CRUSH (2 page)

“That was a sleek move you did there, Cami,”
Hunter whispered as he knelt down next to me and began to gather papers. “I
didn’t think notebooks could fly like that. Did you have to get special
training?” He glanced up at the board where Mrs. Stuart was continuing with the
lesson. “Too bad it didn’t work.”

“What?” I sighed in exasperation, trying to
figure out what he was talking about. He flashed a bright smile, and my gaze
settled first on his perfect, white teeth, then on those deliciously plump lips
of his.

I bet
he’s fun to kiss.
I
blinked.
Whoa! Where did that come from?

“Are you saying this whole knocking of the
binder was truly an accident?” he spoke.

I jerked my attention from his mouth back to
the floor and the task in front of me.

“And here I thought you were trying to save the
rest of the class from answering the question,” he continued.

I paused to stare at him. “Really? You did?”

He leaned past me, reaching to grab some papers
under a vacant desk, and I caught a whiff of his cool scented aftershave, mixed
with the faint smell of cigarettes.

“No.” He chuckled quietly, and a lock of his
black hair tumbled over his tanned forehead. He straightened and handed me the
papers. “I was trying to give you an out so you didn’t feel quite so
humiliated.” He winked, and I couldn’t help but notice his chocolate colored
eyes looked like they had little drops of caramel scattered through them. I’d
never been this close to his face before.

“Oh.” I suddenly felt uncomfortable under his
scrutiny. “Thanks
 . . .
I think.”

His smile widened. “Anytime. I may have only
been here a short while, but I’m sure I’ve been in enough of your classes to
have you pegged.”

“Is that so?” I began arranging things in my
binder so I wouldn’t have to look at him or his tight, black t-shirt stretched
across his perfectly muscled physique. It should be a sin for a guy in high
school to have a body that good. Besides, I was pretty sure he was messing with
me.

“I do. It didn’t take me long to figure out
you’re sweet, probably the smartest girl in school, maybe the most talented as
well, and you’re definitely every teacher’s pet. You always pay attention and
do your work like a good student should.” He shook his head, as he stared.
“Little-Miss-Goody-Two-Shoes. Do you have a life outside of class? I haven’t
seen you around. I bet you’ve never even been to a party before, have you? I
just can’t picture you kickin’ back with the homies.”

He was baiting me—and it was working. “Of
course I have,” I snapped under my breath, not knowing why I cared whether or
not he thought I was cool. “My mom throws the most amazing parties, and I hang
out with my best friend, Clay, all the time.”

“I don’t think birthday parties count. And
Clay? Now there’s a nerd for you—pocket protector and everything. Someone
told me he has a girlfriend.” He snorted a little too loudly. “I find that hard
to believe.”

“Hurry up you two,” Mrs. Stuart called out
before turning to her desk.

I snapped my binder back together. “Thanks for
your help, even if it was required of you.” I got into my seat feeling
irritated.

He slid into his beside me, slouching and
stretching his long frame into the aisle. I could tell he was still looking at
me, so I stared straight ahead, determined to ignore him. He was such a punk.

“You need a partner for the next part of this
lesson, so buddy up please,” Mrs. Stuart said as she started passing out a
worksheet.

There was a bunch of noise as everyone hurried
to find whom they wanted to work with. Hunter promptly slid his desk over next
to mine before I had a chance to move.

“Hey buddy.” He smiled.

My eyes widened. “Back to degrade me some
more?” I grumbled.

He looked surprised. “What do you mean?”

“Isn’t that what you were doing a minute ago?
Telling me what a nerd I am and how I have no social life?”

“Is that what you thought?” He leaned forward,
placing his arms on his desk and turned to stare at me.

I didn’t answer. He was so close he seemed
intimidating, like he noticed everything about me with just one glance. It made
me feel self-conscious.

Mrs. Stuart paused at our desks and handed us a
piece of paper before she returned to the front of the room. “As you can see,
there are several paragraphs on this. All but one
are
punctuated incorrectly. You’re to take turns reading aloud to each other. In
the space below each paragraph, rewrite it the way you think it should be. When
you find the correct one, circle it. Put both your names in the top corner, and
turn it in before the bell please. You may begin.”

Hunter grabbed the paper and penciled his name
in before sliding it over. “I’m glad I picked you as a partner. Maybe I’ll get
a good grade on this now.”

“Why? Because I’ll do all the work?” I hissed.
I knew guys like him. They sucked up to you until they got what they wanted and
then acted like you were no one the next time you were around. There was no way
I’d let him do that.

He looked at me funny. “Did I do something to
piss you off? You seem mad.”

“Never mind.” I picked up the paper to begin
reading, but he placed his hand on it, flattening it against the desk.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” I wouldn’t look at him. I wasn’t
sure why I was getting so upset. It shouldn’t matter if some party boy thought
I was a nerd. It’s not like I would ever go out with him even if he didn’t. I
was positive he was into the whole drug and alcohol scene, just from the
friends he’d made already. I’d seen him smoking in the parking lot a couple of
times, trying to hide his cigarette in the curl of his hand so no one would
notice. I always wondered why the kids in this school were still stupid enough
to party after Jordan Henley’s overdose on meth three months ago. You think
they’d learn, but no, everyone seemed content to keep on using. “Can we do this
please?” I gestured to the assignment.

He removed his hand and leaned in closer,
following along as I read the first paragraph.

“Okay, where do you think the punctuation
goes?” I asked, not wanting to share my knowledge all of a sudden.

He pointed to a spot. “Comma here, I think.”

Dang. He was right. I begrudgingly penciled it
in.

“I can tell you’re a singer. You have a musical
quality to your voice. That’s so cool, by the way. I hear you’re pretty good.
Do you think you’d ever want to do it professionally?”

“
Whaa
 . . 
. ?
” I couldn’t finish the comment, his remark caught
me so off guard. I fumbled, trying to find words. “Where did you hear that?” I
narrowed my eyes. “Have you been talking to people about me?”

He laughed. “Of course. Guys always talk to
each other about the pretty girls at school.” He bumped his shoulder into mine
in a friendly gesture.

My mouth popped open, and I was reduced to the
facial movements of a fish. I was stunned, unable to believe what he’d just
said.

“I needed to be brought into the loop about
who’s hot and who’s not, when I moved here. You know how it is,” he added.
“Social status and all that.”

And then I was deflated, because I understood
what he meant.

“Yes, I’m sure they were happy to fill you in
that I’m part of the ‘who’s not’ category. In fact, I’d imagine I’m probably on
the top of that list.”

He lifted an eyebrow in question, and I noticed
the color of his eyes again for the second time today. “You’re kidding, right?
I don’t think any guy has you on his ‘who’s not’ list.”

“Then please, enlighten me as to which lucky
category I’ve fallen into. It’s always nice to be sorted like inanimate
objects.”

He appeared unfazed by my objection. “I think
you’re more on the unattainable list. Guys figure you’re too good for them, so
they don’t bother asking.”

I laughed in spite of myself. “I can’t imagine
why anyone would think that. I’ve never acted that way.”

He shrugged. “Must be that Goody-Two-Shoes
attitude then.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Why? I kind of like it. I think it’s going to
be my nickname for you from now on.” He grinned.

“Are you this irritating with everyone you
know?” I glared at him.

He laughed loud enough that Mrs. Stuart sent a
disgruntled look in our direction.

“Pretty much, yeah.” He grabbed the paper, read
the next paragraph, and we took turns marking the punctuation together. He got
a couple wrong, and I had to explain the rules to him.

I chewed lightly on the tip of my pencil eraser
as I quickly skimmed through the next paragraph. “I think this is the correct
one. Do you want to read it before I circle it?”

“No. I trust you,” he said, waving it off. “So
what are you doing this weekend?”

I stiffened, suddenly worried about where this
conversation might be headed. “My dad has a fundraiser concert and dinner on
Saturday for his Jazz band. I may attend that, but I haven’t really decided
yet. Why?”

“Your dad plays in a band?” he questioned.

“Yeah, my mom is the choir director at New
Mexico West University, and my dad is the band director. They’re always putting
on concerts together. It was their dream jobs to find two positions together
like they did here. I’ve participated in all their concerts and musicals since
we moved here when I was little.”

“Really? That’s interesting. Where’d you live
before?” He seemed genuinely interested.

“Tucson, Arizona.”

He looked shocked for a second before he
laughed. “What a small world. That’s where I’m from. So you know how painful it
is to move from there to a middle-of-nowhere place like Copper City then.”

I nodded. “I do. Of course, I don’t really
remember Tucson that much. We moved when I was five. It’s not so bad, once you
get used to it. There’s lots of fun things to do here, like visiting the
museums, checking out the local artistry, or driving out to see some of the
Indian ruins and mines in the . . 
.
” I let my sentence dwindle off at his
horrified look. “Yeah, Copper City is definitely not your kind of thing.”

He slouched back into his chair with a sigh. “I
know. My life is over.”

“I believe your life can be whatever you want
to make of it.” I lifted my chin defiantly, daring him to challenge me.

“Is that how it works? Well then, I want my
life to be a big, giant, keg party.”

I pursed my lips together and glanced over him.

“What?” He squinted his gorgeous eyes. “You
think I’m a loser now, Goody-Two-Shoes? Just some worthless partier?”

“Actually, I was trying to imagine what you might
look like with a beer belly.”

He grinned and sat up, grabbing the paper on
the desk in front of me. “I like you, Goody. No one mentioned you were so
snarky.”

He started reading the next paragraph out loud
before I could respond. I wasn’t sure what to think of him. He’d hardly spoken
to me before, except to ask for a pencil once. Now he was suddenly Mr.
Talkative? It didn’t matter really. He would probably forget all about me by
tomorrow.

Hunter-

Dude,
the girl is
freakin
’ hot,
I thought to myself for the thousandth time as
I stared at her during chemistry lab. Initially, I’d been disappointed this
class didn’t have alphabetized seating like the others, but I’d grown quite
happy with admiring the view from behind without her knowing.

I cast another glance over her
form—slender, yet round in all the right places. Her curly, red hair
bounced with every shake of her head as she talked animatedly to her best
friend, Clay.

He was almost the classic nerd stereotype.
Slick hair combed with a rigid part, plaid shirts, with pens in his pocket
protector. He wore glasses, but they were decent looking ones—not the
typical thick coke bottle glasses that were taped in the middle that most
people associated with the type. My attention returned to the beautiful girl at
his side.

What a pair. I wondered if she knew he was the
real reason guys didn’t ask her out much. She was considered nerdy by
association, which was a shame seeing how she was drop-dead gorgeous. Even
though Clay claimed to have a girlfriend in another town, there was still some
speculation on whether or not these two might actually be an item.

I released a frustrated sigh. I wished I hadn’t
talked to her yesterday. I liked her instantly. It was fun to push her buttons
and mess with her for a bit. But I wasn’t looking for a girlfriend, nerd or
otherwise—no way, no how. There was enough on my plate right now, and
having a relationship with anyone, especially her, would complicate things so
badly I didn’t want to consider the repercussions.