Double Time (Double Threat series)

by Prestsater, Julie

  “Eew,” Keesh mutters. “Looks like a really long paper cut. She got you good.”

  “Well, it burns like one too.”

  Travis tosses me a cool bottled water. “Try putting that on it. It might help.”

  I do as I’m told and relax into the seat.

  Just as I’m about to get under my covers, my phone chimes.

  Ha. It’s Alex.

  What up Mike Tyson?

  I can’t help but laugh out loud.

  News travels fast and far

  Sure does. U okay?

  Besides feeling like a total dumb ass, yes.

  Why?

  I got in a fight. How stupid is that?

  Sounds like she started it. You had to defend yourself.

  Stl doesn’t make it any better. Wish she wld just cut the bullshit already

  This is Amy. Probably NOT gonna happen.

  Its ur fault, U know

  Me? Why? I’m 400 miles away

  U picked her first :(

  My mistake but wont happen again

  Uh oh…we knw where this convo is goin

  U started it

  Oops. My bad.

  No worries. Happy 2 tlk abt US anytime

  Nice

  Miss you Meggie

  Miss you too

  Sometimes, I have to stop myself from typing Love you. I bet he does the same. Instead, we always sign off with Miss you. It works. For now.

  Thirteen

  Fortunately, I was able to keep this long gash on my neck hidden from my parents yesterday. I spent the entire day hanging out with my mom but I left my hair down and wore a hoodie, so she never noticed. I really have no interest in hashing out Saturday’s main event with my mom or dad.

  When I left this morning, my mom was so engrossed in her magazine and listening to Seacrest, I didn’t have to worry. For the most part, the scratch isn’t visible. You have to look pretty close to see it since my shirt has a high neckline.

  First period is almost over when an office aide flies in with about as much grace as an elephant. We all watch as she passes a call slip to our English teacher.

  “Meg, get your things together. This is for you,” she says, peering at me through her reading glasses.

  I glance at Steph and Eric, shrugging.

  After shoving my binder in my bag, I get the slip and take a look.

  On my way out, I mouth the words “Mrs. Flores” to Steph. Her eyes widen and my heart beats a little faster.

  There’s only one reason I’d be on my way to see our conflict resolution counselor. Someone spilled the beans. Immediately, I tug on my shirt and bring my hair forward, trying to fluff it up a bit so my neck doesn’t show.

  If Amy’s in her office, I won’t be surprised. I’m going to see her next period anyway. May as well get it over with.

  I step into the doorway of Mrs. Flores’s newly decorated office. She has a lot more photos on her desk than I remembered. And now, she has dozens of college pennants posted on her wall.

  “Hey, Megan, come on in,” she says.

  I get closer to the banners, scanning them from the ceiling to the floor, and wonder if she’s visited all of these college campuses. “Hi, Mrs. Flores. This looks cool,” I tell her, gesturing to the wall. “Have you been to all of these places?”

  She smiles. “Most of them. But some I got from students who came by to visit me after graduation. Those are the most special.”

  “When I decide where I want to go to school, I’m going to bring in my college flag for you.”

  She smiles again, and this time her eyes soften. “I’d be honored to have your university represented in my office.” I can sense the sincerity in her voice. I really like her. I just wish I wasn’t called to her office. I’d much rather just stop by to say hello every once and a while.

  “So what’s up? Did you miss me or what?” I ask, trying to lighten the mood.

  “Take a seat, Megan.” Uh oh. Why does it always feel like I’m about to get scolded when I hear my whole name?

  “Okay.” I sit across from her in the cushy brown chair. “What happened?”

  She folds her hands together, interlocks her fingers and leans forward to look me straight in the eye. I stare back. “I heard about you and Amy getting into a fist fight this weekend.”

  “That’s not true,” I exclaim. Well, not technically. Our fists never hit each other. It was more like a good hair pulling. And not even that. I actually only pulled on synthetic hair. It wasn’t even real, so it shouldn’t count.

  “I beg to differ,” she says. “I’m fully aware of the fight that took place.”

  “So am I in trouble or something?” I ask. This is so not good.

  She raises a brow at me. “No. Both you and Amy are refusing to talk. And the incident didn’t take place at school or at a school function, so there’s not much I can do. But I thought you two would have patched things up by now. Or at the very least be able to tolerate each other. Maybe it’s necessary for us to have some more sessions. I don’t want to hear of something like this happening again.”

  “Oh, you won’t. And I really don’t mind coming in to chat with you, but I think it’s time you realize Amy and I will never be friends. I don’t have any interest in coming to conflict resolution meetings with her. I know my parents would back me up on that too.” I’m confident that if it comes down to it, they will.

  “Fair enough. I’ll be calling you in from time to time just to check on you,” she tells me with a smile.

  “Sounds good. Can I go now?” I’m done talking about Amy.

  She signs my pass and hands it to me. I’m almost out of her office when she says, “Did you at least win?” Ha. I knew she didn’t like Amy. I don’t say anything, but my smile says it all.

  “Hey, Meg, what happened?” I hear my name coming from somewhere. I scan the empty quad and spot Travis. We start walking toward each other and when I reach him, he hugs me. “Are you in trouble?” I rest my hands on his hips and look up at his concerned eyes.

  “No. She couldn’t do anything about a rumor. I denied it and I guess Amy wouldn’t cough up any info either. So I’m in the clear. Hey, why are you outta class?”

  He shrugs. “I didn’t feel like going.”

  “Wanna go get a Slurpee?” Just the thought of the frozen goodness brings a smile to my face.

  “Sure,” he says, and I’m already walking toward the street.

  “Meggie.”

  “Yes?”

  “We don’t have to walk. I can drive,” he says. Then, under his breath, he adds, “Unlike someone I know,” just to tease me.

  Just as I’m about to swat him in the arm, security stops us.

  “Where are you going? And why are you out of class?” he asks.

  Travis answers instantly. “We’re in ASB.”

  Nervously, I say, “I need my book for AP calculus.” Even though I’m not taking AP math.

  “Oh, okay. No problem,” the campus security guy says.

  “Damn, you guys were right,” Travis tells me as we watch the dude walk away.

  “What’s that?”

  “The whole double threat thing. I said ASB, and you said AP, and the guy was like, cool. That’s crazy. But bad ass.”

  Alex dubbed me a double threat in ninth grade because I had good grades and was part of ASB. The combo seemed to give us all a heightened since of confidence that we could do anything and everything and get away with it. Last year, not so much. I got into so much trouble my whole double threat status was waning. This year it seems to be back on track and working. Let’s just hope it hangs on until graduation.

  When I walk in to the kitchen after school, I’m surprised to see both my mom and dad sitting down at the table. He’s home from work early and by the looks on their faces something serious is about to go down. This isn’t good. Last time I came home to them looking like this, Keesh was smoking as much dope as Snoop. But none of my friends are on drugs now, so this has to be something bad.
Omigod. One of them is dying.

  “What’s going on?” I ask, looking to my mom first, and then my dad.

  “Megan, just take a seat,” he says, pulling out a chair for me.

  “Are you dying?” I ask, completely scared out of my mind.

  “What? No. Why would you ask that?” Mom cries out.

  I’m confused. “Are you getting divorced then?”

  “That’s ridiculous. What is going on with you?” she asks.

  “What’s wrong with me? I come home to the two of you looking like you have the worst news in the world and something’s going on with me?” I can barely catch my breath.

  “Honey, just sit down. No one is sick and we’re not getting divorced.” My dad gestures to the chair.

  “So what’s wrong then?” I take a seat and question them.

  “We heard about your fight. And we want to know what’s going on. What happened?”

  Reverting back to the first grade, I blurt, “It was Amy’s fault. She started it.”

  “Amy? You got into a fight with Amy? I thought you guys squashed that last year,” Dad says, rubbing his face with the palm of his hands. Poor guy. I can’t imagine how bad he feels knowing his baby girl got into a brawl. When I don’t speak, he says, “Tell us everything. Don’t leave out any details.”

  My mom stands, heads to the fridge, and gets me a Diet Coke. I crack it open, take a swig, then begin my story. “It happened at the party we went to Saturday night. We were all dancing and…” I fill them in on the details. Amy bumping me. Steph and her fighting. Me trying to separate them. Really, I never did anything wrong until she grabbed for my hair. It was self- defense, right?

  “Well, I hope this is the last we hear about Amy. I’m glad you defended yourself, Meggie.” Dad rises from his chair and bends down to kiss the top of my head. “I’ve gotta get back to work.”

  “So I’m not in trouble? Grounded or something?” I ask, as he kisses my mom goodbye.

  “I don’t think so. I’ll let you discuss that with your mom.”

  I wait to hear the door shut before I question my mom. “So?”

  “No, you did what you had to do. You’re not grounded.” I start to scoot my chair out, but she stops me. “Wait a minute. We’re not done.”

  “Oh.” I get comfortable again.

  “What was this about? Alex?”

  “No, Mom. Alex and I aren’t together anymore.”

  “Travis, then?”

  “No. Not at all. Travis and I are just friends.”

  “You’re not just friends, honey.”

  I sigh. “Oh my gosh. I don’t want to talk about this with you.”

  It’s her turn to sigh. She sits back in her chair and crosses her arms. “Fine. But I know more than you think. I know all about your pact to date a bunch of guys this year. I also know you’re still in love with Alex but you keep kissing Travis. So if you ever need to talk, I’m here for you.” She stands up quickly and pats me on the shoulder on her way out of the kitchen. She stops in the doorway, turns back to look at me, and starts in again. “I can understand if you’re lonely, honey. But don’t mistake that for having real feelings for Travis. I don’t doubt you two are great friends, but I’m not so sure it’s anything more than that. Just because he makes you hot doesn’t mean you actually like him-like him. Just saying.”

  What the hell was that?

  Fourteen

  “I can’t believe we’re all going out tonight,” I tell the girls, watching them in the mirror of my closet. Steph is giving herself a manicure, like usual. And Keesha is adjusting her boobs. She has one hell of a pushup bra on, even though she doesn’t need one. “I just wish we were going out together.”

  “Oh, girl, get over it already. You’re not gonna get lucky with us around,” Keesh says, checking herself out again.

  I stop applying my mascara and turn to look at her. “Who says I want to get lucky?” She doesn’t even glance my way. Instead, she’s scooping up her boobs and squishing them together. That’s some awesome cleavage. I’m envious.

  “Come on now,” Steph says. “We’re going to meet back here and stay up all night talking about what a good time we had.” As appealing as my date sounds, girls’ night sounds even better. Who wants to get all dolled up when we can stay here in our sweats with a bowl of popcorn in our laps and watch movies?

  Jesse stops by for Keesh first. That boy gives new meaning to the word cute. He’s over six feet tall, and while you’d expect him to be a star basketball player, he’s actually a star academic decathlete. He’s a brainiac. Brody introduced the two. He’s been in our classes for years and we never noticed him until someone else pointed him our way. How we missed this hunky specimen is beyond me. On their way out to the car, Steph and I peek out the window, and Keesh turns back to wink at us. She fans herself when he’s not looking. Yeah, he’s hot all right.

  Not long after, Quinn arrives early. He’s chatting with my mom, killing time until Billy picks up Steph. I can’t wipe the cheesy smile off my face. Steph and I lean over the counter and watch the conversation unfold. Who cares what they’re saying. Just ogling him is enough. I’ve had my eye on him since the dance. Things didn’t really go too well for his brother and Keesh, but that didn’t stop me from asking him out. He’s adorable.

  The other day he was behind me in the snack bar line. I looked back to see if I could spot the girls at our hangout and make faces at them, but I saw Quinn instead. He caught me crossing my eyes and sticking my tongue out at my friends. He had the cutest grin spread across his face. He has this giant smile and the whitest, straightest teeth I’ve ever seen. And his hazel eyes are dreamy against his bronze skin. He’s on the water polo team, which means year- round tan and sexy-as-hell body.

  “I’ll get it.” Steph nudges me in the arm as she walks away. Oh. I didn’t even hear the door. I’m just a little distracted.

  “Are you ready, Quinn?”

  He turns toward me and smiles. “Sounds good.” He faces my mom and says, “It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Miller. I’ll see you again soon.” I like how polite he is to my mother.

  “Bye, Mom. We shouldn’t be too late. I’ll be back before Keesh and Steph.” I give her a quick hug, and we’re off.

  “Have fun,” she says as we head to the door.

  Steph and Billy are waiting by his car.

  “Hey, Billy,” I say, walking toward them, hand in hand with Quinn. I don’t know how it happened. He just linked his fingers with mine on our way down the walkway. When we reach them, he releases my hand to do fist bumps with the other guy, but then he places his hand on my neck. A wave of shivers travels up and down my body.

  “What’s up, Quinn,” Billy says. “Where you guys headed?”

  I look up at him because I still don’t know what he has planned. He said he wanted to surprise me. I liked the idea at the time, but have been nervous ever since.

  “Can’t tell ya. It’s a surprise for Meg,” he says, with a wink down at me. “How about you two?”

  Billy hip-checks Steph, and she giggles. “We’re gonna hit up a movie, and then get something to eat.”

  “And we’re gonna be late if we don’t leave, like five minutes ago.” Steph booty-bumps the tall blondie who’s about to take her out. They look like polar opposites standing there swaying their hips toward each other. She’s olive skinned with dark brown hair and eyes, and he’s so white he looks like he’s going to burn to a crisp just standing here in the sun for five minutes. But his blue eyes are hypnotizing. He has Steph giddy as hell.

  I step toward my friend and give her a hug. “Have fun. See you tonight.” She squeezes me back and then gives Quinn a quick hug too.

  On the way to wherever we’re going, I steal glances at my date. His hair is gelled to perfection. Not a strand out of place. I run my hand through my locks. I’m not quite sure it looks as good as his. I spent a lot of time curling it and spraying it and curling some more.

  “You look really nice ton
ight,” he says, glancing my way. He keeps two hands on the wheel. I look out the window and notice cars passing us. He drives slow as hell. I could seriously get out and run alongside the car and beat him to our destination.

  After what seems like an eternity, we finally stop at a strip mall in a nearby city. I don’t recognize anything appealing. A dollar store, a ma and pop coffee shop, a nail salon, and a … roller skating rink. Oh shit. We’re going roller skating. Damn. I should have worn my helmet. Knee pads. Elbow pads. Butt pads. I can’t skate for shit.

  “What do you think?” His smile is too cute.

  I can’t possibly tell him skating scares the crap out of me because every time I’ve tried it, I’ve had to recover from a broken ass for weeks. “I can’t wait.”

  Quinn holds my hand on the way in and pays for both of us. I didn’t expect him to, but he’s obviously a gentleman. Or gentle … boy. He’s done everything right since he picked me up. He chatted with my mom. He held my hand, opened my door, and rested his palm on my neck. He’s super sweet. The least I can do is fake it. I’m going to give an award-worthy performance. He’s going to believe I’m thrilled about skating.

  This is crazy. Truly crazy. I have my ugly brown rented skates on, and the thought of taking a whirl around the rink scares the shit out of me. I’m just going to take it slow and hug the rail. I don’t care if I look like a jerk.

  “Let’s go,” he says, taking my hand and whisking me off at a pace way too fast to hold onto the ledge. The wind blows my hair and chills my face. My stomach feels like it’s turned upside down and back again. But I’m skating. Okay, maybe I’m being pulled. But I’m upright. I’m not laid out on my ass. “You having fun?” he calls out to me.

  My teeth are chattering I’m so nervous. I nod with a wide smile.

  After several laps around, I’m finally skating on my own. I’m actually using my feet instead of being towed. I’m not fast or anything, but I’m doing it.