Heartbreaker Hanson (9 page)

I
floated into my house and leaned against the door, beaming with happiness. It
was just too wonderful to be true—Drew Roberts wanted us to be an us!

Okay,
I knew I should be more reasonable and sober about it—after all, he was
my friend’s boyfriend … and Laurie would be crushed when he broke up with her …
and even after they broke-up, Drew and I could still never be an us.

…
but I’d worry about that stuff tomorrow. Tonight I was letting myself float on
a cloud of delusional happiness and dream about it being possible—Drew
and I to be a couple, and everyone to be happy.

As
I danced up the stairs, the phone rang. I raced to get it, thinking that it was
probably my parents calling to check on things with Nick and me.

“They’re
probably confused about the time difference,” I figured.

 
And of course I was thinking how glad I
was that I got home when I did, or they would have discovered how late I had
been out.

But
when I answered the phone the person on the other end hung up.

CHAPTER 17

Being
hung up on had made me feel weird—especially because I knew the person
was still on the line when I answered. I could hear them breathing as I said,
“Hello? … Hello?”

It
was creepy.

And
had my heart pounding hard against my chest.

Yet
that was nothing compared to when I got to my room.

Because
there was a note taped to my dresser’s mirror.

It
said
—“That was another girl’s
boyfriend—naughty, naughty.”

CHAPTER 18

Of
course I didn’t sleep that night. At all.

CHAPTER 19

I
was agitated. And scared. My pounding heart wouldn’t let me have peace—or
sleep. Someone had been in my room! And they knew I’d been with Drew. But face
it, the big deal was—THEY’D BEEN IN MY ROOM!!

It
totally drowned out my beautiful thoughts about the rest of the
night—about being with Drew, him kissing me. The magic of it
all—poof! Gone. Now all I was stuck with was the terrifying
nightmare/reality that someone was stalking me. They broke into my room, knew I
was with Drew—and they
called me
as soon as I left him. All that made me nauseously sick, and haunted my sleep when
I finally dozed off for the teeniest, tiniest, little bit. I woke in a cold
sweat and couldn’t go back to sleep. So, finally I dragged myself out of bed
though it was Sunday morning.

“What
are you doing up so early?” Nick asked when I trudged down to the kitchen.

I
couldn’t exactly tell him about the note, since the note would pretty much give
away I’d been with Drew.

So,
I redirected. “What are
you
doing
up?”

He
never gets up before he has to, in fact he usually doesn’t even get up even
then. We usually have to drag him out of bed.

“I
had this cool lick in my head,” he answered sounding frustrated. “It just
wouldn’t go away so I finally had to drag myself out of bed to play the stupid
thing. But it disappeared. It’s gone.”

The
‘lick’ he was referring to was a guitar lick. His soul interest in life these
days is music. He started a new band over the summer. He does that every once
in a while, just gets tired of his old band and the music they were doing, and
he gets some new people and starts a whole new band. The only member he never
ditched was Jason, his best friend, and bass player.

Nick
plays the guitar. He’s awesome at it. He’s become kind of a legend at our
school. It started when his band blew every other band away at a rock competition
our school had sponsored over the summer. Now he’s the school’s rock star.
Every girl in school wants to date him, and every practicing musician wants to
be in his band. But Nick doesn’t care about that stuff. All he cares about is
his music … although he never complains about the girls.

“Um,
what time did you get home last night?” I asked, trying to feel him out. See what
time his band parted ways, and if he might have a clue who would break into my
room—more specifically: Did Kenny do it?

But
Nick had his eyes shut. He’d fallen asleep at the kitchen table.

Yeah,
he’s really not a morning person.

CHAPTER 20

Monday
morning, I glance up from my locker to find Heartbreaker Rider Hanson watching
from across the crowded hallway—no shock there.

He
doesn’t look away once I catch him staring—no shock there, either.

However,
I
quickly look away, my heart
pounding wild from his stare. (Okay, no shock there either.)

I
quickly go back to looking through my locker for nothing again—just until
I can breathe right, and get my knees to stop wobbling.

But
before I manage any of that, I hear Rider’s slow, sardonic voice so close to my
ear his breath heats up my neck, “Have fun with another girl’s boyfriend
recently?”

A
chill goes through me and my heart jumps to my throat. His words totally remind
me of that creepy note.

I
gulp.

Trying
to get a grip, I shake my head, trying to reason with myself—Rider isn’t
creepy. He’s a heartbreaker, but not a stalker. He wouldn’t break into my room
and write me a note. Heck, he wouldn’t bother to write me (or any other girl) a
note, period. Let alone bother to break into my room to give me one.

He
grins slightly. “Relax, Kindergarten Girlfriend. I was just messing with
you—well, I
thought
I was. But
you look pretty guilty all the sudden. So I guess yeah, you had fun with your
dream-guy—the taken quarterback.”

Confused,
I tilt my head, my heart pounding. “Why’d you bring it up in the first place?”

A
slow grin creeps on his lips, obviously enjoying my ruffled feathers and
complete confusion. “You were glowing,” he says, his smile quirking. “You
always glow when you’re thinking about the quarterback—I just didn’t
realize you’d actually do anything with him.”

Heat
shoots through me. I quickly gush out, “I didn’t! Well … not really.”

Rider’s
grin grows. He’s obviously enjoying getting to tease me wayyy too much. “Who
you trying to convince Kindergarten? Me or yourself? ‘Cause if you’re trying to
convince me, don’t bother. I can read your face, I used to study it like I was
going blind. You feel guilty. You loved it—whatever you did with
him—had the time of your life, but your heart and soul is being racked
with guilt. You’re dying of the guilt. So, you’ll tell your friend, lose
her—which won’t really be a great loss, ‘cause she’s a shallow
wench—but that will kill you just the same, and you’ll lose the guy too,
because you’ll feel too guilty to let yourself be with him.” His grin quirks.
“So you should just ditch the mess and go out with me—I’ll help you
forget about them. I promise.”

I’m
sure he could.

…
and it seems he’s pretty dead-on about my screwed situation.

It’s
eerie.

And
has my heart pounding.

But
I just smirk like I’m totally chill, “Yeah, right. Like I’d believe your
promises, Heartbreaker.”

I
try to sashay away from him, but he quickly grasps my shoulder, pulling me back
to him. “Why do you keep calling me that?” he asks.

I
bat his hand off me. “
Everyone
calls
you that. Well, all the girls.”

He
blinks. “Why?”

I
scoff, “Because of
that
—you
able to play innocence so well. Girls may be vulnerable to your charms, but
they aren’t stupid. They catch on to you—just too late.”

He
tilts his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” But then he juts
his chin, “You’re vulnerable to my charms?”

I
roll my eyes and shake my head—adamantly. “I
used
to be.”

Rider
winces, nodding slightly, “But now you’re only vulnerable to the taken
quarterback.”

Ethan
(Band-boy) is suddenly beside me, smiling at me like I’m his dream girl.

Rider
smirks, “Seems like you need to explain that to someone else, Kindergarten—though
I’d like to hear more about it too, but later. Since I’m vulnerable to
your
charms—and I think you’re a
little unclear on who’s the heartbreaker.”

Ethan
looks between me and Rider uneasily.

“Don’t
worry,” Rider tells him with a smirk. “I’m not a threat—unfortunately.”

Then
he saunters off, leaving a pointed opening for me to give Ethan “The Talk.”

I
squeeze my eyes shut. So not ready.

CHAPTER 21

Just
like all last night, I’m in an agitated fog wondering about that creepy note I
got. Only last night when I wondered about it I just couldn’t sleep, but now
I’m in first period and I can’t
concentrate
—on
my test. So much worse. Especially because now I even have
another
suspect on my creepy-note-writer list: Rider.

Though
face it, that one is still a long shot. However, for someone who used to never
look at me—ever—he seems to know an awful lot about my life. Like,
way more than anyone else. He’s become disturbingly observant. Like a …
stalker. Which the note-writer/phone-hanger-upper seems to totally be: a total stalker.

But
Rider doesn’t fit the profile of a stalker. At all. He fits the profile of a …
heartbreaker. A guy that doesn’t care enough to notice that he tore out your
heart and mangled it, because he’s busy tearing out the heart of some other
girl and mangling
it
.

So
no. Though it would be slightly thrilling (sadly), I know Rider isn’t my psycho
stalker that cared enough to break into my room and leave me a note, and then
call to check up on me in the wee hours of the night. I could only wish. (Okay,
I know that’s demented.) (I know, I
know
.)

When
I’m done bombing my test, I write down my suspects: Ethan, Kenny, Wade, Laurie,
Rider. But who else? I mean, since none of these people really seem too
terribly possible. Well, Kenny does. But Nick hadn’t been home yet, and most
likely he had been out with Kenny, since their band was closing for that other
party.

But
I couldn’t tell Nick about the note. I’d been dying to—so I could find
out if he knew anything about it. Anything at all. But if I mentioned the note
to him he’d demand to see it, because that’s Nick. And then he’d demand to know
who I was out with—so he could punch the guy’s face in. Well, both guys.
The guy that left me the note, and the one that I was out with, since the note
blatantly pointed out the guy had a girlfriend—that wasn’t me, and yet I
was out with him, getting my innocence tarnished. Nick would so kill the guy
for that, and blame the whole thing on the guy, because no way would I (his
sweet sister) do that—date a guy with a girlfriend.

…
and I really wouldn’t. (Really!!)

I
stared at my list of suspects. None of them made much sense. I just put them on
there because they were the only people who seemed to care enough about me at
the moment to bother to stalk me. But like I said, none of them seemed to
terribly likely except Kenny—and he had an alibi … well, pretty much.

I
wrote on my list: Ask Nick what he did after the party. Did he hang out with
his band?—or hook up with a girl? He’d obviously be alone if he hooked up
with a girl … although Kenny probably hooked up with a girl too. The dude
wasn’t ugly. Not by a long shot.

Okay,
Ethan was another possibility. But he didn’t act as though he found anyone as a
threat to his soon to be … what? What did he think was going to happen between
us? Whatever it was, he seemed pretty confident about it. Like it was in the
bag. Ugh. I quickly wrote on my list, “Have The Talk with Ethan.” Then I added,
“Just get it over with!!!”

I
just needed to make sure we were on the same page. Or lead him over to that
page—the one that said, “Just friends.”

It
was just an awkward conversation to have since he’d never actually asked me out
except that one time—when I had the convenient excuse that I had to
babysit. Alright, it seemed perfectly obvious now that I should have had “The
Talk” with him then. But I didn’t know that—well, I wasn’t sure. Well, anyway,
now I had no easy/natural way to broach the subject.

My
stomach knotted thinking about it. Of course it knotted ten-times that much thinking
about the fact someone had been in my room, probably gone through my things.
Shudder. Total invasion of privacy. And all kinds of invasions.

Shudder,
shudder, shudder!