A sharp jab in my side pulled my thoughts back into reality. When she noticed that she had my attention, Brianna raised her hand so that her slender fingers were high in the air and in a split second, her hand made contact with the back of my head. Her sudden action caused me to stumble forward for a moment, losing my slight jog as I began rubbing my head in disbelief.
“Sorry Violet, my hand slipped.”
“Yeah right your hand slipped,” was what I wanted to say but instead I just ignored her and began jogging again at a steady pace. Ms. Botch had made Brianna, a few other girls, and me run extra laps because when we ran our first few laps around the track, we had cut across the football field. So in order to teach us a lesson about cheating, she forced us all to run an extra five laps while the other students got started in learning some new football techniques.
Next to me, Brianna tapped on my shoulder in an attempt to get my attention again. When I didn’t respond, she sighed heavily and from the corner of my eye I watched her shrug her shoulders. I took her actions as a sign that she had given up on messing with me. This thought alone, brought a small smirk to my face. At least it did for a short time period until I felt a something cold and wet being stuck into my ear.
As an instant reaction, I yanked my head to the side and brought my elbow back hard and fast; slamming it into the arm that was poking the wet finger into my ear. I heard a guttural groan of pain come from Brianna and I couldn’t suppress the smile that formed on my lips. Brianna grabbed onto my upper arm, pulling me to a stop and forcing me to look at her.
“I was just trying to get your attention, freak. No need to get all handsy.” Her blonde hair sparkled and shone in the little sunlight that was escaping through the holes in the clouds. She offered me an awkward smile that made her eyebrows raise to an unnaturally high spot on her forehead and gave off the appearance of a surprised grimace.
“What do you want?” My words came out a bit harsher than I had intended them to but now that they were out there, I wasn’t taking them back. To enhance my words, I crossed my arms over my chest; trying to give off that, “I’m a bad ass,” look but most likely failing and looking more like a rebel wannabe than anything else.
Brianna smirked and tilted her head to the side as if she was surveying me. Her hair fell to the side and hung like a curtain as she said, “I wanted to see if you wanted to race me to the finish line.” She smiled deviously at me as she waited for a response but she didn’t get one.
In response to her suggestion, I sprinted away from where she was standing. My arms propelling me forward as I pushed my feet faster and focused on the track ahead of me.
“You little cheater!” came her voice from behind me.
I wanted to respond to her, but instead I just kept running. I never was one of those talented multi-tasking people who could run and talk at the same time. The footsteps from behind me grew louder and almost immediately, Brianna sprinted past me; her feet clomping heavily against the track. I felt my breathing hitch as I pushed myself to run faster.
I tried to ignore the shock of pain that burst through my abdomen. I tried to ignore the fact that my ponytail was falling lower and lower on my head with every step I took. I tried desperately to ignore the fact my class was now cheering for Brianna; with the exception of Lena and a voice that I couldn’t quite match to anyone I knew. Instead, I focused on the blonde ponytail that was bobbing just a few feet ahead of me.
I knew that I couldn’t let Brianna beat me. If I did, I would be hearing about it for the rest of my life. She always beats me and never fails to forget a single moment where she has surpassed me in something. Sometimes it’s even something stupid, like our test grades. Everyone knows that I’m a bad test taker and yet she still tries to compare mine to hers. A grin spread over my face as I thought about how amazing it would feel to finally beat Brianna at something for once.
With one hand pressed firmly to my aching side and the other pumping back and forth as I ran, I managed to catch up to Brianna. We ran side by side and I didn't even attempt hiding the goofy grin that had broken out across my face. Next to me, Brianna's footsteps faltered, giving me hope that I would win. I could clearly see the thick white line that stretched across the black track. A few more feet and I would be crossing the line with my hands held high into the air, and a winning smile on my face while my classmates cheered my name loud enough for it to echo inside of Brianna's empty skull.
That was what I hoped would happen, until a sharp elbow came flying into my already aching torso, nailing me right in the ribs. I gritted my teeth as the pain overwhelmed me. A whoosh of breath escaped from my mouth and less than an inch away from the finish line, I collapsed to the ground, landing with a loud thump as I fell to my knees with both hands clutching my stomach. Through teary eyes I watched as Brianna skipped over the finish line, her pale ponytail bouncing as she danced with glee.
I heard someone shout my name but I was too busy trying to keep the angry tears that were forming in my eyes from falling down my cheeks. Two feet entered my field of vision and before I saw her face, I knew it was Lena. She squatted down in front of me and took my hand, trying to help me up. My stomach lurched as I stood, but the air had returned to my lungs. Lena stared at me curiously with her eyebrows furrowed at the top of her head as if she was trying to solve a complicated math equation.
When her eyes met mine, her facial expression changed and a questioning look crossed onto her freckly face. Knowing that she was silently asking if I was all right, I nodded and reached a hand up to wipe at a stray tear that leaked from my eye. The fact that I was crying only made me angrier. I absolutely hate crying in front of people, and I hate the pity that others give you when you cry at any public place; school being the main one.
Lena reached up and tucked a curly piece of red hair being her ear. “What the hell happened to you, Forrester? All of a sudden I see you dropping to the ground and Brianna sprinting across the finish line.”
I stared at Lena in obvious disbelief. She had to be kidding me. She didn’t see Brianna stab me in the ribs with her bony elbow? How did she miss that? Deciding to voice my thoughts, I say, “You didn’t see Brianna elbow me?”
Lena’s eyebrows slid lower on her forehead as she squinted her eyes at me. “She did what?”
I guess she really didn’t see it then. “When I was about to win she elbowed me and sprinted ahead.” My eyes flickered to where Brianna was standing a few yards away. She was surrounded by our classmates with a smug look adorning her face. From the look of it, they were all congratulating her; with an exception to Ms. Botch who was trying to return order to the class.
“She cheated. I was ahead, and she hit me so that she could win.” I groaned
Lena frowned, turning away from me, and before I could stop her she was already shoving people out of the way as she stalked closer to Brianna. To my horror and slight amusement, I watched as Lena’s fist made contact with Brianna’s stomach. Brianna’s body tilted forward at the same time that Lena leaned over to whisper into her ear. I made sure to take a mental note to ask Lena what it was that she had said. By the time that she had stood up, Ms. Botch was already standing right next to her.
I walked closer so that I could hear the conversation, stopping where the rest of my classmates were standing. I smiled when Ms. Botch told Brianna to man up and walk it off, but when Brianna whined about how Ms. Botch could lose her job for disregarding an “injured” student, the smile slipped from my face. When Ms. Botch assigned Lena a detention and sent her to the front office with a note explaining the situation, I was worried that Lena would get into trouble for standing up for me. Before she was out of hearing distance, I shouted out her name to get her attention, but when she turned around she just gave me a thumbs up and a weary smile before she continued on her way to the office.
The rest of class went by pretty quickly. Seeing as how Brianna was sitting on the sidelines due to “injury” I was paired up with a different partner to
practice throwing and catching. My new partner actually paid attention and didn’t purposefully chuck the ball at my head when I wasn’t looking. I definitely had no problem with getting a chance to work with someone other than Brianna the bitch Barbie.
Chapter 12
Ella’s shoes were sending shocks of pain up my legs with every step. I was so grateful that it was the end of the day. My body was yearning for the comfort of my bed. I wanted to go home, take a steaming hot shower and then get under my warm covers and fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. Today had been such a tiring day. The morning started off terribly, and all throughout the day I had been running into Brianna and her minions.
Somehow I managed to get stuck behind her in the lunch line, where she made jokes about the salad that I was buying to go along with the tofu cubes that my mom had packed me for lunch. Then, I ran into her in the bathroom three times where she teased me about me having a “small bladder”. Her friends found her stupid jokes to be hilarious which only caused Brianna to make more stupid observations about me.
The worst one that I had heard from her all day was when she bumped into me in the hallway and made fun of the fact that I was uncreative by wearing the school uniform without “adding my own style” to it. Her friends found it so funny that she was making fun of my uniform. The exact same uniform that was being worn by a large majority of the girls in our school. Not counting Brianna and her stuck-up slut support group, and the very few other girls who wore the skirt uniform.
To add to the bad day, I hadn’t seen Lena anywhere since gym class and I had been getting funny looks from random kids all day. I was worried about how Lena had been absent from every class that we had together. I hoped that she hadn’t gotten into too much trouble. All she was doing was standing up for a friend. How can she deserve to get into trouble for that?
“Thank you,” I mumbled to the boy who held the door open so that I could pass through and walk down the building’s front steps and toward where the buses were parked. With my eyes scanning back and forth across the immaculate school grounds, I tried to scope out either Blake or Lena. All of a sudden, two hands enclosed over my eyes, blocking my view of the school grounds and turning everything black.
A deep and familiar male voice filled my ears. “Guess who.”
I smiled and reached my hands up to place them on top of Blake’s hands. “You could have at least changed your voice a little, Blake. You made it too easy for a pro like me.” I closed my hands around his larger ones and pulled them away from my face, turning in the process so that I was looking up into his eyes.
He smiled, flashing all of his now straightened teeth, before saying, “It was a lucky guess. How was your day, Vi? Is your stomach okay?” His eyes flickered down to my belly where he placed his right hand and rubbed small circles. “I heard you fainted in gym today.”
With a confused expression on my face, I pulled Blake’s hand off of my stomach. “I didn’t faint in gym today. Who told you that lie?”
Blake shrugged his shoulders, “Brianna and Ella were talking about it when I saw them in the hallway on my way to my last class.”
I shook my head slowly, trying to clear my thoughts. So now Brianna was telling people that I had fainted during gym? If Blake had heard her and Ella talking about it then it’s possible that others could have heard about it as well. Maybe that’s why I had been getting those strange looks all day. I thought that this day had been bad enough, and now apparently everyone thinks that I fainted in my first class. An almost animal-like growl escaped from the back of my throat; earning a funny look from Blake.
“Funny. I didn’t think that it was possible for this day to have gotten any worse than it already was.”
Blake poked me in the stomach with his pointer finger. “I bet I could make you happy.”
“I doubt it. Unless you have an unlimited supply of gummy bears in your backpack or you’re going to buy me my very own baby giraffe, then I really have no idea how you plan on making me happy.”
Blake leaned his face down and brushed a strand of hair behind my ear, letting it linger on my jawline for a moment before he pulled it away from my face and pressed his lips to my forehead. “I know exactly what will cheer you up. First, call your mom and tell her that you’re going to be home late.”
“What should I say?”
He smirked. “I don’t know. Use your imagination.”
***
“Blake, do you really think this is a good idea?” I chewed tentatively on my bottom lip, nervous about what could happen if I went through with the activity that he had chosen for us.
Blake pressed his lips gently to my forehead, mumbling against my skin as he said, “It’ll be our little secret.”
My heart pounded in my chest as he pulled away, looking at me with his shattering blue eyes. I couldn’t help the nervous feeling that washed over me as I thought about the consequences. If my mom found out about this she would get a restraining order on Blake. “I don’t know.”
Blake sighed, cupping my face in his hands. “If you’re worried about your mom finding out, then you shouldn’t be. Even if she does find out it’s not like she can do anything about it. It’ll already be too late. She can’t punish you for eating lunch, can she?”
“I guess not,” my words were hesitant and I was still nervous about the situation, but I also felt another emotion that I hadn’t felt in a while—anxiety. I was anxious to eat something that wasn’t approved of by Rose Forrester. I smiled at Blake, looking from him and up to the large golden arches that sat on top of the McDonalds. A smile tugged at the edges of my lips. “All right but I hope the food is as good as you say it is.”
“Of course it is! Everyone loves McDonalds! That’s why their slogan is, “I’m loving it!”“ He sang the last three words with a big toothy grin on his face.
“Technically, not everyone loves McDonalds. Lilly and I have never even eaten their food before,” I pointed out smugly.
“That’s because you two are health freaks.”
I elbowed him in his side. “Correction; our mother is a health freak.”
A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “That’s basically the same thing, Violet.”
I shook my head, about to point out the fact that Lilly and I never actually had a choice of what we wanted to eat, but was stopped when Blake walked over to the door of the fast food restaurant, pulled it open, and gestured for me to go in ahead of him. “After you, milady.”
“Why thank you, kind sir,” I said in what I would like to think sounded like a posh British accent. As soon as I walked through the doors, a mouth-watering scent filled my nostrils. My stomach growled as I breathed the sweet fragrance in deeply. I followed Blake to the front counter, taking a spot behind a toothpick thin woman with thick black hair. Looking at the woman’s petite frame made me wonder why my mother was so worried about me eating fast food. If this woman was stick thin and ate at fast food restaurants, then I’m sure one meal won’t kill me.
I glanced over the menu, feeling overwhelmed like a small child in an amusement park. When it was our turn to order, Blake easily recited what he wanted, before turning to look at me expectantly. I fiddled absentmindedly with my finger as I glanced over the menu again. “Are the chicken nuggets good?”
Blake nodded causing a few strands of black hair to spill into his eyes. “Is that what you want?”
I shrugged as I added, “What about the French fries?”
The cashier blew out a long breath of air and pretended to check her watch. Blake drummed his fingers on the counter while he said, “Can we also have the chicken nugget meal, and a strawberry milkshake?” As he added on the last part, he eyed me with a devious look on his face.
The cashier stood up straighter behind the counter and after pressing a few buttons on the cash register, she said, “That’ll be $13.85. Will that be cash or credit?”
“Cash,” I stated whilst stuffing my hand into my pocket and pulling out a crumpl
ed up wad of bills. I straightened out the cash, counting it out in my head as I flipped through it.
When I looked up from the money in my hand, Blake was staring at me as if I had grown an extra head. He handed the lady behind the counter a crisp twenty dollar bill and smirked at me, “Since when have I ever let you pay?”
I shrugged, chewing on my lower lip as I tried to think of a time that I had paid, but nothing came to mind. I stuffed my hand back into my pocket, “There’s a first time for everything. You really should let me pay sometime.”
Blake shook his head, holding out his hand so that the cashier could drop the change back into it along with the receipt. Blake smirked at me, “Yeah, like that’s going to happen any time soon.”
I stuck my tongue out at him which only caused his smirk to widen. Giving up and feeling extremely childish, I turned away and decided to go find a table for us to sit at. I spotted an empty table near the door and went over to take a seat while I waited. To my surprise, the food was ready in less than five minutes. I guess that could be the reason why they call it fast food.
Blake carried our tray over to the table, setting it down in front of me before taking the seat opposite of mine. He flashed me a dazzling smile as he passed me a box full of chicken nuggets and a package of French fries. Lastly, he placed the strawberry milkshake in front of me, but off to the side a little.
I stared at it curiously before returning my gaze to Blake. “I didn’t order a strawberry milkshake.”
“I know that. I ordered it,” he said as he shrugged impassively.
“I know that you ordered it. I just figured it was for you.”
He smiled and reached across the table to scoop my hand up in his. “No, I got it for you. I know how much you like strawberries, and you have to get tired of those constant wheatgrass shakes that your mom makes, so I figured that if you’re already going to eat fast food, why not wash it down with a fatty, sugar filled milk shake?”
Crush: A YA Romance Collection Page 32