I see her stiffen out of the corner of my eye. “Don’t tell me you went and got yourself a date?” I tease.
“Not really, but I did tell Pippi she could ride with me. But all three of us could go.”
I have to concentrate very hard not to drive my car right into a brick wall I’m so mad right now. My senior homecoming was supposed to be stellar. First, the insanity of Rand getting king totally blew. Then I lost my date to the person I detest most in the world. Now my best friend is ditching me for some redheaded freckle-faced freak show. This is not my idea of stellar. Maybe I should just stay home. I slowly take a few shallow breaths and shrug my shoulders like it’s no big deal. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll figure something out.” Tobi glances at me with shock. I can tell she expected my head to explode. The smile widening across her face tells me that she’s proud of me for taking her news with stride. I smile, pushing back the tears forming in the corners of my eyes. Everyone seems to think I’m made of stone, but I’m actually pretty sensitive and I’ve just about had my fill the last few days.
We pull into school and part ways inside the door. I grab a newspaper out of the bin on the way to my locker. On the front page is a huge picture of Angel from last Halloween dressed up like an angel, complete with halo. The caption reads, “Where has our Angel gone?” Please, freaking spare me. I toss the paper into the garbage without even reading it.
Reaching my locker, I notice that it is disturbingly free of fingerprint dust. I thought maybe Detective Malone would reconsider, but obviously an “angelnapping” ranks higher than attempted murder.
As I pull open my locker door all my belongings come spilling out. Someone obviously just shoved everything back in after Monday night. Now, as if my day hadn’t started out bad enough my entire locker contents are spilled onto the hallway, and the first bell just rang, making me late for first period. Fabulous. Maybe I should have stayed home today.
I figure if I’m already late, I might as well take my time, so I carefully stack my textbooks. I replace my picture frames on their shelf, but not before removing the picture of Lucas from one and throwing it into the hall.
“I could give you an after-school detention for littering, you know?” Rand’s voice cheerily jokes behind me.
“Whatever,” I respond, determined to give him the cold shoulder.
“Are you mad at me?” He leans on the locker beside mine, trying to make eye contact. I’m not in the mood for games this morning so I’m just going to let him have it.
“Um, yeah, you could say that. I had a Detective Malone question me last night and he dropped a little bomb on me before leaving. Something about you seeing Angel with a mouthful of Lucas. You wouldn’t happen to know what he was talking about now, would you?” I cross my arms over my chest finally meeting his gaze.
As I do, I’m surprised at how cute he looks. I wasn’t prepared for this and he smells incredible. I feel myself start to sweat even though I know the hallway is never over sixty degrees due to Miss Hott’s new energy conservation program. My eyes fall to Rand’s perfect pillowy lips. I have to remind myself I’m furious with him as I force thoughts of kissing him from my mind. He’s wearing a tight black crewneck sweater and fitted khakis. I always thought he was scrawny, but he isn’t. He must usually wear really baggy clothes because his physique really isn’t that bad, especially his chest. What am I doing? I definitely should have stayed home today, I am not well.
Rand drops his gaze and I see the slight bit of pink start to tinge the skin on his neck above his sweater. “I was afraid you would think I was lying.” He looks past me to avoid my eyes.
“Why would I think you were lying?”
“You know,” he says, fidgeting. “I thought maybe you would think I was trying to steal you away from Lucas or something.”
I start to laugh hysterically. From Rand’s shocked face I can tell he has no idea why I’m laughing. “You,” I say, pointing to him, “steal me away from Lucas. Are you kidding? Lucas is the quarterback of the football team. You’re … wait, how should I say this … you’re not really a threat to someone like Lucas Riley.”
Why am I being so mean? I really don’t think that cheating jerk of an ex of mine is better than Rand, so why did I just say all that? I’m just so mad at Rand for not telling me about Lucas and Angel. But mostly I just want to grab him and kiss him. I’m so confused. I wonder if Angel spiked my lip gloss with some mind-altering chemical. It’s the only explanation.
His green eyes meet my violet ones again. I see the slightest flash of anger.
“Well, if that’s really true, then why did you kiss me twice?” he replies, grinning devilishly.
I whip my head from side to side to make sure no one is in the hall with us. Luckily, the coast is clear. If that news got out, I’d be the laughingstock of the school. “Will you shut up? That whole thing was a big mistake, and you better never tell anyone. It’s not like anyone would believe you anyway.” I narrow my eyes at him, giving him my bitchiest expression.
We stare each other down in silence for a few seconds. Then Rand says, “I was so wrong about you, Aspen.” The look he gives me nearly causes me to double over in pain. I want to take back every word. I want to defend myself and tell him that Lucas is pond scum compared to him. But I don’t say anything.
Suddenly Rand grabs my waist and pulls me to him. His lips come crashing down on mine and I’m happy because I know I don’t have to explain myself to him. He already knows. Our tongues move expertly in and out of each other’s mouths. One of his hands rests at the base of my neck while the other runs down my back. I’ve never been kissed like this. It’s hot. So hot that I see a flash behind my closed eyes. Rand is literally making me see stars. Suddenly, cruelly, he pulls away.
Holding my face in his hands, he says, “I was so crazy about you.” Then he turns and walks away. What have I done? I stand paralyzed with shock. What is happening to my life? A few days ago I couldn’t have picked Rand out of a crowd. Now, watching his gorgeous butt walk away, I feel like I’ve lost everything. And even though I can still see him walking down the hallway, I miss him already.
CHAPTER SIX
I’m sitting in accounting class trying very hard to focus on Mr. Lowe’s incredibly mind-numbing lecture about straight-line and accelerated depreciation. I am borderline low A/high B in this class and a B will not cut it. My mind is not cooperating and it just keeps playing back the kiss Rand and I just shared. I can safely say I’ve never been kissed like that. If I could bottle the feeling that kiss gave me I’d be a freaking millionaire. Now I’ve gone and screwed things up royally. Maybe I’ll just break down and finally tell Tobi about the kisses and see what advice she has for me. Surely I can think of something to get Rand to forgive me. I’m a very resourceful girl when the situation calls for it.
With that settled, I’m ready to start learning. I crack open my textbook and as I do a note comes flying out. It slides to the front of the room and lands right under Mr. Lowe’s shoe. Crap. I don’t even remember any notes being in my book. Lucas usually just texts me and Tobi and I have practically all the same classes so we just sit next to each other and chat whenever we want.
Mr. Lowe gives me an evil glare as he bends to pick up the note. He carefully unfolds it and begins reading it aloud. This is his standard practice. He has no life so it gives him great pleasure to completely humiliate his students. I slink down in my seat and pray that the note is some kind of shopping wish list or something.
“Okay, class, let’s see what Aspen has to say that just couldn’t wait until the end of class.” He clears his throat then begins, “Tobi, what’s up?” Okay, so far so good, nothing incriminating. It does bother me that I have absolutely no recollection of writing this note though. “Doesn’t Mr. Lowe look totally hot today? I want to have sex with him so bad!” My scream reverberates around the classroom as Mr. Lowe just realizes what he read. The class erupts into hysterical laughter. I look over to Tobi for sympathy and I co
uld swear that I see her wink at Pippi. What is happening to my world?
“Aspen, go to Miss Hott’s office right now,” Mr. Lowe shouts above the laughter. I gather my books and flee out the door. I rush to my locker and jam my books inside then head to Miss Hott’s office. Surely she will see that there is no way that someone like me would be writing dirty notes about Mr. Lowe. Just the thought of it makes me want to hurl my breakfast.
When I get there her office door is cracked. I knock gently, hoping she doesn’t hear me then maybe I can just skip out of school for the rest of the day.
“Come on in,” I hear her perky voice chirp. Dang it. I shuffle in and shut the door behind me. I sit down, take one look at Miss Hott, and burst into tears.
“Aspen, honey, what’s wrong?” She pulls her bulky frame around the desk to take a seat next to me. She hands me a tissue and pats my shoulder trying to be consoling. I milk the crying session for a bit because I really don’t want to tell her about the note. But I can’t just sit here bawling forever or she might send me to the school shrink.
“Mr. Lowe sent me down here because he found a note. It fell out of my book. But I didn’t write it, I swear.”
“That doesn’t sound like such a big deal. We should be able to tell from the handwriting that it wasn’t written by you.”
“That’s not the worst part. He read it in front of the whole class. It was horrible. Everybody is going to make fun of me.” I start getting misty-eyed again.
“I highly doubt it’s that bad. What did it say?”
I bury my face in my hands because I can’t bear to face her while I say this. “It said that I wanted to have sex with Mr. Lowe.” The tears are flowing freely now as I heave in and out hysterically. My life is ruined. The entire student body thinks I want to have sex with a teacher. Not even a hot teacher, a gross one.
“Oh, dear. Why would anyone want to write a note like that?”
I didn’t have an answer. Normally I would have blamed it on Angel, but my textbook was only in my locker for a few minutes while I went to the bathroom before class. If it were Angel somebody would have noticed her, and some huge announcement would surely have been made about the queen’s miraculous return. Gag! I’ve really got to start locking my locker.
Realizing that Miss Hott is waiting for an answer I respond, “I don’t know. In the last few days I’ve had my locker filled with porn, a nasty message written on the bathroom mirror, my tire slashed, my inhaler stolen, and now this. Somebody wants me to suffer, but I don’t know why.”
“Don’t worry about the note. I’ll talk to Bob and let him know that you didn’t write it. Maybe everything else is just a coincidence.” Great! So much for getting help from the leader of this fine establishment. It looks like I’m going to have to figure this all out on my own.
“Okay, thanks,” I answer, knowing that this is a dead end, and if I’m going to start figuring out who is torturing me, I better get started right away.
I get up and start toward the door when Miss Hott says, “Aspen, it’s okay to be worried about Angel. We all are. I hope I’ll see you at the candlelight vigil tonight.” I nod my head yes and close the door.
So now they’re having a candlelight vigil? My life is falling apart and I’m expected to stand outside freezing my girly bits off while hot candle wax drips onto my perfect French manicure? I don’t think so.
I was only in Miss Hott’s office for a few minutes, but as I get near my locker I can see that someone had enough time to seriously defile my locker. People are standing around because there are still a few minutes before second-period bell rings. Everyone is pointing to what I can now see. As humiliated as I am by the scene depicting me kissing Mr. Lowe, I have to admit that someone has got a promising career in caricature.
“What is everybody staring at? Does anyone here honestly believe that someone like me would hook up with someone like Mr. Lowe? I mean, seriously.” The group seems to agree that the very idea of it is ludicrous and they start to scatter about their business. Relieved, I open my locker, grab my English text and a fresh notebook and jog to class to avoid another tardy.
Luckily, Tobi sits next to me in this class, too, so I can get to the bottom of that little wink she shared with Pippi. Could Tobi possibly be behind some of these horrible intrusions into my life? Maybe she’s tired of being the sloppy sidekick and wants to ruin me. It could happen. They make movies about this stuff all the time.
“So, you wanna get it on with Bob, huh?” Tobi asks, barely able to contain herself. I narrow my eyes into slits and slowly look her up and down. Yet again she has pulled together a stylish ensemble. I haven’t seen her wear her signature outfit of holey jeans and T-shirt proclaiming some smart-ass slogan for more than a week now. Something’s going on and it smells fishy.
“You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that note, would you, Tobi?” I don’t bother to hide the suspicion in my voice.
“Are you on glue? How would I know anything about it? I kinda thought you did it as a joke.”
“Oh yeah, it’s real funny to make myself look like a total dork in front of the entire school. Why were you winking at Pippi anyway?” By the look of her face I can tell my question surprised her.
“I wasn’t winking at anybody. You’re seeing things.” She drops her eyes while doodling on her notebook. She is so busted. How could she team up with Angel and Pippi? We’ve been best friends for years, and this is how she repays me. Just the thought of the three of them huddled together plotting my takedown is enough to make me lose it. I gather my books and approach Mr. Hamilton’s desk. I mutter something about not feeling well. He doesn’t question me since the whole school knows about my near-death experience. I’m out the door, ignoring Tobi’s fake looks of concern.
I shove my books into my locker and race outside to Cookie. In a few minutes I’m safely home with a pint of Chubby Hubby consoling me.
Between spoonfuls, I alternate between rage and desperation. Everyone I know has betrayed and abandoned me. My boyfriend dumped me for a total skank. My best friend is trying to destroy me. And the boy who kisses better than anybody in the whole world hates me. My life is over.
I’m about to wing my spoon into the sink when I hear a noise coming from upstairs. I freeze, holding the spoon in midair. My parents are at work and no one else has a key to our house. Hurried footsteps creak above me. What if Comfort really does have a kidnapper and he’s come for me next?
I gently place my spoon on the countertop and reach for my keys. I’m so scared I don’t even worry about leaving my Dooney behind. I tiptoe through the living room and am almost to the front door when someone comes barreling full speed down the staircase.
I hold my key out to try to jab them in the eye and scream at the top of my lungs.
“Aspen, what are you doing here?” I hear Mom ask in a snippy voice. My heart rate instantly lowers as I realize I’m not about to be kidnapped.
“What are you doing here?” she repeats, much louder this time.
Great. Lucas cheated on me. Rand hates me. The whole school thinks I fantasize about Mr. Lowe and now Mom is yelling at me. I’m almost ready to burst into tears when it clicks in my head that she’s not supposed to be here either. And why is she so defensive? It isn’t like this is the first time I’ve skipped out of school. Then I remember how she lied to me about being at work. The pieces start to snap into place.
As she stands with her fists on her hips waiting for me to answer I search her face. She’s a brick wall. But my gut tells me I’m right. A noise comes from upstairs and her eyes give her away.
I turn and run up the stairs as fast as I can. Mom’s having an affair. She actually brought some stranger into our home to have sex on her lunch hour. My parents are going to end up another sad divorce statistic and I’ll be a latchkey kid.
“Aspen, I can explain,” Mom shouts, coming up behind me breathless.
I get to my parents bedroom and expect some Fabio-looking character
to be sprawled out naked on the bed. But the bed is made, military corners and all, just like Dad leaves it every morning.
“Come out here and face me like a man, you freaking coward,” I say, flinging the closet door open.
I don’t see a man, but I suppose he could be hid under the mountains of shoeboxes and shopping bags in here. Mom must be getting some serious kickbacks from her personal shopping job.
“There’s no man in here.” I say, stunned, shutting the closet door behind me.
“Why would there be a man in here?” Mom asks, sinking down onto the bed.
“Duh, because you’re cheating on Dad.”
Her gasp is so heartfelt it gives me goose bumps. How could I have ever thought she would cheat on Dad? It’s official. I’ve totally lost my mind.
Mom sits on the bed with her face buried in her hands, sobbing. I can now add “shattered Mom’s feelings” to my list of horribly shitty things I’ve accomplished today. I sink down next to her and wrap my arms around her.
“Let’s not tell Dad about this, okay?” I plead.
Mom looks up at me, her mascara running down her cheeks, and nods her head violently. She must think I’m horrible for accusing her of doing something behind Dad’s back.
I keep forgetting how stressful her job is; she’s a personal shopper for senior citizens, and those are a cranky bunch. It’s such a relief to know that she was just home blowing off some steam and not some guy.
* * * *
“I’m sorry, Aspen, but I just don’t think Tobi could possibly be involved in all of this. She’s been such a good friend to you. I think you should hold off on falsely accusing her until you have more evidence.” Mom says, always the advocate for innocent until proven guilty.
“I just can’t figure out any other way that the note could have gotten into my book. But I’ll hold off on jumping down her throat. At least for now.”
“Okay, so what else is bothering you?” She pitches the empty ice cream container I left sitting on the counter into the trash. She can always tell when something is wrong. It’s genetic. We both hit the ice cream when our lives are turned upside down.
Revenge of the Homecoming Queen Page 7