“Yeah.” He shrugged as if he didn’t care either way and slowed the car. “Well, like I said, there’s still time to worry about that later. The only thing we have to worry about now is school, because we’re here.”
He was right. We were in front of the school yard. And early, too. None of the buses were even here yet. There were only a few students lounging around on the steps as they waited for their friends.
Evan concentrated extra hard on parking, as though he would win a prize if the car was perfectly straight. Finally, he killed the engine and turned toward me, touching my arm when I opened the door to get out. “Wait.”
“For what?”
He leaned over my lap to pull the door shut. For a few seconds, his broad chest and arms were in full contact with my body. Even though we had at least four layers of clothes between us, I couldn’t help sucking in my breath. My heart pounded so hard in my chest that I was sure that he would feel it. I pressed as far back into the cushions as I could.
Evan didn’t seem to notice that anything was wrong. “I think we should go together. We could walk hand in hand to homeroom. You could carry my books, buy me lunch, you know, all the things a good girlfriend should do.”
“Ha-ha.” Despite the books-carrying and the lunch, that was a good idea. He was really getting into this.
“Yeah, I know,” he replied as though I had said the thought out loud. “Here, you should wear this.”
It was a necklace. An old silver coin about the size of my thumbnail hung on the end. It had been twisted with pliers or something into a strange shape, vaguely resembling a number eight. He handed it to me to examine. “My dad gave me this.”
I touched the smooth surface of the coin.
“I don’t even wear it to the beach in case I lose it, so you better take good care of it. Even your life won’t be able to replace this. You can give it back to me when this is over.” Without waiting for my answer, his index finger made a circular motion in my direction. “Turn around.”
I handed the necklace back to him, but I didn’t move.
Evan let out a loud sigh when I hesitated. “If I wanted to do anything to you, I would have done it when you were in my bed.” He jerked his head away when my hands shot out to cover his mouth. “Sorry! I forgot I wasn’t supposed to mention the incident.”
The chair squeaked as he leaned forward and draped the chain around my neck. He was so close that his breath grazed the back of my neck. It was … nice, even though my nerves practically crackled with electricity. Then his fingers were on my neck, gentle as he clasped the latch tightly. His fingertips traced the chain and my skin for a brief moment. It was warm and it tickled. I involuntarily shivered, and just like that, his touch was gone before the electricity could get out of control.
Embarrassed, I waited until he was settled back in his seat before I turned around. I occupied myself with putting on my coat and hat. “So … how many girls have seen this necklace?”
He peered out the window. “A lot. But the important number is that only one other person has ever worn this. And that’s you.”
My heart fluttered a bit at this revelation. I was surprised that he would go to such lengths just to prove to people that we were dating.
Evan brought me back to the present when he tightened the scarf around my neck for me. “Ready?”
I snapped out of my stupor, and his door was half open. Already people were circling his car, trying to peer inside. I knew the windows were tinted, but I didn’t know if they could see me. Not that it mattered, since that was the point of this whole scheme.
It was now or never. I fingered the long chain, tracing the tiny links with my fingertips. It was cool and oddly comforting around my neck. “Let’s do this.”
8
{Taylor}
To say that we caused a bit of a commotion was putting it lightly. People actually stopped in their tracks as we walked down the hall together, hand in sweaty hand.
I am embarrassed to admit that the sweaty hand was mine. I’d been in front of crowds before, but it was usually at award ceremonies, where people barely paid attention to me. They were just glad to get out of class for an hour.
Everyone was definitely on full alert now. Although part of the staring might be because they’d never seen Evan early for school before.
It’s like the dream where you arrive at school naked, except I wasn’t. I even looked down to make sure my jeans were zipped. Yep, up and secure. I ducked my head down and self-consciously reached up to sweep my bangs out of my eyes, only to realize that my hand was still gripping Evan’s. Cheeks blazing, I dropped our hands like a hot potato.
Evan, however, didn’t even bat an eye at my awkwardness. In fact, he milked it for all that it was worth. He let go of my damp palm to brush my bangs out of my eyes for me. He even tucked a stray strand behind my ears before leaning in to kiss my cheek. You would have thought that pretending to be someone’s boyfriend was just a daily routine for him.
There was a loud gasp behind us.
His lips curved into a smile against my face before he grabbed my hand again. His eyes twinkled down at me with amusement. I would have laughed with him if I weren’t so nervous.
And just like that, I suddenly wasn’t anymore. Especially when his hand—which was formerly on my waist—drifted lower. Way lower.
I shot him a glare. “What are you doing?” I hissed.
“Just making sure we know where the boundaries are.” His hand zipped back up to my shoulders and hugged me to his side as he smothered his laughter. “Note taken.”
The crowd moved forward with us until we were in front of the lockers. Evan let go of me and knelt down to open his. I took the opportunity to wipe my hands on the side of my jeans. Everything I needed was already in my bag, so I just tried to look casual as I waited. Like there weren’t a bunch of students staring at us from every angle as if we were carnies at a circus. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Come see the nerd and the sex god!
The only person who was more natural than Evan was Carly. Her acting skills came into great use. “Hey, Reformed Rake,” she called out with a wink in my direction before giving him a high five.
Without missing a beat, he gave her a one-armed hug in greeting, like they were old friends. I noticed that she leaned into his muscled shoulder a few seconds longer than needed, though.
“Reformed Rake?” A confused expression crossed his face. “What does that mean?”
My face flushed, and I waved both hands at him. “Don’t worry about it. She’s crazy.”
Just then Mr. Peters walked passed us with a stack of folders in his arms. “Hello, Taylor. Carly.” He barely gave us a glance before he stopped short. He backed up a step and squinted at Evan like he didn’t understand what was going on. I don’t think anyone did. “Mr. McKinley. You’re … here. Before the bell.”
“I know, right? You’re not the only one who’s surprised.” Evan laughed and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “But I couldn’t say no to Taylor. I mean, when she has her mind set on something, there’s nothing this girl can’t do.”
“Hmm.” Mr. Peters looked back and forth between the two of us a few times before shaking his head and walking away. “Well, it’s good to see you. All of you.”
I gave Evan a grateful smile. He didn’t know about my problems with Mr. Peters or how much anxiety I’d been going through prepping for the fair, yet somehow he made everything better. I guess he really wasn’t so bad after all.
He gave me a tiny wink like he knew what I was thinking. “I should head to homeroom. You’ll probably want to hang out with Carly a bit, right, babe?”
“Uh, right … honey,” I choked out the endearment as an afterthought, since it felt like he was waiting for something. “Meet you later for lunch?”
“Sure.”
I expected him to hug me or even kiss my cheek again before he left, but instead he patted my head like I was a pet who deserved a treat for being good. My embarra
ssment went supernova, and I glowered up at him. Looking very pleased with himself, Evan chuckled and tweaked the tip of my nose before leaving.
Carly waited until he was down the hall before clucking her tongue at me. “So he drove you to school? You didn’t tell me about this part of the plan last night.”
“Because it wasn’t part of the plan. It just … happened.”
“Like a happy bonus?” she asked, still not taking her eyes off his retreating broad back. Neither of us did. “You can thank me for the idea later.”
I rubbed my nose. It still tingled where he touched me. “Let’s go to class.”
* * *
Carly was right, though. The Reformed Rake plan worked like a charm. It was amazing. Within hours, the girls stopped acting like I was the Whore of Babylon. In fact, they were a bit awed that I had bagged a steaming hottie like Evan. (Carly’s words, not mine.) One girl even held the bathroom door open for me.
And the guys just stopped talking to me altogether. Not that I minded, since they didn’t talk to me much before, either.
The students weren’t the only ones who noticed. Mrs. Hines, the school’s secretary, actually patted my shoulder when I came in to do the morning announcements. Not only was my reputation restored, but now I was on an even higher pedestal than before.
I didn’t blame everyone for believing that we were a real couple, though. Evan’s acting was so good that even I was fooled.
It was strangely natural when he sat beside me in the cafeteria. I did, however, smack his hand when he stole one of my sweet-potato fries. I made sure to smile lovingly at him when I did it, though.
Brian stopped in his tracks when he saw us sitting together. He gave me a questioning look, but I couldn’t do more than shrug. Especially since there were a bunch of people surrounding us. Carly had to tug on his arm to get him to sit down. His jaw tightened, but he didn’t say anything and sat down across from me, since Evan was already sitting in Brian’s usual seat beside me.
Not noticing that anything was wrong, Evan munched on his barbecue chips and turned to talk to Carly about the drama club. Or rather, he asked what they had planned, and she started rambling a mile a minute about the upcoming musical they were working on.
“So, Brian, I think the original layout for the arts department is pretty good. But what do you think about the other clubs?” I asked, trying to act like having Evan sit with us for lunch was no biggie.
Brian gave another glance toward Evan. “What do you mean?”
“Well, the smaller clubs can’t all be squished on only four pages. But there’s no more space for them anywhere. We barely have room to add a thank-you to the teachers in the end.” I chewed on my lip and tapped my pen against the table, trying to figure out a solution. The yearbook budget was already pushed to the max, so we couldn’t add even a single page.
Nodding to himself, Brian leaned forward on the table until he was hovering over my notebook and wrapped his hand around mine to guide the pen, drawing lines to connect certain groups. “We could always move the Honor Society to the front and combine the Poetry Club with the New Voices group. I don’t think they’d mind.”
“But we still—ouch!“Someone kicked my knee underneath the table, making my hand slip out of Brian’s grasp. At first I thought it was Carly, but she looked as shocked as I was. And her eyes were glued to a certain someone, who was shaking his bag of chips even though it was empty. I glared at Evan and rubbed my leg. “What was that for?”
“What? I didn’t do anything.”
My gaze turned to Carly when she snickered, but she just shrugged and gave me an innocent smile. Too innocent.
“Okay, so I think…” I trailed off, distracted as Evan picked the mushrooms off his pizza with a fork. One by one. When he was done, he laid the tiny pile on my own pizza like a peace offering. “Now what are you doing?”
“Hm?” He took a big bite of his pizza before looking at me.
I jabbed a finger at my plate. “You don’t like veggies?”
“Oh, I like them. But I know you like mushrooms the most.”
That was true. I did. My mom used to say I was born in a mushroom field, even though there isn’t such a thing—is there? I needed to visit if there was.
Either way—whether it was on pizzas, salads, or even in spaghetti sauce—I’d always eat the mushrooms first. It was just weird that Evan knew that. Nobody else noticed or cared. Until now. Which was both surprising and sort of creepy at the same time. Even Carly looked surprised at this revelation.
Brian jabbed at the list on the table with an annoyed expression on his face. I felt bad for him. Deadlines always stressed him out.
I didn’t know what to say, so I offered Evan the rest of my fries. He gave me a wide grin and popped one in his mouth, making me wonder if that was his intention all along.
“How did you know I like mushrooms?”
Evan coughed and looked away. His hand swept through his dark-blond locks. They were less spiky and gelled than usual. Probably because he had to wake up early to drive me to school. There was even a little bit of a curl to them. “Uh, I saw you stealing them from Carly’s plate once during lunch.”
“You did what?” Carly glared at me.
“Oh please, you never even noticed they were missing.” I stuck out my tongue at her before turning my attention back to Evan. “And why were you watching me at lunch?”
Instead of responding, he avoided my eyes and looked down at his invisible watch on his right wrist. “Oh, look at the time. Is that my class? I should go…” Within a blink of an eye, he jumped up from the table and practically ran out of the cafeteria.
My eyes narrowed. Oh, he wasn’t going to get away that easily. “I’ll be back.”
Brian was already picking up my stuff for me, since we usually spent the period after lunch planning the yearbook. “But Taylor, we were supposed to—”
“I know. I’ll only be gone for a little bit.” Before he could say anything else, I was gone. Darting around people, I finally caught up to Evan just as he got to the library at the end of the hall. He glanced over his shoulder and saw me, but he didn’t say anything. Nor did he slow down.
Staying close on his heels, I glanced over my shoulder to make sure Mrs. Stills, the librarian and head of study hall, didn’t see me. She was busy checking out books for some freshman. Hidden behind the large magazine rack, I slid into the seat across from Evan. He let out a loud groan and reached over my head to grab a random magazine, then began flipping through it. I knew he wasn’t actually reading it, though. Not unless he really was interested in ten different ways to wear a scarf, as the cover claimed.
“Don’t you have class?” he muttered without looking up.
“So you noticed me, huh?” I leaned on my elbows toward him. “Since when?”
Instead of making some smart remark like I expected him to, Evan ducked his head deeper into the magazine. “Since I saved you at the pool.”
Okay, I wasn’t expecting that answer. “Why?”
“I don’t know.” He purposely angled the magazine so I couldn’t see his face anymore, but the tips of his ears were turning suspiciously pink beneath his deep tan. It was kind of endearing. “I guess you made an impression.”
That was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me. I knew I should meet Brian, but I couldn’t make myself leave Evan’s side. I nudged his arm, poking harder and harder until he looked up. His eyes were wary over the pages.
“Guess what I did today?”
“You met Madonna? No, Bill Gates?” He snapped his fingers. “I got it! Jesus!”
I snickered. “How did you know? I had a near-death experience, and Jesus told me that Madonna and Bill Gates were looking for me in the backyard.”
His eyes twinkled with so much amusement, they seemed to be a lighter shade of gray than usual. “I knew it.”
Shaking my head, I pulled out the brochures and applications I had gotten from the counselor’s office befor
e lunch. All filed according to the difficulty of the essays. I spread them out in front of him. “I know you said you didn’t care about any of this stuff.” I made finger quotations when I said the word stuff. “But I figured it doesn’t hurt to think about it, right? Just something to look at when you’re bored. There were even some colleges with late application deadlines. Plus, I made some notes about which ones have the best marine-biology classes.”
The magazine dropped, and his fingers flipped through the papers. “Does this obsession with me going to college have something to do with the Reformed Rake thing Carly was talking about earlier?” he asked, leaning forward until our noses were almost touching.
I sucked in a deep breath at his sudden closeness, but I didn’t back away. In fact, I may have leaned in just a tiny bit. “I just had some spare time.”
His lips jerked into a half smile, making my gaze slide down, and I couldn’t look away. “Maybe we should be doing something else with our spare time instead of researching about a bunch of dumb colleges.”
“Like…?”
“Ms. Simmons?”
Rats. I had forgotten to stay hidden. I snapped back into my seat as though pulled by an invisible bungee cord. “Yes?”
Mrs. Stills frowned down at me. Even her wrinkles looked menacing. Unlike the other members of the faculty—who loved me—she never treated me with more than reined-in politeness. I never knew why. I wasn’t proud to admit it, but I really was the biggest suck-up ever. In kindergarten, I would spend my recesses sharpening pencils for my teacher. Yeah, I was that student.
Still, the way Mrs. Stills treated me was actually a step above the way she talked to other students, so that was something to be thankful about. “I don’t believe you’re supposed to be here. Did you need my help with something?”
“Uh, no.” I quickly got to my feet.
“Then I suggest you leave.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I stacked all the papers and brochures together, only stopping to fan my face with them to cool off.
Evan reached out and took my hand before I could dart away, squeezing lightly. “You could leave these here. I’ll throw them away for you later.”
The Way to Game the Walk of Shame Page 8