School, Sex and Secrets (School, Sex and Secrets #1)

by Sheila Michelle

  “I’m not sure because she didn’t tell me, but since we were talking about Lisa, I’m just assuming that it did. And there’s something else that happened that day that I wanna find out if Natalie knows anything about.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “The rose. Remember when I told you that when I got into my car after I was almost ran over that I noticed that there was another rose sitting in my vase?”

  “That’s right!” he said.

  “Well, it seems to me that it was obviously Lisa who put it in there, pretending that she was John. Did she find out about John and I secretly seeing each other and him always giving me a rose when we were?”

  “I don’t think so, Vanessa. I never mentioned to Lisa about you and John seeing each other in secret. Never.”

  I nodded. “I believe you. So I’m trying to figure out then if it wasn’t Lisa who put it in my car that night that she tried to run me down, then who did?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine, but we’ll find out eventually. But getting back to what more Natalie had to tell you. Do you wanna call her or text her about it right now?”

  I looked at him. “Should I?”

  “Go right ahead.”

  “Hand me my phone,” I told him. He reached over on his nightstand and handed my phone to me. I texted Natalie. Hey, girl. I’m still wondering what you had to tell Ava and me earlier at school before the bell rung for 1st period. Also, do you know anything about a red rose being put into my car that night as well? I sent it to her. “Okay, I just did.” I showed it to him.

  He smiled. “Okay, great. I’m glad you asked her about the rose as well. Maybe it was Lisa, but then again, it could’ve been someone else entirely — maybe it was John. I hope she gets back to you soon.”

  “So do I. I don’t wanna keep bothering her about it, you know?”

  “Yeah, I know. But you know you wanna know . . . and so do I.”

  I grinned. “I knew you did!”

  We laughed.

  Several minutes had gone by. I checked my phone and noticed how Natalie hadn’t gotten back to me. I wanted to text her back but didn’t wanna seem like I was bothering her. I figured that she was probably busy or whatever. I just wanted to remind her that she said that there was more that she had to tell me, but she ran out of time. I admit that I hadn’t been able to get it off my mind all day; my curiosity was at its highest peak.

  I continued to lay my head on Brad’s chest as I waited for Natalie to get back to me, as well as thinking about the immorality of secrets in general. Whether they were secrets or not, Brad was right, everyone had committed some kind of immoral act in their lifetime whether it was something big or small. I stared up at him as he sat watching TV with a blank stare on his face. I couldn’t get out of his look what he was thinking so I had to wonder if he was really gonna confront Lisa about what I’d told him.

  CHAPTER 21

  The next morning, I drove up into the parking lot at school and saw Brad standing by his SUV as he talked to Lisa. I instantly knew what this was about. Since it was early, there was no one around them.

  I parked my car, got out of it, and began walking over to them. I looked back and saw Ava pulling up into the lot; I waved to her as I continued to walk over to Brad and Lisa. As I approached them, it was clear that they were arguing with each other. They stopped talking when they saw me. “What’s up?” I asked while I stared coldly at Lisa.

  “Hey, Vanessa,” Brad said, while he looked down at the ground.

  Lisa glared at me and then looked away.

  “So, what’s going on? Or do I even need to ask that?” I said as I kept my eyes on Lisa.

  “I just wanna hear it from her if it’s true about what you told me last night,” Brad said.

  “Yeah, I wanna hear it from her for myself as well,” I said while I continued to look at her.

  Ava approached us.

  “If you’re looking for an apology you can forget it, Vanessa. You know what you did; everyone knows what you did!” Lisa snapped.

  “Don’t get out of line, Lisa,” Brad warned her.

  “Yeah, and I know what you did as well,” I replied.

  Ava’s eyes got big as she looked at me.

  Lisa gasped! “What?! Just what the fuck did I do, Vanessa?”

  “Is it really a secret, Lisa? Oh, I’m sorry, you kept it a secret from Brad as well as from me,” I said.

  Brad looked at Lisa. “So is it true?”

  “Is what true, Brad? What the fuck are you talking about?!” Lisa asked.

  “DID YOU TRY TO RUN DOWN VANESSA IN THAT PARKING LOT THAT NIGHT?!” Brad shouted at her. His voice echoed throughout the area.

  “Oh, my God!” Ava said while she looked around the parking lot.

  I was even shocked that Brad had yelled it like this, and thank goodness that the parking lot was pretty much empty and that no one was sitting in the very few cars that were in the lot.

  Lisa looked so shocked that she literally stood speechless. She flashed me a very icy glare. “You fuckin’ bitch! I didn’t try to run you down! Is that what you told him?!”

  “Don’t call me a fuckin’ bitch, Lisa! I’m not gonna tell you again!” I angrily said.

  Ava stepped a little bit in front me since she could tell that I was getting heated and rightfully so.

  “Look, Lisa, I know we’re not together anymore, but we were when you tried to kill Vanessa that night,” Brad said.

  “I didn’t try to kill her! Where the fuck did you hear that from?!” Lisa asked him. She looked from Brad to me, and then to Ava. We remained quiet.

  “Stop fuckin’ lying, Lisa! I know it was you!” I angrily said since I didn’t believe her at all.

  “Why the fuck would I put myself at risk and do some shit like that?! I have way too much going for me! I don’t care that the two of you are together because if I did then I would’ve succeeded at making sure that I hit you!” Lisa said to me.

  I shook my head. I felt that she couldn’t even lie good.

  “So that was your cousin’s car you used, huh?” Brad asked with a smirk.

  “Like I said, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about!” Lisa angrily replied.

  “Don’t talk to me like that, Lisa, you know better!” Brad warned her.

  “And I know better not to put myself in jeopardy of going to jail over a fuckin’ boy, too!” Lisa shouted. She looked at me. “I wasn’t the one who tried to run you over, Vanessa, okay? If I wanted to hurt you then I would’ve did it, not attempted to do it, and I sure as hell would not have thrown an empty soda can at you; I would’ve made sure that it was full so I knew that it would’ve hurt you!” Lisa said.

  Brad, Ava, and I all looked at each other — we were all thinking the same thing!

  “Were you both witnesses to what she just said?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Ava said with a grin.

  “Yeah,” Brad replied as he stared coldly at Lisa.

  “Witnesses to fuckin’ what, Vanessa?” Lisa asked.

  “Witnesses to how you just totally incriminated yourself,” I replied.

  Lisa gasped! “How? How the fuck did I do that?! What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “The soda can, Lisa. How did you know that a soda can was thrown at me and an empty one at that? None of us brought that up while we’ve been standing here,” I asked.

  Ava and Brad looked at her.

  Lisa looked at me, and then at Brad and Ava. “I’m going inside. It’s cold out here and I don’t feel like standing here anymore and talking to you all about this bullshit. Have a nice fuckin’ day!” she said, and then stormed off from us.

  Brad went after her; I stopped him. “Let her go,” I said.

  “I wanna know why she’s still denying that she was the one who tried to run you down!” Brad said.

  “Probably because she knows that she’s gonna go to jail if she admits that she did it,” Ava said with a grin.

  “That’
s right, she could. But unfortunately, there’s no proof that it was her since there was no DNA to link her to it. All we have is her incriminating herself, but no proof that she even did just that,” Brad said.

  Ava and I nodded as we all watched Lisa stump through the parking lot and into school.

  “Tea spilled! Secrets revealed!” Ava said.

  “Yeah, it was spilled, and she’s lucky that I have enough sense not to spill her ass in this parking lot for what she did to me,” I said.

  Brad and Ava grinned.

  “Well, Vanessa, you’re showing me already that I should’ve been with you all along,” Brad said.

  “But just by the way she acted, she really is upset about us being together. If it bothers her that much then she should’ve talked to us about it instead of doing and saying all of that nasty shit,” I said.

  “She wasn’t gonna do that, Vanessa. She did what she did to make herself feel good, and you see how it backfired on her. She did it with the intentions on hoping that you would never find out; that we would never find out,” Brad said.

  I nodded in agreement.

  “Brad! Oh, my God! You were so fuckin’ loud when you asked her was she the one who tried to run down Vanessa! Did you realize that?” Ava asked him.

  Brad grinned. “No, I didn’t. I was so upset that I wasn’t even thinking. I’m sorry about that, ladies. I’m glad that there was no one out here at the time but us,” he said, as more cars began to come up into the lot.

  I looked up at him and smiled; he smiled back at me. We held hands as we walked through the parking lot and into school. “Well, I’m glad that Lisa inadvertently admitted to me that she was the one who tried to run me down because she mentioned the soda can, but I have to admit that she didn’t mention the rose.”

  Ava and Brad looked at me.

  “You’re right! She didn’t!” Ava said.

  “Maybe she forgot to mention it,” Brad said.

  “Or maybe she didn’t want to since she already incriminated herself by mentioning the soda can,” Ava said with a grin.

  “Or maybe she had nothing to do with it,” I said.

  Ava and Brad looked at me once again.

  “I’m not ruling her out in the least bit, but I just can’t get myself to believe that it was her who put the rose in my car. But we do know it was officially her who tried to run me down, so like I said before, we’ll find out who the person is behind the roses,” I said.

  Ava and Brad nodded in agreement.

  When Ava and I approached our lockers, we noticed that Natalie was standing by hers as she wiped tears from her eyes.

  “Natalie, what’s wrong?” I asked her.

  “Lisa just cussed me the fuck out for telling you about her trying to run you down, as well as for the nasty shit she said about you and Brad,” Natalie replied.

  “Natalie, I’m so sorry,” I said. I put my hand on her left shoulder. “I just felt that Brad had the right to know, but he didn’t tell me that he was gonna confront her today about it, I swear he didn’t.” I gave her a tissue.

  “Thanks,” Natalie said as she patted her eyes. “I believe you, Vanessa. Lisa needs to talk to a psychiatrist and get on some anti-depression meds or something. I think she’s already seriously going crazy about you and Brad being together.”

  “Well, it’s natural for her to be upset about it, and I agree, I think she needs to talk to someone, too. I just don’t know if it’s the end of this shit with her, but hopefully it is since Brad knows all about it,” I said.

  “Yeah, hopefully,” Natalie said, and then closed her locker.

  “Um, Natalie?” I said.

  “Yes?” Natalie replied.

  “I was wondering what you were gonna tell me yesterday morning before the bell rung? You told me that there was more to tell me, but you never did tell me what it was. I even texted you about it yesterday after school when I was over at Brad’s, but you never got back to me.”

  Natalie nodded. “I’m sorry about that, Vanessa. I just got so busy and sidetracked that I completely forgot.”

  I continued to stare at her; I really wanted to know what more she had to tell me.

  Ava stared at her, too. “So, what’s the tea?”

  Natalie grinned since she knew what Ava meant since it was a popular saying. “Well, the tea is, is that Lisa is talking about doing some extreme shit in trying to get Brad back, Vanessa.”

  Ava gasped as she looked at me.

  I nodded, but I was not surprised. “So much for me thinking that there was gonna be an end to Lisa’s shit. This actually doesn’t surprise me, Natalie. Even though their breakup was mutual and she pretended as if she was through with him, I knew she wasn’t. So, what has she been saying?”

  “She really wouldn’t say. All she would keep on telling me is that Brad is gonna regret being with you and the two of you aren’t gonna be together for that long at all and she’s gonna see to that — blah, blah, blah,” Natalie replied.

  I shook my head. “As if trying to run me down wasn’t extreme enough, and I wasn’t even his girlfriend yet. Well, we’ll see about that. I knew that I was gonna have a fight on my hands with her when you told me that she’s the one that tried to run me down as well as all the nasty shit that she said about me and Brad, and just by me talking to her out in the parking lot just a few minutes ago, I knew that everything you told me was true. It was like I was speaking to a whole different person now, and I am. But if she wants to throw down then I’m all for it. Brad is mine now. He even said that he does not want her back and that we’ll be together for years to come,” I replied with pride.

  “Yeah, V.! Well said!” Ava said, and we high-fived each other.

  Natalie nodded with a smile. “I know the two of you will be. I can tell how much Brad likes you, Vanessa. Gosh, I’m so fuckin’ envious of you. I wish I could get Marc back, but it seems like I’m fighting a losing battle because it seems that he wants nothing to do with me. I mean, I wasn’t a bad girlfriend, but it just seemed like I was more into him than he was into me, even though I could tell that he really liked me.”

  I looked at Ava since I knew that her and Marc were very sexually involved. She looked in her locker and fumbled around in it as it was obvious that she wanted no part in this conversation. “Well, Natalie, there are other guys out there. You’re a very nice and attractive girl, so don’t limit yourself. Marc is just gonna be Marc, you know? Just think of it like this, if he doesn’t wanna get back together with you it’s his loss, not yours.”

  Natalie smiled. “Thanks, Vanessa. I’ll see you ladies later.”

  “Are you gonna be okay?” Ava asked.

  “I’ll be fine,” Natalie said with a slight smile, and then walked off.

  I looked at Ava with a grin. “I know you didn’t wanna say anything in regards to her and Marc, huh?”

  She laughed. “No, I didn’t! She doesn’t need to know that I’ve been fucking her ex because after all, that’s what they are, and that’s some tea that I don’t want spilled!”

  I laughed. “And all because it has to do with you, right?”

  She laughed even harder! “Can you blame me?”

  “No, I can’t!” I replied as I laughed.

  “But you know something? How come she didn’t mention anything about the guy from Westmore that’s on the football team? I would’ve thought that she would bring him up?”

  “I know, I thought she would, too. Maybe she isn’t seeing him anymore, after all, she is trying to get Marc back,” I said.

  “Well, she even said so herself that Marc doesn’t want her back. I’m sorry, but I’m not gonna fight that hard over any ex of mine. There was a reason why we broke up and that’s obviously the way things should stay.”

  I sighed. “Well, it’s complicated. Look at the new tea that Natalie told us? Lisa is trying to fight hard to get Brad back, and she said that she’s gonna be going to the extremes to see if she can? Like I said, as if trying to run me down wasn
’t extreme enough, it makes me wonder what the fuck is she gonna try and do next? Looks like she’s gonna do whatever she can to try and break us up.”

  “Well, Vanessa, you know you’re not gonna let that happen. You can knock Lisa’s ass out in one punch and she knows it! I think those are just empty threats.”

  I laughed. “Well, I don’t want it to have to come to us fighting, but if it does, then it does!”

  “Yeah, V.! And I’ll be cheering you on!”

  We high-fived each other as we laughed and headed to class.

  Later on at home while I was doing homework, a secret message appeared on my screen.

  CATCHTONRHS: Hey . . .

  I stared at it in shock. I couldn’t believe it! It was John!

  VIBE_N_VANESSA: John. I must say that this is a surprise. So what is it that you want?

  CATCHTONRHS: I wanna know if you wanna come over to my house tomorrow to talk.

  I couldn’t believe that he was asking me this!

  VIBE_N_VANESSA: John, I can’t do that, sorry.

  CATCHTONRHS: Vanessa, I really wanna talk to you about everything that’s been going on for these past months, you know, about our last talk in the storage room . . . and about you and Brad.

  I really didn’t wanna talk to him about this because there wasn’t much to say anymore, and I really didn’t wanna go over his house since I didn’t know what he was really up to, therefore, I didn’t trust him. But on the other hand, I didn’t want him to think that I was afraid to talk to him now, or have him think that Brad had all of this control over me where I didn’t wanna do anything without getting his approval first since our relationship, after all, was not like that at all.

  VIBE_N_VANESSA: Well, OK, John, but I’m not gonna be able to stay for that long.

  CATCHTONRHS: It won’t take that long. I just wanna talk to you alone, you know, away from school and away from everyone.