Double Time (Double Threat series)

by Prestsater, Julie

  Before Alex left to go back to Berkeley, we sat at my kitchen table with our laptops and tried it out. We wanted to make sure that everything was installed correctly on both our computers and we wouldn’t face any problems. We joked around, making faces at each other and trying out sexy voices. We figured out that I can’t do sexy talk. Every time I tried, we’d both end up laughing. Bedroom voices are way too serious for me and neither one of us was buying it.

  But now I’m just minutes away from my first long distance video chat with my friend, who is not my boyfriend but might be again sometime in the future. Someday, anyway. And I’m ready to scream. He’s four hundred miles away and he’s about to show up in my room. He can sit with me on my bed, and we can chat all night.

  My phone buzzes.

  R u online?

  My fingers work their magic. YUP! U?

  Seconds later, Alex’s face shows up on my screen along with a little message alerting me of his video call. Accept or decline, the screen reads. I position the cursor over Accept and click.

  The image is a little fuzzy at first.

  “Oh shit, I can see you, Meg,” he says, with a grin.

  “Well, that’s the idea,” I tell him. “But stop moving. Your face is jumping all over the place.”

  “Oh, sorry. I’m tired of sitting at my desk so I’m taking you with me.” His voice is a lot clearer than I thought it would be. It’s like he’s right here next to me.

  “Where are we going? It’s late already.” We decided to wait to talk until just before bed so we wouldn’t have a lot of disruptions. Not to mention, I’m back at soccer practice and doing homework, and he’s back to studying and stuff, so a late night video chat seemed like the best option.

  “To bed.” He winks at me and I may as well be a glop of Jell-O.

  “You wish.” I wonder if he can see my cheeks getting hot through the web cam. I doubt these little lenses are that high def.

  He arches his brows at me. “You know it.”

  “This is weird, don’t you think?” I can’t stop smiling. “I feel like I’m just staring at you. I don’t know what to say.”

  His nose crinkles up and he tugs at the corner of his bottom lip with his teeth. Uh oh. “What’s on your mind?” I know something’s up. I know his expressions like the back of my hand. And he just gave me the “I need to tell her something but I don’t know where to start” look. “Just say it, Alex.”

  He shakes his head with a grin. “You’re funny. I can’t hide anything from you.”

  “Why would you?”

  “True.” He runs a hand through his thick hair. “That’s kinda what I wanted to talk to you about.”

  Hmm. This doesn’t sound good. “Okay. Shoot.”

  “So, I know we’re not getting back together. Officially anyway. Or whatever. And I know you and the girls are all about dating this year. And I’m cool with that.” He pauses, biting his lip again.

  “Go on.” I smile at him, looking into his eyes, letting him know he can tell me anything. I’m not gonna break.

  “But, I’m not okay with you and Travis.” I take a deep breath and he puts his hands up. “Wait, no no.” He waves his hands, nervously. “Let me finish.”

  “I’m good. Keep going.” I didn’t even realize I made a sound until he got all worried.

  “Okay, so I know I don’t have any right to say anything about who you go out with and what you do, but I have to tell you what’s on my mind. First, I don’t wanna know anything. Don’t feel like you’re lying to me by not sharing. I really don’t wanna know. But when it comes to Travis, it’s just different. I don’t know what’s going on with you guys or if anything is going on at all, so don’t tell me. But if you and I continue to kiss and stuff when I see you, I can’t hang out with our friends when I come home. Not if you’re doing the same thing with him while I’m gone. It’s just not right. It’s awkward for both of us and not fair to either one of us.” Eeep. I don’t know what to say to that. “Does that make sense, Megan?”

  “It does, actually.” I know it’s awkward for me when the three of us are in the same room. I never thought about how they would feel. Gosh, what a bitch I am. I hate to think how Travis felt the other night when I practically had to chisel myself off of Alex at Josh’s house. “I get it. But I don’t think it’s something you have to worry about.” Anymore, at least. It’s been a while since Travis and I kissed or anything else. And from here on out, I’m going to fight the temptation. This cheesy teen fiction love triangle thing we have going on here is so not my thing, and I just don’t want to go there.

  Finals suck. Especially when you’ve discovered a new form of technology that has taken over your life. And it’s not just the typical video chats with Alex. A simple text won’t do anymore. Keesh and Steph are always buzzing through on my laptop. I love chatting with Jon. His goofy facial expressions and dirty jokes are even better on my computer screen. We really need to figure out a way to get to Texas. I miss that guy so much. Jon, Jon, come back. We miss you!

  Anyway, back to finals. Thankfully, I have some extra time to study all week in Ms. Gelson’s class. She’s going easy on my grading duties as long as I use the time to prepare for my other classes. A free hour of non-stop reading. I’ll take it. Brody prepared daily study sheets for chemistry and he’s been quizzing me on them every day. I take any chance I get to drill myself. He’s turned into a study monster instead of a study partner. Every time I get an answer wrong, he shakes his head like it’s the end of the world, taps me on the head and tells me, “Think, Meggie, think.” If he does that one more time, I may do more than just tap on his nerdy head.

  “Do you have any special plans for break, Ms. G?” I ask as I pack up my killer bag. With an entire semester’s worth of work, my book bag is like a beast. It should have its own zip code.

  “Just visiting with my parents for Christmas. Although if I could, I’d ditch my family and go with Mrs. Cruz to hers. I love the food.” She stares off into space like she’s dreaming of some good beans and rice. I know the feeling. I do the same thing when I think about Steph’s mom’s cooking. “How about you, Meggie?”

  “Same thing as always. Just stay home and open gifts with the parentals. We might have a party again for New Year’s Eve. At my house. The crew always comes to my house.” She grins, which makes me think she’s thinking about her own new year’s party. “Are you doing anything special for New Year’s?”

  “A lot of the teachers get together every year. We have a lot of fun.” She tries to sound nonchalant, but I know my teachers get a little freaky after hours. “So, will you be seeing Alex?” She drags his name along teasing me.

  “I don’t know,” I lie. “Will you be seeing Mr. Fuller?” I drag his name out too.

  She chuckles with a sly grin. “Alrighty, missy. You get to class.”

  I toss my bag over my shoulder and start to walk away. “Gotcha,” I holler back as I reach the door. I love Ms. Gelson. She’s like the big sister I never had and always wanted. She’s totally professional and all, but she’s laid back enough that I can talk to her if I need someone. It wasn’t always like that. When she was my English teacher freshman year, I would’ve never joked with her about Alex or Mr. Fuller, but being her teacher’s aide is a whole other enchilada. I can talk shit to her and run out the door. And when I do, I’m pretty sure she’s laughing to herself on the other side.

  For two weeks, I’ve been studying like crazy for what seems like twenty-four hours a day. With only four academic finals, you’d think my life would be easier this year. Unfortunately, chemistry is kicking my ass, even with Brody’s help, and history is killing me. Mr. Erickson isn’t as hard as Mr. Marino, but he’s super strict and I can’t learn when I feel like everything I do is going to get me into trouble. Since Travis and I got on his bad side the first day of school, the bastard hasn’t let up. He’s constantly giving us the evil eye, and I lost count how many times we’ve had detention.

  And now I’
m just exhausted and I have to rally for ninety minutes while we lay the smack down on our rival soccer team. Tomorrow finals begin and for three days I’m going to go insane taking tests and waiting impatiently for winter break. By the time the game is over, Keesh has scored three goals and we held them to one. Same story, just a different game. We’ve been kicking ass this year, not that I’ve been a giant help or anything. I haven’t been bad either, so that’s a good thing.

  Andi’s team won as well. Even with the win, I’m still riding back to school on the bus with a bloody thigh. It burns like hell, but at least I stopped a goal from happening. I fought one of their strikers for the ball just before she was going to take a killer shot on goal. I got the ball back and started dribbling away from her when another girl came at me with a slide tackle. I would’ve been impressed if she got the ball but she got a piece of me instead, and I went flying off my feet and slamming to the ground. Their field was so torn up that I skinned my leg on a jagged rock. Not good. My skin looks like ground beef.

  I’m so glad it was an away game. I’m not gonna lie. It hurt like a bitch and I got a little weepy with the pain. There’s going to be one hell of a bruise, and a nasty scar too. I just want to get home and let my mom take care of it. Maybe she’ll get me some ice cream or something. Hey, I’m injured. Better yet, maybe I can get out of finals. Fat chance, I’m sure.

  “Mom, I need you to pick me up from school. We’re on our way home on the bus. Meet you in the parking lot in fifteen minutes.” I hope she gets the voicemail in time. The throbbing pain is killing me and the heat coming from the wound is making me a little woozy.

  When we pull into school, my mom is waiting for us. I can count on that woman for anything. Gotta love my mom. My gimpy ass makes my way to the car while Andi and Keesh trail behind me with my bag along with their own gear. Oh no. The look on my mom’s face changes from cheerful to pure panic as she becomes aware of my leg. It looks a lot worse than it is. Dried blood snakes up and down my leg. Once I take a shower, it will look a lot better. But the way my mom is coming at me, you’d think it was amputated.

  “Baby, are you okay? What happened?” She rushes to me with a hand over her mouth and tears in her eyes. There’s no doubt where I get the perpetual waterworks from. My mom is even more sappy than me.

  I try to walk straighter for her sake. “I’m fine. It’s just a little scrape.” Moments ago I would’ve described it as a battle wound, but now that I have my mom worried, I have to tone it down a notch. Or two.

  “Oh my gosh, it doesn’t look like that, Megan. What happened? Do you need to go to the E.R.? Look at all this blood.” She rests her hand on my back as she guides me to the car. She opens the passenger door, waits for me to get in, and closes it. Then she pops the trunk so the girls can toss their stuff in. “Get in, ladies. I’m taking you home before we go to the hospital.”

  “Mom, I’m fine. No hospital. Watch, once I wash up, it will look much better.”

  She starts the engine. “Okay, we’ll see if that works.”

  Twenty One

  Just like I thought, my leg looked a thousand times better once I showered and cleaned the earth from my wound. Mom was still concerned and debated whether to take me to see a doctor. While it didn’t look like I needed stitches, she was still afraid of infection because some parts were a lot more raw than either of us liked. But I don’t really have time to sit in a waiting room all day just to get some antibiotic ointment. The over-the-counter stuff is just as good.

  Josh and Travis pick me up for school so I don’t have to hoof it at a snail’s pace. Even though I put some stuff on my five-inch cut (not exaggerating), my leg is still sore and it hurts to walk. When we get to school, Travis drags along with me to keep me company.

  “You sure you’re okay?” he asks. “Let me carry your bag.” He reaches out, but I shrug him off.

  “I’ll be fine. Once I get home, I’m going to take some pain meds and go to sleep. I can hang for four hours.” At least I think I can. I couldn’t sleep for the life of me last night. I couldn’t get comfortable on my left side, and the constant throbbing burned through my leg all night.

  “Okay, text me if you need anything. Good luck. I’ll see you after school.” He bends down and kisses the top of my head. I close my eyes and relax into his touch, even though I know I shouldn’t. Alex’s words replay in my head, but I’m too tired to have this chat with Travis. And I don’t know that I ever will. Some things are just better left unsaid.

  By the week’s end, I’ve managed to hobble around campus and take all my finals. With Travis, the girls, and my mom hovering over me like I might fall over any second, I haven’t been able to do much else. I go to school, take my tests, then come home and rest. Now that finals are over, I feel like I can breathe.

  I prop up my leg on my pillow, lean back against my headboard, and fish my cell out of my bag.

  Ur not still mad? Right?

  NO. I already told u I’m not MAD.

  Sore loser. What a butthead. Brody is still pissed even if he says he isn’t. All caps. Come on. People who aren’t angry don’t text in all capital letters.

  Idk y ur being a butt. Ur the 1 who made me study so hard. Ur stuff worked.

  Brody pushed me so hard I knew every answer on that test. I was the first one finished and I didn’t doubt I had any question wrong. I aced that sucker with 100 percent. The Brodester got a 98, and he’s ready to explode.

  He needs to get over it. I think for a second or two before I text him back.

  U better snap out of it or I’m never gonna be your fake girlfriend again

  A minute passes before I get a response:

  Fine. Next time I’m charging you for my study guides.

  Oh. Ok. Next time I’m charging u a GIRLFRIEND fee.

  Ok. Free study guides for you.

  That’s what I thought.

  Christmas came and went quickly. My parent shocked the hell out of me with a new phone. I’ve made it to the world of smartphones. That’s right. I’m in the big time now. Nothing can stop me. The only thing I don’t like about my phone is its size. The thing is giant. There’s no way I’m going to be able to fit this sucker in my pocket. I’m probably going to get arthritis from holding it. My hands will get cramped and will forever be stuck in the grasping position.

  But… I love it. Forward-facing cameras are the best thing since the invention of Slurpees. I love being able to use it as a mirror. Oh, the joy of technology.

  Since I was able to switch my mini memory card over from my old phone to the new one, I’m sitting here flipping through my pics, trying to decide if I should delete any of them. I mean, really, how many pictures do I need of Steph, Keesh, and me making goofy faces at the camera during lunch? I’d say about ten will do. I guess I can nix the five hundred others we took. Okay, so I’m exaggerating, but they’re all starting to look the same. Maybe I should just put all these on my laptop and start fresh with my new smarty party phone.

  Just as I pop out the old memory card, my phone chimes.

  Keesh and I are coming over. Be thr in 5.

  Cool. Maybe the girls can help me take my mind off tomorrow night. I’ve been trying everything to keep me busy and it’s not working. My new phone can only entertain me so much.

  The girls fly into my room with a few shopping bags each. They both look like they’ve been in a marathon. Their hair is all out of place and their cheeks are flushed.

  “Whoa, I’m glad the tornado missed my house.” I wave my hand in front of my nose. The girls are stinky too. “What the hell happened to you guys? You look and smell like shit.”

  Keesh tosses the bags down and whips around to glare at me. She places her hands on her hips and raises her brow. “Don’t even go there after all we’ve been through.”

  “What are you talking about?” I flop back down on my bed and wait for their story. I know it’s going to be a good one.

  Steph grins and waggles her brows at Keesh. Uh oh. Now, I�
�m nervous.

  “What did you guys do?” They look guilty as hell.

  “Just relax, Megster.” Keesh waves me down. “It’s all good. We’ve got a surprise for you.”

  I cover my face with my hands. “Oh shit. I’m afraid to look.”

  “Don’t be, girl. We got you covered.” Keesh cracks up as she spills her words.

  “So, we did a little shopping for my big date with Dominic,” Steph says. “I wanted something new. Something he hasn’t seen me in a million times. When he picks me up, I want his eyes to bug out and feel like he should have never let me go.”

  “I think he already knows that, Steph. You don’t need an outfit for that,” I tell her. “But I wanna see this wonder outfit. Show me what you got.”

  She whips out a pair of dark skinny jeans with tiny rhinestones on the ass. She places them on my bed, and then dives in the bag for a top. She arranges the coral v-neck fitted top above the pants. A long beaded necklace, some dangly earrings, and a few bangle bracelets come next. Finally, she displays the most gorgeous heels. They match the top perfectly, and they will make her legs look long and stunning. He’s going to drool, that’s for sure.

  “Nice,” I say. “You’re going to look amazing in that color. It’s perfect.”

  She giggles along with Keesh. “Wait, I’m not done.” Out comes a satin bra and thong set, both lacy. My body starts to itch just looking at them. Lace is not supposed to go up your ass. That’s not even right.

  “Wow, we might need to get you some baby powder to wear with that lacy crotch hider and butt floss. Dang, those don’t look comfortable at all.” I point at the pretty, but unappealing, G-string.

  “I’ll be fine,” Steph says, parading around the room with her undies displayed at her waist.