The Kissing Deadline (20 page)

“The middle. Got it.” His hands landed on her
shoulders and turned her to face the doorway and dropped away.
“Trust.”

Cassie didn’t move except to put her arms
straight out to her sides. Maybe they’d help her balance.

His voice lowered. “Please trust me.”

Something in his tone made her do it. She
sighed again and crossed her arms over her chest. “You’d better
catch me this time, Ryan, or this is it. I mean it.”

“I’m ready.”

“Okay.” Cassie leaned back, it gave her the
exhilarating feeling she got when diving into the swimming
pool.

Ryan wrapped his strong arms around her, her
shoulders landed against his hard chest and he caught her.

She breathed in his cologne and smiled up at
him, into his Christmas eyes. “You did it.” His grip seemed solid
and secure. She felt safe.

Ryan’s arms tightened. His grin got wicked,
and he dropped her. She fell against him and they mashed into the
mattress, laughing.

“Uh, hum.” A masculine throat cleared from
the doorway. Cassie turned her head. Ryan’s dad stood inside the
doorframe. Adrenaline kicked through her system, and she scrambled
off the bed, the giant, wide, king-sized bed. Gaze on the carpet,
face on fire, she grabbed for her shoes.

Ryan sat up with a smile. He didn’t seem
embarrassed at all.

“What are you doing, Ryan?” His dad leaned
into the doorjamb and crossed his arms over his chest, clearly
having no intention of going anywhere.

“School project,” Ryan said truthfully.

“On your bed? Which class is that?”

“It’s…”Ryan said. Cassie made a garbled noise
and gestured wildly. Ryan smiled and climbed down. “We were just
going to the living room.”

His dad nodded. “Yes, I think the young
lady’s parents would appreciate it.”

“This is Cassie,” Ryan said. Cassie looked at
Ryan with a shake of her head, not thinking her face could get any
hotter or her stomach could twist anymore.
Don’t tell him my
name. He might call my parents.

“How do you do, Cassie?”

“Um, it was a Trust Fall for the play,”
Cassie blurted in response.
Please don’t call my parents.
To
add credibility to her claim, she pointed a hand to her Dragon’s
Nest t-shirt, the one signed by all the cast.

“I thought it was something like that,” his
dad said. “But why don’t y’all go and practice the rest of your
lines in the living room.”

Ryan didn’t give Cassie time to get over her
embarrassment. He led her to the couch and pulled her onto his lap.
Cassie glanced wildly over at the doorway, but they were alone.

“I think we got the stare thing down,” Ryan
said. “Where else does Madrageen want to touch me?”

Cassie slapped him in the arm and hopped up.
“Arms are fine, Yourgath.”

Inside Cassie’s basement, four days before
her 16th birthday, Sierra handed Cassie the final additions to the
kiss kit: cinnamon mints and a mini bottle of vodka. “Cinnamon--as
sexy as it gets.”

Brooke frowned at the vodka. “I'm not sure
what Sierra wants you to do with that.”

Cassie tightened her fingers on the bottle
and slipped the vodka into the lip-shaped bag. “I'm not drugging
the guy.” She put the bag down and sighed.

Sierra appeared ready to argue. Brooke tilted
her head as if considering it, but then shook her head in
agreement.

For number nine,
Fund Raiser
, Sierra
removed a jar from her backpack. “I placed a couple of jars like
this around school.”

Brooke nodded. “The instructions on the jars
read
, Clip your name to a dollar and put it in the jar to win a
chance to kiss the Spring Fling King
,”

“You made a fake charity?” Cassie took the
jar from her. A few dollar bills rolled around inside.

“No, not fake exactly. We'll send all the
money to a real charity. It’s just not a sanctioned school fund
raiser.”

“The school won't notice we made it up,”
Sierra said in defense. “And nowhere do we say they have an equal
chance at the kiss.”

“Yep,” Brook said. “Because they don’t. At
the end of the day, Sierra will switch out their names with yours
and you’ll get the kiss. The charity will get the money. Everyone
wins.
Genius.
”

Sierra nodded her thanks at the compliment
and rocked out a dance move. Cassie’s mouth opened, but no words
emerged.

Brooke pointed to the last entry on the
poster and her heart stilled.

It read, ‘#10:
The Sewer Six
.

Brooke said, “We never wanted you to have to
see that. But as this is your last week, you need to know the Sewer
Six are no longer off the table.”

Cassie raised her hand.

“Yes,” Sierra answered her unspoken question.
“You have to.”

Cassie groaned and dropped her arm.

“You only need one. One may clean up okay.
Well, except the one with the tattoos. I think those are
permanent.”

“I heard the guy with the antenna poked some
girl's eye out.”

“If that's what has to happen,” Sierra said
without sympathy.

* * *

Trallwyn High School Dragon Scoop: Tuesday,
March 20th

Happening this weekend: Spring Fling Dance:
Friday night. Skirts must be within six inches of the knee.

School production of “The Dragon’s Nest”:
Saturday and Sunday matinee.

Coach didn’t start a new assignment in
Biology. “Proceed to the gymnasium for the state-mandated physical
fitness evaluation.” He walked around to the front of his desk.
“You’ll be released back to class after finishing the five point
test. It’ll go through lunchtime, so take all your stuff. ” He took
out his stopwatch and blew a sharp single whistle. “Line up.” They
flew into fire drill mode. Mike sneaked a quick detour by Ryan’s
desk.

“All in line, Coach,” Ryan called out.

Coach clicked his stopwatch. “Humph, we need
more gym time. Head out.” Megan opened the door, and they proceeded
out of the room.

“Stop.” Coach pointed at the flame on the
back table. “Ryan and Cassie forgot to turn off their burner. Ryan,
Cassie, check everyone’s burners. Make sure they’re out then meet
us in the gym, to explain why you tried to kill us all.”

Cassie glanced at the burner in confusion.
“We didn’t have our burner on.”

Ryan directed her gaze to Mike’s laughing
face. Mike made the motion of eating a S’more and headed out the
door.

Coach snapped the door shut behind them.

“Mike’s revenge. You take the left side of
the room.” Ryan took the tables on the right. Everyone’s burner was
off except theirs. Cassie turned the knob, securing it tightly and
checked it twice.

Ring, Ring, Ring.
Cassie grabbed her
bag and rushed to the center of the room. She dropped to the floor
in the middle of the aisle in a well-conditioned response. Ryan ran
to the window with the tape. “Coach is going to be so pissed he
missed this drill.” Ryan looked at her. “A little help?”

Cassie giggled and rose from her cross-legged
position. Hurrying to the door, she locked it then taped off the
window. She had to get on Ryan’s shoulders to get the vents.
Working with duct tape stripped at the finish on her plum nail
polish. There was no warning on the package about that.

The lights cut off just as she finished
taping the last vent. The sudden darkness threw off her sense of
equilibrium. She dropped the roll of tape and reached for Ryan’s
shoulders. He helped her down and steadied her before letting
go.

“I’ll get the light.” He dug through the
survival kit for the flashlight and flipped the switch. The anemic
glow illuminated their immediate area only. Ryan pointed the light
at the kit and called out the inventory: “Radio, solar blanket,
tent, flashlight, and first aid kit.”

“No food,” Cassie noted. “It must be a
rationing test. We did this in math. How many ways can you divide
four power bars and three beef jerky sticks between twenty-eight
teenagers and one teacher?”

“I’m hungry.”

Cassie handed him a plastic bottle of water.
“Me too.”

“After we get the all-clear, let’s go by the
vending machine.”

“Okay.” Cassie wondered if they’d get points
off the fitness test for carrying in snack cakes. She dragged the
heavy, boxed tent from the kit. “In English class, I’m assigned to
tent inflation.”

Ryan looked at her doubtfully, struggling
with the weight. “What’s your time on that?”

“We haven’t timed anything, or even really
practiced. She assigned the tasks then we hid in a dark corner and
passed the time naming which works of literature we’d save if it
were truly the end of civilization--
Twilight, Hunger Games,
Mortal Instruments
, all the classics.”

Ryan tuned the radio to a pop station, and
music filled the lab. “In my English class, we talked about the
irony of being caught in a fire, given that our school’s mascot is
a dragon. Then Ms. Herrington made us read Dante.”

The pop song transitioned into a ballad
without any breaking news. Cassie noted playfully, “The attack
hasn’t made it to the outside world.”

“We aren’t going to last long on these
rations. I vote we have a few good hours and use up all our
supplies rather than have three miserable days surviving on water
alone.”

“Hmm, quality over quantity. That’s one way
to go out,” Cassie said. “I think I’d choose the three days in
hopes of a rescue. I’ll hoard some stuff on your behalf too, since
you’re my partner.”

Ryan turned his head in her direction. His
hair seemed a darker shade in the glow of the flashlight. “What
have you got to hoard?”

“Nothing,” Cassie said quickly.

He eyed her backpack. “You have cookies,
don’t you?”

Cassie laughed and pushed her bag out of his
reach. He looked sorrowful so she relented, and passed him the bag.
As soon as he opened it, the smell of peanut butter cookies filled
the room. Ryan took a bite with a pleased groan, and drank some
water.

“You have to conserve the water too.”

“It’s peanut butter,” Ryan argued.

Cassie nodded, taking a cookie for herself.
“Scoot back.” She hit the popup tent’s inflate button with the side
of her fist. Ryan shoved at the canvas so the outer structure would
snap into place before the inner floor inflated. It only took
minutes, and completely filled the area at the front of the class
between Coach’s desk and the windows.

Cassie crawled inside, wobbling on the rough
canvas of the inflated floor. The dark interior smelled like new
plastic, but it was a lot like an inflatable bouncy house. “Toss me
the flashlight.”

Ryan pushed it through the door.

Cassie flicked the light around the army
green canvas walls. “I wish our tent was shaped like a castle so we
could go out in style.”

Ryan crawled in too, and the floor depressed
with his weight. “So, it’s the last few hours of your life, how do
you want to spend them?” He looked around with interest. “We barely
fit in this. The class will have to sleep in shifts.”

The tent seemed much smaller with him inside.
Cassie breathed in his cologne. “Is it the end of the world totally
or just the end of my life?”

“End of the world totally.”

“Depending on who’s in the tent with me, I’d
want to go out kissing. Or sleep through it, so I don’t see the
end.” She kicked her shoes off and tapped her sock-clad heels
against the inflated floor. The canvas made a rough, rubbing sound,
and the surface waved in response to the motion.

Ryan took another bite of his cookie and
tilted his head toward Cassie with pursed lips. She saw that his
focus was more on the remaining cookie than her so she leaned away
from the half-hearted offer. “No, thanks. I’d rather sleep if I
can’t do it right.” Cassie laid back. She rolled from side to side
to get comfortable, like a puppy that couldn’t turn over.

“There’s a perfect way?” Ryan’s hand dropped
to the tent’s floor, his cookie forgotten.

“Oh, yes. Especially if we’re about to die,
and it’s our last earthly memory.”

“Show me. We ate all our rations, so we don’t
have time on our side.” Ryan leaned back on his elbows. “I don’t
want to go out not knowing how to kiss perfectly.”

Cassie rolled onto her side and watched Ryan
shove his folded letter jacket behind his head for a pillow.

She thought hard about it then chickened out.
“Nah.”

“Show me,” Ryan said again, his voice
sounding deeper.

She wished he’d just grab her and kiss her.
Did he really want her to initiate the kiss? Deciding to use what
she’d learned from the play. Cassie reached out and ran her fingers
through his hair. She brushed her nails against his scalp.

Ryan sat up and crossed his legs. With his
weight on his palms, he faced her. He focused all his attention on
her mouth, making it clear that all thoughts of cookies were
forgotten.

Cassie leaned toward him and ran her
fingertips from his jaw down the side of his neck. In response, he
moved forward. Cassie braced against his shoulders and straddled
his legs. Most of her weight rested on her knees, cushioned by the
inflated floor. Her head tilted to the right, and she pressed her
lips to the side of his neck. Ryan sucked in a breath, put his
hands on her hips and drew her firmly against him. She bit down
lightly, unintentionally, in response to the feel of him against
her.

Ryan put one hand behind her head, one behind
her back and turned so she landed on the inflated floor with him on
top of her. He was a big guy, but with the inflated flooring, his
weight didn’t crush her. He felt wonderful. Heaven.

He leaned down and kissed her neck then
tugged down the neckline of her t-shirt. His kisses moved from the
top of her collarbone to the base of her jaw. The tingling
sensation radiated throughout her body, all the way to her
toes.