by Amanda Abram
“Yeah,” I said, rather condescendingly. “You know, that thing you do where you open your mouth and words come out?”
Eric laughed and gave Jase a pat on the shoulder. “She thinks you’re dumb, dude.”
Jase glared and pushed Eric’s hand away. With an aggravated sigh, he said to me, “Is it important?”
“Kinda,” I said, and then changed my mind. “I mean, definitely.”
He mulled it over for a moment, and then motioned to an empty seat next to him. “Okay. Have a seat.”
As if. Like he really thought I would talk about something important with him while his Neanderthal friends were huddled around listening?
“Uh, I was kinda hoping we could talk privately? As in, alone?”
That earned a round of cheering from his jock friends.
Jase was clearly not amused, and I couldn’t tell if it was because of his friends’ reactions, or because I’d interrupted his lunch. Or both. Probably both.
“Fine.” He pushed back his chair and stood up. “We’ll talk.”
“Bye, Jase!” Cory said in a girlish voice, batting his eyelashes at him.
“Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do!” another voice called out. It belonged to Zach O'Connor, arguably the most popular guy of the senior class, if not the entire school.
Jase just rolled his eyes as he began to follow me out of the cafeteria.
I wasn’t exactly sure where would be the best place to have our conversation, so I just chose the first spot I found that didn’t contain anyone hanging around, which was, surprisingly, the lobby.
“So what’s this about?” he asked once I’d stopped walking.
Hmm. I had given quite a bit of thought to the plan since the previous night, but I never actually stopped to figure out how I would go about asking Jase to become involved. I guess I figured I would just play it by ear. But standing before him, looking at him looking at me like I had grown another head, I wished I had been a little more prepared.
“Um, well…” my voice trailed off as I began going over possible opening phrases in my head.
But then I got distracted when he reached over and tugged on one of my hoodie’s drawstrings. “Nice shirt.”
Was he making fun of me? I couldn’t tell, so I decided to ignore it.
“Listen,” I said, “you asked me yesterday what was up with me—you know, why I was dressed the way I was—”
“Oh, right,” he interjected, a look of understanding emerging on his face. “Look, I’m sorry about that. I was way out of line.”
“No, you weren’t. I mean, you kinda were, but that’s not why I wanted to talk to you. I mean, I don’t want an apology. I want more of a…favor.”
“A favor?” He narrowed his eyes down at me. “What kind of favor?”
This was the hard part. “Okay, so…Trish has this wild notion that I’m, like, obligated to somehow get revenge on Jeffrey for dumping me.”
He nodded. “Agreed.”
Of course he agreed. “Right. Well, she thought if I changed my appearance for the better, I would achieve said revenge.”
“That’s just stupid,” Jase said, voicing my exact opinion on the subject.
“Totally,” I said with a nod. “I keep trying to tell her, but she just won’t listen. Anyway, I came up with what I think is a way better plan, and it’s almost guaranteed to work.”
He stared at me, waiting for me to continue. Oh, if he only knew where this little conversation of ours was heading.
“That’s great.” He gave me a pat me on the shoulder. “But what does any of this have to do with me?”
I began to chew on my bottom lip nervously. Here I was, about to ask a guy I rarely ever talked to anymore to pretend to be my boyfriend. Just how hard would he laugh in my face?
I cleared my throat. Suddenly, it felt like there was a brick in there. “Uh, well, I was thinking perhaps if…well, I mean, it’s just an assumption, really, but it would make perfect sense if…I mean, what I’m trying to say is—”
“Spit it out, lunch is almost over.”
“Right. Okay.” I took a deep breath and held it. And held it. And then held it some more. And then, finally, when I started to see stars from my lack of oxygen, I said, “So, I was thinking if I started hanging out with you, that might royally piss off Jeffrey. Which would, you know, sort of be like revenge.”
My pulse was racing as we both fell into silence. The kind that often involves crickets chirping in the distance.
Jase stared down at me with a confused look on his face. “Hanging out?” I couldn’t help but notice he did that a lot, repeated the things I said.
“Yeah. Like pretending to, I don’t know, date or something. Just temporarily, of course,” I added quickly to the end.
I couldn’t even look at him, I was so embarrassed. Why, oh why did Aaron have to unknowingly give me such a lousy idea? It was so dumb.
Apparently, Jase agreed one hundred percent.
“Lex,” he began. Oh God, that was his pity voice. “That’s a bit extreme, don’t you think?”
“Oh yeah. Definitely,” I agreed. “It was just an idea that randomly popped into my head.”
“I mean, it’s not like anyone would believe it, anyway.”
Feeling offended, I swallowed hard and stammered, “W-why not?”
He shrugged and took a slight step back. “You and I never really associate with one another at school, so people would think it was weird we were suddenly together. And I mean, Jeffrey of all people would not believe it was for real. He knows I’ve never had any romantic interest in you.”
I went a little numb at that moment. I knew perfectly well what Jase was trying to tell me without him having to say it. What he really meant to say was that no one would believe that he would ever date someone like me.
And I knew he was right.
“Yeah.” I plastered on a fake grin that felt a little too big for my face. “It was a silly thought. I wasn’t actually considering it. I mean, I was, but then…well, I mean, but you’re right.”
He glanced down at me looking rather concerned. “Lex, I didn’t—”
And then the bell rang. “Thanks anyway,” I said, backing away from him. “I'm sorry I wasted the rest of your lunch.”
I spun on my heel and began to walk away as fast as I could, praying with every step that the floor would open up and swallow me whole.
“Lex, wait!” he called after me, but I pretended not to hear him and just kept walking, quickly blending myself in with the crowd of students who had just exited the cafeteria.
I suddenly felt like the biggest idiot in the world.
***
“Are you okay?” Trish asked me as we headed for my locker at the end of the day. “You seem distant.”
She had no idea I had made an ass out of myself in front of her brother earlier, and I was going to keep it that way.
“I’m great,” I responded, too lazy to hide the sarcasm in my voice.
Trish either missed the tone, or chose to ignore it, because she immediately went on talking about something having to do with her nails or her hair or something. I'm not quite sure; I was distracted by my phone suddenly vibrating in my back pocket.
Taking it out, I swiped the screen to see I had received a text.
From Jase.
Meet me at my car after school. Tell Trish 2 just leave w/out u. Make up an excuse.
Interesting. Jase texting me. Jase wanting me to meet him at his car. Was it possible that he had changed his mind about my idea?
“What's up?” Trish asked, motioning to my phone.
I quickly stuffed it back into my pocket. “It was my mom.” I paused for a moment, realizing I had to come up with a lie on the spot to explain why I didn't need Trish to drive me home. “She was just reminding me of my dentist appointment this afternoon. I'd totally forgot about it.”
I was pleased with my quick thinking. That wasn't something I was normally good at.
&n
bsp; “She's just going to pick me up from here in a few minutes, so you don't have to take me home.”
“A dentist appointment, huh?” Trish tapped her foot against the floor. I couldn’t tell if she believed me or not. “That sucks.”
“Yeah,” I agreed casually. “So I guess I will just talk to you later?”
Trish grinned and gave me a quick hug. “I’ll call you. Good luck at the dentist!” She proceeded to skip down the hallway, humming to herself.
I really hated lying to her, but at least I had a good reason to. I hoped, anyway.
So I hung around the hallway for a good ten minutes before I headed for the parking lot. That gave Trish enough time to find her car, get into it, fix her hair and makeup in the rearview mirror, search for a decent song on her phone, then start her car and drive off. I knew her routine like the back of my hand.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I entered the parking lot and didn’t see her car where she had parked it this morning. I did, however, see her brother standing in the spot where he had parked his this morning, and that relief was short-lived. Jase was alone, leaning up against the side of his car looking way too attractive for my comfort level.
He glanced down at his watch about two times before he finally looked up and noticed me approaching him. He pushed himself off the side of the car and strolled over to me, meeting me halfway.
“I got your text,” I said cautiously.
“Yeah, I figured. I saw Trish drive off by herself a minute ago.”
Silence.
“So,” I said, glancing down at the ground. “What’s up?”
He cleared his throat. “Right. Yeah. Uh, well, I wanted to apologize for my reaction earlier. It just kinda caught me by surprise, that’s all.”
My gaze rose to meet his. “Apology accepted.” I paused for a moment. “Have you been reconsidering my idea or something?”
“Yeah, actually, I have.”
A small grin began to form on my face, no matter how hard I tried to prevent it from doing so. I didn’t want to seem overly-happy about it.
“Okay, so here’s the deal,” he said, leading me back over to his car. “I love the idea of pissing off Jeffrey, and if anyone deserves to get revenge on the guy, it’s certainly you. And I know if I don’t go along with your plan, you’ll probably just find someone else who will, and to be perfectly honest, I’d rather that someone be me than anyone else, because anyone else might take advantage of the situation, and you could get seriously hurt.” He paused to take in a deep breath, and then added, “And then Trish would find some way to blame me for it all, and there would be a war zone at our house until the whole thing either blew over, or I graduated and moved out.”
I stared up at him in awe. He sure knew how to make run-on sentences sound sexy.
“So, are you saying you’re in?” I asked.
He sighed. “Yeah, I’m saying I’m in.”
“Yes!” I squealed, jumping up and down. Jase covered his face with one of his hands out of what I’m sure was mortification. “Thank you,” I added after I calmed down.
“There are a couple of things we need to discuss first, though,” he said, and my good mood started to deflate. “First off, I'm only doing this to help you get back at Jeffrey. If I start to think for one second that you are using this as a way to get back with him, it’s over.”
I nodded. That sounded reasonable enough. And it wasn't like I had to worry about that happening, because I totally didn’t want Jeffrey back. “Okay, agreed. What else?”
“I think we should decide right away how long we plan on keeping this thing going.”
Hmm. I hadn’t given much thought to that. “Well, I don't know. However long it takes to drive Jeffrey absolutely crazy, I suppose.”
He nodded, as if accepting my answer. For now, at least. “Okay. And there’s one other thing I feel I need to address about this…”
His voice trailed off as his gaze shifted and landed on something that was located behind me. Out of curiosity, I craned my neck around to see what he was staring at. It wasn’t so much what he was staring at, but who.
Kylie Kristofferson and her gaggle of bimbo-headed cheerleader friends had just exited the building and were now bouncing over towards Kylie’s purple Jeep. Kylie was the perfect example of an anomaly. She was a pretty, popular, rich cheerleader who was nice. I mean, genuinely nice, not the fake kind of nice that most popular girls try to pass off as sincere. She would talk to everyone at school, even the kids located at the very bottom of the food chain. She smiled politely and waved to anyone who looked her way. And sometimes, when there was a class project that required pairing up, she would forego pairing up with a friend and instead choose someone who was at risk of being left out. I knew this for a fact, because she paired up with me once in English class our freshman year.
And Jase was currently looking at her as if she were a Victoria’s Secret model.
Swiveling my head back around, I snapped a finger in front of his face in attempt to bring him back down to earth.
It worked. He blinked a couple of times and returned his gaze to me. “I’m sorry. What were you saying?”
“I wasn’t saying anything. You were the one talking.”
I could see the realization dawning on him, as the slightest bit of pink touched his cheeks. “Sorry,” he mumbled.
“Oh man,” I said with a chuckle. “You were totally just checking out Kylie Kristofferson.”
“Was not.”
“Was too,” I teased, but quickly decided not to pursue the subject any further, for fear he might get pissed and change his mind about helping me. “So, what was the other thing you wanted to discuss?”
He scowled over at me. “We’ll talk about it later. You need a ride home?”
“Duh, of course I do.” Did he, or did he not recall Trish leaving without me?
“Who the hell says ‘duh’ anymore?” he inquired, unlocking my door for me. “I mean, besides you?”
“Lots of people still say it,” I informed him, climbing into the passenger’s seat.
He shook his head as he joined me inside the car. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into doing this.”
“I didn’t. You offered to drive me home.”
He laughed. “You know what I’m talking about.” His laughter subsided and he narrowed his eyes over at me. “So you really think this will work? You really think the thought of me and you dating is going to bother him?”
I couldn’t stop myself from shrugging. “Honestly, yes. I do.” I lowered my gaze to my hands. “And I’m seriously not doing this to try and get back with him.”
“Good,” he said, his jaw set and his eyes focused straight ahead.
And that’s all we said to each other during the entire ride home.
Chapter Six
About ten minutes later we ended up pulling into my driveway right behind my mother, who appeared to have just arrived home from the grocery store, judging from the fact she was trying to pile as many overstuffed paper bags into her hands as she could. Jase didn’t even hesitate to turn off the car and jump out to offer his assistance.
“Jase Holloway!” my mother exclaimed in a surprised voice as he approached her. She peeked over at him from above the bags in her arms. “My goodness, it’s been a while! How have you been?”
“Hello, Mrs. Turner,” Jase said politely, reaching out and grabbing one of the bags from her. “Here, let me help you.”
“Thank you!” Mom gushed. She glanced over at me with a questioning look, to which I responded with a shrug. “It’s so nice to see that chivalry isn’t dead.”
“Oh, this isn’t chivalry.” Jase reached into the trunk of the car and retrieved another bag. “It’s just common courtesy, really.”
“And apparently modesty isn’t dead either.” My mother winked over at me and I sighed. I knew what she was thinking: that Jase was my new boyfriend. Well, she was half-right. He was a boy.
“Jase, I can take t
hose,” I said, making my way over to him. I reached out to take the bags from his hands but he turned and held them out of my reach before I could get at them.
“It’s okay, I’ve got them.” He flashed me a wicked grin.
My mother used to be in love with Jase. Not in the illegal, statutory kind of way, but in the I-Must-Make-Him-My-Son-In-Law-Someday kind of way. It irked me then, and it irked me now. She never quite liked Jeffrey. She tolerated him just fine, but I always knew she disapproved of my choice in dating him.
Jase knew how my mother felt about Jeffrey, and I think he felt a slight connection to her because of it. I could totally picture the two of them sitting at the table in our kitchen, drinking tea and discussing how wrong I was for having ever dated Jeffrey in the first place. I had to make sure that kind of scenario never took place.
I finally gave up on trying to stop Jase from helping and just grabbed the rest of the bags from the trunk myself and followed them both into the house.
“Jase, would you like to stay for dinner?” my mother asked as we entered the kitchen.
“No,” I said, at the very same time Jase said, “I would love to, Mrs. Turner.”
I scowled over at him. He pretended not to notice.
“Jase is helping me study for…something,” I told my mother. I was a terrible liar, especially when put on the spot.
Luckily, she didn’t seem to need any sort of explanation at all. She just smiled over at me and said, “I’ll let you know when dinner is ready.”
“Right,” I said through clenched teeth. Grabbing Jase’s arm, I led him out of the kitchen. As soon as we were out of earshot of my mother, I hissed, “I didn’t say you could stay for dinner.”
“No, but your mom did. That’s all that matters. Besides, there’s a lot of stuff you and I need to discuss. I might be here for a while.”
He was probably right. We had the perfect opportunity to devise our plan without the threat of anyone overhearing. “Okay, fine. Let’s go upstairs.”