The Hit List (5 page)

The lobby of the school has been transformed to accommodate the annual Los Angeles Conservatory for the Arts fundraiser. It’s beautiful. White and black silk tablecloths are draped over tall tables. Similar fabric covers the barstools at the temporary bar set up on the far end of the room. A makeshift stage with white and black satin bows sits on the opposite of the room. Familiar faces surround me as students work to put the finishing touches on things before the fundraiser starts.

Noelle pops up beside us. Her shimmery blue dress catches the light and throws patterns across Brielle’s plum-colored satin dress and the table next to us. Noelle’s blond hair is curled into spirals and flows down her back.

Brielle jumps, her purse knocking into my arm. “Jesus, where did you even come from?”

She smiles, not at all fazed by Brielle’s tone. “You were wrong, you know. No one really died.”

“No kidding.” Brielle’s face is flat.

It’s kind of sad that Noelle took Brielle seriously. I feel like someone should tell her what the game is really about so she can prevent herself from being taken advantage of.

People move past us, hanging final decorations. I inch closer to Brielle to let a guy carrying a cooler through. He winks at me as he passes. Random.

“I just thought I’d let you know so you don’t get in trouble or anything.” Noelle runs her hand over the back of the chair.

Brielle’s fake happy voice returns. It’s scary how real it sounds. “Thanks. That’s so kind of you.”

More students have gathered in the lobby. The overhead lights dim around us and a spotlight lights up the main stage. It changes from white to blue.

“So don’t kill anyone.” Noelle shrugs one shoulder and bounces off to talk to another friend a couple tables away from us.

“I don’t even know how to respond to that. I think I just got dumber. Is that possible?”

Adam narrows his eyes. “What the hell was that about?”

“Don’t ask.”

Some of the music students play songs and sing on the stage. Other students have started to dance. Rachel and Luke are close to the stage. Her back is pressed against him. His hands grip her hips as they move slowly to the beat. There’s not even enough space for air to pass between them.

Brielle smoothes the satin fabric of her dress. “Come on.” She doesn’t wait for an answer and grabs my hand on her way to the dance floor.

Hours later, we haul ourselves over to a table, laughing hysterically from Adam’s attempt at hip-hop. I don’t recognize most of the students around us. A few kids walk past us and I’m about eighty percent sure they go to our school. Rachel grinds against a new boy up near the stage. Luke is nowhere to be found.

I rest my hand on the back of a chair and try to catch my breath. Brielle hops up onto a chair gracefully, careful not to flash the entire club. She holds her fifth drink of the night.

Adam grabs it and takes a sip. His face twists into a grimace the second the liquid touches his tongue. “God, Brielle, how did you even get alcohol?”

She giggles and looks toward the bar. “I know the bartender.”

Adam shakes his head and tries to cover his smile. “Of course you do.” He hands her drink back to her and pushes through the crowd toward a group of kids I don’t recognize.

“Where are you going?” I yell after him.

“Let him go. Those are some of his friends from Pacific Harbor. See the cute one in blue? That’s Jake, his sometimes boyfriend.” Brielle leans on the table, her chest heaving and a huge smile on her face.

The music students from the school take turns singing the popular songs from the radio. There is no DJ tonight. Only them. And they look like they’re having a blast. The bass pulses through my chest. Little shudders vibrate my heart.

“Hey, gorgeous,” someone says behind me.

I whirl around and come face to face with Luke. He catches my elbow to keep me from colliding with him. I yank my arm out of his grasp, more out of habit than anything else, and grab the table for support. He narrows his eyes, but he’s not mad. He seems more curious. He wears black dress pants and a slate gray shirt. The dim lighting darkens his eyes to a deep navy.

“She has a name, you know.” Brielle glares at him from beside me.

“Would you like to dance,
Sadie
?” His eyes flick to Brielle as he says my name and he holds his hand out to me.

I shouldn’t. I know I shouldn’t. But it’s just a dance. Nothing bad could possibly come out of this. I’m supposed to be having fun anyway. That’s what tonight is all about.

I take his hand and he leads me out to the middle of the floor. The music slows as soon as we stop moving.

He spins me under my arm and pulls me against his chest before I have a chance to protest. My arm automatically goes to his shoulder and his hand finds the small of my back. My ballroom teacher back in New York would be so proud.

My hand rests loosely in his. It’s nice to have a connection with someone after shutting myself off to everyone around me for the past six months. This is exactly what I need tonight. It’s not like it means anything.

“How do you like L. A. so far?” His mouth is close to my ear, but his words are swallowed up by the music and the dull roar of the people around us.

There hasn’t been a lot of free time since I arrived in L. A. I have yet to really see what it’s like outside the school. But it’s easy to see the atmosphere is more laid back than New York. “It’s different.”

He smiles and the skin around his eyes crinkles. “Better or worse than New York?”

I pause to think of the best way to answer. New York has Patrick and my mom, but it’s home and despite how much I tell myself I need to be in L. A., I miss it. “Both.”

“You seemed happy there.” He shrugs and my hand slips lower on his arm. “At least, you did in that article with your boyfriend.”

I laugh at how things have changed since then. “Yeah, well, that was a long time ago.” I don’t bother to correct his terminology. It doesn’t matter anyway. He’s got Rachel; we’re just having fun.

Luke dips me backward and I can’t help from laughing again at the ridiculousness of being dipped elegantly in the lobby of our school and talking to a boy I barely know. But as crazy as it feels, it’s also a pleasant surprise. Never did I think I would have fun here outside of rehearsals. It’s not why I’m here. I shouldn’t be enjoying it as much as I am. But for tonight, I don’t really care.

Luke pulls me back against him. His hand finds the same spot on my back again, but this time he’s closer. “You seem happy here, too.”

“I am.” And it’s the truth. Even though he brought up New York, this is the most fun I’ve had since I got here.

“Good. Class will only get more intense. Remember to have a little fun every once in a while.” The song ends and another one picks up, the beat a lot faster than the one we danced to. “I’ll see you in rehearsal.”

I smile and nod. It takes too much energy to yell above the music. He walks toward Rachel who sits with a group of girls from school at the bar. She wraps an arm around him and he leans into her side.

“There you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” Adam smiles as his arm slides around my back. “Dance with me.”

I don’t give Luke a backward glance as Adam drags me back onto the dance floor. He pulls me into his arms and leads me easily as the music slows again in the background, a sure sign that the fundraiser is winding down.

“What’s up with you tonight?”

I frown up at him. I wasn’t aware I was acting any differently. “What do you mean?”

Adam glances toward the bar where I’m sure Luke still stands next to Rachel. “You seem more relaxed. I just haven’t seen you like this.”

I shrug, not even sure how to answer him. “I’m having fun.”

We turn so the bar is to my left. I can’t help when my eyes travel to the spot I last saw Luke. But he isn’t there.

Adam’s chest shakes and I pull away to see his face. “What?”

“You like him.” He laughs again.

I lean back and stare at him. “What? I do not.”

He’s crazy if he thinks that. Having fun and dancing with Luke doesn’t automatically mean I like him. It was just dancing. That’s like saying I’ve liked every person I’ve ever danced with. And
that’s
crazy. I like dancing, not him.

“Yeah, okay.” He tries to keep the smile off his face.

It’s not like Luke would be hard to like anyway. He’s nice and completely unlike what Brielle made him out to be.

I wait for Adam to say something in the silence, but he doesn’t.

“It doesn’t matter if I like him anyway because it’s never going to turn into anything.”

He looks down at me. “Says who?”

“Me.”

I won’t let the same thing that happened with Patrick happen with Luke. I can’t let it happen. I don’t know if I can handle another fallout like I had with Patrick.

Adam sighs and pulls me back against his chest. “I’ve known Luke for a long time and with all his faults, at least his intentions are clear. He’s broken a lot of hearts, but it was never because he let a girl believe he wanted a relationship when he didn’t. He’s a decent guy if you can get past the commitment issue.”

Commitment issues are a deal breaker for me. If I can’t trust someone to be there for me, what’s the point in even having a relationship?

He glances down at me. “Trust is always hard when someone hasn’t given you a reason to trust them. I know what it’s like to have someone move on without you. But at some point, you have to move on too. For yourself.”

I stare up at him. Whether he’s guessing or not, he seems to know a lot about my life. I believe Adam when he says Luke is a decent guy. But that doesn’t mean I want anything to do with him.

The music students have stopped singing. Music plays from the stereo system. There are far less people here now than when we first arrived.

Adam notices it too and cranes his neck to look up at the stage. “I think that’s our cue to leave. Let’s find Brielle.”

Adam grabs my hand and walks ahead of me as we search the lobby for Brielle. Ten minutes later, we find her making out with some guy against a wall. Adam pulls her away and pushes her toward the hallway leading out of the lobby. She giggles and waves at the guy, making a “call me” gesture to him as she attempts to stay upright in her heels.

We walk toward the dorms with Adam practically holding Brielle up so she doesn’t fall over. I trail behind them. Brielle has clearly had more to drink since we left her earlier and Adam struggles to keep her on her feet and make forward progress at the same time.

I look backward into the lobby before I step through the door into the hallway that leads to the dorms. My eyes meet Luke’s as he dances with a girl I don’t recognize. He smiles at me and I can’t help the shy smile that crosses my lips.

But it’s just a friendly smile. Because it was just a dance. Nothing more.

THE HIT LIST: THE GIRLS

September 7

It’s been a week since the third annual Hit List games launched and guys are already starting to score. But let’s face it. It’s boring to watch our guys run around chasing the same point values week after week.

It’s time to up the stakes a little.

This is the part in our show where I introduce our bonus girls. The bonus girls are worth more points if a Hitter is able to get them into bed. The first Hitter there gets to claim the points. After someone claims points, the girl will lose her bonus status and become like every other girl in the game.

Now, before this year, these girls remained anonymous until the very end. What fun is that? In no particular order, here are the lucky girls.

RACHEL BARRONS

SAMANTHA JAMESON

ASHLYNN JENKINS

NOELLE SANSTROHM

KATE WILLIAMS

BRIELLE WATKINS

JESSIE FREEMAN

REBECCA HEMSWORTH

COURTNEY TURNER

SADIE BRYANT

Relationships are not worth anything more than your happiness. Good for you for having sex with your girlfriend, but you’re not getting points for it. If a Hitter happens to enter a relationship, he is still able to get points by running the bases with girls outside of his relationship. We won’t judge you, but your girlfriend might.

Hitters cannot claim points for the same girl more than once. If you’re going to bang the same girl all semester, you might as well date her. For those of you who think you can cheat the system, you might want to consider how pathetic that looks. Maybe that’s why you don’t have any points. Just saying.

Seriously. It’s a game. Don’t fuck with people’s fun.

I hope you all continue to follow along. Starting today, anyone will be able to vote on the order of the bonus girls and who is worth the most points. You can only vote once a day, but you can vote every day if you want. The next post will have an update of the Hitters. Who’s in the lead, who stands a fighting chance, and who’s barely in the game? Come back to see.

In the meantime, happy hitting!

~ THE HIT MAN

4

Saturday is pretty open for the most part. Technically, there isn’t class, but that doesn’t stop me from going into the studio around noon. The studios are almost empty. I guess people would rather go out for the day instead of spend their free time dancing.

Fine by me. It allows me access to a studio I didn’t reserve.

I turn the stereo on and jog in place to warm up my muscles before I sit down to stretch. When I’m convinced I won’t pull anything, I flip the song to one of the old solos I learned in New York.

I prefer to be in the studio by myself. It’s the only time I can really be me. I don’t have to put on an act for other students or for the teachers.

Two hours pass. I barely notice. My muscles appreciate the familiarity of the routine. Since coming to L. A., everything has been new. It’s nice to change it up, but sometimes I miss the way it was.

I pull myself into a pirouette. Something catches my eye as I spot the mirror and I let myself fall out of the turn. Luke stands in the doorway of the studio. His dance bag is slung across his chest.

I pick up a towel and wipe off my face. “Sorry. I didn’t know anyone had this room reserved.”