Loving Mr. Daniels (12 page)

I couldn’t help but smile. “Your flower?” I asked, looking at the very over-the-top dramatics of Hailey. The scary part was that she seemed to be pretty serious. “I thought you weren’t ready to lose your…rose…orchid…Venus flytrap?”

Her lips turned up and her hands landed against her hips. “Oh, you find this funny? Well I’m
so
glad. I’m
so
happy that my failing life is entertaining for you.”

“It’s a little entertaining.”

She rolled her eyes and walked over to her bed, flopping down on it. “I’m going to die a virgin.”

My heart skipped, thinking about Gabby’s letter and how she wanted to lose her virginity to Bentley but never was able to. I bit my bottom lip and scrunched my face. “Okay, I’ll go.”

She perked up and looked at me. “You’ll go?!”

“Only if you promise to never go through my stuff again.”

“I promise!” she screamed, jumping up from the bed.

“And we have to find a way to cross an item off my bucket list.” I reached into my purse and pulled out my list. Hailey was quick to snatch it out of my hand and ran her eyes across it.

“Your sister made this? Wow. She sounds awesome.”

“She was.”

Hailey paused and looked up to me to deliver the sad expression I’d grown to hate. She then went back to the list and cleared her throat. “Number twelve. Give to those in need.”

I laughed, rolling my eyes. “I doubt helping a girl lose her virginity is what she meant.”

Her lips pouted and she went back to the list. “Number sixteen?” She passed the piece of paper my way and I smiled.

#16. House Party.

“Well…I guess we’re going to a party sometime soon.” I rolled my shoulders back and yawned. “But as for now, I need to borrow your toothpaste. I ran out.”

“Borrow? By all means, don’t give it back.” Hailey snickered, telling me that it was in the bathroom’s medicine cabinet. “And make sure to hurry up. Mom hates being late for Bible study.”

Going to church on Sunday with only a few hours of sleep seemed extra painful. Hailey and Ryan had to be there super early to teach Bible study, too. Rebecca said it would be a true blessing if I showed up, but what she really meant was, “You’re going to church.” One thing I’d learned about Rebecca was that she made demands with a smile, making you think they were requests.

Sometimes I watched Henry interact with her and wondered how they had come to be a couple. They appeared so different from each other that it seemed like an oddball connection. I even noticed Henry sitting in his car to smoke to make sure Rebecca didn’t find out. 

But then sometimes I saw it. The way he looked at her when she wasn’t looking. The sparkle in his eyes. The way she held his hand as if it were her own hand.

His cell phone went off right before we walked inside the church, and Rebecca arched an eyebrow. “Who’s calling you this early?”

Henry’s eyes fell to his cell phone and he grimaced. “I’ll be right in behind you.”

Rebecca held the door open to the church for us and lectured her kids. “Remember, Hailey, a prayer before and a prayer after for the younger kids. They need to learn.”

“Okay,” Hailey said, rolling her eyes.

“And, Ryan, with the older kids… Don’t worry about that Avery boy interrupting. He’s been pulled out of the class.”

“Why?” Ryan asked, his interest piqued.

Rebecca’s face frowned in disgust. “Let’s just say he did some bothersome things. His family moved to a different church service.”

Ryan arched an eyebrow but didn’t press for more explanation.

“And tuck in your shirt. You look like a slob. Remember, God is watching.” When his mom turned away and walked inside, Ryan pulled out his fake cigarette box. I eyed his strange habit and turned to Hailey.

“What is he doing?” I whispered, moving with her toward the class she taught.

She glanced to her brother for a split second and shrugged. “Coping mechanism.”

Coping from what
?

Hailey must have read my mind because she gave me a small grin. “You’re not the only one with daddy issues, Ashlyn.”

There’s two things I need you to see.

One lives in you and the other in me.

~ Romeo’s Quest

Monday marked the first day of classes of senior year. Hailey drove Ryan and me to school, and Henry promised me that he would do his best to not cross my path. When we pulled into the parking lot, Ryan jumped out and tossed his backpack on.

I climbed out, backpack straps on, and held a novel close to my chest. The plan was to always hold a book to my chest. Then maybe the guys wouldn’t look at me the way they had at my other school.

It was a lot easier to feel comfortable in my own skin when I had a built-in twin always at my side. Now I only felt lonely.

“Toss me your schedule, Chicago.” Ryan nudged me in the side with a smile. I guessed that was my new nickname from him. I handed it his way and he unfolded the paper, his eyes darting back and forth. “Ohh, you have Ms. Gain for first-hour chemistry. Harsh.”

Hailey frowned. “Ms. Sweaty. Her classroom smells like a horse’s butt.”

“And she grades like we are all supposed to be Harvard students.” Ryan rolled his eyes. “I’ll be lucky to get into community college.” It seemed like he was mostly saying that to himself so I didn’t comment. “At least you have third hour with yours truly. AP English with Mr. D. Easy A.” Why did he think he wouldn’t get into college if he was taking AP courses?

“That’s because he’s new. New teachers are always easy A’s.” Hailey smirked before hurrying off to find her locker.

Ryan handed me my schedule back and rushed off to class. I took a deep breath and looked up at the school building. So many people were moving around as if they knew exactly where they were going. Exactly what the next step was.

I moved slowly, searching, exploring, and hoping to get out with as little harm as possible. The first-hour class crawled by, and my new house buddies hadn’t been wrong. Ms. Gain’s room did smell like a horse’s butt.

“All right, students. Welcome to chemistry. I’m glad to see you all appear to be comfortable in your seats. Too bad. Assigned tables starting now. These will be your partners for the rest of the semester. So once you move, I welcome you to get comfortable again.”

The room was in an uproar with moans and annoyance, but I couldn’t care less. I already didn’t know anyone, therefore it wouldn’t matter who she sat me next to.

“Ashlyn Jennings next to Jake Kenn at table five.” I picked up my books, moved over to my table, and watched as a boy sat in the chair next to me. He gave me a friendly smile, but I noticed when his eyes traveled to my chest.

Their eyes always found my chest.

“Hi. Ashley, right?” Jake extended his hand my way and smiled.

“
Ashlyn
,” I corrected. Jake was a good-looking guy, kind of built—as far as high school boys could be built I guess. Blond hair, brown eyes.

“Well it’s nice to meet you,
Ashlyn
.” He put the stress on my name and that got a smile from me.

“You too.”

“So you’re the new girl everyone’s been talking about? The principal’s daughter?”

Everyone’d been talking about me? The thought of that sent a rumble through my stomach and I shrugged. “
Assistant
principal’s daughter. Everyone’s been talking about me? It’s the first hour of the first day.”

“You’ll learn fast… People talk here. That’s pretty much all they do.” He nodded, his eyes roaming over my body once more. “You look nothing like Mr. Jennings.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” I smiled shyly and adjusted my chair a small bit away from him.

He noticed my move and chuckled lightly before he turned to face the teacher. “Trust me, it is.”

The class continued on, and afterwards, Jake asked me if I needed help finding my next class, which I declined with a smile. The next hour went by just like the one before—slowly.

Walking in the hallway, I felt trapped. My eyes darted to the clock on the wall. The loud ticks reminded us students that we must hurry along or we might blink and miss out on our lives. Six more hours. Six more long, dreadful hours before I would be able to escape the imprisonment of the building. 

While I was walking, I saw Henry standing down the hallway giving me a halfway grin. I sighed and turned the other way, running directly into a person. My books and schedule went flying and I rolled my eyes.

“Watch where you’re going, melons.”

I looked up just in time to see that I’d managed to run into a guy wearing a letter jacket. A football player, and from how the followers huddled around him, I was sure he was the head of the team. I glanced over and noticed Jake standing amongst them, giving him a wary smile.

He shrugged with an apologetic grin and walked off. 
Thanks for the help, chemistry partner.
A few of the guys remained near me as I started picking up my books from the run-in.

“Those aren’t just melons. Those are watermelons. I love my watermelons
big
and
juicy
,” a boy laughed as he walked past me, mocking the size of my chest.

After I picked up the books, I held them even tighter to my chest. I couldn’t even raise my head to look the bullies in the eyes.

One of the downsides to wearing Gabby’s dresses was the way they showcased my body. But for some reason, I had to wear them.

“No need to read when you got a rack like that. I can teach you all kinds of things,” the head bully said. One of the others called him Brad. I felt his eyes roaming across my body and I shifted myself away from him which made me run into another. Didn’t they have better things to do on the first day of school? Like, maybe going to class?

“Just one taste,” one of the guys muttered as he moved close to my ear and rubbed his hands against my shoulders before the rough sound of a teacher’s voice filled all of our ears.

“All right, all right. That’s enough. Get to class.” The voice ran through my ears as my head was still down. I watched as all of the feet of the assholes scurried away. A hand came near me and I flinched.

The need for a shower washed over my skin. Violated. The boys’ words and rubs had violated me and made me feel as if I’d just been touched all over in the most callous way. I wanted to go crawl back to Chicago, where at least I knew who the bullies were. I wanted to go home.

“You dropped this,” the voice said, handing me my schedule. When I looked up, the paper in his hands floated to the ground and he gasped. “Ashlyn.”

Beautiful.

Breathtaking.

Brilliant.

Blue eyes.

At first, a weird sense of comfort washed over me from knowing that he was the one who’d dismissed the assholes. But then the facts sank in. He’d
dismissed
the assholes.

“What are you doing here, Daniel?” He looked so…grown up. So different than when I’d seen him at Joe’s bar.

His tan pants were attached to a brown belt that matched his shoes. A light-blue button-down shirt covered his toned body, and his hair wasn’t free. It was tamed, combed back, held in place.