by Chloe Smith
"But what if we get caught?" Tristan asked jokingly, his eyes glancing up at their teacher.
"Fuck him," Scarlett replied.
Tristan laughed, and then his lips were back on hers.
When they pulled apart for the second time, Scarlett asked, "You know I was going to visit Charles tonight, right?"
"Yes, why are you asking?" Tristan muttered looking down at his notes when Mr. Ortega looked up suspiciously.
"I mean I guess I could visit him tomorrow."
"What in the world are you talking about?" Tristan asked, looking up from his notes.
"I thought you told me not to treat you like you were stupid."
"Yes, but you're not making any sense."
"I'm talking about that—"
"Miss White, is there something you'd like to share with the rest of the class?"
"Other than some actual brain cells, no," Scarlett said, getting irritated with this man's impatience.
Mr. Ortega looked shock for a second at being back talked by Scarlett White, the smartest kid in the school, the one who always followed the rules, the girl who kept her nose in a book at all times. And then he finally succumbed to the loud laughter that threatened to burst out at any minute. "That was a good one, Scarlett," he said, "But you still have to work instead of talking to Mr. Cox."
Scarlett, rolling her eyes behind Mr. Ortega's back, returned to her notes.
"So what were you talking about?" Tristan asked out of the corner of his mouth.
"In my locker, I found—"
"Psst! Scarlett," Katherine called from the desk next to her. "What in the world does this mean?" she asked, leaning in closer to Scarlett and showing her the crumpled up piece of paper with the directions of the project on it.
Scarlett quickly explained what she was supposed to do with the lab and then turned back to her notes.
"So what did you find in your locker?" Tristan asked; a little annoyed at the previous interruptions.
Scarlett looked at him a little confused. "The note," she said.
And then the final bell rang, signaling the end of the day. Scarlett began packing her books and stuffing them into her bag.
"What note?" Tristan asked.
"The note in my locker—"
"Hey, Scar!" Kate called.
"What?" Scarlet asked, annoyed at being interrupted for the third time in less than twenty minutes.
"You didn't forget, did you?"
"Forget what?"
"The movies! 'Drag Me to Hell'? We bumped the date up to today because Ginny has some doctor's appointment Saturday. C'mon, we gotta go," Kate said, grabbing Scarlett's hand and pulling her to the door.
"Bye!" Scarlett waved to Tristan as she was dragged out the door.
Tristan was left in the classroom dumbfounded. What note!
Scarlett, Ginny, Kate, and Meghan were in Kate's car driving down the road to the movies to see 'Drag Me to Hell,' supposedly the newest, scariest movie. Scarlett couldn't help but think that the last scary movie she had watched resulted in being knocked out by a rock thrown through her window.
"So, what note were you talking about during lab today?" Kate asked, sitting next to Scarlett.
"Oh, Tristan left a note in my locker."
"How romantic," Meghan said dreamily from the backseat.
"What did it say? Are you two gonna, you know, do a lil' somethin' somethin' tonight?" Ginny asked, nudging Scarlett from the back seat.
"Um...no, and it's none of your business if we did," Scarlett replied, pulling the crumpled up note from her bag.
She straightened it and showed it to the girls.
S.,
Meet me at my house tonight at nine. See you there.
T.
The three girls squealed with delight while Scarlett sat silently in the passenger seat, thinking about how Tristan had acted as if he didn't have a clue about this note.
During 'Drag Me to Hell,' Scarlett could only think about that night. She couldn't wait for nine o'clock, though she had an eerie feeling about it. In the note, Tristan had written "meet me at my house at nine" but during lab he had acted as if he had no idea about what she was talking about. All Scarlett could think about was, This better be important because I'm skipping my visit to Charles tonight.
Scarlett didn't jump one time throughout the movie because her mind and thoughts were elsewhere. She scarcely noticed Meghan, Kate, and Ginny screaming their heads off or that they were curled into small balls in their seats.
When the movie was over, and they were walking out of the theater, Kate was still shaking with fright, Meghan was gripping Kate's arm, and Ginny was laughing her head off, "Do you remember when she was walking around her house saying, 'Here, kitty, kitty'? Hilarious!"
"Scar, are you okay?" Kate asked, noticing Scarlett's rigid position.
"Oh, fine, thanks," Scarlett muttered.
"What's wrong?" Ginny asked.
"Nothing, really. Do you think you could drop me off at Tristan's house?"
"Sure. Wonder what's going to happen," Ginny said, nudging Scarlett's arm playfully. "Are ya gonna get it on?"
"Ginny, shut up," Meghan said.
"Why?"
"Because that's private," Kate said.
"So? I'm her best friend," Ginny replied.
Kate faux coughed, "I'm her best friend, too, you know."
"Yeah, but she likes me better," Ginny said, skipping a little in front of the rest of the girls.
"Says who?" Scarlett asked.
"Says me, duh," Ginny replied, still skipping.
"Stop it, Gin, you're embarrassing me," Meghan whined, still clutching Kate's arm.
"You wanna see embarrassment?" Ginny asked a devilish smile on her lips now.
"Ginny, if you get yourself killed...well, good riddance," Kate said.
"Shut up, idiot. Watch this," Ginny said deviously, skipping ahead of them and 'accidentally' bumping into a pair of guys walking to their cars. "Oh, sorry," Ginny giggled.
"No problem, hottie," one of them said.
Ginny smiled and stood on her tip toes to whisper something into the boy's ear.
When she finished, the boys turned around, looked right at Meghan wide-eyed, and then hurried off in the opposite direction.
"What did you do?" Meghan asked, outraged when Ginny skipped back to them.
"Oh, nothing, I just told them you had herpes," Ginny cackled.
"YOU WHAT?" Meghan yelled.
"You said I was embarrassing you, and I just wanted to show you what real embarrassment was," Ginny giggled and then ran for it.
"That bitch," Meghan muttered under her breath.
"Ah, you know you love her. We all do," Kate said.
Fifteen minutes and a few laughs about what had happened later, Scarlett was hopping out of Kate's car and standing in the cold night air at the end of Tristan's driveway.
The wind picked up a bit, and Scarlett shivered in her white mini shorts and crossed her arms over her chest. She slowly made her way up the driveway, anxiety bubbling throughout her system.
She was halfway up Tristan's driveway when something caught her eye and she stopped. Scarlett could see through a large open window that Tristan was standing up in the dark living room, talking to someone. At first Scarlett shrugged it off as his sibling, but then her breath caught. A tall brunette in a very short mini skirt and tube top walked in view of the opened window.
"Alice?" Tristan asked.
Scarlett's heart was beating quicker than what was natural; her breath coming faster than normal.
Alice moved closer to Tristan speaking, and Tristan stood motionless. "Miss me?" she said.
Alice looked out the window and smiled before she turned her attention back to Tristan. She stood right in front of Tristan, wrapping her arms around his neck. And then without further ado her lips were on his.
Scarlett gasped, shocked at what she was seeing. This couldn't be happening. Scarlett blinked a few times, desperately clingi
ng to the nonexistent concept that if she did blink again and again it would all disappear into thin air. It didn't disappear as reality had told her, but she tried a few more times before she gave up, and the inevitable tears began pouring down her cheeks.
She let out a loud sob and ran back down driveway, not even trying to wipe away the tears streaming down her face. She ran all the way home without stopping. She slammed the door behind her and leaned against it, catching her breath and crying. She finally slid down to the bottom and sat on the floor, putting her head on her knees.
She didn't know why she was crying. She had only dated him for one day. For one day that had seemed like an eternity of joy and happiness. But that was all shattered by none other than Alice Barrington herself.
Tristan was lying on his couch, flipping through the endless, pointless channels. There was absolutely nothing on. He really wanted to spend his Thursday night with Scarlett, but she was at the movies with her friends.
He fanned himself because the air conditioning had failed again, so he had opened every window in the house to help circulate the cool night's air. He heard the door open and stood up. His parents were out of town for the weekend and both his siblings were upstairs doing homework. Who else was walking into his house at nine o'clock?
He looked into the entrance, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness. And then Alice walked into the living room.
"Alice?" he asked. What the hell was she doing here?
She moved closer, "Miss me?" Alice shot a quick glance out the window, smiled, and then, before Tristan could reply, her arms were wrapped around him and her lips were planted firmly on his.
He stood motionless for a second shocked into a rigid form, but then the feeling started coming back, and he pushed Alice away.
"What the hell are you doing?" he yelled.
"Oh, just wanted to say 'hi,'" she said sweetly.
"Why are you even here? It's nine o'clock and...and...Why the hell did you kiss me? I. Am. NOT. Dating. You." Tristan couldn't get over the fact that she was here in his living room on a school night at nine o'clock. What had possessed her to come here?
"I guess I've overstayed my welcome," Alice said, backing up, a small smirk on her lips.
"Um...yeah," Tristan said, watching her as she left and walked down the driveway.
Long after Alice had left, Tristan was so glad Scarlett hadn't been there. If she had seen that...he didn't even want to think about it. Why had Alice decided to come on over to his house uninvited and kiss him? He shook his head in disgust at just thinking it. He couldn't wait for school tomorrow and to see Scarlett and just to be able to hold her in his arms.
One thing that was pushed to the back of his mind was it's funny that the head cheerleader kisses worse than the school's 'nerd.'
Tristan's mind was still puzzling over what had brought Alice over to his house. Sure, she lived about five minutes away from his house—at least, with the way Alice drove, it was only five minutes—but why had she just kissed him? Maybe it was just a nightmare. That didn't seem like Alice at all. Sure, she was a slutty bitch, but she would never just do that out of the blue. There had to be a reason. Why had she looked out the window? That was something else that had puzzled him. But he couldn't think of any answer.
Just then he heard footsteps coming down the stairs and Mary, his little, sister walked into the room, "Who was that? I heard you talking to someone."
Well, that ruled out the whole nightmare suggestion.
"It was somebody from school being an idiot," Tristan answered.
"Why would they come at nine o'clock uninvited?"
"Because they are stupid."
"So it was Alice Barrington?"
"How the hell did you know?"
"I'm a genius. Haven't I told you that before?"
"Mary, how did you know?"
"I spied on you."
"God, you insufferable brat."
"Hey, now, no need for name calling," Mary shot back defensively.
"Why did you do that?"
"Because I was curious! Why are you so defensive? I saw what happened. I know you don't like her. I know that you pushed her away. Besides I live here too! I have a right to accidentally walk in on something that is happening in my own living room."
"Whatever. Just don't tell anyone. I don't want anybody at school to find out, okay? This news will spread like wildfire."
"Okay, whatever. Jesus, you didn't need to blow up on me like that." Mary rolled her eyes and stomped back up the stairs.
Tristan was nervous now. Mary couldn't keep a secret to save her life. And a bunch of her classmates had siblings who went to his school. And this news could get to Scarlett, and then he would have hell to pay.
Chapter Fourteen
Tristan drove into the school the next morning, searching for Scarlett's beat-up lime green punch buggy only to be disappointed. Her usual spot was taken by some corvette. It wasn't like Scarlett to miss school. Was she sick or hurt? Shouldn't she have told him if she was sick? Wasn't it his job to know that kind of stuff about her? Believe it or not, Tristan really had no clue about how to act in an actual relationship. Sure, he slept around sometimes, but he had never had an actual girlfriend—except for Brantley freshman year and one time back in second grade when a girl named Dawn and he had passed three notes to each other during class and hung out on the playground during recess for four days before that relationship broke off because Tristan had refused to share his animal crackers with her, only because he had skipped breakfast to get to school early to see her, so it really wasn't his fault that he didn't want to share. It was her fault. But that wasn't the point right now. The point was Scarlett.
Tristan parked his car and instantly found Scarlett's blonde friend. She was the girl that he had noticed at the club when he had talked to her other friends, Kate and Ginny. He had noticed her because she was the only one who really wasn't all that hot. She hadn't matured physically yet. Now what was her name? It began with an M or was it an N? Martha? Natalie? Michelle? Nora?
"Hi, you're friends with Scarlett, right?" Tristan asked, coming up to meet the blonde friend.
"Yes, why?" she asked.
"Do you know where she is today?"
"Why would you care?"
"Because I'm her boyfriend. Where is she? Did something bad happen?"
"You could say that." Blondie started to cut Tristan off and continue her way to the school.
"What?" Tristan asked, not letting her get by so easily.
"You, of all people, should know. Now, can you please move? I don't want to be late for class."
"Mandy, right?"
"Um...no, its Meghan, now, please move. That will be the last time I ask politely."
"Look, Meghan, I need to know what happened to Scarlett."
"What's going on?" the black-haired friend came up to stand next to Meghan.
"Where's Scarlett, Ginny?" Tristan remembered her. She was the coolest one—besides Scarlett, of course—out of the group.
"She's at home. Anything else you would like to know?" Ginny asked hotly, standing straight beside Meghan. Her black eyes were narrowed at Tristan as if he were the enemy.
Tristan ignored the intense stare and asked, "Why is she at home?"
Ginny rolled her eyes right as the bell rang, and she and Meghan scurried by Tristan without a second glance. What was wrong with them? Why were they being so rude?
Tristan hurried into class only to block out everything Mr. Macgregor said during World History. All Tristan could think about was why Scarlett wasn't at school. What was she doing at home?
Finally the lunch bell rang, and Tristan hurried out of Pre-calculus. He pulled out his cell phone and quickly dialed Scarlett's cell phone number.
After four rings it went to voicemail.
Hey, this is Scarlett, you missed me. Obviously. Anyways, leave a message, and I'll be sure to get back to you. BEEP!
"Hey, Scarlett, just wondering why you aren't at sc
hool. Call me back when you get this," Tristan said and then shut his phone before a teacher could spot him with it and confiscate it.
The rest of the day felt like it had last Friday when all he wanted to do was get home. But, instead of wanting to kick his brother's ass at Xbox 360, he wanted to swing by Scarlett's house and see what was wrong. Why wasn't she responding to his call? Why were her friends so rude to him? What had he done? And then it occurred to him. Someone had found out about Alice's little detour to his house. Someone had told Scarlett about it. Oh, fuck.