Love Is An Action (What Love Is #1)

by Bry Foster

  As soon as I walk in to the classroom, I know something is off. Heads whip around towards me and then a buzzing of whispers break out. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion but, make my way to my desk. I sit at the back and I can feel the heat of everyone’s eyes on me as I make my way through the rows of desks. When I sit down everyone is still staring at me. A few of the girls look smug for some reason. The guys just stare at me stupefied and I find myself wondering what the heck everyone is looking at.

  I notice that Mr. Peters is not here yet which is odd because I’m already late. I was expecting a lecture on being tardy. Liz and I were running late this morning and I didn’t even take the time to stop by my locker to get my book.

  “Can I help you?” I demand to the classroom causing everyone to turn around momentarily. They still peak over their shoulders at me and I feel myself getting irritated. I run a hand over my hair and then next to my mouth to make sure I don’t have anything on my face. What on Earth is everyone staring at?

  Mr. Peters enters shortly after, apologizing for his tardiness and explaining that he had a family emergency. English Lit. is usually my favorite subject but, I am so distracted by all of the stares and whispers that I can hardly concentrate. When the bell rings, I throw my bag over my shoulder and leave, walking passed where Alyssa Bronan and Macy Delores stand with smirks on their faces, holding their books closely to their chests.

  “So is it true?” Alyssa asks. I frown at her. She almost never talks to me. I’m used to that. What I am not used to are people that I don’t speak with on a regular basis stopping me to gossip.

  “Is what true?” I ask.

  Macy rolls her eyes. “It has to be. Going to a school full of rich guys when you’re not is probably the only reason she chose this place. Right?” She’s calling me a gold digger.

  “Of course Macy. I worked my ass off to get straight A’s and perpetually stay on the Dean’s list just so I could compete with you hags for a rich, snobby guy. How ever would I have survived without the lazy, nose job getting, plastic surgery seeking braggarts that attend this school?” I put a hand to my chest in mock distress and smile at Macy’s disgruntled face.

  “Still, it’s surprising that you and Cash couldn’t stand each other and now you guys are engaged.” I watch her eyes travel to my bare left hand and notice the suspicion creep higher into her expression. Now I’m nervous.

  “What on Earth are you talking about?”

  “You haven’t seen the article?”

  “What article?”

  “Here, what’s your number?” Regrettably I give it to her. Almost immediately I get a text with a link attached. I open it and the browser takes me to an article that CelebGossip! has translated from a French tabloid source.

  Engagement Sham? Is Khloe Hudson Really a Gold Digging Liar?

  An inside source, close to the family, reveals details about the mysterious girl and her home life. Plus! A juicy exclusive that she overheard a conversation between the young bride-to-be and her best friend during a dress fitting. The French Press gets the exclusive interview!

  Source: “I was really looking forward to having Khloe involved in our family… being able to overlook her disastrous family life… I have always wanted a sister. I wanted to be the one to mentor her and explain the responsibilities of the position we are in…when I went to check on her, I overheard her say that she was not in love with Cash.”

  Interviewer: What were her exact words?

  Source: “Her exact words were: ‘I am NOT in love with Cash. I mean, I absolutely love him, but in love? HA!’…She laughed about it. As though Cashel giving his heart to her and proposing to her despite her status was a joke. Khloe Hudson has no place in our family. I absolutely believe that she is using Cashel for his status. He’s such a sweet person, I love him like a real brother and not one by marriage. Maybe Cashel doesn’t trust her either, and that’s why she doesn’t have an engagement ring.” There’s also a recording of the conversation that we are drooling to get our hands on.

  Could this be the end of CashLoe? Don’t worry, we are on the case!

  Oh my gosh. I am going to kill that nosey little skank! My heart hammers in my chest in anger. What am I supposed to do with this? How did she even get this interview around Leo and Sabina?

  I look up from my phone at two smug faces watching my expression. I don’t know what they see written there, but I try to rearrange my features to look less bothered by this than I am. I put my phone in my book bag.

  “So?”

  “So what? Clara is a liar. She obviously did this to get her fifteen minutes.” I try to turn it around.

  Macy scoffs. “Oh please, isn’t she studying under the Lena Le Roux or something? I’m sure she doesn’t need the publicity.”

  “Well obviously she does if she had to stoop to such lies.” I start to walk around them.

  “I think you’re the liar. Why don’t you have a ring? Cash probably knows you’re a gold digger.” In response I look over my shoulder at her promising pain if she continues to speak to me. She flinches and then tries to recover. Jutting her chin out. I narrow my eyes at Macy and then shift my glare to Alyssa before storming out of the classroom. When I get out in the hall students are staring at me.

  “Khloe! Khloe?” I hear Liz calling me, drawing some attention off of me and on to herself as I make my way down the halls.

  “Yeah?” I turn and see her waving a paper in the air, her backpack thrown over one shoulder. Wine red hair crazily whipping about in the wind she is creating. When she catches up to me she grabs my arm and drags me in to the nearest girls’ bathroom. We check under the stalls before she shows me the page. In her hand is a copy of the magazine article.

  “Have you seen this?” She asks, a tad bit winded.

  “Unfortunately, yes. The crony wannabes showed it to me on my way out of English Lit.” I roll my eyes and hand her the page back. Liz looks alarmed. “How did you get it anyway?”

  “It was on our lockers.” She frowns and I grimace. “This is really bad. Have you seen the papz across the street?”

  “Not since this morning.”

  Her eyes grow wider. “The size of that crowd has tripled. I heard that the police had to be called to keep them in line. By the way, have you heard from Cash?”

  “He wasn’t in class.” I feel a little overwhelmed. Everything is getting so unbelievably out of hand.

  “Well I’m sure Corisande is going to chew the two of you out for this.”

  “I did nothing wrong here. This is all Clara. That vindictive little bitch-“

  “- It probably doesn’t help that this conversation actually occurred.” Liz frowns as she looks down at the page, shifting her weight. I glare at her.

  “Not helping Lizbeth.” She shrugs.

  “Sorry, but it’s true.”

  “What’s true is that you forced me to have that conversation. Damn it! I can’t fucking deal with this bull right now.”

  “Bull? Really? That’s where you stop the swearing train?” Liz says. I pause to dig through my short contacts list. Before I hit send another call comes through on my end. Corisande.

  “Hello future grandmother.”

  “Ha! The girl still has a sense of humor. Can you believe this, Leo? Are you crazy? Have you seen the tabloids?”

  “No, but I did see an article.”

  “I don’t think you realize how furious Lena will be.” I wince and vaguely think back to Lena’s thinly veiled threat. Although, I’m not sure what she could do to me. And the blame can’t be completely on me this time.

  “I don’t see how I can do anything. Your dearest granddaughter’s the one that threw my relationship under the bus.”

  “So the relationship is real?” Leo queries. My eyebrows hit the ceiling as I look at Liz. The bell rings signaling that we are officially late for second period.

  “Of course it is, why would you ask that?” Liz comes to my side and presses her ear to the other side of my phone
so that we are almost temple to temple with just my phone separating us.

  There is some shuffling and then I hear, “I apologize for being forward but we need to be in front of this story.” The deep voice with the thick accent catches me off guard. Liz and I turn and make faces at each other. It is nice to have a lighthearted moment like that because my chest has been sinking deeper and deeper since I got to school this morning.

  “I don’t know what to tell you guys.”

  “We shared ideas to bury this story as soon as possible. The paparazzi are running rampant here so it will soon be worse for you all. I have called in a bigger security detail to stay at the manor. There may be a few that come to Liz’s house. You may need to stay with her there. I can’t insure your protection in the…area you reside in currently.”

  “What? Haven’t I suffered enough with the ones we already have. And I am not staying at Liz’s house and burdening them more. There are enough security guards following me around. I can barely concentrate on my classes as it is with all of this craziness.”

  “I am afraid it will not be optional. You and Cash’s safety is of the upmost importance.” He sighs and then starts speaking to Corisande in the background.

  I say, “Look, I am already late for class. Everyone will have to talk to Cash or wait for me to get out of school today to have this conversation. As you can imagine I am already going to have a full day of denying these accusations ahead of me-“

  “-This is more important than school.” I pause.

  “Nothing, is more important than my education. Now, I understand that for you guys education may not be the most important aspect of life and I am truly sorry that this story may be hurting your family reputation right now but I really do need to get going.” I hang up and huff out a huge breath as I turn to Liz. She looks shocked.

  “You just hung up on your future grandmother.”

  “She was irritating me. Besides, we need to get to class and then find Cash.”

  The truth is, this is all taking a toll on me more than I’d imagined. When Cash told me who he was, I assumed that there would be some backlash in our plan, but I didn’t think it would be nearly as crazy as it’s becoming. It is getting increasingly hard to focus on my school work when so much of my life is consumed by Cash and his family now. I feel like I’m losing myself. The whole point to this arrangement was supposed to be beneficial for both of us.

  But, it’s all starting to be very lopsided. This arrangement is starting to hurt my progress rather than help it. It’s like I exchanged one headache for another. I exchanged a financial problem for a social and now mental problem. I’m starting to wonder if this is all worth it. Yet every time I do, I think of Cash. He’s absolutely worth it all.

  When the lunch bell rings, I drag myself out of my seat and this time I know better than to stop when I hear the gossip and lies spread by everybody. I find Liz and she and I start trying to figure out if we are going to brave the lunchroom or go off campus for food. Before we make a decision, Marley finds us.

  Flanked by her two accomplices, her grin is nothing less than mischievous. She looks like a cat that has stalked a mouse into a corner and is preparing to pounce. But in girl world, everything plays out on a grander scale. So maybe she thinks herself a lion and me a wounded gazelle, hobbling through the hot desert sun.

  “I always knew all of the rumors I made about you were true.”

  “I’m not in the mood for this today Marley.” She places a hand on her chest. Powder pink fingernails filed to a point. They look more like the claws of an animal than nails done for purely cosmetic purposes.

  “I just wanted to see how our little gold digging harlot was handling all of this new fame. That is what you were after with all of this nonsense isn’t it? You didn’t even want Cash did you? What? You found out who his mother is and tried your best to get into his good graces?” I had to scoff at that.

  “Please, if anything Cash was trying to be in my good graces. Not the other way around. You know, Marley, if you payed more attention to your own life and stayed out of mine, maybe you would be a little happier and a lot less miserable.” Her phony smile slips from her face.

  “Oh please! You have no life! You are in no way relevant. Isn’t that why you went through all of this trouble? To have attention? Well, you’ve got it now!” She gestures around to all of the bystanders watching our interaction with a wide variety of expressions. Most of them, amused.

  “I am with Cash because we want to be together. And nothing you say will change that. He doesn’t want you!” I tell her and roughly push her out of my way, dragging Liz behind me. “Decision made, we are leaving this school.” I feel so strained that my lungs accept air in what seems to be jerky movements. On our way out, Cash finds us.

  Turns out, Cash got to school late because he had to have a chat with Corisande and the family publicist. He also sent a text with some really nasty things to Theo about his wife. I’m sure certain Theo was unhappy to read whatever it was Cash said. Especially after not hearing from his brother for the better part of two years. I don’t see him until lunch and by then I am so aggravated I am bordering being acrimonious.

  The hallways are packed with kids watching our every move. Luckily, it seems Marley has left to torture small animals or the elderly. I’d think this scandal would not be such a big deal here because everyone is used to scandals involving fame, I don’t know what is so different about my situation. Cash watches me closely as he approaches me. More whispers break out as everyone examines our interaction. Although I am happy to see Cash, it is hard for me to focus on what his presence does to me with the eyes of our peers glued to our every move.

  When Cash reaches us he grabs my arms causing me to look at him. Tingles spread throughout my limbs, warming me at the presence of his skin on mine. I suck in a deep breath. It feels like it’s the first decent inhale I’ve gotten all day. And I’m grateful for it. I’m grateful for him. And yet, still confused about why he has this kind of control over me.

  “Are you okay?” His eyes are heavy. They are a deeper green today. He’s agitated. I frown; wanting to wipe my fingers over the worry lines on his forehead to make them disappear. Instead, I ball my hands into tight fists.

  “Yeah, I guess.” I soften as I look up at him. At my reaction, Cash seems to ease the tension in his back and shoulders as well.

  “Good.” He leans in and kisses me. My belly clenches at the feel of him pressed so thoroughly against me. When I think he is going to back off, he instead slides a hand into the loose hairs at the base of my neck and pulls me even closer. I forget where we are, the peers watching us, everything except Cash and the feel of his lips, his body against mine fades to black and I unclench my fists and wrap my hands into his shirt. I grip it as my knees start to weaken when Cash slips his tongue passed my lips. A soft moan leaves my throat and Cash nips at my lip in response. When he finally pulls away, I’m breathless and lightheaded. Both of our chests heave and I can do little more than blink up at him. His lips are a little swollen but they are still parted in a blinding smile.

  “Want to get out of here?”

  I nod. “Absolutely.” I say and then remember that we have an audience. I look around at the shocked gazes of our classmates. A few people hide their phones when they notice my gaze. Cash brings my attention back to him by gripping my chin.

  Liz says, “That was so damn hot.” I blush and knock my hip against hers making her laugh.

  “Let’s go.” Cash says. His arm is thrown over my shoulders as he guides us through the hallways. People move but keep their eyes fixated on us. When we reach the doors, we open them and my mouth drops open as I gape at all of the paparazzi. Liz wasn’t kidding when she said they had tripled. There has to be at least 30 people with cameras standing just outside of the school. A patrol car sits with flashing lights in front of the gate. When the papz see us, they start screaming our names. Camera flashes light the slightly cloudy sky. Some papz try to dodg
e around school security and the police.

  “Whoa.” I mumble.

  “We’re still leaving.” Cash grinds out. I look over at him.

  “We can leave but I have a feeling we will be followed. Plus, it will definitely be a lot harder to get back in here.” I remind him and my best friend. Both of their mouths twist up as the take in what I have said.

  “She’s right. It’s either brave the lunch room or don’t eat lunch.”

  “Honestly, I am not even hungry. All of this activity has my stomach twisted in so many knots that I don’t have much of an appetite anyway.”

  “Let’s just go back to mine and enjoy our freedom.”

  “What freedom?” I ask Cash.

  “The freedom of not having a complete security detail on us for the next 24 hours or so before more body guards get here and we always have security with us.” I roll my eyes.

  “I thought I shut Corisande down on that.” In response Cash just gives me a mocking look. I guess he’s right. I should have known she wouldn’t listen to me. She doesn’t even listen to my opinions on the wedding. Cash, Liz and I all pile into one of the Escalades before Cash’s phone rings. He answers it and speaks nearly the entire drive back to his uncles’. I turn my attention to Liz.

  “This is madness. I feel like I have absolutely no control over my life.”

  “Less than before?” Liz asks me wearily. She has always been concerned that one day I would snap under all of the pressure and stress of what everyday life has become for me. Before, I thought that her concerns were misplaced because, well, everyone thinks that they are bearing the weight of the world on their shoulders. But now, I have officially bitten off more than I can chew. Rather than answering Liz I have slipped into my own mind.

  Cash nudges me.

  “Yeah?” I lift an eyebrow.

  “You in another world, Beauté?” He asks me and I shake my head. Hoping to clear it.

  “Yes. Sorry. What did I miss?”

  “Please pay attention girl.” Corisande’s voice surprises me. When did she get put on speaker phone? “I need you to come to the manor to rehearse for an interview with the French Daily.” Corisande’s voice comes over the speaker phone in a biting tone.