Shift (The Neturu Chronicles) (10 page)

               
“Thanks.” Kayla laughs.  “I have no idea what I’m going to have you do
when I win.”

               
“We’ll think of something.” He chuckles and looks at the floor. Jackson
suddenly stiffens and stands up straight. “Heads up, buttercup.”

               
“What?” Kayla asked, confused.

               
“Kayla,” she hears from beside her.  “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

               
She turns to see Jude standing next to her.  With a disgusted look, Kayla
snaps, “Hell, no.”

               
“Come on, just give me a minute.”

               
Nodding her head toward Jackson, Kayla declares, “He’s my liaison now. 
You can go talk to him.”

               
“I’d be more than happy to have a conversation with you,” Jackson notes with a
sinister grin.

               
“I wanted to apologize for the other night,” Jude mumbles awkwardly under
Jackson’s stare.  “I didn’t mean to grab you.”

               
With a snort, Kayla replies, “You knew exactly what you were doing.  Your
meager apology isn’t going to make things all right.  You’ve tortured me
for far too long.”

               
With a single step, Jackson is behind her.  “And the torturing stops
today.”

               
“I think she should fight her own battles,” Jude retorts harshly, staring at
Jackson.

               
Jackson leans over Kayla since he is so much taller than her.  “Listen,
her battles are my battles now.  So you pick a fight with her and you’ll
end up going toe-to-toe with me.”

               
Kayla’s eyebrows shoot up, and she looks at Jackson.  Jude just growls.
“Whatever, so Kayla has a big, tough boyfriend now.  Ooh, I’m so scared.”

               
Jackson emits a deep throaty noise, and Kayla starts pushing him in the
opposite direction down the hall.  “Jude,” she yells. “Go away or I’m
going to let him loose.”

               
Jude glares at them and then walks the other direction.  Jackson looks
down at Kayla.  “You should just let me take care of him.”

               
“Though it would be entertaining to see, violence doesn’t solve anything. 
Come on.  I don’t want to be late for class.”  When they get to their
classroom, Jackson flops down in his chair and looks at Kayla.  “What?”
she
whines.

               
“He and I will encounter each other in a dark alley one of these days.”

               
Her eyes nearly roll into the back of her head.  “You aren’t my boyfriend,
Jackson.  You don’t have to be so protective.  I’m not going to swoon
over your need for chivalry.”

               
A smirk crosses Jackson’s face.  “A little swooning wouldn’t hurt.”

               
“Will you catch me if I do?” Kayla asks, returning the smile.

               
Looking off to the side, Jackson hums to himself and then says, “Probably not.”

               
Kayla's jaw drops. “You would let me fall on the floor?”

               
Jackson sighs. “Probably.”

               
“Idiot,” Kayla mumbles, turning her back to him.  She feels his finger
tickle her back, so she lifts her hand up and gives him the finger.

               
He gasps.  “How rude!  Now you won’t get breakfast in the
morning.  I’ll just take Tracy out.”

               
“She’d probably
love
that,” Kayla replies, turning back around. 
“She thinks your hhhhooooot.”

               
“So do yyyooouuu.”

               
“That’s what yyyooouuu think.”

               
Jackson is about to say something else but closes his mouth when the teacher
starts talking.  Kayla takes out her notebook and sighs.

               
After class, Jackson steps beside Kayla and asks, “So do you want to come over
tonight?  You can see my massive house and be envious.”

               
“You’re ridiculous,” Kayla groans.

               
“I have an indoor pool,” Jackson murmurs in her ear.

               
Kayla looks at him with a smirk.  “You just want to see me in my bathing
suit.”

               
“Oh puleez, you’re the one having fantasies about my body.”

“You were fully clothed,
thank you very much.  Anyway, I don’t daydream about you.  I had one
dream.  That’s it…one.  Don’t get a big head about it.”

               
He chuckles and shakes his head.  “Whatever, there will be more, trust
me.  Now, are you coming over tonight?  We can work on our short
story.”

               
“That’s probably a good idea.  We need to get that started.”

               
“I’m actually good at writing, so we just need to come up with ideas, and I’ll
do it.”

               
Looking at him, Kayla says, “No, I’ll help.  This is our project.  I
won’t have you doing all the work.  I like to earn my 4.0 GPA.”

               
“All right,” Jackson says with a sigh.  “We won’t get as good a grade
then.”

               
Kayla shoves him into the lockers.  “Shut up.”

               
Jackson bounces back and grabs her.  He pushes her across the hall,
backing them into a wall.  “Don’t start a fight you can’t finish,” he
murmurs.

               
Her breath gets caught in her throat because of how close they are.  “Are
you going to beat me up?” she asks.

               
“No, I would think of something better than that, much more embarrassing,” he
replies.  They are so close that Kayla can feel the heat of his body
against hers.  They stand there for a minute staring at each other, the
tension building between them.  Then slowly, Jackson bends down to
her.  Her impulse is to kiss him, kiss him hard, but she knows better than
that.  Gently, she places her hand on his chest and stops him. 
Jackson opens his eyes and appears to remember their friendship
agreement.  He quickly backs up. “Damn it, I’m sorry.  I don’t think
I can do this,” he grumbles to himself.

               
“Do what? You can’t tell me that you didn’t want to kiss me right then.”

               
With anger in his voice, Jackson snaps, “That’s the problem; I did.  I
need to go to the bathroom.”  He turns to walk away.

               
“You promised you wouldn’t bolt,” Kayla yells.

               
Jackson stops and turns around.  “I’m not bolting, Kayla, and I am not repulsed
by you.  It’s the exact opposite, but I need a minute to…regroup or
something.  I promise, it’s not you.”

               
“Whatever,” Kayla growls as she walks past him.  He grabs her elbow, but
she twists out of his grip and continues walking.

               
When she gets to class, she slams her stuff down on her desk.  Her friend,
Daniella, looks at her.  “You okay, girl?”

               
“Guys are so stupid!”

               
Daniella laughs. “You just figuring that out?”

               
Kayla takes out her history book and starts to read the next chapter.  She
senses Jackson come in, but she ignores him.  Luckily, a few seconds
later, the bell rings and the teacher starts the day’s lecture, so Kayla
doesn’t have to talk to Jackson.

               
At the end of class, she quickly grabs her stuff and practically runs out of
the room.  She purposely gets lost in the crowd.  Kayla can’t quite
grasp how she feels…anger, rejection,
sadness
. 
It’s all swimming around in her head.

               
Lunch comes and goes.  Tracy bugs her the whole time about what’s
wrong.  Kayla tells her to leave it alone.  Tracy asks if it’s about
Jackson, but Kayla ignores her and walks down the hall by herself.

               
The rest of the school day gives her time to calm down, so when creative
writing finally arrives, she is in a much better mood.  When she gets to
class, Jackson is already in his seat.  With her head held high, Kayla
walks past him and sits down at her desk.  Jackson turns around. 
“I’m sorry.”

               
“For what?” Kayla retorts sharply.

               
“You know what; I don’t need to answer that,” Jackson states quietly.

               
Fidgeting with her pen, Kayla whispers, “I know where we stand.  
Just, please, keep your hands, body…everything to yourself from now on.”

               
“I can do that.  I’m sorry.  I would never hurt you on purpose.”

               
With a nod of her head, Kayla says, “Good to know.”

               
Jackson hangs his head and turns around.  Class seems endless.  Her
eyes keep drifting back to Jackson.  She still doesn’t know how to feel
about him, and that bothers her. A lot.

               
At the end of the school day, Kayla and Jackson walk to her locker
together.  “Do you still want to come over?” Jackson asks.  “Or do
you just want to punch me?”

               
“Well.” Kayla laughs. “I do want to punch you, but we really need to start this
project.”

               
“Okay, get your books.”

               
A voice is heard above the noise in the hall. “Hey, what’s going on guys?”

               
They both turn to see Tracy.  Jackson smiles and says, “Hey, best
friend.  Nothing. We’re going to my house to work on our creative writing
story.”

               
“Ooh,” Tracy coos.  “Make sure you actually do your work.”

               
“
Tracy
,” Kayla hisses.  “That won’t be a problem. Trust me.”

               
Her friend just shrugs her shoulders.  “I’d try to invite myself to go
with, but I have homework to catch up on.  I’m going to stop and get
coffee and then head home.  You two have fun.  I’ll text you later,
Kayla.”

               
“All right,” Kayla replies.

               
Tracy turns to Jackson.  “If you want to go to breakfast without our
non-best friend, give me a call.”

               
Jackson chuckles. “That’d be difficult if I don’t have your number.”

               
“Good point. Get it from her.
”
She nods at Kayla.  
“
I
have to go.  See you guys later!”  She waves and then turns to leave.

               
Kayla looks at Jackson.  “Sorry, she’s a little forward sometimes.”

               
“No.” Jackson laughs.  “That’s what I like about her.”

               
“You like that she gushes over you,” Kayla retorts, grabbing her books. 
“It fluffs your ego.”

               
With a smirk, Jackson says, “True.  Let’s go.”

               
They make small talk about their likes and dislikes all the way to Jackson’s
house.  When they pull up to the front, Kayla is completely stunned. 
“Jackson, your house is insane.  It’s huge!”

               
“Yeah, my parents like it.  I’m happy to just live in my room.  Okay,
that’s a lie.  I like the gym and pool, but otherwise, I think the extra
rooms go to waste.  We have to park in back.”  He starts to drive
around the house and then suddenly stops.

               
“What’s wrong?” Kayla asks.  She turns her attention to where Jackson is
looking.  All she sees is a black sports car.

               
Jackson growls. “I think you should probably go home.”

               
“What?  Why?  Don’t be ridiculous; I’m here.  Just park the
car.”

               
The air is heavy as Jackson pulls next to the car.  “This is a bad idea,”
he mumbles.

               
“Seriously?  I’m getting out of the car.”  She grabs her bag and
climbs out.  When she closes the door, she walks over to the sports
car.  It looks really expensive.  When Jackson walks up next to her,
she asks, “What kind of car is this?”

               
“Porsche Carrera GT.”

               
Kayla looks into it.  “Is it expensive?”

               
“Yeah.” Jackson sighs.  “Probably like half a million dollars.”

               
She nearly falls over. “Excuse me, what? Is it your dad's?”

               
“No, we aren’t that ostentatious.”

               
Before Jackson can say anything more, the back door opens and his mom comes
out.  “Kayla!  It’s so good to see you.  What a surprise.”

               
Smiling, Kayla replies, “Hi, Mrs. Blakely.”

               
“Oh, please, call me Emma,” his mom says.  “Come on in.  Are you
going to stay for dinner?”

               
“Sure,” Kayla replies.

               
“No.
”
Jackson hisses.
“
I think she needs to go home.”

               
“Don’t be ridiculous, Jackson,” his mom snaps.  “Come on, Kayla.  Let
me show you the house.”