The Boyfriend Contract

by Melanie Marks

  Summary of

  His Kiss:

  Ally’s world was totally on track: the right boyfriend, the right school activities, the right plans. But then she is bribed into kissing the school “bad boy.” (Griffin Piper.) Now nothing is right. Nothing! Because all she can think about is … His Kiss.

  Popular books by Melanie Marks:

  His Kiss

  Slumber Party Wars

  The Boy Next Door

  Hockey Guy and Tutor Girl

  Jane’s Air

  Heartbreaker Hanson

  When You Noticed Me

  Fall For Me

  Dearest (Hot) Enemy

  The New Boy

  My Brother’s Best Friend

  (Right now each book only costs a dollar)

  (Or you can read them for free if you have Unlimited)

  Note: you need to put “Melanie Marks” into the search with the title to find the books in the store.

  Note: there are a lot more books by Melanie Marks than on any list.

  Check her website: ByMelanieMarks.com

  Contact her at: ByMelanieMarks (at) MarksFam.com

  Melanie Marks newest books are:

  Jane’s Air

  The Boy Next Door

  Hockey Guy and Tutor Girl

  When You Noticed Me

  Heartbreaker Hanson

  They are each a dollar

  Or you can read them for free if you have unlimited

  Note: The next page has another story. It’s called, The Kiss. (Don’t confuse it with Melanie Marks’ book, ‘HIS KISS’—which is a story about Ally and Griffin.)

  The Kiss

  Below is a short story added as a bonus. It is called, The Kiss. Don’t confuse it with Melanie Marks’ book, ‘HIS KISS’—which is a story about Ally and Griffin.

  ****

  The Kiss

  By Melanie Marks

  Don’t crowd me. I can’t believe Matt said that to me. To me. It’s not like I’m one of his Barbie doll girlfriends. I don’t hang on him, drool on his shoes. We’re friends. We’ve been friends since the first week I moved here, back in middle school. Suddenly I’m crowding him?

  He passes me a note, telling me to meet him after class. Yeah, right.

  Ever since that don’t crowd me night he’s been jumping through hoops, trying to apologize. What a jerk. I mean, why go to all this effort? If he honestly feels this bad why did he say it in the first place? And why in front of all my friends?

  After class Matt comes to my locker. “Why didn’t you wait for me?”

  “Oh, I forgot,” I murmur distractedly as I rummage through my shambles of books, looking for nothing.

  He’s silent for a moment, watching me. “Are you even looking for anything? Come on, Nicole just give me a second. Okay—I’m a jerk, but don’t I at least deserve a second?”

  I shut my locker with a slam. “Look, could you just not crowd me?”

  “Nicole.” He grabs my arm, almost angry. “Man, just calm down. What do you want me to do? Just tell me and I’ll do it, okay?”

  “You can’t do anything. You’ve said you’re sorry. I forgive you.”

  “Yeah, you keep saying that, but when I call you won’t talk to me. And you’ve moved to the front of the class to get away from me—”

  “I told you, I need glasses. I can’t see the board.”

  He gives me a look of disgust. “Okay,” he says. “You’re not mad. So, you’ll come hear my band tonight, right?”

  “Well, I can’t. I have to …” I’m so flustered I can’t think of an excuse, not even something dumb. The phrase “wash my hair” keeps wanting to pop out of my mouth.

  His eyes are fuming. “Okay, don’t come. Don’t talk to me. Do whatever you want.”

  The bell rings, and with my stomach in a ball of knots, I watch him walk away.

  Why can’t I just forgive him? Why can’t I do it? He’s called excessively, apologized profusely. What does he have to do?

  I wish I knew because I’d have him do it in a heartbeat. We’ve been friends forever. I miss the jerk. I want to forgive him and go back to the way things were. I want to stay up all night like we used to, playing pool in his basement and writing songs. I miss being able to call him when my car breaks down, and having him come to me for advice about his latest Barbie doll girlfriend. I miss him telling me I’m too good for Shane, that I should get over the two-timing slug.

  But weeks go by with me sitting in the front of the class. Matt still goes out of his way to be massively nice, but he doesn’t call anymore; doesn’t pass me notes.

  I don’t know what to do. I miss him so much I cry practically every night. But he hurt me so bad. I really don’t think I can get over the pain. Don’t crowd me. Why’d he say that?

  In College Theme Writing our teacher, Mrs. Walker, has us sitting in a circle. She’s going around the room, asking us these embarrassingly personal questions she pulls from a box. My question is: If I could be any person in the world who would I be? I answer with the first person that comes to my mind: “Synyster Gates.” I feel dumb now though, because everyone’s looking at me like, “Who?” So, turning red, I babble that he’s this awesome guitar player, and that I’m working on a song of his, and that it’s giving me a lot of trouble. I ramble on and on and through my whole, big, involved explanation I keep wishing I’d just said Taylor Swift.

  When Mrs. Walker gets to Matt he’s reading a magazine. He doesn’t seem to have a clue what’s going on. Mrs. Walker pulls his question from the box and reads, “Who is the most important person in your life?”

  Matt looks up at me and answers, “Nicole Gladstone,” then goes back to reading his magazine.

  I’m shocked. So is the rest of the class. They’re making shocked noises. My best friend Sara gives me her right-on-girl smile. I roll my eyes. But inside, my heart is thumping out of control. Why’s he doing this to me?

  At lunch break Cammy Armstrong, who’s not even in my College Writing class, and who I seldom ever speak to anymore, comes over as I’m waiting for Sara at my locker. “I heard Matt finally declared his undying love to you.”

  “Well, he didn’t,” I tell her, finding it difficult to keep from gritting my teeth.

  “Well, Jade’s really mad. She basically broke up with him.”

  “More power to her,” I murmur, wondering why Cammy and I only talk when she’s seeking information these days.

  “Well, don’t you think you should talk to him? Forgive him? Nicole, he feels really bad.”

  Cammy is tall and thin, like a tree. She’s lived down the street from me ever since I moved here, and has always been like this. Little Miss Get-Into-Everything. But the thing is, she’s really nice. She just has this motherly instinct to fix things—things that are none of her business.

  “Jade really broke up with him?” I ask skeptically.

  Another thing about Cammy is she often doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She has this delusion that she’s some sort of expert on Matt and his life. But the truth is, if she didn’t happen to sit next to him in Government, and constantly let him borrow her notes, he would probably have trouble remembering her name. Not that he doesn’t like Cammy. He does. But she’s like a fond memory of his childhood, not a living being thriving in present life.

  “Well, yeah. I mean, isn’t his girlfriend supposed to be the most important person in his life?” Cammy gazes at me. “He’s really got it bad for you.”

  That is such a laugh. “He’s just playing games,” I assure her.

  “Well, he had to know it would get back to Jade.”

  Sara arrives and smiles her most patronizing smile. “Talking about Matt?”

  “Yeah. Jade broke up with him,” Cammy informs her.

  “They didn’t break up,” Sara says. “She’s just mad at him. But I think he wants her to break up with him. I think he’s after Nicole.”

  “Me too!” Cammy exclaims. “He’s always talking about her in Government—saying
how she won’t forgive him, asking me what I think he should do.”

  They go on talking, but I’m not listening anymore. What they don’t know, because I told no one, is I know for a fact Matt doesn’t want me. He made that perfectly clear. See, a few weeks before he told me not to crowd him, we’d had this moment. I mean, it was incredible. It started out casual enough. We’d been down in his basement one night, around two, and he was teaching me how to play “Fade to Black” on the guitar (he’s way better than me now) and suddenly he leaned over and kissed me, and I have to say that it was the most gentle, passionate, wonderful kiss I’d ever experienced in my entire life. But when we pulled away we were both breathless and terrified.

  “It’s late,” I said. “I need to go.”

  “I’ll walk you.” He jumped to his feet, not even trying to dissuade me from leaving.

  So, we walked across the street to my house in silence. But before I went inside, he gently backed me up against my front door, and kissed me again. And again, it was the most tender, amazing kiss I’d ever encountered. “You’re getting good at the guitar,” he whispered as I went inside.

  I didn’t know what to make of it. Matt and I had never kissed before. Ever. Sure we’d had crushes on each other in middle school—back before he became the object of every girl’s desire. But we had never kissed.

  We had though been getting closer since I’d broken up with Shane. But Matt had a girlfriend, so we’d been incredibly tight, without getting romantic. We were buddies—only friends. But his kiss … It suddenly made me think of him differently.

  Not that I hadn’t always loved him; I had. But us getting together was like a fantasy, something I liked to think about, but didn’t expect to happen.

  So, needless to say, the night he kissed me I was excited and confused. I couldn’t sleep. I was too wound up to believe I could ever sleep again. At first I was simply elated. Elated by his kiss. Elated that he’d done it not once, but twice. But then, I started thinking about Jade. Until that night I’d thought she was a psychotic freak for giving me dirty looks whenever Matt and I started goofing off together. I thought she was a lunatic for acting jealous of me.

  And then I started thinking about Matt. He’s not like Shane, my two-timing ex-boyfriend. Matt’s a good guy. I mean, he doesn’t go around cheating on girlfriends. He’s incredibly honest and sweet. Yet he kissed me—not once, but twice—and he had a girlfriend. It made me suddenly wonder what was going on with him.

  But all my confused feelings seemed to be a big joke once I saw Matt again. Basically everything was exactly how it had always been between us. I mean, we were slightly awkward around each other (kind of like, please, please, please don’t mention the slip-up), but besides that, it was like the kiss never happened. And I began to think maybe it hadn’t. I mean, I thought maybe I misunderstood it. Like, maybe it was just a friendly, showing-your-affection type kiss, not an I-think-I’m-in-love-with-you-lets-find-out type. I read too much into it. At least that’s what I decided until I saw him that night at Graff’s and he told me not to crowd him.

  ***

  A few days later I’m at school, fighting off this stupid junior that has a locker near mine. He’s always leering at me—he’s gross. Today he started rubbing up against me. The first time he did it, he just like, grazed me and I thought maybe it was an accident. But this time I know it isn’t. I turn around and slug him as hard as I can, and after he gets over the slight pain, and intense shock, he lurches at me. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, Matt’s on him. He throws the creep against the lockers and starts whaling on him.

  “Matt, stop!” I yell, but he’s out of control. The poor stunned junior is bleeding all over the place.

  A teacher comes and breaks up the fight. She makes them go to the office. I stand at my locker, wondering if I should go with them, wondering if I should explain. I don’t though. Instead I go to class.

  Earlier today Cammy invited me to a slumber party at her house. That’s what she called it, a slumber party. When we were in middle school she used to have them all the time. They were fun. But that was a long time ago. Normally, I’d probably think slumber party? Lame. But it’s more of a for-old-time’s-sake type thing. See, Jenny Holt, who moved away in the eighth grade, is visiting Cammy for the weekend. They’re having the old “group” from middle school over.

  Also, since I broke up with Shane, the two-timing, back-stabbing, sleaze ball, my weekends have been pretty pathetic. So, I’d kind of like to go to Cammy’s slumber party. Only I can’t. I’m grounded. I’m not allowed to leave the house for the entire weekend.

  So when I get home from school I just mope around the house. I can’t forget how Matt kept pounding on that poor creep. I kind of feel sorry for him. (I think his name’s Garth.) He looked so stunned, and then he was bleeding all over the place. Still, I guess he won’t be messing with me anymore, not while I’ve got my bodyguard Matt lurking about.

  Around eleven I break down and tell Mom about the slumber party. I haven’t seen Jenny for a long time. We used to take Karate lessons together. I want to see her. Mom gives me a reprieve on the grounding. So, yay.

  When I get to Cammy’s her house is dark. I stand outside wondering what I should do. I’m cold, and kind of scared. I feel kind of like I’m dreaming—like this moment isn’t real. For a second I contemplate turning around and going home, but then I try the door and it’s unlocked, so I go in. It’s really dark, but I find everyone in the den. They’re all in their sleeping bags, huddled together. The only light is a single candle. It casts eerie shadows on their faces as they talk in hushed voices. It’s spooky.

  “Nicole, yikes, you scared me!” Cammy clutches her heart.

  Everyone is excited to see me since they thought I wasn’t going to be able to make it. It’s kind of nice. Jenny looks different. I would have never recognized her. She rushes over to me, and I’m suddenly hugging this blond goddess. It’s weird.

  I start to strip down, when Cammy says, “Uh—Matt’s here,” and then I notice him.

  “Hi Nicole,” he says, and I quickly pull my shirt back down.

  In middle school Matt was the only boy on our block, so yes, in a sense he’s as much a part of the “group” as any of us. Only, he never came to any of our slumber parties back then, so I’m more than a little surprised to see him now. In fact, you could call me amazed.

  “I found him sitting on the curb outside Denny’s.” Cammy laughs. “He looked so pathetic, I invited him to the party. He’s not spending the night though—my mom would die.” She throws me a pillow. “So, go change, and we’ll squeeze you in.”

  When I get back they’ve got my sleeping bag all laid out next to Jenny’s, which is nice; only it’s right across from Matt.

  I lay down wishing I hadn’t come. It’s kind of weird seeing Matt wedged between Cammy and Nina. Back when we were kids he would have definitely been next to me.

  Everyone goes back to what they were doing before I came, which is asking Matt about things they want a guy’s outlook on. Like, Megan asks him why Bobby Folton is so nice to her when they’re alone, but treats her like crap around his friends. All year I’ve been trying to tell her it’s because Bobby is a jerk, but as soon as Matt says it, it’s suddenly gospel—Bobby’s a jerk.

  Actually, Matt is somewhat helpful with his advice. He seems to be completely honest, and it’s slightly interesting hearing a guy’s perspective on things. But it’s irritating that as soon as a boy comes to our party he’s the center of attention—like how’d we ever manage a slumber party without him?

  And I cannot believe this, but Jenny asks him his favorite way to kiss, and suddenly, he’s showing her. I mean, they’re practically kissing, and everyone’s watching. It’s stupid. And then, Nina says she wants a turn learning Matt’s moves. Okay, Nina has a huge crush on Matt, so I can kind of see why she would do this—act like she needs kissing lessons. But still, it’s dumb. This is a slumber party, not a make-out party, right?
r />   “It’s to cheer him up,” Cammy explains.

  “Cheer him up?” I scoff. “Why does he need to be cheered up?”

  “Oh,” she says, sounding surprised. “Didn’t you hear? Matt got suspended today.”

  I look over at him. “You did?”

  He sets his jaw, like he doesn’t want to tell me. “Well, yeah. But only for three days. No big deal.”

  My heart sinks. “Didn’t you explain what happened? Why you were fighting?”

  “Yeah, but I kind of got carried away on the guy. I mean, he was all bloody, and I broke his nose. I didn’t mean to get so violent. I just … did.”

  I don’t know what to say. I feel horrible. I feel like it’s my fault. “I’m really sorry Matt.”

  “No, it’s okay. Really. It’s just three days.”

  Cammy sits up. “Yeah, but then Jade dumped him right after he got suspended.”

  Instantly my self-loathing quadruples. “Why?” I ask, barely able to speak.

  “Because of you,” Cammy states with satisfaction. “She broke up with him because first he says you’re the most important person in his life, then he gets in a fight over you.”

  “He didn’t get in a fight over me. The guy was assaulting me.” I turn to Matt. “Do you want me to talk to Jade? Do you want me to explain?”

  “No,” he says. “I tried. She won’t listen.”

  “She might listen to me.” I jerk up. “I’ll explain—”

  “No. Don’t, okay?” He sounds so despondent it makes me want to cry. “She won’t listen to you. She’s like, insanely jealous of you.”

  “Oh, come on,” Cammy snorts. “You can’t blame her. You and our dear friend Nicole here have the hots for each other—just get together already and give us all a break.”

  There’s an awkward silence. “You know what?” I say. “I need to go.”

  ***