The Valentine's Dare (The Sycamore Serial Book 1)

by Owens, Nicolette

  And she smiled back, melting like a chocolate bar in the hot July sun. Damn that boy. She had to fight to rip her eyes away from him, frowning off into space and nearly missing the beginning of French club.

  They did brief introductions and then went over the verbs: aller, étudier, manger, and a dozen others Kierra knew by heart. She was glad to practice her accent, though, especially on the French transfer students - and, as it turned out, Mason.

  He had an excellent command of the language, his “Il y aura un orage ce soir” rolling off his tongue as easily as an “Je voudrais un croissant au chocolat.” His plus-que-parfait rivaled hers by a thousand. By the end of the meeting she found herself gravitating away from the other amateurs and towards him, wanting to polish her faltering French accent against his own.

  The only problem was, the sound of him purring in French set her blood rushing through every vein in her body. Keep it together, Adair, she thought, trying to hide her warm cheeks.

  “Have you ever heard the story of the two potatoes?” Mason asked in French, a grin on his face.

  “Non,” she said. “What story?”

  “One of them is run over, and the other says: Oh, purée!”

  It took a moment for Kierra to get the pun, but then she giggled. In French, purée was both an exclamation and a word for mashed. “That’s a silly joke,” she said in English, smiling. “Ridiculous.”

  “I enjoy seeing you smile,” Mason replied in French, turning the heat in Kierra’s cheeks up to 10.

  “Well, that’s about all the time we have today,” Thomas said, standing up. “Here’s the newsletter signup sheet, pass it around and make sure your info is on it.”

  “I wouldn’t fill that out if I were you,” Mason said, leaning in close. “Tom likes to send emails a little bit too often.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Kierra said, relieved that he was at least no longer speaking French. “Where did you learn to speak French so well?”

  “My mother taught me. She’s French Canadian. But you’re not half-bad yourself.” He handed over the signup sheet, their hands briefly brushing as she took it from him.

  “I’ve been practicing.” Kierra scribbled her email address on the signup, making sure it was as ineligible as possible. “I, uh, I have to head to my Film Studies class.” She picked up her book bag and awkwardly smiled, wanting to extract herself from the conversation before he realized just how attracted she was to him. “See ya.”

  Darting out the doorway, she didn’t stop to look back and see if he was watching her go or not.

  “I just can’t believe you’re going back on your pledge so soon,” Lacy said that evening, when they sat down for a shared roommate dinner in the mess hall. “What happened to lonely spinster Kierra?”

  “I am not going back on my pledge. And I’m not a lonely spinster! I was only saying, Mason speaks French better than I thought he would.”

  “Try talking about him without blushing,” Leila said, peering at her closely. “I’m waiting.”

  Kierra blushed, hard. “I can’t do it with you staring at me like that, freak.”

  “She likes him, I can tell.” Lacy shook her head. “Mason Pryor, working his moves on the Matchmaker like always.”

  “Speaking of, who are you setting us up with? And don’t say it’s some short guy I’ll tower over the whole night.” Leila motioned to herself. “This frame does not do munchkin men.”

  “I haven’t figured that out yet. I have to actually meet all these people before I can set them all up.” Kierra sighed, thinking about all the work she had to do added on top of her homework. “Are these fourth floor apartments really worth it?”

  “Are you joking?” Lacy leaned forward, intense. “Please tell me that you’re joking.”

  “I mean, I’ve never even seen one of them. How great can they be?”

  “They’ve got a full kitchen. Private bathroom. Marble countertops.” Soon Lacy was leaning so far forward Kierra could see every speck of blue in her eyes. “I want. That fucking. Apartment.”

  “We can help you set people up,” Leila suggested, grabbing Lacy and pulling her back. “I know pretty much everyone in the building who speaks Spanish, for one thing.”

  “Yeah, and I know all the lesbians.” Leila and Kierra both stared at her, and she just shrugged. “My hair throws ‘em, but I don’t mind. Oh! Oh! You should set Mason Pryor up with this lesbian I know, her name is Jade and she’s the best-“

  “Actually,” Kierra forestalled her with an upraised hand, “Anna Banks has already pretty much blackmailed me into giving Mason to her. She says we won’t get the apartment if she doesn’t get to date him.”

  “Ohmigod, really?” Lacy’s mouth fell wide open.

  Leila shook her head. “That’s pretty ballsy of her, since they broke up because she was cheating on him.”

  “Wait, what? I never heard about that.”

  Her friends gave each other a look. “Honey,” Lacy said, “I’m not surprised you didn’t hear about it. It went down last semester, when you were kinda too wrapped up in your own drama to pay much attention to anyone else’s.”

  “She cheated on him with Frankie’s older brother,” Leila said. “It was a pretty big deal. Almost broke up his friendship with Frankie, and it wasn’t even his fault.”

  “So I guess he and Anna were pretty serious,” Kierra said, feeling her heart sink - much to her surprise and chagrin. He’s not yours, so stop that right now. She didn’t have the time or the energy for a silly, impossible crush this semester.

  “I guess they were serious.” Lacy shrugged. “I always thought she was more into him than he was into her, but she’s the one who cheated.”

  “I never saw the appeal of Anna,” Leila said.

  “You’re not a guy,” Kierra pointed out. “But enough talking about Mason Pryor. I want to talk about you two. You’re right, I was too wrapped up in my own life last semester to catch up on any drama, and that includes yours. So how’re my two besties doing in the dating world? Any crushes I can make happen in time for Valentine’s Day?”

  Leila shrugged. “Like I said, anyone tall. Lacy?”

  Hemming and hawing, Lacy looked down at her plate, cheeks pink. “Maybe… Frankie Reid? I know he’s a weirdo, but I think I kind of like weird.”

  “Done! And Leila, I’ll find you someone tall. There’s gotta be more than a few options.”

  As it turned out, Mason Pryor wasn’t just a member of French club. He was also in the book club and the scavenger hunt club, of all things.

  Kierra discovered this on the first Saturday that both clubs met, sitting across from him in the upstairs common room, the only two people early for book club. She found herself torn between hiding behind her book so he didn’t see her blush, and staring at him incessantly.

  He looked really, really good. Whatever he’s done to his hair today, I hope he keeps doing it forever. Not to mention - she tried not to sniff too obviously - was that a new cologne he was wearing? Sinking down in her seat, she took out her copy of Cider House Rules and opened it up, staring intently at the same page for several minutes.

  “You know, I almost think you’re stalking me,” he said, drawing her attention out of the book she wasn’t reading. “First scavenger hunt club this morning, and now book club too?”

  “In my defense, it’s not like I knew you were in book club,” she pointed out. “And we weren’t on the same scavenger hunt team, so I must be a pretty ineffectual stalker.”

  “How could you not know I’m in book club? I’m the President. Didn’t you read our 2015 inaugural newsletter?” He put a hand over his heart in mock-pain and pouted. “I’m deeply hurt and offended. I spend so long on those.”

  “I, uh, don’t check my email very often,” Kierra admitted, not adding that she used to check it all the time until she started getting 18 page long letters from her ex-boyfriend on a regular basis. “I’m sure it was a very… interesting newsletter.”

&nbs
p; “There were a lot of really great puns in there that would’ve made you smile, knowing you,” he said with a grin.

  Kierra blushed fiercely, until she realized something. “Do you even know my name?”

  “Kierra Adair. You’re the new girl. How could I not know?”

  “Oh, uh, right.” If it was possible, Mason’s goofy charm was even stronger when he was the only other person in a room with her. “Say, are you sure everyone else in book club knows when we’re supposed to meet? Unless,” she said, grinning, “you told everyone else the meeting was canceled except for me, and now we’re going to ‘accidentally’ be alone together. Ah-ha! The stalker becomes the stalkee.”

  “Or the girl who’s 15 minutes early jumped the gun a little.” Mason pulled a manilla folder out of his bag and held it up. “President always has to be early. I’ve got a book club meeting to plan. Topics to write, all that.”

  “You don’t plan the topics until 15 minutes before book club starts?”

  “I like improvisation. I’m also in the improv club, if you want to really make your stalking complete.”

  “I’ll remember that, when I start avoiding you like the plague.” Kierra tossed her hair behind her shoulders, aware of his eyes on her, knowing that she truly settled into her flirting routine when sarcastic banter was the name of the game. It’s not dating if it’s just flirting, she thought, assuaging her guilt at coming close to breaking her self-given vow.

  “Say,” she said, realizing something, “I gave you my name but you didn’t give me yours.”

  “You know who I am,” he said, somewhat flippantly.

  “I do?” she raised her eyebrows at that. “Do tell.”

  “I’m the guy who made you laugh when your boyfriend didn’t show up to your date. I’m the guy you rejected right after. I’m Mason Pryor.”

  Someone’s overconfident, she thought, but something about the hurt in his voice when he said “rejected right after” made her feel guilty. “Sorry about that, by the way.”

  He shrugged. “Win some, lose some.”

  “And…” she trailed off, aware of how close they were, how alone. “He’s not my boyfriend anymore, he’s my ex-boyfriend.”

  “Good to know,” he said, that mega watt smile coming out to charm her.

  She was very, very glad when the other club members showed up in a rush, prompting them to break apart and start the meeting. Another five minutes with Mason and she might have broken her vow for real.

  After book club Kierra found herself in for a bit of an unpleasant surprise.

  Anna Banks was waiting for her in the hallway, and a nasty look crossed her face when she saw Kierra and Mason leave together, talking and laughing.

  “Really, though, you have to agree-“ Mason stopped short when he saw Anna, the barest of grimaces crossing his face before it was gone in a flash. “I’ve got to get going. Frankie likes to have roommate dinners every Saturday, and if Thomas and I don’t show up he gets a little crazy. He’s a bit OCD.”

  “I guess I’ll see you at French club.”

  “À tout à l’heure,” he said.

  “I’ll see you later too,” she responded, trying not to grimace herself as Anna rushed her, anger clear across her face.

  “What are you doing with him?” she spit, grabbing Kierra’s arms and shaking her. “It’s bad enough that he looks at me like I’m some kind of trash on the bottom of his shoe. I will not be foiled by the likes of you.”

  “‘Fouled by the likes of you?’ Anna, you really need to stop talking like a Scooby-Doo villain. Unless that is a mask.”

  “What?” Anna scrunched up her brows, looking confused and disgusted at the same time. “Listen, weirdo, and stop with the jokes. Mason is mine. Not only are he and I meant to be together, but you can’t date him if you want the apartment next year. But I can see that won’t be enough motivation for you.” Anna leaned in close, her eyes a piercing, crazy, colored-contacts blue. “If you try to take Mason away from me, I’ll make sure there aren’t any spots open for you in Sycamore House next year. You’ll be so waitlisted, even Oak won’t take you.”

  It would’ve been a more convincing threat if all the school houses didn’t have such peaceful names.

  “You don’t have to worry about me, Anna.” Kierra broke Anna’s hold, stepping away from her with a scowl on her face. “I have no interest in dating your ex-boyfriend just because I talked to him about books at a book club. Someone’s overly paranoid. Could it be you’re worried he might be doing the same thing you did? Oh, wait - you can’t be unfaithful if you’re not in a relationship anymore.”

  Anna’s face fell at her words, and a moment of pain and devastation crossed her face that was so human Kierra almost opened her mouth to take it all back. But soon the bitchy mask was back on and she was snarling like a tomcat in an alley brawl.

  “You’re one to talk, Adair,” she said, her voice low and menacing, freshly manicured nails poking in the air as she jabbed her fingers in Kierra’s direction. “At least my cheating didn’t drive my ex-boyfriend into such a jealous rage that he got arrested for aggravated assault over me. I wonder what Brooks would think of you now, huh?”

  She was gone before Kierra, driven deep into herself with misery and grief, could open her mouth and respond. That was just as well, though, because all that would’ve come out was a sob of pain and guilt.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Embrasse-Moi

  She hid her pain that whole week, but the words Anna spoke to her rang around and around in Kierra’s head. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about, she tried to convince herself, but it didn’t work. Her elephant memory couldn’t forget.

  It had happened almost three months ago, in the weeks leading up to final exams and winter break, when everything seemed so tense and yet hopeful. The trees were orange and red, the air chilly and brisk. Kierra loved those first whispers of winter, when the world slept and everything was painted with autumn’s brush.

  Brooks had lived in Birch House at the time. Birch, unlike Sycamore, Elm, and Oak, was pretty far away from campus, so she had to drive to see him - and inevitably she wound up staying at his place, even though she had a whole room to herself in Elm. There wasn’t much else on that side of campus if you weren’t a graduate student, so there was no reason to drive there except to see him.

  Until her lab partner in Film Production wanted to meet in one of the graduate labs on the other side of campus. Her male lab partner, Evan Dames, who was also one of the cuter graduate students on campus.

  Brooks hadn’t taken it well.

  “Miss Adair, can you tell us the answer?”

  Kierra’s psychology professor startled her out of the bad memories, making her realize she’d drifted off during class. “I don’t know.”

  He frowned at her, clearly disappointed. She resolved to pay more attention and forget about Brooks. This is why dating is a bad idea during college. The last thing she could afford was to lose her scholarship. The university had almost come close to taking it away when they initially suspected her of being involved in the assault; slipping grades could mean never graduating college.

  Right after psychology class she had French club again, which she almost considered not going to. The last thing I need is Mason Pryor on my mind. Then again, if she didn’t learn to resist temptation now, she’d never manage it. I can take him, she told herself, gathering up her notebook and supplies and preparing to leave the classroom. No big deal.

  “Miss Adair.” Professor Glades had other plans for her though, stopping her on the way out the door. “I’ve been a little worried about your performance so far.”

  “It’s only two weeks into the semester,” she protested, feeling defensive. “I just drifted off for a second. It won’t happen again.”

  He frowned at her, brows furrowed over his glasses. “I understand that. But after your did not complete last semester, I’m worried that you’re on the wrong track. I’d hate to see such a bright a
nd talented young student waste a second chance. Is that clear?”

  Kierra nodded vehemently. “Crystal. It won’t happen again.”

  “Good. And if you’re having any trouble with the coursework, can I suggest one of the study groups for underclassmen? One of my former students runs one out in the Sycamore House library. Mason Pryor is his name.”

  Of course. “I think I can study on my own,” Kierra venture, but the professor gave her a stern glance.

  “Going it alone isn’t the answer to everything, young lady. Bring me back a participation note from a study group and I’ll consider raising the participation part of your grade. Just showing up to class isn’t everything, you know.”

  There goes the theory that staying away from all boys will be the key to keeping my grades up. “Thank you, professor. I appreciate the opportunity.”

  “You’re welcome. Go on now.” He waved her away dismissively. “And bring back that participation note.”

  Kierra tried sitting in the back of the room during French club, but that didn’t keep her from wanting to stare at Mason every time an accented sentence rolled off his lips. Keep it together, Adair. He’s not that cute if you squint your eyes.

  She could still hear him, though. So she purposefully paired off with one of the French foreign exchange girls - Belle or Betsy or something - and put her blonde head between Mason’s face and her eyes.

  “What would you like to discuss?” B-something asked, her French a high-pitched Parisian accent.

  “Uhhhh…” Kierra wracked her brain for a topic. “The weather?”

  The look she got was absolutely scorching, but the girl talked with her, and soon Kierra found herself immersed in the discussion. With her brain working overtime to translate back and forth, she soon was thinking of nothing but French words.

  Until Mason came over.

  “Time to switch partners,” Thomas said, and everyone obediently got up and moved around the room. Of course, competition for the French girls was fierce, somehow leaving Kierra standing across from Mason Pryor - once again - with that familiar heat in her cheeks. They both looked around for chairs, but all of those were taken, leaving them sitting on the couch facing towards each other, their legs sliding on the cushions to almost meet in the middle.