Prince Charming (10 page)

“One hundred and twenty-five.”

“One hundred and fifty.”

“One hundred and thirty-five a week,” David said. “That’s my best and final offer, Geoff.”

I considered this. Not bad. Enough to go out. Enough to save. Enough. More than enough.

“Okay,” I said after a moment. “I’ll do it.”

David reached out his hand, and I shook it. “Done.”

I looked past him to my two stepbrothers, who now regarded me with even more annoyance.

“Great,” Blake muttered. “Another chance for Mr. Perfect here to rub his brains in our faces.”

A
few hours later, my mom found me in my room in front of the computer. “David said you’re going to help out the twins.”

“Well, he’s paying me to do it.” I didn’t look up from the dreaded outline on the Word document in front of me. The words twisted and turned in front of me, a mess I needed to finish so I could hand it in to Mr. Langston the next day.

She sighed and the wood of the doorframe creaked when she leaned up against it. “You know, honey, David doesn’t hate you. Not really.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“I know you are still upset that I married him. I know it was quick. And I know he’s hard on you, a lot. But he also respects you, more than he does Blake and Bruce.”

“He’ll never be anything like my dad,” I muttered.

“Maybe not.” Now she just sounded tired. “But if you give him a chance, you might find out he’s not so bad.”

––––––––

F
RIDAY, MARCH 1

––––––––

“W
E SHOULD BRANCH out,” Nathan announced at lunch. His eyes widened behind his thick glasses. “Do some new things.”

“Branch out?” Josh asked, as if Nathan spoke in a foreign language. I shot Mark a glance and bit into a salty French fry, intrigued. This kind of comment didn’t usually come from Nathan.

Nathan nodded, and his voice raised a few octaves. “Yeah. Time’s running out.”

“Running out for what?” Mark asked in a quiet voice.

“To make an impact at Heritage. Make it count.”

“Make it count?” I asked, as I munched on another fry.

“Come on. This is our senior year.”

“Yep. Last I checked.” I smirked at Nathan.

“
Senior
year,” he said.

“So what?”

Nathan sighed and picked at the green beans on his plate with his plastic fork. He swirled them around as he spoke, making sure all of us could hear him in the loud lunchroom. “It’s already March. We only have three months to go, and then school will be out.”

“Can’t wait for that,” I muttered.

Nathan shot me a disapproving look. “Whatever. You’re going to regret acting like this.”

“No, I’m not,” I said, before taking a bite of hamburger, with a crusty wheat bun. “Not going to regret it at all.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“There’s nothing wrong with me; nothing at all. Except this place.” I said, with a smile.

Nathan rolled his eyes. “Jesus, Geoff, you are so sarcastic sometimes.”

“Yeah, maybe,” I admitted. “But that’s just the way I am.”

Nathan put down his fork, and locked eyes with me. “Well, it’s getting really fucking annoying.”

Josh, Mark and I gaped at Nathan. He never cursed. Never. It just wasn’t his style. Plus, Nathan sounded way more serious than he had in a long time. As we all stared at him, he continued. “Seriously Geoff, your attitude these days is really shitty.”

I held up my now empty hands. My right index finger had some mustard on it, which I ignored. “What the fuck? I don’t have an attitude.”

“Yeah, you do.” Nathan paused to gather his words, then pressed onward with his verbal assault. “A shitty one. I’m getting really sick of it.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yep.”

“Where is this coming from?”

Nathan rolled his eyes. “You might think we can’t see it, but it’s all over you. You act like you’re so bored with life here at Heritage, like you’re better than everyone else, and like you can’t wait to leave all this behind.” He paused, and sized me up. “And you’re always just assuming things about people. And being a douchebag.”

A glance from Nathan to my other friends showed me the truth. Josh and Mark wouldn’t look at me, and I knew they agreed with him. Deep inside, I had to admit Nathan had made a good point, but I didn’t want to admit that. So I just narrowed my eyes. “What the fuck do you want me to do about it, then, Nathan?”

Nathan laughed without humor, and it made me more frustrated.

“Seriously, what the fuck do you want me to do about it?”

Once I started cussing, our other friends stared at us, transfixed. Nathan and I might have clashed in the past, but never like this. The stalemate grew with every second that passed. Mark and Josh watched us like they were watching a heavyweight championship boxing match, but they were the only ones. All around us, Heritage High students floated from table to table making weekend plans, laughing about gossip they’d heard in chemistry class, the latest article they’d read in
Maxim
or
Cosmopolitan
, and the latest Snapchat someone had sent them in class on their phone.

“Stop being so critical of everyone,” Nathan said. “You’re critical because you think your life sucks, and Heritage sucks, and you just want out of here.”

“But Heritage does suck.” I looked at Mark and Josh. When they didn’t back me up right away, I changed my tactic. “Don’t you guys think that? It sucks.”

Josh put his elbows on the table and looked at both of us. “It kinda sucks. But it’s not as bad as I used to think it was.”

“Dude, that’s because you have a girlfriend now,” I said, and then glanced around to see if anyone else had noticed what we were saying. Satisfied they hadn’t, I continued. “And you’re fucking getting laid.”

The color faded from Josh’s face, and pooled in his neck. He looked at me like I had just kicked him in the face. “What? How did you know about that?”

I laughed. “I didn’t. But I do now.” I lifted my chin, satisfied to get confirmation. “So, how is Allison?”

“Come on,” Josh said, embarrassed. His words came out fast and breathy. “I don’t want to talk about her.”

“At least you’re getting some,” Mark muttered.

Nathan, though, kept his icy stare on me. “See what I’m talking about here? You’re being an asshole to everyone.” He tipped his head in Josh’s direction. “That was a dick move.”

“Whatever, we’re all friends.” I glanced at my friend and my confidence faded. “It’s fine, right? I mean, I’m glad things are going well with Allison.”

“It’s fine. It’s whatever. Just shut up about it,” Josh replied, but he didn’t look at me anymore. He just looked like he wanted lunch to be over. Right away.

“So, what do you want me to do about it?” I asked Nathan, belligerent.

“I want you to fucking get your head out of your ass!” Nathan exclaimed. “You have everything going for you. You’re salutatorian, and you’re not even trying! And you’re going to Virginia. And you can get any girl you want in this school if you want her.”

I burst out laughing. “Now, that’s where you are totally wrong.”

“Stop acting like some kind of angry trollop,” Nathan said. “And yes, you can get any girl.”

“I think he wants Laine Phillips.” Mark snickered, and Josh laughed some, too.

“Whatever. I can’t get any girl.”

Nathan rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. Sarcasm dripped from his voice. “Should I describe you to yourself? Your big eyes? That sandy brown and blonde hair?” His voice became high-pitched as he started ticking off my physical features. “That rock hard chest? That smile?”

“Shut up.”

“All those hours you spend working out in your room?”

“Shut up!”

Nathan wasn’t wrong, though. I’d lost fifteen pounds in three months.

“You know, not everyone in this school is against you, Geoff,” Nathan said, undaunted by my pleas. “People want to like you, but you won’t let them.”

“They all call me Geoff Megadeth,” I replied. “They don’t like me.”

“Why do you care? Why not just own it, instead of trying to fight it?”

“Whatever.” I bit into what remained of my burger. “Easy for you to say.”

Nathan nodded. “Yeah. It is. And I’m tired of it. We have just a few months of school left. Nothing to lose. We need to do something awesome. Make this shit count.”

“Okay,” I said after I swallowed my bite. “So what is this? Some sort of challenge??”

“Yeah, Geoff, that’s what it is. A challenge.”

“Okay,” I said, aware I was talking out of my ass, but too stubborn to go back on it now. “I’ll take it. How do you want to prove to me that you’re going to stop being a douchebag?” I thought about it. “I think you should do something you’ve never done before.”

He considered it. “Okay. We have AP English, and the reading guide for
Macbeth
is due. I have mine in my locker, but I won’t hand it in. I’ll just skip class.”

“That’s 10 percent of our grade,” Mark pointed out.

“So what?” Nathan glanced at him, unfettered. “I’ve never skipped class before. I bet I can do it, and get away with it.”

“What . . . what are you . . . where are you going to go instead?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Does it matter? To my car, I guess, to listen to music. Go home. Or maybe I’ll just go to the library.”

“That really a good idea?” Mark asked.

Nathan and I ignored him and eyed each other, still locked in the argument.

“Okay,” I said, convinced. “So now, what do I have to do?”

Nathan gave me a Cheshire cat grin. “You have to ask Laine out. Here. In the lunchroom.”

The air around me thickened. “No way. She’s still dating Evan.”

I glanced in the direction of the table where I knew Laine sat. She did, as always, have a smile on her face, and she picked at her daily salad while one of her friends told the latest gossip about boys in school. It was as if all of Heritage spun on an axle around her, while she maintained a quiet serenity—the reigning Greek goddess of the school.

Mark shook his head. “That’s not what I heard. She and Evan are on the out. At least, for right now.”

“They are?” I asked, puzzled. I didn’t know about any of this. Why didn’t I? Nothing about Laine got past me.
Nothing.
So why hadn’t I heard about this?

“I think it just happened,” Mark said, answering the question in my head. “That’s what I heard some girls saying in Spanish class this morning. I guess Evan broke up with her.”

“Really?” As soon as the word came out, I knew my question sounded too hopeful, too eager. But I couldn’t help myself. “Is she upset?”

Matt shrugged.

Nathan slapped his hands together, and the tray of food in front of him rattled. “There. That settles it. She’s single. You have to ask her out.”

“Now?”

“Yeah, asshole.” He smiled. “Do it now.”

“Right now?” I gulped.

“Yep. Do it right now. And if you do, I’ll skip class. Deal?”

I took about thirty seconds to gather my wits as I considered Nathan’s challenge. The whole time he stared at me with a sly, almost sarcastic, grin, as if he knew he was sending me to my death. At the very least, this teetered on the edge of an outcome I couldn’t guess. Who cared if Laine sent me anonymous Valentine’s Day chocolates, and friended me on social media? And what did a couple of stolen conversations matter? The rest of the Heritage student body had no idea we’d ever talked. Once I got up and walked over to her, everyone would know. Everyone. Half the senior class sat in the cafeteria at that very moment, and even more freshmen, sophomores, and juniors filled out the rest of the tables.

In other words, I’d hear about this, no matter what.

“You have to do it,” Nathan repeated. “You do it, and like I said, I’ll skip the next class. Okay?”

Something twisted inside my stomach. I eyed Laine, who looked finished with whatever vegetables she had on her tray. She’d be getting up from the table soon. “Deal,” I said.

Mark sucked in a long breath. “Oh, wow. This is going to be good.”

“I’m so glad I didn’t go off campus for lunch with Allison today,” Josh said.

I shut out my friends and focused only on Laine. She laughed with her friends and then suddenly stood up from the table, her tray in her hand. No one else got up, and she sauntered away from the table toward the tray return counter at the far end of the room. As she walked, I saw how guys sitting at tables all over the cafeteria followed her with their eyes. I wasn’t the only person in the room with a crush on Laine Phillips.

But of course, I knew that.

Pulling together every nerve in my body, I pushed back my metal chair and stood up with my tray. If I hurried, I’d manage to catch her before she walked away from the tray return, but that also meant the entire cafeteria would have a direct line of sight to me. Oh, well. No choice. Time to navigate the high school jungle. Time to man up.

Right, then.

With a smile to my friends, I turned and made my way to the tray return. Laine had her back to me as I walked up, carefully sorting what remained of her lunch into trash and recycle bins. Other students clanged around doing the same thing. I put my tray on a waiting metal table, and tapped her on the shoulder. “Hey, Laine.”