Candid (True Images Series)

by Michelle Pennington

  I should have guessed that Jordan was behind her strange behavior, but I was still new to this whole popularity game. When Jordan began to realize that some of her devoted friends and admirers were abandoning her for Marisol and Alyssa, she made a brilliant maneuver. Friday, I passed Jordan on the way to lunch and she was arm and arm with Alyssa.

  “Oh, hey, there’s Sienna,” Jordan said, coming up to me. Her smile was friendly and if I hadn’t known better, I would have thought she’d become a sweetheart overnight. “I was hoping we’d run into you. I’ve had the most brilliant idea. I know you’re running out of people to take pictures of for your blog – I mean, there aren’t that many good looking people in this school, you know? – so I’m volunteering the whole cheerleading squad. Well, except Katie – you’ve already got her.”

  “No thanks, Jordan. I’m actually already scheduled through the rest of the school year. I’m afraid there’s no more room.”

  Some of the friendliness slipped for a second, but she quickly plastered it back on. “Really? Alyssa thought you needed help finding people. I mean, you must. She said you were taking pictures of Chicken Legs Charlie.”

  “I am - Saturday afternoon.”

  Jordan looked amazed. “But why?”

  “Have you seen him lately? No wait. Don’t bother answering. I’m sure you haven’t. Your problem, Jordan, is that you can’t see anything good about anyone outside of your little circle. I know you follow my blog, so be sure to check it out Saturday night. If you’re lucky, you might get to “Chicken Legs” before he’s swarmed by half the girls in this school.” I started to walk away, but I couldn’t help throwing over my shoulder, “After all, I noticed Tyson is getting a little less…um…attentive to you.”

  Was I a chicken because I didn’t say that last part until I was a good fifteen feet away from her and only a few feet away from the tree where Lee was waiting for me? Maybe. But it was always smart to have a quick retreat when you were intentionally ticking off a psycho.

  “Hey there,” Lee said. “You look pretty with your cheeks all red, but what’s up?”

  “Oh, I was just stirring up Jordan’s anger a little.”

  He shook his head at me as I sat down next to him on the bench. “Look, I get why you’re trying to make other people popular and why you have a grudge against Jordan. But why in the world are you making yourself her number one enemy?”

  “Well, if she’s focused on ruining my life, she won’t be paying as much attention to what’s going on in the rest of the school. She did make a nice maneuver today though. She’s clamped on to Alyssa.”

  “Yeah I know. She seemed like a cool girl too. Don’t you wonder if you could have set her up for a nasty fall by making her popular over night?”

  “I guess, but I’m figuring something out. Popularity brings out people’s true colors. Like, take Katie. Even without the cheerleaders behind her, she’s got a lot of people in this school who really like her, and she’s still just as sweet as ever. And you’re pretty awesome that way too. You have way more girls swooning over you than Tyson and Charlie Hopkins ever will, but you’re still a nice guy.”

  “Well thanks,” Lee said, his voice dry. “Don’t make me blush or anything.”

  “What? Nice is a great compliment. It’s what I like most in a guy.”

  “I’ll try to remember that next time I find a guy hitting on you, because my “niceness” is starting to slip a little.”

  “Yeah, what’s the deal with that? It’s not like I’d ever be interested in any of these guys, any more than you’re interested in these girls that follow you around like lovesick puppies all day.”

  “Maybe not, but – and I don’t mean to sound chauvinistic or anything – I’d love to tell them to stay the heck away from my girl, but I can’t. You see, there’s a code that most guy’s live by. You don’t go after another guy’s girlfriend. But you aren’t my girlfriend, so …”

  “Well, try not to let it bother you. I’m telling you, they’ll forget I’m alive in no time.”

  Lee snorted and said, “You’re delusional.” He opened a bag of chips and crunched on a few before he asked, “By the way, who is Charlie Hopkins?”

  Excitement flooded me, making me forget about the turkey wrap I’d been about to eat. “Oh my gosh, he’s my next subject.”

  “You’re next victim you mean.”

  “Whatever. He’s president of the FFA, you know Future Farmers of America, and a real cowboy. I don’t mean one of those posers who walk around in boots and wouldn’t know one end of a horse from the other. I mean the genuine, horse riding, cow roping, squinty-eyed kind of cowboy.”

  “So you like squinty eyes or something?”

  “When they’re squinty from working out in the hot sun that’s tanned and weathered him into cowboy hotness, then yes.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Not really hearing him, I said, “I don’t know where it came from. I mean, he has always been skinny and quiet. He’s still quiet, but he isn’t skinny anymore. The dude has some serious abs now and…” Then I realized that Lee wasn’t appreciating my enthusiastic description. How stupid was I? “I mean he’s kind of short, and his nose is too big, and…”

  “Give it up, Sienna. When did you see his abs anyway?”

  Resigned to his reaction, I said, “His mom commissioned my mom to do some paintings of their horses. She took me out to their ranch a couple of days ago, after school, to take some reference photos for her. Charlie was working outside – with his shirt off.”

  Lee looked kind of forbidding. “So of course, you’ve got to go take some pictures.”

  “It’s for my blog, Lee. Just think what kind of reaction I’ll get.”

  “And what about Charlie? What does he get out of this?”

  “Well, there’s this girl that he’s really in to that doesn’t know he exists.”

  “Tell him to take his shirt off for her,” he said sarcastically.

  “You don’t understand. Sometimes, the way to get a girl interested in you is to make her see that other girls want you.”

  “Who’s the girl?”

  “He wouldn’t say.”

  “Are you sure it’s not you?”

  “What? No way!”

  “Well, it’d better not be, or me and this cowboy will be having words.”

  “Lee?”

  “What?”

  “Your jealousy is showing again.”

  “Well, how the heck am I supposed to act when you’re drooling over another guy’s body?”

  “Supportive?”

  “That’s messed up.”

  *****

  Saturday evening, Marisol and I were driving back to town from the Hopkins’ ranch with the windows down to let in the cool evening air. The sun was starting to set on the horizon and we were both feeling kind of buzzed from the photo shoot with Charlie. I was kind of surprised my SD card hadn’t gone up in flames.

  Since my car had been sold for scrap metal, Marisol had agreed to drive me around whenever she could. She’d been extra willing to give me a ride tonight, thank goodness. Otherwise, I would have had to let Lee bring me, and that would have been awkward. No way would Charlie have been able to relax and pose with Lee glaring at him the whole time.

  A song came on the radio that we both loved, so we were singing at the top of our lungs and I almost missed hearing my cell phone ring. When I pulled it out of my pocket and saw it was Lee, I motioned for Marisol to turn down the music and answered it.

  “Hey what’s up?”

  “Just checking to see how your shoot went.”

  “Um, it went pretty good. I got some really nice pecs… um… I mean pics.”

  “Ha ha. You’re so funny.”

  “Yeah, I know. Seriously though, I can’t wait to get these up on my blog and watch it explode.”

  “That’s great. So do you have any plans for Sunday - besides watching your blog hits I mean?”

  “No. Just going to church with mo
m in the morning.”

  “Great. My parents want to have you both over for dinner.”

  “What? Really? Holy Cow! How’d you swing that?”

  “I don’t have to keep us a secret from my parents. They’re thrilled to death that I want to date someone with such a strict mom. They want to meet you guys.”

  “Wow, I’m nervous.”

  “Oh, come on. They aren’t scary or anything. And my mom’s going to make fried chicken. Believe me, you don’t want to miss it.”

  “Well, if anything would convince my mom to come, that’d do it. I’ll call you when I’ve talked to her about it.”

  “Sounds good. Oh, and hey, when you’re working on those photos tonight, try not to get too much drool on your keyboard. It’s not good for electronics.”

  “Yeah, I figured that out when I was editing the pictures of us the other day. I got some prints made for you by the way - if you want them.”

  “Of course I do. Why don’t you bring them with you tomorrow?”

  “All right, but you can’t let my mom see them. She’d kill us for sure.”

  “No problem. Don’t forget to talk her about tomorrow. My mom’s anxious to know if you’re coming.”

  “I won’t. Hopefully I’ll see you then.”

  “Actually, how about seeing me in a few minutes? Do you want to go see a movie?”

  Oh how I wanted to say yes. “Lee, you know I can’t.”

  “I don’t mean as a date. Well, at least not officially. Will is with me, so if Marisol came too…”

  “I would just be hanging out with friends.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Hold on, I’ll ask Marisol.”

  “Ask me what?”

  “Do you want to go see a movie with Will and Lee?”

  “Sure. Let’s go.”

  I got back on the phone with Lee and asked him which theater he was going to. I told him we’d meet him there in a few minutes.

  When we hung up, Marisol asked, “So, what was that all about?”

  “You mean besides the movie? Lee’s parents want Mom and I to come over for dinner tomorrow.”

  “Do you think she’ll go?”

  “I hope so. I’m going to do my best to convince her. We’re hoping that if she likes Lee’s parents, she might soften up about letting us date each other.”

  “That would be awesome. Then you two wouldn’t have to sneak around anymore.”

  “We aren’t sneaking around! That’s the whole point. We’re trying to do this the right way so she trusts us.”

  “Then what was that hot lip action you got last Saturday when we were doing the photo shoot?”

  My mouth fell open. “You saw that?”

  “Sure. We all had a great view from the top of the bluff.”

  “Oh my gosh! Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “Well, you seemed pretty upset at the time, so I was waiting for you to bring it up. You want to tell me why kissing the hottest guy in school made you cry?”

  “Because I shouldn’t have kissed him and because I can’t kiss him again.”

  Now Marisol’s mouth fell open. “You mean you guys haven’t kissed since then?” When I shook my head, she said, “Well you two have a lot more will power than I do.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me,” I said. She scowled at me and I laughed.

  “Ha ha. Know what? I kissed Will for the first time at the game last night.”

  “You make it sound like he didn’t participate.”

  “Oh, he participated. I just meant that I had to start it. If I’d waited for him to make the first move, I would have been old and wrinkled.”

  “So, you really like him, huh?”

  She sighed, and got dreamy eyed. “Yeah. Isn’t it weird? He’s so not my type. But something about him just makes me feel special.”

  “Good, because you are. I’ve always been afraid you’d end up dating some muscle bound creep who would treat you bad. That seemed to be the kind of guy you liked best.”

  “Yeah, well, I still like muscles – as much as you do. Luckily, Lee is putting Will through some crazy training to build him up before basketball season. He’s actually starting to get some definition.”

  “Well, yippee for you. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have anything to do with him, I guess.”

  “I didn’t say that. And don’t tell me you don’t go gaga when you see Lee with his shirt off.”

  “Actually, I’ve never seen him with his shirt off.”

  “Oh, my gosh. You’re so missing out. I love to catch the end of basketball practice when they’re scrimmaging skins against shirts. I mean, what in the world have you been doing after school?”

  “Going to work, remember?”

  “Oh yeah. Well, take a day off or something and go check out basketball practice. Then you can get on to me for being shallow – if you dare.”

  When we got to the theater, the guys were waiting for us in the lobby. They’d already bought our tickets, which made me feel a little guilty. Wasn’t it a date if the guy paid? But at that point there wasn’t much I could do, and I was pretty sure Lee could afford it better than I could anyway.

  As we found our way to the right theater, I realized that it had been a long time since I’d seen a bathroom and there was no way I’d make it all the way through the movie. I grabbed Marisol and promised Lee and Will that we’d hurry.

  “Why do girls always have to go the bathroom together?” I heard Lee ask Will as they followed slowly behind us.

  When we got to the bathrooms, there was a huge line and I groaned.

  “Don’t worry. I know where another one is,” Marisol said. “Not many people know about it because it’s in the back.”

  “Let’s go.”

  As Marisol led us down hallway after hallway, I was amazed at how well she knew this theater. She obviously came here a lot more often than I did. She’d found it in no time.

  The guys waited around the corner, discussing the movie posters that lined the walls. Since they didn’t seem to be in too big of a hurry, I took the chance of being in front of a mirror to finger comb my hair. I wished now that Marisol and I hadn’t been driving with the windows down. A few minutes later, I came out of the bathroom and saw that Marisol was already done and waiting for me. Her eyes were huge, a sure sign that she was dying to tell me something.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Shhh! Guess who’s here, around the corner?” she whispered.

  “Who?”

  “Jordan Rubio and Caleb Murphy!”

  “Together?”

  She nodded and whispered, “Glued together.” She pointed down the hallway that ran perpendicular to the one we were in.

  I couldn’t help peaking around and saw the two tangled up against the wall, just like she’d said. Luckily, I wasn’t unprepared. I’d brought my purse in with me, and I found my trusty little point and shoot camera. Hopefully the batteries were still good.

  “What are you doing?” Marisol asked in a voice that would have been a shriek if she’d been talking any louder.

  “I can’t pass this up. I might need a picture like this some time.”

  Marisol swept into a torrent of Spanish under her breath that I didn’t even try to follow. Instead, I leaned around the corner and snapped a picture.

  Unfortunately, I’d forgotten how bright the flash was.

  In seconds, Caleb Murphy was staring down at me, looking like an angry bull. Jordan was right beside him, almost frantic to get my camera away from me. I held tight to it however, and prayed that the wall behind me would hold me up. I wasn’t sure my legs would for much longer. Surely Caleb wouldn’t hit a girl.

  “Erase that picture!” Jordan screamed at me between calling me a few names.

  “Why would I do that?”

  “To save your camera,” Caleb threatened. “It’s about to get crunched under my foot. Closely followed by your face.”

  I no longer wondered if he’d hit a girl. I was pretty
positive that he would at this point. I needed some serious help here. Where in the world was Marisol? “If you touch me or the camera, I’ll call the police.”

  “It’ll be your word against ours. Your friend didn’t even stick around to help you out,” Caleb mocked. “Now give me the camera.” He grabbed my arm and began shaking me hard.

  “Let go of her, now.” Lee demanded from somewhere behind me. I’d never heard Lee sound so angry. I glanced back at him and saw that he looked ready to murder someone, but Caleb was about twice his size. I was relieved when Caleb let go of me, until I realized that it freed him to go after Lee.

  “Stop. I’ll delete it.”

  “Wait,” Jordan stopped me. “I want to watch you do it.”

  I held the camera out to her so that she could see the screen. I hit the delete button and played through my pictures to show her it was gone. “Ok. There. It’s gone. Let’s forget about it.”

  “You’d better forget about everything,” she threatened. “Caleb has a nasty temper, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.”

  Yeah, I’d noticed. I was only not crying by force of will, and I was pretty sure that I was going to have a major bruise on my arm.

  Lee was not ready to let it go however. “If you think that this is over, Sienna, you’re crazy. This psycho just assaulted you.” He was staring Caleb down, and I could tell that every muscle on his body was tensed in anger. It would only take one wrong word to send these two into an all-out fist fight.

  “Yes, he did. But if you think getting arrested for fighting with this creep in a movie theater with tons of security cameras is going to make anything better, you’re wrong. I deleted the picture, so we’re going to leave now.”

  Marisol and Will were right behind Lee. I pleaded with my eyes for them to help me because I could tell Lee wasn’t going anywhere.

  Will put a hand on his shoulder and said, “She’s right, man. Let’s get out of here.”

  Lee shook his hand off. His eyes had never left Caleb’s. When he spoke at last, his voice was tight and dangerous. “If you ever touch her again, or even look at her the wrong way, I’ll find you and we’ll finish this.”

  “Just keep your girlfriend in line and this is over,” Caleb said.