So Many Boys

by Suzanne Young

  “Aiden?” Leona asked. When I nodded, she slung her arm over my shoulders. “Figures. Mary probably just called him and told him that you—” She stopped as I noticeably tensed. “Never mind,” she said. “I’m sure they totally don’t talk on the phone or anything.”

  Just then there were some cheers from across the room. I looked up to see Chris come in, dressed in his jersey. Looking very…athletic. A few of his teammates began chanting his name, and he held up his beer cup in greeting, but it was obvious where his attention was focused. On me. I gulped and looked away toward the front window.

  “Straighten up,” Leona said, adjusting her own posture. I blew out a breath, pushing away the painful thoughts of Aiden and Mary. I needed to try to accept my destiny as a Smitten Kitten and what was right for me. I glanced up to see Chris standing there, beaming with his perfectly straight teeth.

  “I can’t believe you came,” he said, reaching up to brush self-consciously at his blond hair. “You look great.”

  I would have thought he was just trying to be polite, but his blue eyes looked positively honest as he gazed at me.

  “Right,” Leona said with a laugh. “I think Tessa’s T-shirt is from this year’s Balenciaga collection.”

  Chris looked over at her, seeming confused. I smiled.

  “It was a joke,” Leona muttered, shaking her head.

  “It was funny,” I assured her, pulling down on the hem of my shirt to iron out some of the wrinkles. I really should have worn something a little dressier.

  “Obviously,” she said back, and glanced around the crowded room. “Okay,” she said with a long breath. “I’m going to find Kira and Izzie and get a drink. You two”—she looked between us—“have a blast.”

  “Thanks!” Chris and I answered at the same time and then looked at each other somewhat awkwardly.

  “Good luck with that.” Leona widened her eyes, then eased her way through the bodies in the room toward the kitchen.

  Once she was gone, Chris moved forward to rest his muscular arm on the mantel of the fireplace. His biceps were huge—he didn’t even have to flex. I relaxed a little.

  “The party’s great,” I said, having to talk a little louder than was comfortable for being this close. “I think the entire school is here.”

  “Only the seniors,” he said. “Trying to play the role, you know.” He smiled at me. “Stuck-up jock.”

  I laughed. “And the cheerleader.” I pointed to myself. “How cliché.”

  “I did have to turn away a few juniors earlier. It was sort of fun, although I know it’s not nice to say being a dick is fun.”

  I flinched. Juniors? “Who’d you turn away?”

  Chris exhaled, leaning closer to me as he scratched at his head. “Um…Johnny Rake, Giselle…somebody, Chloe Ferril—”

  “Wait,” I said, holding up my hand. “Chloe Ferril was here?” I spun around the room, my Kitten senses tingling, as I looked for the other members of my squad.

  “Yeah…” Chris said. “She was here, all gothed out. Why? You two still don’t like each other?”

  “I have to go,” I answered, turning back to him suddenly. The disappointment on his face was plain and I felt awful. But…if Leona’s original thoughts were correct, Chloe could be the copy-Kitten. And she might still be here!

  With a quick apologetic smile, I turned to move away. A moment later, one of the defensive linemen ran in from the hallway. He swung his thick neck around until he found Chris and then grinned.

  “Dude,” he called. “Check your e-mail!”

  “Why?” Chris asked, stepping forward and touching my arm casually. My back tensed.

  “Cheaters, man! Everyone’s getting a video of cheaters!”

  Just then, my phone vibrated in my pocket, tickling my leg. A second later, I heard Chris’s phone go off next to me—the ring tone of Washington High’s fight song. I would have been impressed, but at the same moment, several other phones began ringing. A mix of buzzing, dinging, and top-forty hits.

  I gasped, my fingers trembling.

  “What the hell?” Chris asked, taking out his phone and looking at it. I was too scared to look at mine. “Someone’s streaming a video.”

  I stepped over and put my hand on Chris’s arm as I leaned in to look at his screen. There was an hourglass turning, loading a video. Glancing around the living room, I saw that everyone who had a phone was looking at it, and those who didn’t were sharing.

  I held my breath, grasping Chris’s warm skin, not caring that I wasn’t into him. Not caring that not being into him might mean I couldn’t be a Smitten Kitten. Because whatever I was about to see, it would be bad. I could feel it in my pom-poms.

  The hourglass faded, the screen showing a still from outside a window, looking into a classroom. Wait. Was that the music room? The image focused in on someone dashing into the room. It zoomed in.

  I reached out to pull Chris’s phone closer to us. Riley Richards? Oh, frack! This couldn’t be good.

  “Shit, Riley!” Chris called out teasingly, glancing into the party. “It’s you!” He pointed.

  I looked up, seeing Riley standing in the middle of the room with his girlfriend, Jenn, his eyes widening at the mention of his name. Obviously he hadn’t gotten the call.

  Jenn’s eyes darted around the room. “What?” she asked, laughing nervously.

  I bit down hard on my lip and turned back to the phone. Riley was still in the music room, and I hoped that possibly, this was just a joke. But it wasn’t.

  Megan Wright walked into the music room, going immediately to Riley, pausing uncomfortably close. I peeked at Jenn as she looked from person to person, wanting to know what we were seeing. Finally she ran over to Fredrick Henry and snatched his iPhone out of his hand.

  “Hey!” he yelled, but Jenn was already staring at the screen, her lip curling. It reminded me of how freaked out Megan was when I saw her in the hallway that day. Wait. Was that when this was shot?

  “Is Megan here?” I whispered to Chris, tilting my head toward his.

  He furrowed his brow as if thinking and then shook his head. “Don’t think so.”

  “Good.”

  The music had stopped and the party was quiet, other than a few expletives and snickers. My throat was dry with anxiety. This copy-Kitten had seriously crossed the line. This was a heinous violation of privacy! No one—not even a cheater—should be exposed like this.

  “Nice, Riley!” someone called from across the room. “Megan’s hot.” Riley didn’t look up; he kept his eyes trained on the ground, his face colorless.

  I blinked quickly, my heart thudding. On the screen Riley and Megan were whispering to each other, and then, they got closer.

  “Make out! Make out!” a football player started yelling, soon getting the entire room to chant.

  “Slippery eel,” I murmured, looking around the room. The copy-Kitten had no idea the damage she was inflicting, both for the victims and for SOS. Jenn lowered the phone, holding it away from her like it was poisonous.

  “Megan!” she screamed loud enough to make me jump. “My best fucking friend?”

  Riley didn’t look up at her. He was still, like a statue, taking slow breaths.

  The screen on the phone went black, and I thought it was over when another video began. “Oh, no,” I whispered, wondering how much worse it would get.

  At first, I couldn’t understand the picture. The camera was shaking, moving amid blue and red flashes. Then I saw some people gathered below. “Is that—”

  “The mall fair,” Chris said, turning to me. “I was going to see if you wanted to go the other night.”

  Sigh. It was nice of him to think of me. I was about to smile when it occurred to me. Would I be on the next tape? My word, I was about to get exposed to the entire school even though I hadn’t actually done anything wrong!

  “We’ve got another one!” someone yelled.

  My body immediately tensed, and I looked over at Chris’s phone
. On the video the camera zoomed in, focusing on a steel cart of what looked like a Ferris wheel. Definitely the fair. Rock, paper, scissors! This was it.

  But instead of me, I saw Jenn, her short dark hair blowing in the breeze. She was a cart ahead on the ride. She was talking with someone. Then she smiled and moved to press her mouth on a guy. I didn’t recognize him, but he certainly wasn’t Riley. My word. It was a double cheat!

  The screen went blank, and then words appeared, scrolling across the screen.

  You’ve just been busted by SOS.

  I put my hand over my mouth, surprised. I felt horrified by the tactic, yet relieved that I wasn’t on the tape. Even though the copy-Kitten had definitely thought I’d done something wrong, she hadn’t outed me. I tilted my head, considering that.

  “You pig!”

  My eyes snapped up in time to see Jenn slap (really hard) Riley high up on his cheek. He stumbled back, holding his face, and narrowed his eyes at her.

  “Me? And what the fuck were you doing, Jenn? Was he choking? Were you giving him CPR?”

  Chris snorted from next to me but straightened up when I looked sideways at him. Watching this scene was way too intimate, yet I couldn’t turn away.

  Jenn’s face twisted, and then she reached up to brush her hair away from her face. “She’s my best friend,” she whispered harshly. “You were screwing my best friend.”

  “No, I wasn’t.” Riley shook his head. “It wasn’t like that.”

  “Oh, shit. It’s Tate!” Jordan Prichard (captain of the football team) called, pointing toward the doorway of Chris’s house.

  Tate’s eyes widened at the mention of his name, and he raised his chin in greeting. His face softened when he saw Jenn, and he opened his mouth to say something to her. But Riley was off.

  In about one point three seconds, he had Tate on the floor, beating on him.

  “Stop it!” Jenn screamed, running over to try to pry her boyfriend off of her…other boyfriend.

  It was mayhem. People were cheering, both guys and girls, but no one was stopping the fight. Jenn’s mascara had begun running down her face, streaking her like a scorned prom queen, and Tate covered his head as Riley continued to hit him.

  “Stop them!” I yelled at Chris, pushing his arm in that direction.

  “Let them fight,” he said, sounding completely jock. “They need to get it out.”

  My mouth opened in disgust. That was a horrible idea! And I should know. I got hit in the head with a clock last year during a fight!

  Well, this just wouldn’t do. I stomped over, grabbing a beer out of Deon Mosely’s hand, and pushed my way toward the three cheaters struggling on the floor. When I got to the front of the wrestlers, I threw the cup of beer at them.

  Everyone gasped at once, and from the corner of my eye, I saw the Smitten Kittens run in from the kitchen. Leona laughed, nodding proudly. Izzie covered her mouth, looking terrified, and Kira stood there, a blank expression on her face. She probably didn’t think it was very SK of me to toss alcoholic beverages on people, but I felt justified.

  “What the frig?” Jenn yelled at me, her white blouse soaked, showing the lace of her pink bra underneath.

  Riley was still sitting on Tate, but he was panting loudly as he stared at his girlfriend, beer dripping from his head. Tate’s eyes were closed, his face covered in microbrew, but his hands were pinned, making it impossible for him to wipe it away.

  Then the strangest thing happened. Like—totally and freakishly unexpected. Riley reached out to grab Jenn and pull himself to her. He hugged her tight, tucking her head against his chest as he brushed at her wet hair.

  “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I’m so sorry.”

  I dropped the plastic cup to the floor with a ping and watched them. Watched as Jenn drew back, touching Riley’s face, wiping off the liquid. Tate was still lying on the floor, stunned.

  Jenn started to sob. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.” Riley buried his head against her shoulder as he began to cry, shaking from it. The crowd murmured, then began to dissipate as someone turned the music back on. But I stayed, unsure of what had just happened.

  “What the hell?” I heard, and turned to see Kira standing next to me.

  “Language,” I said.

  “Heck. Now…are they not breaking up? Someone just told me that SOS sent out a video of both of them cheating.”

  “Not SOS. Fake SOS.”

  “Whatever,” she said, putting her hands on her hips as she studied the couple.

  “They must have realized they were still in love,” Leona called, coming to stand on the other side of Kira. “Like seeing the cheating made them want each other back. Not sure. But it sounds sick and twisted.”

  “It’s totally understandable!” Izzie said, reaching out to touch my shoulder as she stood next to me. “If I saw Sam cheat, I’d still want him back.”

  I swung to face her. “That’s not a good thing,” I said. “That’s not love. And Oprah would not approve.” I sighed. After my time away from the squad, I felt like all of us had lost a little self-esteem. “Iz,” I said. “We’re going to rebuild your inner Kitten. Understand?”

  She blinked her round green eyes at me and nodded once to show she understood. I turned back to see Tate slowly getting up. His bottom lip was a little puffed, but otherwise it looked like most of the damage was superficial. He stared after the couple, his face looking contorted, sad.

  Then he glanced out at the party, people going back to their lives now that the fight was over. His eyes met mine for a second, and I felt it. The loneliness. He did love Jenn. But she didn’t choose him. She chose her boyfriend.

  Before I could smile my support, he turned and limped toward the door and out into the dark Washington night. I sighed heavily, about to turn away, when I saw him.

  My entire body reacted. Aiden was standing out on the lawn of Chris’s house, dressed in a wrinkled tracksuit, his short hair messy. He held up his hand in a wave, looking solemn.

  I blinked back the burning in my eyes but couldn’t look away from him. He was here for me. He had come to see me.

  “Is that—” Kira stopped, her head snapping toward mine. I could feel her stare on my cheek. “What are you going to do?” she asked. Her words hung in the air because I wasn’t sure how to answer.

  “Go talk to him,” Leona murmured. “Guy looks pathetic.” She glanced back over her shoulder and then leaned forward to whisper to me. “I’ll distract Chris.”

  I nodded, not caring what she did with Chris. Aiden was outside. And I had no idea what to say to him.

  SOS CHEASTER CONFIRMATION

  CASES: 001 and 002

  CLIENT: Riley Richards and Jenn Duarte

  STATUS: Case closed

  This is a notice that the cases against Riley Richards and Jenn Duarte have been completed and closed.

  Both were confirmed cheaters and both were exposed. The fact that they stayed together, and made out at Chris Townsend’s party, is beside the point.

  One of the accomplices, Megan Wright, has decided to switch schools, which we feel is for the best.

  Remember, cheaters never win. Especially with SOS on the case.

  Keep kicking ass,

  SOS ☺

  SOS

  www.thecheaterreports.blogspot.com

  Text: 555-1863

  Exposing Cheaters for Over Three Years

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  AIDEN WAS STANDING THERE IN THE GRASS WITH sneakers and running pants, looking natural—the way I loved him. Or at least, the way I used to love him.

  He looked me up and down, and when his green eyes met mine, I could see how sincerely sorry he was. “Can we talk?” he asked.

  I looked back at the house party, glad I’d shut the door when I walked out. I didn’t need to become tonight’s second show. And I didn’t want anyone to see my heart break. Shoot, even I didn’t want to witness that.

  Walking across the soft grass, I stopp
ed in front of Aiden, my lip already trying to quiver. But I tightened my mouth so that it wouldn’t. Looking at him after actually witnessing him kiss another girl…it was a surreal moment. Like maybe this was all a dream. I nodded, letting him know he could talk.

  “You look pretty,” Aiden said quietly, bending his head toward mine. “I always liked you dressed down like this.”

  I wrapped my arms around myself, unable to blink away the tears before they fell. He wasn’t allowed to compliment me.

  “I should have told you about Mary,” he said, his handsome face breaking. “I’m so sorry, baby.”

  There was a stabbing pain in my chest, and I stared down at the grass, wishing I could just sink into it and forget about Aiden and Mary. I hated her name in his mouth. I hated her in his mouth.

  “I never wanted to hurt you or lie to you. I never meant to—”

  “How long have you been dating her?” I asked, my voice croaking from the choked-back tears. I wouldn’t look up at him. I couldn’t.

  He sniffled. “A month.”

  I gasped, stepping back from him, my hand at my neck. “A month?” But it only came out in a whisper. “Aiden, a month!” I covered my face with both hands, unable to keep it together. All the time he’d been with me, making out and cuddling, he’d been dating her. He was with somebody else. It hurt too much to comprehend. “Did she know? Did she know you and I were…”

  His arms were around me, holding me. His warm whispers were in my ear, saying he was sorry. But I just cried. I didn’t hug him back. I didn’t reach for him.

  “Tessa,” he murmured, his hand protectively at the back of my neck. “I’ll do anything. Please, I’m so sorry. I love you.”

  I choked, gasping for air as I pulled back to look up at him. “What?” I breathed. “What did you say?”

  Aiden’s face was streaked with tears, his normally green eyes now red. “I love you, baby. I love you so much. Please.” He reached up to touch my arms, but I couldn’t react. I didn’t know how.

  “You can’t hate me, Tess,” he pleaded. “You’re my everything. I need you.”