The Boy Who Sneaks in My Bedroom Window (35 page)

I smiled
happily. “It’s OK, Kate, there’s no problem. Thanks for this,
Jessica,” I said, waving the envelope proudly.

“
Make sure
you don’t lose it
,” she stated with a
smirk on her face.

I had no
doubt in my mind that she had some sort of plan that probably
involved me dropping this money down a drain
or setting fire to it somehow. Suddenly, I had a great idea
that would seriously piss her off. I grinned happily as I turned to
Liam. I stepped up close to him as I shoved the money down the
front of his jeans, pushing my whole hand down there too. Liam
grunted and looked at me, shocked.

“
Look after
that for me
, boyfriend. I’ll get it out
later,” I purred suggestively, as I pulled him down to kiss me. I
heard people cheer and clap, guys calling things like ‘oh yeah’ and
‘nice’. I smiled against his lips and pulled back. I glanced over
in time to see Jessica storm off in the opposite
direction.

I burst out
laughing; Liam grabbed me and kissed me again
, lifting me off of my feet. The bell rang and people
started heading off to their classes. I lingered behind with Liam,
not wanting to break the kiss. I can’t believe I won four thousand
dollars! What the hell can I buy with that?

He put me
back down on my feet
gently a huge grin
on his face. “That was so funny, her face was a picture,” he said,
laughing.

“
Your face
was a picture
,” I countered, flicking his
nose gently.

“
Yeah well, I
wasn’t expecting you to push money into my pants like some kind of
stripper.” He grinned and shook his head amused. “So, what are you
going to spend your money on then, Angel?” he asked, as he pulled
the envelope out of his jeans and handed it to me.

I shrugged,
grinning. “I have no idea. What shall we buy? It’s half
yours.”

“
I don’t need
anything, I already have everything I could ever want right
here
,” he said, gripping his hands on my
ass.

“
My ass,
that’s
all you want?” I asked,
laughing.

He
grinned
. “Technically, it’s my ass now,
right?” He smirked at me before kissing my neck.

“
For
now
,” I teased as I pulled away. I fanned
myself with the envelope. “Now that I’ve got what I want, I’m just
not sure there’s anything in this relationship for me
anymore.”

He laughed
and rolled his eyes at me as he
wrapped
his arm around my waist. “Come on, I’ll walk you to class,” he
suggested, leading us down the corridor.

I held the
envelope out to Liam. “Will you look after this for me? I don’t
really trust myself with it, I’ll probably lose it.” I winced at
the thought of losing all that money.

He smiled and
took it
, folding it in half and slipping
it into his inside jacket pocket. “And what if I lose it?” he
asked.

I smiled as
we reached my class; I pulled hi
m in
close, crushing my body against his. “Then you’ll just have to pay
me in kind,” I breathed, pecking his lips and walking off into my
class quickly.

Jessica
glared at me as I walked in and sat down next to Kate and Johnny in
the seat they had saved for me. Lucky for me, my teacher was
lat
e too otherwise my tardiness would
have earned me a detention.

The next month passed really quickly. Liam was still
the most adorable boyfriend in the world, taking me out on dates
and buying me flowers and chocolates. Jake was still overprotective
as usual, nothing would ever change there. My mom went back to work
but was due home again in two weeks because she had to stay on for
some launch of a new product or something. Kate was still flirting
her butt off with Johnny - much to Jake’s disgust. Liam told me
that he’d spoken to Jake about her, apparently, he didn’t want to
be with Kate, he just didn’t like the fact that she was falling all
over someone else when she used to be into him. He felt a little
left out apparently. So, to rectify the problem he slept with a few
extra girls and made himself feel a lot better.

Our
relationship with Johnny had changed a lot to
o. He was actually a really close friend of mine now; he
was such a nice guy and seemed to be growing in confidence every
day. I think maybe that had something to do with Kate’s influence.
They had been out together a couple of times, and Kate told me that
he’d kissed her last night which she was positively glowing about.
She actually really liked him, and I think he liked her too, which
was sweet.

Johnny had
been co
ming to watch the Friday hockey
games with us and for the last two weeks, he had even come to our
‘after game party’ for a couple of hours after too. We never spoke
about my father, he never asked me anything about him and I didn’t
bring him up. Occasionally, he would mention him in passing,
something to do with his life or home and every time it would make
me feel sick and slightly panicky.

Today was
Sunday and I was going with Johnny to watch him in a skateboarding
competition. When he pulled up just after lunch
time
, I kissed Liam goodbye and giggled
at his pouty face. “Stop pouting, Liam. I’ll be back in a couple of
hours,” I said, laughing.

He
sighed
dramatically. “But why can’t I
come? Sundays are
my
days,” he grumbled, frowning.

I
smiled
. “Liam, I told you, he could only
get one guest pass. He asked me to go with him! Stop whining. I’ll
see you later,” I instructed, kissing him again as I stood up.
“Love you,” I vowed as I grabbed my keys and cellphone.

“
Love you
more
, Angel,” he called as I opened the
door and ran to the car.

“
Hey
,” Johnny greeted, smiling, as
I got into his shiny little sports car.

“
Hey. You
already psyched and ready for the competition?” I asked,
grinning.

He
nodded
. “Yeah, I’m a bit nervous though.
The new trick that I’ve been practicing keeps going wrong. I’m
gonna look like such a dick if I fall on my face,” he groaned,
grimacing.

“
You won’t
fall on your face, Johnny. Have some confidence,” I replied
sternly.

He smiled and
rolled his eyes
, driving us to the skate
park where they had set up a huge half pipe ramp thing. Johnny had
been trying to teach me a few things about skating but to be
honest, like most things sporty, it just went in one ear and out of
the other. If it wasn’t dancing, then I just wasn’t really that
interested.

Usually I
liked to watch Liam play, but that was only to perv on him in his
uniform. The ramp they had set up was absolutely huge. I felt a
little sick when I looked at it. It was so high, at least fifteen
foot high on each side. “Um Johnny, are you sure about this?” I
asked, as we walked up to the signing in booth. Johnny handed over
our competitor passes and we were given yellow wrist bands and
waved in.

“
Amber
, I’ll be fine, don’t
worry.” He laughed as he dragged me over to the skater area where
people were hanging around waiting to go on and
practice.

“
Shit
, Johnny, it’s so high! What
if you get hurt?” I asked, swallowing the lump in my
throat.

“
Hey
, cut that out right now. You
told me in the car to have some confidence, I expect you to do that
same,” he said grinning at me. Jeez, I had confidence, but that
would hurt if he fell from there! We sat there watching the other
skaters have their turns. The tricks that they were doing blew my
mind, somersaults, handstands, everything that you could think
of.

The whole
t
ime I just felt worse and worse. I
wasn’t even sure if I could watch him do it. After about an hour,
Johnny was called up to go and get ready, and my heart started
trying to break out of my chest.

“
Oh God.
Please be careful,” I begged.

“
I’ll try.
But if I die, you can have my car,” he replied, winking at
me.

“
Only if I
can re-spray it pink
,” I joked, trying
not to show him I was terrified. He laughed and walked off quickly
to the area to warm up for a few minutes.

When it was
finally his turn
, I couldn’t breathe. I
watched him climb the stairs to the top of the platform and
position at the end with the board tipped up waiting to go. He
smiled down at me and I tried to smile back - I’m pretty sure my
expression looked more like a grimace though. The whistle blew, and
he tipped off. I squeezed my eyes shut, listening to the people
clap and cheer, but I didn’t want to see. I knew that the minute I
opened my eyes, he’d fall and break his neck.

After an
hour, well
, it felt like an hour anyway,
it was probably only about a minute, people were clapping like
crazy so I chanced opening my eyes. Johnny was walking down the
stairs, no broken bones, no blood. I jumped up and clapped along
with everyone else, deciding to pretend I’d watched. Next time I’d
have to tell him I couldn’t come. I just wasted his spare ticket by
not even watching it.

He
jogged over and hugged me tight. “That was
awesome!” I chirped enthusiastically.

He laughed
and shook his head. “Yeah? Did it look good through your eyelids?”
he asked, laughing harder.

I looked at
him ap
ologetically. “I’m so sorry! I
couldn’t watch it, Johnny. I felt so sick. I was so scared, I just
couldn’t,” I said apologetically.

He shook his
head. “Don’t apologise, it’s fine. I landed it though,” he boasted,
grinning wildly.

I
nodded
. “I know, I heard people
cheering,” I said a little sheepishly. I felt incredibly guilty.
He’d brought me here to watch and give him support and I couldn't
even do that. I guess I was a useless stepsister.

We sat back
down and he gave me a play by play of everything that I’d missed
while we waited for the scores and stuff to be counted. Johnny was
one of the last to go
on, so we didn’t
have to wait too long before the results were announced. When the
guy walked on the stage I gripped his hand nervously, praying he
had been scored well.

“
OK, so we
had some excellent tricks today. The judges were very impressed, so
congratulations,” the guy stated on the little platform. “Right so,
in reverse order. Coming in third place with a score of forty-four
points out of fifty, is…. Johnny Brice,” he called.

I squealed
and jumped
on him excitedly as he
laughed. “Oh God, Johnny, that’s awesome! I’m so proud of you,” I
enthused, almost crying.

He
grinned
. “Thanks, Amber. I’d better go
get my trophy.” He nodded at the stage. I stood there cheering and
clapping like an idiot while he went up and got his little silver
trophy. He ran back and hugged me spinning me in a
circle.

“
Johnny
, that’s so good. Let me
see it.” I practically snatched it out of his hands and looked at
the little silver trophy with a little man on a
skateboard.

“
I’m really
pleased with forty-four points. That’s my best score.” He grinned,
proudly.

“
Hey
, shall we go get something to
eat to celebrate? My treat,” I suggested, happily.

“
Sure. I just
need to get changed first though; I can’t really go out like this.”
He looked down at his ripped t-shirt, skater shorts and dirty
sneakers, pulling a face.

Why the hell
would he need to change? “Johnny
, I don’t
care what you wear,” I said honestly, as we started walking back to
his car.

He laughed.
“Amber, I look a mess. These are my competition clothes. I always
wear the same thing; they’re like my lucky clothes. They’re all
ripped and dirty. Besides, I’m all sweaty and stuff,” he countered,
shrugging. We climbed into his car. “I’ll just nip home and change,
and then we can go,” he said as he pulled out of the parking
lot.

Oh shit! He
wants me to go to hi
s house? I started to
feel sick. I couldn’t go, I didn’t want to see my father, I
couldn’t. I closed my eyes, willing myself not to freak out. Liam
wasn’t here so I didn’t want to have a full blown panic
attack.

“
I
can’t
,” I whispered.

He glanced at
me
, confused. “You can’t go to dinner?”
he asked, looking at me like I was crazy, probably because it was
my idea in the first place.

I shook my
head
. “I can’t go to your house, Johnny.
Please, I can’t see him,” I begged as he continued to drive in the
opposite direction to my house.

“
Stephen?” he
asked
, frowning. I nodded, unable to
speak through the lump in my throat. My hands were shaking. I
closed my eyes and thought of Liam, trying to stay calm. I thought
of the colour of his eyes, how his hair felt when I ran my hands
through it, the sound of his voice.