“Are too!”
“Am not!”
“Alright then,” he says smiling evilly. “Prove it.”
I am about to open my mouth to say that I will stay home with him when I realize what he is doing. I close my mouth.
“Nice try, I know what you are trying to do and it’s not going to work.”
He looks at me innocently, “Oh what am I doing?”
I push him off of me and onto his back so that I am on top of him, “Would it have something to do with using reverse-psychology and tricking me into staying here with you?”
He looks up at me with hurt in his eyes, “How could you think that I, Hayden Edward Sharpe, would ever do that to you?”
“You’re right,” I whisper, leaning in closer to him. “You’re not that smart.”
“Hey!”
I giggle and lightly brush my lips with his. We are so close so that we are almost but not fully kissing.
I quickly jump off the bed, “Well, time to go to school!”
I hear him groan as I enter the bathroom.
“Hey Jenna, hey Hayden!” Daisy calls to us. We walk up to her locker and I couldn’t help but be appalled at her outfit. She was wearing bright green sweats and a pink tank top, reminding me of a watermelon. Her hair was in a messy bun and where there were usually no glasses resting on her nose due to contacts, there were some today. I looked down at her feet only to see the worst things I could possibly see on her feet; Crocs. It looked like she had woken up this morning and gone straight to school without doing anything.
“Hey Daisy,” I say trying to ignore her clothes. “Are all your clothes in the wash and did your dog pee on your shoes or did you run out of contacts so you couldn’t see what you were pulling out of your closet this morning?”
“Jenna!” Hayden looks at me surprised and then breaks out into laughter. I shrug.
Daisy laughs too, “I knew you would say something along those lines. Well, actually I was expecting much worse so I guess that means you are in a good mood today. What did you do to her Hayden?”
Hayden sighs and squeezes my hand, “Unfortunately, nothing yet.”
Daisy and Hayden crack up laughing and I feel my cheeks turn bright pink. After a few more moments of them laughing, I clear my throat. “We were talking about your outfit for the day.”
Daisy wipes some tears from her eyes, “Oh yeah. Well I have a big trig test today and I was up late studying so I didn’t feel like getting all ‘dolled up’ this morning.”
“And you don’t care what other people are going to think when they see you?” I ask.
“No, why would I?”
“Man,” I say, “that’s brave.”
“Oh shut up,” Daisy laughs. The bell rings and Daisy leaves to go take her test. Hayden and I walk hand in hand to my biology class and I stand on my tiptoes to whisper in his ear, “I hate you so much.”
He laughs, “You want to hate me but you just can’t.”
“I know,” I sigh, “you make it so damn hard with your adorable little curls,” I look up at him and frown, “Which are covered by your stupid beanie.”
“What? You don’t like my beanie?” he asks, flashing me puppy-dog eyes.
“I like your hair.”
“Well, I would take off my hat, but I have hat-hair.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Well, it’s um hat-hair.”
“Oh, I see,” I say sarcastically and stop him in front of my classroom. I turn around and wrap my arms around his neck and lean in. He puts his hands on my waist as our lips meet and we stand there, with people walking by to get to their classrooms eyeing us, for what feels like an hour. When I know it’s time for me to go to class, I slowly creep my hands up and rip the beanie off his head. He pulls away surprised and I run my fingers through his indeed very messy curls.
“Hey!” he says trying to grab his hat back.
“Embrace your hat-hair,” I laugh. I turn and walk slowly into the classroom and throw my stuff down on my desk. Turning back to the door, I notice Hayden still standing there, glaring at me. I twirl his hat around my finger and wink at him before he stalks off down the hall, “embracing his hat-hair.”
Giggling to myself, I shove the beanie into my bag as the tardy bell rings. My teacher closes the door and begins to teach, uninterrupted for ten minutes. There is a pounding on the door and the teacher opens it to the same campus supervisor who had taken Zac to the principal yesterday.
“Hello, Amy,” my science teacher says.
“Hello,” Amy says, stepping aside to reveal a student behind her. She pushes him into the classroom and I recognize him because he usually sits right next to me in this class. His name is Joe and I never really talk to him unless it’s to borrow some paper. “I caught this student attempting to ditch your lesson today, Mr. Cox.”
“Ah, thank you Amy.”
Amy nods and leaves the room.
“I believe that’s seven days of detention for you, Joe,” Mr. Cox says. Joe sighs and slumps down into the chair next to me.
So you get seven days of detention for attempting to ditch a class? Interesting.
“Commence day one of eating without Zac now,” Luke says when I come up to the lunch table.
“I’m a terrible person,” I sigh.
“No you are not,” Hayden kisses my cheek. “Unless you don’t give me my hat back, then you are a terrible person.”
I laugh and pull the black beanie out of my bag and hand it to him, “Can you not put it on yet though?”
He laughs and pulls it on, “No.”
I put my hand to my chest, “You just murdered my heart.”
“Sorry babe,” Hayden says laughing. He grabs my face with his hands and pulls me in for a five second kiss. We pull apart and I notice Nolan, Luke, Daisy and Jessica glaring at us.
“You guys make me sick,” Jessica states. The rest of the table nods.
“I can’t help that I’m in love,” Hayden smiles. I look down smiling as well, feeling the familiar back flips in my stomach.
“So what did you want to talk to me about yesterday?” I ask Jessica, opening my locker.
“I honestly don’t remember.”
I look at her, “So, I landed Zac a spot in detention for nothing?”
“I’m sorry! But I have something else to tell you. I talked to Nolan yesterday.”
My ears perk up, “You did?”
“Yes,” she nods. “And it was amazing. It was so nice to talk to some who understood, you know?
“That’s who you blew me off for yesterday, isn’t it?” I slam my locker closed.
“Well he found me in the hallway and we talked for almost an hour. I just lost track of time.”
“Thanks, while I was out getting yelled at by a maniac and getting Zac detention!”
“That’s really getting to you, isn’t it?” Jessica leans up against the wall.
I nod, “Yeah, it really is.”
“Just find some way to make it up to him.”
“I’m trying.”
The bell for the end of lunch rings and Jessica tells me she needs to get to class because it’s on the other side of the school.
I walk slowly to my class. I want to think of some way to make it up to Zac. I know he said he didn’t care that much, but if I keep going like this the guilt is going to eat me from the inside out. I am about to walk into my class when I spot the Joe kid who got in trouble earlier today walking down the hall. I watch him, feeling a little bit creepy as he closes his locker and walks into the class next door to mine. I try once again to walk into my class, but I just can’t. Something is stopping me.
I lean up against the wall next to the door, trying to convince myself that this is the right thing to do, even though every fiber in my body is telling me otherwise. My parents would kill me! But, Hayden is right; I am too much of a goody-goody.
The tardy bell rings, causing me to jump. I peel my back off the wall and look at the
door one last time. I can do this. I slowly walk away from the classroom, towards the back of the school. My heart pounds as I pass by some kids who are running to their classes. I open the door and the cool air creates goose bumps on my arms. I turn left and find myself not knowing where else to go. I slide my back against the brick wall and collapse on the ground.
Hopefully one of the campus supervisors will find me soon enough. Hopefully I don’t miss too much of the lesson.
I pull out my phone and start to play Angry Birds. My mind isn’t able to focus fully on the game so I end up just staring at the home screen until a voice yells, “Hey, you!”
It’s Amy.
Is she the only supervisor at this school?
She runs up to me and I can’t help but watch her stomach bounce up and down with every step.
“What are you doing?”
“Playing Angry Birds,” I say, really because I have no idea what else to say.
“Why aren’t you in class?”
“I-I didn’t feel like it.”
Amy shakes her red curls at me, “Show me your I.D. card and schedule please.”
I pull them out of my binder in a matter of seconds and place them in her pale, wrinkly hands.
“Jenna Brown? You are supposed to be in Geometry.”
“Uh-huh,” I mumble as I pull my back up higher on to my shoulder. She hands me back the I.D. card and schedule and I shove them in my purse.
“Come with me,” she says and I follow her into the hallway. She knocks on my teacher’s door and he opens it up.
“Hello,” he says looking disturbed.
“Sorry to interrupt but, I caught your student trying to ditch class,” Amy explains as I walk into the classroom.
My teacher looks surprised at me, “Jenna?”
I nod and Amy says, “I’ll leave you to it,” before exiting the class.
“I wouldn’t have expected this from you,” my teacher says, opening the top drawer on his desk.
All I can do is shrug.
He sighs as he hands me a pink slip of paper, “One week of lunch detention, Brown. Starting tomorrow.”
I looked down at the slip as I walked to my desk. I didn’t even think about the parent signature I needed to get by tomorrow. How will I get that? My parents are going to kill me and then they won’t let me stay at Hayden’s for the rest of the week. Ugh.
“Well, well, well,” the girl who sits to my right of me whisper. I don’t know her name. “I guess the Slave Auction really does change people.”
I roll my eyes at her, “Oh please.”
Well, mission accomplished, I guess.
I pull away from Hayden and lie on my back. I look up at the white, uneven ceiling pattern and think of how I should tell him I got detention. He will be so proud and he won’t be able to call me a goody-goody anymore.
“So guess what?”
“What?” he asks, propping himself up on his elbow to look at me.
“I got detention today.”
He laughs, “For what?”
“Ditching class,” I state, holding my breath.
“Ditch-? When did you ditch class?”
“Sixth period today. I wanted to make it up to Zac for getting him in trouble so I ditched to get a week of detention with him. You know, so he won’t be alone. I guess I’m not a goody-goody after all,” I say smugly.
I see a hint of annoyance in Hayden’s green eyes, “Why would you do that?”
“Wha-what do you mean? You are the one who wanted me to skip class in the first place.”
“Yeah,” he says sitting up. “So you could spend it with me. The point was to skip school so we could hang out, not so you could spend time with my best friend in detention.”
I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t think Hayden would get mad at me.
“I did it so I could prove to you that I’m not a-.”
“That you’re not a goody-goody?” he asks angrily. “That wasn’t the point, Jenna. Like you said, that was just a lame attempt at reverse psychology!”
He pulls open the covers and gets in the bed, pulling the sheets around him. He lies on his side so that his back is towards me.
I feel a cold chill go through me. I can’t believe he is mad at me over something so stupid. I want to yell at him and tell him to grow up but a voice inside my head tells me that that won’t make anything better.
“Hayden,” I say. “I did it so I wouldn’t feel so guilty about what happened to Zac. I thought you would have thought it was funny. If I had know you would have gotten upset about this I wouldn’t have done it, you know that.”
I slowly get in the bed too, and I face the wall so that my back is toward Hayden. Everything just feels so distant now. In only a matter of seconds, everything has changed.
“Maybe this is a good thing,” I mutter.
“Why?”
“Because now I know that I hate it when you’re mad at me.”
I hear him sigh and feel a ruffle of the sheets beside me. His arm snakes around my waste and his chin rests on my shoulder. His warm breath tickles my neck giving me goose bumps.
“I’m not mad,” his deep voice says.
“Oh, really?” I ask sarcastically.
He chuckles, “I’m just hurt, I guess.”
“What did I do that hurt you?”
“I guess just the fact that you wouldn’t ditch with me, even though I begged you a bunch of times to, and you ditched for Zac without hesitation.”
“There was a lot of hesitation, trust me,” I hear him chuckle again. “But, Hayden, I didn’t think about it that way at all. I was more focused on how nervous I was on skipping than thinking about how it would hurt you. I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry for getting mad.”
“Ah, hah! So you admit that you were mad!” I exclaim.
He laughs again and kisses me on the cheek, “Yes, I was a little mad. But I’m not anymore. I’m sorry.”
I nod and turn to face him, “We can ditch tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow is Saturday,” he whispers.
“Oh, well we can ditch Monday.”
He shakes his head, “No, it’s fine babe, you have detention anyway.”
“Even more of a reason to skip.”
“Look at you becoming such a badass after ditching once. Excuse me- after attempting to ditch and getting caught once.”
I shrug and move closer to him, wanting to feel his warmth.
“What can I say; you have that effect on me.”
Chapter 23: Saturday Night
“Good morning.”
My eyes snap open and I jump a little, not expecting to see the two bright green eyes staring back at me.
“Jesus, Hayden!”
He smirks, “Did I scare you?”
“Oh, not at all.” I reply, sarcastically.
Hayden leans down to kiss me and then hops off the bed. “Come on, I’m hungry.”
I slowly lean up, my eyes still adjusting to the light, “Yeah, I bet making me jump really worked up an appetite.”
Hayden smirks again, “It did.”
I stand up and stretch, making sure to go as slow as possible.
“Any day now, princess.”
“I’m a princess now? I thought I was a badass,” I laugh, walking over to him and grabbing his outstretched hand.
“You couldn’t be a badass if you tried.”
I raise my eyebrow, “Are we really going over this again?”
He laughs, “I think we are.”
I shake my head and we walk into the kitchen. Hayden leads me to the fridge where there is a note taped to the door.
“‘At hair appointment. Be back later,’” Hayden reads off the yellow lined note. “Seems like we’re alone.”
I feel my face spread into a smile as I see his familiar wink sent in my direction. Hayden opens the fridge and puts some bread into the toaster.
“It appears we are,” I say as I jump up to sit on the counter. Hayden smirks
and makes his way towards me. His nose is touching mine and I can smell his cologne that sends shivers down my spine.
I feel his hands wrap around my waist, “It’s sad we only have three more days left.”
Due to the fact that my throat feels dry and tight from my nerves at how close he is to me, I can only nod. He leans in slowly, keeping eye contact with me the entire time, and I feel his warm lips press against mine. Long before I wanted it to end, I hear his phone beep from his back pocket. He pulls away to check it and I hear the pop from the toaster. I hop off the counter to get the toast and I see Hayden smile down at his glowing phone.
“What?” I ask getting the butter.
“Want to go to a party tonight?”
“Whose party?”
“A friend of mine; you don’t know him.”
“Well, what’s the occasion?” I ask as I pull a sparkling knife out of the drawer and spread the golden butter. It begins to melt on the warmth of the brown toast.
“Just to hang out. His parents are gone for the weekend,” Hayden says with a casual tone in his voice.
Oh. So it’s one of those parties. It’s not that I have never been to a party. I have. It’s just that I haven’t been to a high school party, you know, being a freshman and all. I don’t even know if I want to go to those types of parties. And I really don’t want to see Hayden in that type of environment. Who knows how he’ll act.
But, I guess since I am his girlfriend, I’m going to see it eventually.
“Who’s going?” I close the butter container and turn around, handing the plate to Hayden and taking a bite of my own. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until now.
“A bunch of people from school. And probably Zac, Luke, Lance, and Nolan. And you, if you want,” he says stepping forward and grabbing my hand.
“So, all seniors?”
I already know the answer before he even has to nod.
“Can Jessica and Daisy come?”
I see some hesitation and doubt on his face but he nods anyway, “Yeah.”
“Then I’ll go,” I take another bite.
He nods slowly and then types something on his phone. I pull out my own iPhone and text Daisy and Jessica about it. Maybe they will both meet some cute guys. They need it.
The Last Girl Page 12