Exposing Kitty Langley (6 page)

I was careful to meet Kitty right on
time after each class. I didn’t want her walking anywhere alone. The school was
crawling with crazy people right now. I think a lot of people were angry with the
Bee Hives as a unit and were just taking all their anger out on Kitty. I
couldn’t say that I blamed them really. They say that last year the B’s weren’t
as bad, that for some reason their meanness was slightly tamed. It was almost
like there was a presence watching over them, keeping them in line, but not so
this year. This year they seemed to be in full force.

When the bell rang for lunch period
to begin, I scurried to get to Kitty’s classroom. When I got there, however, I
was not at all happy with what I saw. Trent was taking Kitty’s backpack for her
and ushering her from the room.

I ran faster. “I’ll take that,
Trent,” I said in a cold tone.

“Oh, Reed. I didn’t know you two
were still a thing.”

“Yeah, well now you do.” It annoyed
me how he was looking at Kitty. Did he feel some need to make up to her? Too
bad!

“It’s okay, Trent. Reed will walk
with me, but thanks for offering.” Her voice was trying to be sweet, but I
sensed some annoyance, which pleased me.

“Oh, you’re welcome, Kitty. Anytime
you need me for anything you just let me know.” He smirked at me before turning
and making his way back down the hallway.

I suddenly had the feeling that Trent
wasn’t going away so easily. I’d have to keep my eye on him. “You be careful
with Trent. I don’t trust him,” I whispered, wrapping my arm around her waist
as we walked.

“I know, me either, but I think he
really feels bad about how he treated me. I think he’s just trying to make it
up to me. Don’t worry. I’ve seen his other side. I’ll be careful.” She reached
for my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“Good.” I noticed then that she was
walking slower than before. “Kitty, did anything happen since I saw you last?”

“No, why?”

“You’re walking slower.”

“My medicine is starting to wear
off. I’m hurting.”

“Hurting? From what, exactly?”

“On Friday, Melissa Barkley pushed
me down the stairs. I was already close to the bottom, but I landed on my left
knee. It’s bruised.”

I stopped us right there in the
middle of the hallway. “Kitty! What are we gonna do about this? This is clearly
getting out of hand!”

“It’s all right, Reed,” she
reassured me, rubbing her hand on my arm. “I’ll be fine. Now I have you,
remember?” She smiled and I couldn’t help but smile back. She was so beautiful,
her big, green eyes sparkling. “I’ll take some more medicine when we eat lunch.
Speaking of which, I’m starving.”

She was trying to distract me. “Yeah,
me too. Let’s go.” And it worked.

When we reached the cafeteria, the
murmurs began. Everyone seemed to stop and watch as we crossed the room, hand
in hand. I really didn’t care, but I felt Kitty tense. I instinctively pulled
her tighter against me. She glanced up at me and smiled, an unspoken understanding
passing between us.

I spotted Haley first as we made our
way to my table. She jumped to her feet the moment she saw us. “Oh, no you
don’t! Please tell me she’s not sitting with us now!”

“Don’t do this, Haley. I mean it.” I
warned.

Remarkably she sat back down. I half
expected her to storm off in a huff. Jessie, Kyle, and Mark just stared at Kitty,
wide-eyed. I knew she was pretty, but come on!

“All right guys. Put your tongues
back in your mouths. Kitty will be sitting with us from now on so you can chill
out.”

Kyle, ignoring me, was the first to
extend his hand in greeting. “I’m Kyle, the best looking of us. It’s nice to
meet you, Kitty. Nice name. I’m single, by the way.”

“Yeah, yeah, move along,” Mark said,
moving Kyle aside. “I’m Mark, the smartest but sexiest of us. It’s nice to meet
you. When you get tired of this one let me know.”

I rolled my eyes in disgust. They
were like a bunch of wild dogs in heat. And making fools of themselves, if you
ask me.

“And I’m Jessie, the comedian in the
bunch. We’re glad you’re sitting with us. You’ve never done anything bad to us,
so we don’t hate you.” He instantly looked over at Haley and smirked.

Haley sat quietly, fuming.

“Um, it’s nice to meet all of you.
Thanks for letting me sit with you, and for not hating me.” She smirked at
Jessie. “It gets old eating in my car.”

“You’ve been eating lunch in your
car this whole time?” Mark asked in disbelief.

“Yeah. It’s safe there.”

“Wow, you really do need our help,
don’t you?” Kyle added.

She smiled and shrugged. It was a
sweet smile that showed her vulnerability. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Say no more. We’re on the job for
as long as you need us,” Jessie said, shoving food in his mouth.

I took Kitty’s hand. “I’ll go get us
some food. You get acquainted with the guys. I’ll be right back.”

I turned to leave, taking one last
glance over my shoulder. The guys were fighting over who was gonna pull her
seat out for her.

Again, I rolled my eyes. Well, at
least someone was fighting to be nice to her for a change. That had to feel
good.

I was well aware of Bunnie’s gaze as
I passed. There was no escaping her intense scrutiny. She wasn’t happy that I
was helping Kitty. I made sure to give her a big smile as I passed. That ticked
her off.

Kitty

The bell rang, signaling the end of
the school day and I was still alive. My first day with Reed acting as my
boyfriend had worked fairly well. I really liked his friends. It also seems
that perhaps they liked me too—all except Haley, of course. She mostly hated me
because she had a thing for Reed. Any fool could see that, even Reed himself.
She was actually quite a cute girl, with straight, light brown hair to her
shoulders, brown eyes, and an athletic figure. She appeared to be a
tomboy—something I could never be, but something I respected. She must’ve felt
more comfortable hanging with guys. Maybe she had never had a girlfriend.

Reed met me after class and walked
me to my car. “Well, I think the day went remarkably well, except this morning
when Marcia got the jump on you. I’m sorry about that.”

“Don’t be. It wasn’t your fault.” I
stopped, turning to face him. “You know, Reed, I think there’s something we
need to get straight, right up front. This is all an act of course, but if it
were to ever start to become reality for you, then we need to end this. We
can’t, in any way, have a real relationship. Do you understand?”

He shrugged, a gesture I was
becoming used to seeing. “Oh, sure. That’s no problem. But I’m just
curious—why?”

“We just can’t. Are we clear on
that?”

“We’re clear. Well, I’ll see ya
tomorrow.” He hesitated for a moment before leaning down and kissing me on the
cheek.

“Yeah, I’ll see ya tomorrow.”

Frustrated, I got in the car to pull
away, surprised at the emotions stirring inside me. I knew we couldn’t have a
real relationship, but I was disappointed at how easily he accepted it. Had I
wanted him to protest? Well, a little would’ve been nice. But this wasn’t the
time for happiness in my life. This was the time to suffer the consequences of
my actions. I was reaping what I had sown. Like it or not—this was what I
deserved—pain—not happiness. Anything but happiness.

That evening, for the first time in
days, I actually slept soundly.

The next day started out better than
the others. I hadn’t been ambushed and it was almost lunch. This Reed thing
seemed to really be working, but I was afraid to get hopeful this early in the
game. The B’s were planning something and no one, not even Reed, would be able
to stop what they had planned. I knew them well enough for that.

Reed walked with me, his arm slung
over my shoulder intimately. I’m not really sure why, but the gesture had me
tensing. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything to him about not having a
relationship with him. It was unlikely to happen anyway, so why did I have to say
anything? The more I thought about it the more I realized I was looking for him
to protest. But he didn’t. Why didn’t he? It wouldn’t surprise me if he really was
in love with Haley all along but just didn’t know it. That thought alone made
me feel like vomiting, something I hadn’t done in at least three days.

At lunch I noticed that Reed was
quieter than usual. “Um, Reed, are you all right?” I asked once we were seated
with our food.

He shrugged. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine.
Are you?”

“Yeah, I think so. Today’s gone
pretty good. No one’s tried to beat me up yet.”

“And they better not either!” he
snapped.

I was startled by his intensity.

“Sorry. I just take this very
seriously. You’ve been through enough.”

“Oh.” I didn’t know what else to
say.

The silence that followed was
awkward and unnerving. His friends bounded around the corner and plopped down
in their seats with recklessness. I was thankful for the interruption.

Walking me to my car was part of the
plan and yet it was the part of the day I dreaded the most. This time he held
my hand, and it felt painfully good. His hand was warm and strong, swallowing
mine completely. I wondered if he felt it too. I looked up and we locked eyes.

He smiled shyly, but something was
bothering him.

“Reed, thank you again for helping
me. I think it’s working, but are you sorry?”

He stopped abruptly, eyeing me
curiously. “Sorry? For what?”

“Helping me.”

“Of course not. Why would you ask me
that?”

“You’re just acting strange today,
and I was wondering if you were regretting helping me. Maybe you really like
Haley after all, and maybe you don’t want to hurt her.”

He laughed. Actually I’ve never
heard him laugh like this. “That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. I don’t
think of Haley that way. She’s just a friend. I’ve tried to like her that way,
but the feelings just aren’t there for me. I don’t want to hurt her, but
there’s really no way around it.”

“Oh.”

He was still giggling to himself
when we stopped at my door. I expected the usual peck on the cheek, but he surprised
me when he pressed his lips to mine in a soft, sweet kiss. It didn’t end there.
He peered into my eyes, as if asking permission, and then kissed me again, this
time more passionately. I put my arms around his neck, pulling him closer still.
He was so much taller than me that he actually pulled me off my feet, though I
just barely noticed as the heat building threatened my senses. The kiss turned
hot, setting my lips on fire, until I pulled away and squirmed out of his
grasp.

I paced nervously, touching my
fingers to my tingling lips. “Oh boy. Reed, we can’t do this.” I shook my head.
“No—no, we can’t do this.”

“What’s wrong with this? Why can’t
we?” he asked, stopping me and turning me to face him. “I like you, Kitty. Why
won’t you allow yourself to be happy?”

“I-I like you too, but you don’t
understand.”

“Help me to understand.” His eyes were
pleading.

“No! I can’t. I’m sorry.” Without
any further explanation, I got in my car and drove out of the parking lot with
Reed looking on in confusion.

Reed

I watched as she drove out of the
parking lot, not sure of what had just happened. One minute we were locked in
the hottest kiss I’ve ever experienced in my life, and the next minute she was
gone. What was she running from anyway? I felt like I knew, but I couldn’t be
sure. When she told me we couldn’t be in a relationship, I got the feeling that
she felt she didn’t deserve happiness. Her expression was serious but also sad.
I struggled all day with how to make her see that she did deserve it, and that
it was worth taking a risk. I thought I had made her see with the kiss, until
she ran off. Now all I needed to do was figure out my next move.

When I arrived in the parking lot
the next morning, preparing to wait for her to get to school, I was surprised
to see her car already parked. She wasn’t waiting for me. I looked all around
for her, but she was nowhere in sight.

“She got here early,” Haley said,
stepping up from behind me. “She went straight into the building. Did you two
have a fight?”

“No, not really.” I shrugged. “She
just doesn’t want me to get hurt, that’s all.” It was the first thing that
popped out of my mouth. It was sort of true. Although, whether she still felt
that way was anyone’s guess.

“Well, she’s the one who’s gonna get
hurt. I wish you’d stay away from her, but I know you won’t.” She turned to
walk off.

I grabbed her and spun her to face
me. “What have you heard, Haley?” I demanded.