by Paige Powers
“Hi,” I mumbled and went into my small room. It had a double bed, a dresser and a desk full of junk. I never used it. I hated school. I couldn’t wait to get out! Which would thankfully be next year.
“Honey, is something wrong?” my mom asked, standing by my door. She was a petite woman with dark blonde hair and blue eyes like mine. She was always going on dates. She really was a great mom.
“Yeah, um, Kendra broke up with me.” I scratched the back of my neck, avoiding her gaze.
“Aw, honey,” she said and put the box of ice cream on my desk to come over and give me a hug. I wrapped my arms around her small frame and sighed. I knew if Lidia saw this she would die laughing. I loved my mom more than anything in the world. Since my dad left when I was 10, I’ve had to take care of her. She pulled back. “Don’t worry, baby. There are more fishes in the sea. And with your mommy’s good looks, you’ve already got a hundred lined up!” That made me laugh.
“Thanks, mom. It’s just that..she..she cheated on me,” I said. She gasped.
“Kendra? The good girl? Oh my gosh! She never seemed the type to me.” I shrugged.
“I just wish I could get back at her. She really hurt me.” Mom sighed and slapped my shoulder.
“You don’t need to baby. Just find another girl you like and go out with her. She’ll get jealous and run back to you. Don’t worry!” She walked out humming a song. I frowned at the pile of clothes in the corner. Find another girl and make her jealous. Um, sounds like a good idea to me. But I don’t like any of those dumb girls at school. I need to find a girl that is going to kill Kendra when she sees me with her. Someone who will go with it and won’t get attached to me. That will just be in it to get back at her…then it hit me and I grinned so wide my jaws hurt.
“Lidia!” I said out loud. Perfect! She and I could pretend to be together and do stuff to make Kendra come back to me! It’s a perfect plan! But will Lidia agree to it? I licked my lips in wonder. She would be fun to kiss and just to see the look on Kendra’s face…priceless!
I’d do anything to get Lidia to do it. “Hey, Mom?” I called.
“Yeah?” she asked.
“What’s with the ice cream?” I heard her giggle. “New guy?” I asked.
“Yep!” she sounded like a little girl again.
Chapter 3
Lidia
I woke up that morning to find black makeup smeared under my eyes and my eyes red and puffy. Ugh, I hated break ups! Even though this was my second one. The first time it wasn’t bad ‘because we’d only been dating a month.
I got in the shower and threw on a pair of loose jeans and a red and black shirt afterwards. I slipped on a pair of sandals and walked out the door with a piece of toast in my mouth and hopped into my black jeep. I hadn’t seen my parents in about two days. They’d gone to Ireland for a little getaway, as they usually did. I didn’t mind, it’s just that things usually got a little lonely at the house. But when Grant and I were together it was perfectly okay with me because we wanted to be left alone. I sniffed. Don’t cry! Do not cry! I commanded myself. I turned on the radio and pulled into the school’s parking lot. I took a deep breath and got out.
I went to my locker, trying not to look at anyone. I knew if everyone found out, they would all be trying to get the details of what really happened. I didn’t want to talk about it. I put my books in my locker and shut it.
“Taylor!” I turned around and knew who it was because only Jack called me by my last name.
“What?” I asked with a sigh. He actually looked good today. The ends of his hair were wet from a shower and his blue eyes looked lighter today. Why are you thinking that way? That’s disgusting. You know that, right? I shook myself mentally.
“I need to talk to you,” he said quietly, putting on a seductive look. I didn’t fall for it.
“Don’t play with me Jack. What do you want?” He smirked.
“Grumpy, aren’t we?” I rolled my eyes.
“Why aren’t you? Your girlfriend just broke up with you!” He just shrugged.
“Oh, well. Listen, I was thinking last night—.”
“Finally figured out how to do that?” I teased and he scowled.
“And I really want Kendra back. And I know you want Grant back. Am I right?” I looked away. Yes, of course I wanted him back! I loved him. “So, my mom gave me an idea.” I looked up at him, finally getting a little intrigued. “Let’s make them jealous!” I stared at him a moment as he grinned like an idiot.
“And how would we do that?” He sighed and rolled his eyes.
“We become a couple and fake a relationship. It’s perfect! They’ll see us together and then they’ll want us back! I’m genius!” He jumped up and down and spun around trying not to hit anyone and looked at me. I stared wide eyed at him. Surprised.
“So?”
“So what?” I was still reeling from the suggestion. He frowned slightly.
“Are you in?”
I pondered it. It was a great plan actually. But I didn’t want to lie! And would Grant really want me back? If he saw me with Jack, would he care? Would he be jealous?
“I don’t know.” He put his arms down.
“Lidia! Come on!”
I remembered when Grant and I were on the beach in California. He’d lay beside me and look at me with love in his eyes.
“I love you, Ollie,” he’d said. I’d looked at him and smiled.
“I love you, too,” I kissed him and put my hand on his bare chest.
“I’ll always love you,” he’d said before kissing my nose. I smiled.
“Lidia?” I blinked and looked at Jack in front of me. My classmates passed me but didn’t seem to care. I looked out the doors of the school and saw a couple holding hands, walking through the doors. My heart slowly stopped.
“Grant,” I said and Jack looked in the same direction. His eyes widened. Kendra and Grant held hands smiling like they just won the lottery. Everyone stopped and looked at them, then Jack and I. I looked down. Everyone will know the whole story by the end of the day. Grant and Kendra walked past us and Kendra smiled at me. Grant finally looked at me and smiled. I glared.
“Hey,” Kendra said to us.
“Bitch,” Jack muttered. She gasped quietly. Everyone had stopped talking and was watching us. She glared at Jack and I fought the urge to laugh. They went past and disappeared into the crowd. “So, anyhow,” Jack said looking at me as I watched them. “Are you in or out?”
I couldn’t believe he had the guts to do this to me! After everything we had been through! What a bastard. I looked at Jack and smiled evilly.
“I’m in.”
He grinned.
“I’ll come over later and we’ll talk more.” He said and quickly hurried off to class. I stood there still thinking about breaking Grant’s heart. Wait, what heart? It wasn’t like it he still had feelings for me. Or did he? Man, did I hope he did.
I went ahead of Jack and he followed me to my house in his orange ’73 Camaro. It looked like a piece of junk. People at school made fun of him about it, but he didn’t seem to care. But whenever some kid called him trailer trash, he gave him a black eye. I never questioned why, but Kendra said it was because he was really sensitive about that kind of stuff. He was the bad boy. The rich boy who never got attention from his parents. At least that’s what everyone said. I didn’t know and I really didn’t care. I pulled into the house and got out. Jack got out as well and looked up at my suburb home. He smiled. He had visited once or twice and always made fun of me. It was totally not like me. I unlocked the door and walked in. It was quiet except for the humming of the big fish tank in the living room.
“Where are your parents?” Jack asked as he entered, scaring me a little. I put my hand to my forehead.
“Um, Ireland I think.” He raised an eyebrow at me before dropping his backpack on the sofa. “Yeah. Are you thirsty?” I asked, going up the stairs. He followed.
“Nope,” he said looking around. I walked to my room and put my bag on my bed. “Nice room,” he said from the door. He leaned on the frame and looked around. It was a mess. I never cleaned it. It had old band posters over the red peeling paint. The new ones were the collection of pictures I’d taken on my trip to Greece.
“Cool pictures,” he commented. I nodded.
“Yeah, my parents sent me there for my birthday.”
“Mm,” he said.
“So, what do you think we should talk about?” I asked sitting down on my bed. He still stood at the door. “You can come in, you know?” He looked back at me and smiled a little. My stomach fluttered. I wanted to slap at it but stopped myself from making a fool of myself.
“Thanks,” he came in and sat down at my computer chair. He rotated it and turned to face me.
“What?” I asked.
“I think we should probably wait a day or two before we show up at school as ‘a couple’.” He used his fingers to stress the quotes. I nodded.
“Agreed.” It was silent. “So, what do you think we should do? Like should we sit with them? How are we going to make them jealous?” He looked at me and winked. I rolled my eyes.
“We make them jealous by acting like a perfect couple and like nothing happened.” He came over to the bed and sat down looking me in the eyes. I sighed.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” I said closing my eyes for a second. He snorted.
“Like it’s going to be a stroll in the park for me!” I gasped.
“So, what are you saying? I’m not a fun person?” He shrugged and looked away, about to laugh. “Ass!” I yelled. This time he laughed.
“I just want to make them jealous so we can get back to the way things were,” I said.
“Simple.” He nodded and looked at me, his eyes alight.
“We should make out in front of them!” I laughed.
“Yeah right! Like I’m really going to kiss you!” He looked hurt for a moment but quickly recovered.
“How else are we going to make them jealous? Or pose as a real couple?” he questioned, throwing his hands in the air. I frowned.
“I don’t know, but I want to wait the longest I can!” He rolled his eyes, annoyed.
“Fine, then,” he slapped his hand down on my thigh and I jumped. He looked over at me. “We’ll have to use body language.” I looked down at his hand and up at his eyes. He smirked. I didn’t move his hand…it felt kind of good….he looked surprised that I didn’t, and decided to get as far as he could. His hand went up a little further and my heart rate started to build. I wanted to slap his hand. I wanted to slap his face but I couldn’t. I could hear his breath becoming heavy as we both watched his hand. His hand was warm on my cold leg. I clenched my teeth. Come on Lidia! He’s taking advantage of you! His hand made its way lower on my thigh and my body was heating up. Finally, I grabbed his hand and for a second or two we looked at each other. I stood up dropping his hand, not knowing what came over me.
“You are such a jerk,” I said, pushing back my hair, trying to cool down. He smirked.
“Maybe you should even change your wardrobe a little. You know, spice things up a bit.” He stood up in front of me and looked me over once. “If you’re dating me, you have to look good.”
I scowled.
“Yeah, someone has to look good in the relationship.”
He snorted.
“Whatever, Taylor,” he walked past me into the hall. I ran out after catching my breath.
“Wait! What do I do?” I asked. He stopped on the stairs and turned to me.
“I’ll come and pick you up on Wednesday and we’ll officially be a couple. We’ll go to school and wing it. If anyone asks, say you’ve always had a crush on me and that after Grant broke up with you, you finally decided to give in to your love for me.” He fluttered his eye lashes. I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes.
“I’m definitely not saying that! I’ll figure out something else.”
He shrugged.
“Whatever, you want, Princess,” he called as he turned and continued walking down the stairs. “See ya!”
He slammed the front door and I heard his car start up. I took a deep breath and sat down on the steps. ‘Oh my gosh Lidia! Why would you let him feel you up like that? Touch you like that! Why would you?’ I yelled at myself. I could still feel his warm hand on me and I shook my head trying to get the feeling away. ‘He’s a jerk! You don’t like him. You are repelled by him! I can do this. Just a week or two and Grant will be my boyfriend again. You can handle this. You can handle this.’ I repeated to myself. I stood up and went back to my room to study for my English paper.
Chapter 4
Next Day
School went pretty bad. Everyone was asking questions about Grant and me.
“Oh why did he break up with you?” “Aw sweetie I’m so sorry!” “He’s such a jerk! I don’t know why you ever went out with him in the first place.” And then there was a rumor going around that he broke up with me because I wouldn’t ‘do it’. It was a load of rubbish! I was sick of it! Jack and I didn’t talk or even really look at each other. We both knew we needed to have our freedom until the next day. I got home and sighed as I went into my room. My cell rang and I picked it up.
“What?” I asked annoyed.
“Oh is that how you treat your fake boyfriend now?” I closed my eyes and sighed once again.
“Jack,” I said.
“Lidia,” I could hear the amusement in his voice. “I’m coming to pick you up about 7am tomorrow so be ready.” He said sternly. Like a father.
“And what if I’m not?” I challenged. He seemed shocked to hear me say that.
“Do you want to know if you don’t?” he threatened. His voice was so calm and seductive. I decided I didn’t.
“Whatever, bye.”
“Wear something good tomorrow, OK?” he teased. I almost gasped again. I stared angrily at the wall ahead of me.
“I’ll wear what I freaking want to!” I yelled and hung up. I shook my head biting my lip. What’s so wrong with my clothes? I looked down at my pants and stood up. I went to my full length mirror and saw the baggy jeans sliding off my hips. My shirt had paint splotches on it. Maybe I do need to get some more clothes. I thought of Grant and Kendra together. My eyes narrowed as I grabbed my keys and my parents’ credit card and left for the mall.
A lady from my favorite shop helped me pick out some good clothes for my body type. She said I was the perfect shape for a pretty short red and white polka-dot summer dress. I think I fell in love with it before I even put it on. They only had one in stock.
“Oh my gosh! It’s perfect! I knew it would fit you! And it’s the last one.” I twirled in the mirror looking like a model. I hate my baggy jeans. I smiled.
“I’ll take it.” The lady picked out millions of jeans and basically tore off the jeans I was wearing. She picked out a whole bunch of tight pretty and skimpy shirts. I planned to throw out my old clothes and replace them with my new ones. These were better. I hated wearing clothes like this but now I didn’t care. I wanted to impress Grant and make him want me back. He’s going to want me back for sure. Once he sees me in that red dress….he’ll be totally mine! I looked in the mirror. I was going to be sexy Lidia Taylor tomorrow.
I heard the car door shut and raced across the room to look out the window. Jack walked up to the door wearing his famous black leather jacket with his hair messy in a good way. The doorbell rang and I grinned as I grabbed my new purse and put on my Aviator sunglasses as I headed down the stairs. I almost tripped in the black boots I was wearing. I took a deep breath, then opened the door and struck a sexy pose. Jack was looking at something but quickly averted his eyes to me. His blue eyes were wide and he looked me over a couple of times.
“Lidia?” he asked. I grinned as I put up my sunglasses.
“Yes?” I asked, my voice high pitched, more girly. I’d de
cided to wear a pair of tight black jeans and a red strapless shirt with a big bow on my left breast. And a pair of high black boots. His eyes were as wide as I ever saw them.
“Damn, Taylor!” he said as I moved past him.
“Eat your heart out,” I said and put down my sunglasses. I heard him laugh and run after me. He grabbed my waist before I could get in the car and pushed me up against it, turning me to face him. I gasped. “Get off me!” He looked down on me, his hands still on my waist. He was about two inches taller than me, maybe less, so we were almost at eye level. He looked into my eyes and wiggled his eyebrows.
“You’re looking hot today. I’ve done well.”
I rolled my eyes but they were wasted on him since I had sunglasses on. His leg moved between my legs and my breath caught. “Now if we can get you going….” I pushed him back and he laughed. “Kidding!” he said, putting his hands up in surrender.
“Whatever! Let’s just go so we can get this over with.” I got in his car and we drove off. Jack kept looking at me as we drove and when we got to the school’s parking lot, I slung my backpack over my shoulder as we walked towards the school building. Jack sighed.
“You’re right. I can’t believe we’re doing this,” he mumbled. I nodded and reached to grab his hand but he jerked it away.
“Give me your damn hand!” I muttered as people started to see us. He rolled his eyes and took my hand. Surprisingly they fit together perfectly. ‘Don’t get any ideas Lidia,’ I scolded myself. While walking, I felt his arm brush against mine. People gaped at us as we walked up the steps.
“Hey man!” Jack called and waved to a friend of his. I smiled and calmly walked beside him. We went inside and everyone stopped to look directly at us. They started to whisper as I took off my sunglasses.
“Who’s the hot chick?”
“Is she new?”
“Dude, I bet she’s from France!”
“Man I’d like to tap that!” the murmurs were all around. I felt good today. I felt confident. Jack walked me to my locker and spun me around. I wanted to yell but saw eyes on us.