Biker Class (26 page)

Jake wasn't sure how to react to that, considering that, to his
surprise, he didn't want what he thought he'd want at this moment. He'd always
planned to make it hot, passionate, get her riled. But that was the last thing
on his mind now. All he wanted was to show her that he cared... that he was so
thankful for everything she'd done for him, how she'd treated him, helped him,
changed
him
. He complied, but if anything, he was more on his guard than she was.

She pulled away, but only barely, just enough so she could look at
him. Her cheeks burned at the embarrassing sound their lips made when coming
apart. She smiled, laughing almost in disbelief. It'd happened.

He smiled back at her, tucking a loose piece of hair behind her ear.
It seemed to really hit them both then. What they'd just done. Jake grinned.
Finally, the wall was broken down between them.
Or at least,
partly.

"Well, I'm glad we did," he whispered in response to her
literal
last-minute doubts, smiling his attractive half-smile. She giggled
uncomfortably, leaning her forehead against his. Still smiling, Melanie closed
in again and kissed him quickly, enjoying the sensation more than she knew she
should. She drew away faster than he would have liked.

"So, are you sure it's not my fault?" he asked suddenly,
eyes twinkling with mischief.

"What? Jake, of course it's not—"

"Because I might need more convincing..."

Kiss.

She laughed as he pulled her closer than before and kissed her with a
little more energy, a little more playfully. Melanie pulled away and pecked his
lips once more. She withdrew her arms and took his hand, lying back down on the
floor and staring at the sky. They watched clouds for neither of them knew how
long, just talking. He wrapped his arm behind her head and she lied her head
down on his chest. For someone who supposedly drank and smoke occasionally, he
smelled pretty good, she noticed. She liked it. It was an almost musty smell,
but there was an underlying scent of sweetness.

The sky slowly transitioned to a cloudless night, the stars shining
bright. Instead of looking for shapes now, they searched for constellations. It
would help Jake remember certain Greek philosophers, anyway. She was tutoring
him without him even knowing.

He played with her hair while she spotted Orion's Belt, stars in her
eyes. As she animatedly explained about it, he came to an epiphany.

Something had happened that he thought didn't exist. That he'd thought
would never happen to him. What he and his friends made fun of all of the time.
But now that he caught the bug, the thought of mocking it made him sick.

He was in love.

Shit
.

Melanie covered her mouth with her hand, desperate to keep the giggles
threatening to escape suppressed. She peered across the rows of desks full of
students at the blonde clad in leather, winking at her. The unlucky people
between her and Jake looked back and forth between them, at first shocked when
they thought the boy was winking at
them
. Some of the girls had gotten
an unexpected thrill, but Melanie tried her best to ignore the obvious looks of
glee on their faces. Many of the classmates watched the exchange with pure
surprise and shock. Who would have ever expected the
goody-goody
to end
up with the school's worst bad boy, especially when she had refused offers from
more gentleman-like guys?

Well, none were
gentleman
exactly, but any guy was a gentleman
compared to Jake. Anyone with eyes could see that.

The teacher of English 12 seemed oblivious to the distraction going on
behind her back as she rambled, scribbling on the dry-erase board with her back
to the class. It wasn't long before every single pair of eyes (excluding the
teacher's)
were
watching the flirting curiously. Even
the 'geeks' were watching with astonished stares. Girls were whispering to each
other, spreading words of disgust, surprise,
amusement
.

"Can you believe
that
?" a lanky brunette whispered to
her friend across from her. "I mean,
look at it
!"

"I know!" her friend whispered back. "What the
hell?"

"The sweet
new girl
... with
him
?" she hissed.

"I don't know what's going on," the other shrugged. She
tucked her red hair behind her ear and leaned in closer to quietly gossip with
her buddy. "How could
Melanie
be with
Jake
? She's so... not
his type! And he's so... not her's! And she goes around refusing any guy trying
to make a move on her, and she says yes to
him
?"

"I know, right?" the girl snickered. "She refused Toby
the other day.
Toby
. She says no to that courteous
hunk
of
Southern sweetness? And then she goes off flirting with Jake, who treats girls
like they are a piece of trash?"

Her friend shrugged her shoulders again. "Beats me." The two
watched him mouth something to Melanie and kiss the air, clearly directed at
her. Their mouths dropped open simultaneously. They both thought the same thing
at exactly the same time. "
Do you think they've slept together
?"

The brunette continued to subtly watch the exchange with calculating
eyes. Her dark brown irises swept back and forth between the two, critical,
with brows furrowed. Finally, she came to a conclusion. "Nope."

Her friend watched them too and turned back to the brown-head.
"Why do you say that? Watch them!"

"I did. And it's obvious. They haven't had sex."

"How can you tell?"

"Well, for one, he's
paying attention to her
. That should
tell you enough. He has a reputation for leaving and dumping the girl the
second he's finished with her.
I'd
know that."

Her friend nodded solemnly. She watched them again. "Yeah, you're
right. He's not pretending she doesn't exist, so he hasn't gotten what he's
wanted yet. Jake's still reeling her in." A moment of silence passed as
they watched Melanie's deep blush. "Do you think we should warn her?"

"What? Hell no! She's got to learn for herself to listen to the
hype about people. I'm sure she's been warned plenty of times. Melanie's
buddied up with Rachel, right? You know how paranoid she is. She's probably
warned her a billion times!"

The brunette's friend whispered, "You're right. But, hey, if Toby
has been turned down, which almost never happens, than I bet he's in the dumps.
Which means you can get the rebound!"

The brunette grinned. "You know what? I like the new girl."

Jake's smile (which was a new sight to everyone in the class, not a
smirk) grew as Melanie rolled her eyes at him and stuck out her tongue. He sent
her a wink again, the kind he knew that made her turn red from head to toe. It
worked, predictably. You know what? He wanted to see her again. Tonight. Maybe
he could take her out.
And not to a bar.
Maybe a
Wendy's
or something.
Sure, it wasn't classy,
but he had practically no money. His dad's funds for him had disappeared the
second Jake had from the house. It was the best he could do. Plus, Melanie
wasn't the kind of person who would mind. The thought was all that counted for
her. They could just go right after school, so her mother wouldn't be upset at
the fact she'd be out during dark. He could just give her a ride on his bike!

He decided to try and communicate this to Melanie. Jake mimicked
holding handlebars and steering, and pointed to her and then to
himself
. Then he mouthed the words 'after school'. Her brows
furrowed in confusion.

'What?' she mouthed.

He tried again. Jake pointed to himself, then her.

'Ride' he mouthed, steering the imaginary handlebars again. Melanie
still didn't understand, so as best he could, he whispered. "Do
you—" he pointed to her "—want to ride—" Jake
pointed to himself "—after school—" he pretended that he
was scooping food into his mouth "—to eat somepl—"

"What's going on here?" came a sudden voice, interrupting
their front-row conversation. It was the teacher. Her eyes shot back and forth
from Melanie to Jake, the same expression in them as everyone else in the room,
shocked and disbelieving. The two instantly jumped, sitting straighter in their
desks, surprised by the sudden voice that wasn't one of their own. Her eyes
finally settled on Melanie, waiting for an answer.

"Nothing, Mrs. Robinson," she muttered, embarrassed that
they had not only gotten caught, but that
she
herself was the cause of a
disruption in class!

"No, no, it's something," she shook her head, hands on hips.
Melanie was red from embarrassment. Jake, on the other hand, was cool and
collected. Getting in trouble in the classroom was definitely
not
new to
him. Mrs. Robinson glanced back and forth between them again, not believing her
eyes, so instantly, an accusing glance shot towards Jake. "Miss Hart, is
he disturbing you?"

"No! No, ma'am," she said quickly, shaking her head, eyes
finally raising from her desk. She looked back and forth between her English
teacher and Jake worriedly.

"Yeah. Yeah, I was," he said suddenly, looking down at the
ground, showing a sign of temporary grief. Everyone did a
double-take
.
Did
Jake Dylan Cooper
just take the blame for someone? Let alone a
girl
?
That almost never happened! He just back-talked the teacher and ended up with a
detention that he never showed up to.

"What?" Melanie breathed, staring at Jake with confusion.
They both knew it wasn't just his fault! "No, it's
not
," she
told him pointedly.

"Yes, it
is
," he told
her
pointedly. He looked
back to their teacher, nodding his head, indicating he was taking the blame.
She looked torn, her head snapping between them. She eventually shrugged it off
and appeared to swat an invisible fly.

"Whatever! I don't care who's fault it is, just don't do it
again," she rolled her eyes. Her stare drifted to Jake. "Mr. Cooper,
cut it out." Her eyes were peering over her glasses with brows raised. He
gave her a small, dismissive nod. She turned back around and continued where
she'd left off.

Everyone, some with mouths open, watched as he apologized to a
mortified Melanie and turned back towards the board. Melanie mouthed
a forgiveness
and turned to the teacher as well. The
incident was the talk of the school for the next few days.

Too bad that Melanie had neglected to remember that Rachel was in that
class. Sitting in the back corner of the room, with perhaps the most surprised
look on her face of anyone.

As Melanie left the room when the lunch bell rang, Jake caught up with
her.

"
I. Want you.
To come.
Eat with me.
After school
," he said slowly, as if he was talking to a three
year-old.

She laughed. "Yeah, I caught it the last time."

"Hey, uh, sorry I might have embarrassed you back there."

"It's fine, Jake. Don't worry about it," Melanie grinned
brilliantly. "It
..
.
it
was actually... kind of fun!"

Jake nearly stumbled. "
What
?" Had he misheard her?

"It was kind of a rush, ya know, getting in trouble?" she
laughed uneasily, but excitedly. Jake grabbed her elbow and stopped her from
walking, an incredibly amused and happy smile on his face. He wrapped an arm
around her shoulders and they continued walking down the hallway full of
spectators.

"You know what?" he asked her, looking down at her gleeful
figure. "I think this is the start of a beautiful relationship."

Melanie's boisterous laugh echoed through the long hall.

Melanie didn't know what to think when she felt a furious tapping on
her shoulder while she was at her locker, getting her books for the last class
of the day. She whipped confusedly around to face the perpetrator, but to her
surprise, it was just Rachel.

"Hey, girl!" she smiled kindly. Her grin slowly faded when
her best friend didn't match it, but instead met it with a glare of betrayal.
"What?"

"
What
in the
hell
was
that
?"

"What was what?" Melanie asked, genuinely lost.

"FOURTH PERIOD!
WHAT
THE HELL WAS
THAT
?" she
yelled. When Melanie's confused expression turned guilty, Rachel began nodding.
"Uh huh! Exactly! You and
Jake
?"

"What—what about
me and Jake
?"
she stuttered out, turning back to her locker for shelter against Rachel's
radiating wavelengths of fury.

"Oh, don't even
pretend
like you don't know exactly what
I'm talking about!" she shook with anger. "The way—Oh my God,
you aren't gonna make me explain it! You know what happened in there!"

"Explain it to me," Melanie said weakly, keeping her face
hidden.

"All right," she launched off into a raging monologue,
clearly upset beyond reason, "when I saw Jake flirting with you, I
thought,
'No surprise there.'
But then, what made my JAW TOUCH THE FLOOR
was when
you
started flirting
back
! Have you completely forgotten
everything I've told you about him? You're setting yourself up in a trap-full
of hurt, Melanie! What the hell are you thinking? You know better than this!
Tell me, what was going through your head? Huh?"

Melanie was at a loss for words. What could she say? She couldn't tell
Rachel what was going on! She'd kill her! But of course, when you kiss someone,
the first thing you
wanna
do is go tell your best
friend, and it hurt her very much that she couldn't do that. There was another
side to Jake that no one else knew about and no one else would
believe
.
Even if they would believe it, she couldn't tell even if she wanted to! She'd
made a promise to him.

"It's—it's not what you think, Rachel," Melanie
stumbled over her words.

"That's total lies, Melanie! I know you. You stutter when you're
either scared or you've been caught. And you sure as
hell
have been
caught! Spill!"

Melanie couldn't take it anymore. She was being walked all over! She
was sick of everyone saying bad things about him when most of the stuff that
happened he couldn't control! With a speed that surprised both of them, she
whirled on the fuming Rachel.

"You know what, Rachel? There
is
something going on!"
At this, Rachel's eyes became even more accusing, as if saying, 'I knew it!'
"I like him! And he likes me! And in more of a way than you'd think!
There's—there's another side to him, Rachel! One that no one knows about
or even takes the time to get to know! But... but he's opened up to me! He's
not the person you think he is. You need to learn to accept the fact that my
love life is
my
choice and
..
.
and
I'm sorry, but it's not any of your business!"

Rachel was silent, trying to take in the fact that Melanie actually
had said that to her. Her mouth formed words, but they didn't come out. Finally,
she gathered herself.

"It
is
my business, Melanie! It's my business when the
school's biggest player is trying to play my best friend, and I'm just trying
to protect her! Do you have
any
idea of what he's capable of, Melanie?
I've told you! I've warned you a million times! He
isn't
safe for
you!"

"Since when is it your decision to decide who is safe enough for
me and who isn't? I believe I can decide that much for myself, thank you very
much. I DO have a brain of my own, believe it or not. But the Jake you see
isn't
the Jake I see, Rachel. Why can't you understand that?" Melanie demanded.