeah, I might feel like a slut, but that doesn’t mean I am one.
“Did you have something to say to me, Channing?” I say his name low and sultry. His eyes flash when I say it and I feel a thrill run through me. Good, he’s not immune.
“Yeah, Paisley, you should have kept the scarf on. People might start to get ideas.” His voice sends shivers to every part of my body. I’m starting to think he’s really pissed off because I told everyone that lame story. Well, he can shove it, because he’s going around telling everyone it was Natasha he slept with.
“I’m getting ideas about what to do with this pencil,” I say clutching said pencil tightly in my hand. “Like stabbing it in your eye,” I mutter.
“Channing, Paisley, if you don’t mind, I have a class to teach. You can solve whatever issues you have with each other, outside of this classroom,” Mrs. Harrison chimes in before Channing can say his retort.
The rest of that class and the next were fine. Mostly because he wasn’t in my next class. So in sixth period, I sat there as people whispered about Channing and me. Annabella tells them all to shut it, for which I’m grateful. Pierce kept giving me knowing looks and pervert eyes. Annabella didn’t like that too much. I’m not sure which girl is his girlfriend, so I don’t even try to see what she thinks. My last class is a free period so I can leave early. No one would stop me.
So instead of going to seventh period, I headed outside. I had my keys in my hand, my car key pointed out and away from my body. I calmly walked next to Channing’s Jag. I dug that key into his shiny black car and I never felt better. Yeah, it was immature, but at this point I could afford to fix it. Then I walked around to the other side and dug my key into it too. Also over the hood and the back bumper.
Then I calmly got into my Camaro and drove home. My grandparents and little sister were back, so I spent the rest of the afternoon, loving on my sister. Channing never showed up. I kept waiting for him, ready for his anger and whatever else he would throw at me. It never came that night. No, it came the next day.
I didn’t see his Jag the next day, so I was hoping and praying he didn’t come to school today. I was never that lucky. He was leaning against his locker when I got there. My breathing picked up upon sight of him. He hands were shoved into the pockets of his grey slacks. His black polo strained against his chest, causing severe heart palpations on my part. His eyes were closed, and I knew then he was waiting for me.
Like he knew I was there, he opened them and met mine. Blue clashed with green and I gulped. I took a deep breath to calm my racing heart. I made my way to my locker and opened it, refusing to say anything first.
“Hey,” he said it softly, nicely.
If he was going to be a good little boy, then I could be a good little girl. I sighed and turned to face him, after shutting my locker door. “Yes?” I question, not looking at his face.
He took a step closer and bent down to my ear. “You left these with me Saturday night.” I feel him slipping his hand into my bag. I feel my cheeks heat and I shove him away from me. I’m freaking shocked he would do that in front of everyone, but to tell the truth, no one else knew he just put my panties in there.
“Thanks, Southerland,” I snapped stalking away from him.
“My pleasure, Vaughn,” he had replied. I groaned when he said pleasure. Yeah I’m sure it was his pleasure.
I was out of ammo at this point. So I left him alone in first period, lunch, fifth period and seventh period. I know he was waiting for me to strike. And I would, but I would need something good. Something that would hurt him, like he kept hurting me.
Telling everyone it was someone else, calling me a slut, and then handing me my panties in front of the entire school, those were designed to hurt me. I needed something to hurt him. So far I’d only tortured him and keyed his car.
Then it came to me that night. Royal was always trying to get me to go out with him. Hell he’d even asked me pretty much everyday since I got here. Hopefully the next day at school he would ask me. I was going to say yes. I may not want to admit there is something between Channing and me, but you didn’t act like this if you didn’t have feelings for them. If I made it look like I really wanted to go out with Royal, it would hurt Channing.
I couldn’t wait.
***
When I got to school the next day, I waited at my car for Royal. I knew he would arrive with R
achel any minute. I planned on flirting back with him and making it look real. I was nervous and scared to death. The only thing that made me keep with the plan is that Royal wasn’t serious about me. I knew he was only doing it to get a rise out of Channing.
He showed up looking perfect, as every other day. Only his beauty did nothing for me. Yeah he was nice to look at, but he didn’t have smoky blue eyes or black hair. This was about the time I truly felt like I was in over my head. I started comparing every guy to Channing and that was never good.
“Hey Royal,” I said in my sweetest voice.
“Hey Paisley. Are you waiting around for me?” He cocked an eyebrow up and I just giggled. I reached him before he could move on and grabbed his hand. I stared up at him like he hung the stars in the sky. He looked freaked for a minute before he looked to the left.
That’s when I noticed Channing standing by a Range Rover. I couldn’t have had better timing! “Of course I’m waiting for you. Who else would I be waiting for?” I told him, twirling a chunk of hair around my finger.
He smirked and pulled me to his chest. A nervous flutter started in my stomach, but that was because I really didn’t want him to kiss me. I would probably end up slapping him in the face. His lips touched my ear and I almost groaned in revulsion. “Good plan, Vaughn. You’ll have him on his knees before the day is over.”
I almost said huh, but I got it. He knew I was trying to hurt Channing. And he was going to play along. That made my eyes go big before I smiled at him sweetly. “Thanks, Sanders.”
And that’s what started my one-week relationship with Royal. As far as fake boyfriends go, he did a really good job. He held my hand between each class, held my bag for me, even went and got my lunch for me. He kissed my cheek and wrapped his arms around me before we parted each day. All of this was done in front of Channing.