Raw Deal (Beauty for Ashes: Book One) (3 page)

“Says who?”

“Whatever. You look great anyway.”

Monica whipped her hair. “I do, don’t I?”

Liam came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “Hey, you keep getting away from me.”

“Yeah, can’t you take a hint?” Monica joked.

“Do you want to dance?” he asked her.

Monica looked at me, and I smiled. “Go and dance. It’s cool.”

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Monica promised.

Coming to this party had been a bad idea. I already felt lost, and my feet were still killing me from being crammed into Vinnie’s shoes.

I walked over to the drinks stand and stood behind the curly-haired texter I’d seen with Jace yesterday. He asked for a ‘Slam Dunk.’ He was given a glass of something dirty brown.

I smiled at the girl serving the drinks. “Do you have Coke?”

“One Dirty Dribble coming up,” she yelled.

“Hey, Lexi,” the guy said.

“Hey.” The first thing I noticed was how tall he was. I grinned at him, as I was handed my drink. “I hope this is just Coke.”

He steered me toward some chairs that had been set out on the left side of the hall. I was grateful. I needed to sit.

“Yeah, what else could it be?”

I made a face. “With a name like ‘Dirty Dribble,’ I don’t know. Coke laced with marijuana?” I was always suspicious about drinks. I’d been offered so many dodgy cocktails at fashion industry meet and greets, and I’d been sick for two days the first time I’d accepted one at a London event. But this was school. It had to be harmless.

“Girl, what kind of parties do you go to?”

I laughed and sat down, taking a tentative sip. “Tastes like normal Coke. What are you drinking?”

“A Slam Dunk.”

“Please translate.”

“Lemonade, lime juice, and ginger.”

I made a face.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” he said, offering his glass.

I took a sip, then handed it back. “It’s vile.”

He grinned. “You left me some lipstick.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“It’s cool, Lexi. You can leave some on my lips later if you want.”

“How do you know my name?”

“Well, you’re Monica’s buddy that’s back from England, right?”

“Right.”

“Plus, you’re hot. Everyone knows your name.”

I raised an eyebrow. It’s a fact that raising an eyebrow in an uncomfortable situation makes you look more confident than you feel. “Well, what’s your name?”

“Lewis.”

“Lewis what?”

“Carter.”

“Oh.” He had two surnames.

Lewis looked around the hall. He had lovely, intense dark eyes. He seemed to be more of a mellow kind of guy than a loud, annoying Hayden type. I searched for something to say. “When did you start Kingston?”

“Tenth Grade. I went to Los High for a year, but basketball was rubbish there.”

“Are they the ones we played tonight?”

“Yeah.”

“I missed the game. Did we win?”

“Yep.”

“Did you score any?”

“Ten points.”

“Cool.” I sipped my Dirty Dribble.

Lewis swigged his Slam Dunk.

We were both quiet for a moment. I wondered what to say next. Lewis was looking at me. I smiled and looked over at the people on the dance floor. I hated awkward silences. I stared into my drink. “Um, do you want to dance?”

“Sure.” He downed his drink and stood up.

I downed mine. Bad idea—now I really wanted to burp. Lewis danced me over to the dance floor, and as we danced we talked about school, what subjects we were taking, which teachers we liked, and which teachers we didn’t. Lewis was funny, and I actually started to enjoy the party.

Suddenly, the lights went out for a few seconds, and everyone started screaming before they came back on.

“Party’s over,” Lewis said.

“Oh, is that how they get us out?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

I’d grabbed his arm for dear life when the lights went out, and I realized that I was still hanging onto it. I let go. “Sorry.”

“No worries. How are you getting home?”

“I brought my car.”

“Hey, Lexi, where’ve you been?” Monica asked, suddenly appearing beside me. “I thought you’d left.”

“No, I was with Lewis.”

“We’re going to the burger joint across the road. You coming?”

“No, I think I’ll just head home now.”

Monica scowled. “Lexi, why are you in such a rush to go home all the time, you miserable—”

“Okay, Monica,” I cut in, raising my hand. I’d done my best to make Lewis think I was all fun and jovial. I didn’t need Monica uncovering the real Lexi. I looked up at him. “Are you in a hurry to get home?” I knew better than to just follow Monica to the burger joint. She’d flutter off as soon as we got there, and I’d be left on my own. I’d go if Lewis was coming.

Lewis grinned. “Not when there’s the option of hanging out with a beautiful girl.”

Monica’s eyes widened. “Liam never calls me beautiful.”

“Yes, I do,” Liam piped up. I hadn’t even noticed him approaching.

“No, you just say I’m hot. I want to be beautiful.”

Liam rolled his eyes and took Monica’s hand as the four us made for the exit.

Lewis draped his arm around my shoulders when we got outside. Sandy joined us as we walked, and started talking to Monica, totally ignoring me.

The burger joint was pretty empty when we arrived. The guys ordered burger meals, and we made our way upstairs. I couldn’t stop laughing over the fact that the burger joint was actually called
The Burger Joint,
and Monica thought it was funny that I found it funny. She started laughing too.

Soon more kids from school arrived, and within half an hour, the place was packed. Some people started dancing to the awful music blasting in the joint.

Most of the basketball squad sat with us at our table, and Monica and Sandy were in their element, flirting and giggling for no apparent reason. Lewis pulled me onto his knee when a couple more guys came over, and Monica gave me a totally tactless wink. I ignored her. Hopefully, Lewis hadn’t seen it.

When Jace Washington walked in, everyone cheered. He came over to our table and slapped hands with a couple of the guys.

“You were on fire tonight,” Liam said.

“Thanks, man. It was a team effort,” Jace replied.

“Too right, it was a team effort!” Craig yelled over the music, pounding his fist on the table. “I scored tonight too!”

“So did Lewis,” I put in. I looked down at Lewis. “Didn’t you score ten points?”

“Yeah, Lewis was hot,” Sandy agreed.

Jace looked around the joint, an amused frown on his face as he watched our peers making fools of themselves, dancing on the tables and acting like they were in kindergarten. “I’m gonna split ya’ll,” he said. “Or I won’t get up for school tomorrow.”

“Remember, we’re training at eight,” Lewis reminded him.

“Yeah, you’d think we’d get a break the day after a game.” Jace dug his hands into his pockets. “See ya’ll in the morning.”

A couple minutes later Hayden decided to leave too. “I forgot about training in the morning,” he grumbled, yanking his baseball cap off and scratching his head before replacing it again. He stood up, and a few of the other guys followed suit. “One day, I’ll get paid for this.”

Lewis yawned. “Do you want to go home, too?” I asked him.

“No, but I probably should.”

“Well, let’s go then.” I stood up and pulled Lewis to his feet.

“See ya’ll in the morning,” Lewis told his teammates.

“Yeah, and let us know if she’s any good,” Craig said with a wink.

Monica shook her head while everyone else laughed. “Go home, Craig,” she said.

Lewis and I walked back to the school parking lot. “My place or yours?” he asked when we got to my car.

“Huh?”

“You know the guys will disown me if I don’t have anything to say about you tomorrow.”

I elbowed him and unlocked my disgrace of a car. “You can make it up.”

Chapter 3

Truth be told, I’d enjoyed the basketball after party, but I obviously couldn’t admit it to Monica. If I did, she’d get that annoying triumphant look on her face, and I just wasn’t having that. So, when she swooshed in on me in the cafeteria during lunchtime on Friday, I acted nonchalant and indifferent about the party.

“Come on, you must have enjoyed it, Lexi. I saw you tearing up the dance floor, and you and Lewis seemed to hit it off pretty well.”

I bit into my chicken sandwich. Yep, I definitely thought Lewis was hot, but Monica didn’t need to know that.

“Did Lewis get your number?” Monica asked.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know.” He hadn’t even asked, and up until now, I hadn’t even thought about it. Maybe I’d enjoyed his company more than he’d enjoyed mine.

“Well, what happened when you guys left last night?”

“Nothing. I went home, and I assume he went home too.”

Monica looked like she didn’t believe me, but she let it drop. “A bunch of us are going the movies tonight. Wanna come?”

Great! Monica had a never-ending stream of social activities to invite me to. I’d said yes to one. Wasn’t that enough? “Who’s going?”

“Just a few of us, and I’m sleeping over at Sandy’s till Sunday. You can too if you want.”

I didn’t think Sandy really liked me. “No thanks.”

“Well, we’re meeting back here at school at seven to park our cars. Feel free to change your mind.” Monica got up and walked off. I watched her leave the cafeteria. No doubt she was off to meet Liam.

I picked up my half empty bottle of water and downed the rest of it. A part of me wanted to go tonight, but my inability to keep up with the likes of Monica and Sandy made me think twice.

Since I had no more classes, I decided I was going home. On my way out, I saw Monica and Hayden. He was trying to grab her cell phone, and she was screaming and refusing to let go.

“Help, Lexi,” she called.

I forced a smile and walked past. Monica and I had been really close before I’d gone to England, and although she’d always been the ‘bouncier’ of the two of us, I didn’t think I’d been that far behind her. I was sure there’d been a time when I was happy, carefree, and full of positivity, but it seemed like a lifetime ago. Right now, things were a struggle. My glass was definitely half empty.

I bought pizza on my way home. Food was good for triggering feel-good hormones, and I definitely needed some of those. I took it to my room and devoured it hungrily, while I downloaded all my thoughts for the day into my diary. The counselor that had worked with me in the first few weeks after my dad died had recommended that I write. It was meant to be cleansing. An hour and a half later, I kicked off my shoes and lay down on my bed. Writing was also exhausting.

Aunt Milly, my mom’s extravagant Bible toting sister, had suggested prayer. Maybe I’d try that one of these days.

***

I woke up with a start as my phone vibrated. I reached over and grabbed it from my nightstand. It was Monica.

“Hey, Mon,” I croaked. I looked at my glow-in-the-dark clock. It was 6:45. Morning or night? I wasn’t quite sure.

“I’m just on my way to school,” Monica announced. “Are you coming to the movies with us? Do you want me to pick you up?”

I got up and switched on the lights. “No, I’m not ready yet. I’ll meet you there, but I’ll be a bit late. Will you wait for me?”

“Sure. What are you wearing?”

“What are you wearing?”

“Tiny black Chloé dress. Real tiny.”

“I thought it was just the movies.”

“Yeah, but Hayden is coming.”

“Ah. I see.”

“Anyway, you hurry up.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Monica hung up, and I went to the bathroom for a quick sixty-second shower. I would have liked to have straight hair tonight, but with only a few minutes to get ready it wasn’t going to happen. I pulled on a denim mini skirt, topped it with a sparkly silver shirt, slapped on some makeup and rushed out.

***

I barely managed to cut the engine before Monica opened my car door and dragged me out.

“Hey!” I protested, and then I did a double take. Monica looked really glam, but somehow, she still managed not to look overdressed or like she was trying too hard. “Wow, look at you.”

“We’re late for the movie, Lexi. And I made everyone wait for you!”

I looked at my phone. “You said seven. I’m only five minutes late.”

She looked at her diamond-studded watch. “Oh, yeah, mine is twenty minutes fast on purpose so that I’m never late for anything. I forgot. Duh.”