Senseless Attraction (12 page)

     
If she gets out. No! I will not think like that.

      “I’ll be there soon.”

      “Good girl; the Base Hospital. I’ll see you soon.” 

      I passed the phone to Rosita’s waiting hand. Had I even hung it up? I didn’t know.

      Damn it to hell. Oh shit, my Momma had been shot.

      How could this happen?

      Not to her. She didn’t need this. Damn it, she had better pull through.

      I wanted to cry. I wanted to sink to the ground and sob. But that would get me nowhere, and when I couldn’t cry, I got angry. That was better than breaking down.

      “I have to go,” I uttered, my fist clenched at my sides.

      “Yes, go, child. I am sorry.”

      I nodded. Without thinking, I opened the door, picked up the bottom of my dress so I wouldn’t trip over, and ran. I kept running, ignoring Donna yelling, “What is she doing here?” Ignoring Kane asking me, “Skylar, what’s wrong?”

      What was wrong?

      A million things.

      I didn’t stop, even when I heard the words that nearly broke me again from Rosita, “Her Momma has been shot while working.” And Kane’s audible answer of, “Shit.”

      No, I kept moving out the front door, out into the cold night air.

O
n a sigh, I wondered what was going to be in store for me today at Rushton High School. Probably something disastrous, like the last couple of days, since I was klutzy enough to trip over my own two feet and land on the floor at the feet of Miss Cummins and Mr Haydn. I’d had everyone’s attention and my usual invisible geekiness was no longer working. All I heard every day since then was that I was falling for Mr Haydn, or that I was trying to look up Miss Cummins’s skirt.

Of course, I was doing neither. What I had actually been doing was trying to make enough room in the hallway for Tristan Davis and his crew to walk past. It was their teasing of others in the first place I wanted to stay away from. They were the worst, especially Tom Sinker, Hunter Gresham, and Aaron Kellie; the three of them together were trouble. Now that I no longer blended into the background after that one hiccup, they tried to flirt with me—only not in a good way. They probably thought I loved the attention they gave me. But I didn’t; I loathed it. Who wouldn’t?

      Who would want to walk into a room or pass by them while getting their bottoms pinched or slapped, or something thrown at them, like food or sports equipment? Or being pulled onto their laps as everyone laughed along with them. I tried to look to Tristan for any kind of help. I found he was the one who seemed to be able to control them, because when he spoke, they listened. But every time I did, he’d turn his scowling face away.

      My dad had always told me to ignore stupid teenaged boys. So I did. I no longer flinched when I felt a pinch or when something was thrown my way. I took it all, and hoped that one day they’d give up.

      I didn't have enough guts to stand up to them. I wished I did. All I wanted to do was go to school, learn, graduate, and move on to university without too many emotional scars to bring me down.

      Letting out another sigh, I pushed my glasses back up my nose and opened the front door to my school. So far so good, no sign of any of them.

      “Hi, Alex.”

      I jumped high and grabbed at my chest when Corbet appeared out of nowhere. Corbet was like me in many ways. We loved to learn. We loved to eat Italian food, listened to eighties music, and studied. He was a great friend to have and I’d been lucky enough to have him since kindergarten. Just like Sarah, who was walking towards us—not the kindergarten part, but being a great friend. Sarah moved here two years ago, and since then, we’d been stuck like glue. Not that anyone could understand it—we were two totally different people.

      “Jeez, Corbet, you gave me a heart-attack,” I complained.

      “I told him not to do it.” Sarah smiled and gave me a quick hug.

      Sometimes, I wondered why Sarah hung out with us. I mean, yes, she liked the things we did, but where Corbet and I both looked the geek part, she didn't. I had dark, ocean-blue eyes. I was small and stubby, and had long, boring brown hair that was always being pushed behind my ears. Corbet was cute in his own way. He was a few inches taller than me, and skinny, with light brown hair and eyes. He also wore glasses, like me. As for Sarah, she was tall, slim, but not rake skinny, and beautiful with her long, dark red hair and light emerald eyes. She was also lucky enough to be so good-looking that no one seemed to bother her.

      “Sorry, Alex. I really should have thought it through,” Corbet said with sympathy in his eyes. He knew who I thought it was. Unfortunately, he got just as much unwanted attention from the ‘three stooges’ as I did.

      “It's all right.” I started to walk with them beside me. We had the same Social Studies class to get to, and the bell was going to ring any second.

      “How was your weekend, girls?” Corbet asked as we reached the door in time. The bell sounded when we walked in.

      “Good, we watched the two
Bridget Jones
movies; you should have come,” Sarah said. Every weekend we did the same thing: sleep over at my house, rent movies, and pig out on takeaway and junk food. My dad didn't mind; he was usually working on some court case anyway. He liked that I had the company on weekends when he was too busy. Made him feel less guilty. Not that he should, we’d been through enough after my mom passed away from cancer a year-and-a-half ago. Dad threw himself into work, and I threw myself more into studies and my new job at the local library.

      “You know I would have, but I had that thing with the family.” Corbet sighed, sitting in his seat in front of our table and next to Laura Jennings, the class gossip and top cheerleader. He wouldn't usually sit next to her, but she was moved tables when she and her best friend Brittany wouldn't stop texting and talking.

      Corbet was talking about his family’s reunion picnic they had every year. He hated them, but was made to go by his parents, or else he would have spent the night with us as well. Another thing my dad didn't mind; he trusted me.

      The teacher walked in and started speaking, so the class quieted at once. Everyone knew not to face the wrath of Mr Kenneth; he was one hard teacher to get on his good side with. It took Laura a few classes to figure that out, and only when she was moved to sit with Corbet did she finally get it.

      He wasn’t a bad teacher; I got along with him fine, but Sarah had said that was because I had good grades all the time. I felt Sarah nudge my arm with her elbow; once she got my attention, she slid a piece of paper towards me.

     
He likes you.

      I looked at her puzzled and scribbled back.
Who???

   She rolled her eyes and wrote,
Corbet!!!

      I stifled a laugh and shook my head, while winding my finger around my ear to signal she was crazy.

     
Fine, deny it, but I know it's true. By the way… I kissed someone.

      I couldn't stop the gasp, thankfully no one—especially the teacher—heard.

     
Who??? When??? Where???

   She giggled, wrote something, and then slid the piece of paper back.

       Opening it, I read:
Sunday night! My parents made me go to the grocery store; he was there. We started talking. I found I liked him, and kissed him before I left.
I raised my eyebrows at her. She didn't answer the one question I wanted the most, which didn't sit well with me, so I wrote back. 
WHO???

      She looked reluctant to tell me, but finally started writing and passed it back slowly.
Please don't be mad...Tristan Davis.

      My heart started racing. Oh God, why would she have done that? He was their ringleader, and she knew how much I despised them.

      Hang on a minute…what was that other thing I was feeling in the pit of my stomach, nauseous? Hate? Regret? Enmity? Jealousy?

      Sarah grabbed another piece of paper and quickly wrote.
Please, please don't hate me.

     
I don't. I could never! But what does this mean?
I wrote.

     
She shrugged and scribbled down,
I don't know, but I think I like him, and he's a great kisser!!

      I nodded at her, not knowing what to write back. I was grateful when she turned her attention back to what the teacher was saying. I wish I could have as well, but my mind wouldn't allow it.

      I shouldn't really think too much about it; Sarah liked a different guy each week. It wouldn't last. And why was I
hoping
that it wouldn’t?

      I didn't know Tristan at all; we’d never spoken and he was definitely not my type. All right, so he may be good looking in a bad-boy way, with his shoulder-length black hair and dark brown eyes. He was very tall and broad in a giant’s kind of way. Way too tall for my liking.

      Maybe what I was feeling had something to do with the slight envy I had for Sarah. She was beautiful and it seemed she could have any guy she liked. Where I’d never been on a date and had kissed only one guy who dribbled everywhere. No one of the opposite sex had any feeling for me whatsoever.

      Yes, Sarah did say something about Corbet liking me, but I couldn't see it. We were friends and that was all we would ever be. Besides, if he did, which I wasn’t saying he did, I couldn’t like him like that, and I knew I never would.

      The bell rang, telling me it was time to move to my next class: Maths.

      “We’ll talk later, okay?” Sarah whispered. I nodded before she left the room with Corbet, who gave me a quick wave walking out the door. They both had English together next period, so that left me stuck in Maths all alone with Tristan and his idiots. I only had to go next door for it.

      Holding my breath, I walked through the door and sighed in relief seeing that they hadn't arrived yet. I shouldn’t have gotten too excited though; before I made it to me desk in the middle of the class, I felt a hard smack on my rear. That time it made me jump; I looked over my shoulder to see Aaron standing there grinning. I wanted to rub where he’d hit because it was still stinging, but I knew that would only make things worse. So I quickly sat down, saying nothing.

      “Come on, doll, you know you liked it. When are you going to just come out with it and tell me how much you want my body?” He laughed and others followed suit. I think they did it mainly to keep him happy and to hide the fact they were happy he wasn't doing it to any of them.

      “How do you know she doesn't want
my
body?” Tom added as he sat in his seat in the back next to Aaron. I didn't say anything, but watched out the corner of my eye as Tristan and Hunter walked in and also sat in the back.