Unlovable (13 page)

My morning jog was brisk as the ice
crunched loudly under my feet. Instead of finding Mr. Googolo, my
Calculus teacher, when I trotted into class fifteen minutes later,
Vice Principal Volkel stood in the front of the room. She wore a
bright plum dress and matching shoes.

“
Students, please take your
seats—Steve, if you want detention, do that one more time.” He
immediately dropped into his chair. “It seems Mr. Googolo’s car
door is frozen shut so he’ll be a bit late. He has asked that I
have you do the assignment on page 184. He’ll be quizzing you,
therefore I suggest you spend this time studying and not
talking.”

Great! I had wanted some help with the
last lesson, now I had to try to figure out a new assignment. I
opened the book; it may as well have been written in Japanese. I
leaned over to my left. “Steve, do you understand this stuff?” He
shook his head.

Julie was sitting in front of me,
fingering her curly-red hair. I reached over, tapping her on the
shoulder. “Do you understand the lesson?”

“
No, you should ask Seth for
help,” she said, turning to face me. “He’s really good at
Calculus.” She laughed at my sour expression. “Don’t you like him?
I think he’s really cute.” Her eyes darted to Steve who scowled at
her, and she immediately turned back around.

After several futile attempts to
figure out the lesson, I gave up and resorted to my
doodling.

Apparently, I wasn’t the
only one having trouble. A few minutes later, Julie slyly slipped
me a piece of lined notebook paper. Across the top she’d
written
The
Hottest Guys at Port Fare High.
I had
to laugh. I’d never met anyone as boy crazy as Julie. She’d listed
five guys, and beside each name she’d written a number she
entitled
Hotness Factor.
Seth’s name was first. She rated him a 12 on a one
to ten scale. I thought that was a little low.

Steve was next on the list, he was
rated at a 10. He’d probably be lower on the list next week when
she’d moved on to another guy.

She had scribbled a small note across
the bottom asking me to agree or disagree. Enjoying the diversion,
I wrote my answers, agreeing with most of her choices and bumping
Seth’s number to 23, it’s not as if he was ever going to see it. It
also made me feel a little better after treating him so poorly
yesterday. I added a few names to the list, giggling a little too
loudly. Mrs. Volkel came walking over before I could pass it back.
“Is there a problem, Miss Brown?”

“
I don’t understand the
assignment,” I said, slipping the note coyly into my book
bag.

She took the book and thumbed through
the pages, handing it back quickly. “Miss Brown, Seth Prescott’s an
excellent math student, I suggest you give him a call and ask him
for help.” She smiled, before adding, “And unless you’d like me to
share the note you and Julie have been passing back and forth with
the class, I had better not see it again.”

“
Yes, Mrs. Volkel.” I
resorted back to my doodling, trying not to think about Seth and
his
hotness
score.

***

My eyes scanned the cafeteria in
search of a friendly face to share my lunch hour with. Melody was
sitting at the far table on my left; I immediately looked to the
right hoping to find someone else. Sadly, that someone else was
Zack. I cringed when he called my name. I didn’t look in his
direction, hoping I’d be able to sneak out before he reached me. I
didn’t. He slithered up next to me, snaking his arm around my
waist.

“
Come over here and play
along,” he said. I shot him a hard glare. “Please, I won’t ask you
for another favor if you do this for me.”

“
Do what?”

“
Shut up, I’ll explain
later. Follow my lead, Maggot.” I looked up and saw he was leading
us straight to Seth. After my childish outburst yesterday, I had no
desire to see him up-close and personal. To compound the matter,
Miss Perfect Pom Poms was standing next to him.

“
You think you have a chance
with her? Look who she’s with.” I whispered, absentmindedly
twisting the stray hairs next to my cheek.

“
She didn’t seem to remember
him this morning during Spanish 3. In fact, I could hardly keep her
off me.” He puffed out his chest, and then scowled. “And stop
twisting your hair, you look like a freak.” I quietly dropped my
hand. “Steve Boyer says she and Seth are just friends. Melody
thinks they’re doing the nasty.”

“
Why do you have to make it
sound dirty?” I tried elbowing him in the ribs. He tightened his
grip.

“
Not everyone’s a prude like
you.”

“
Wanting to wait for sex
doesn’t make me a prude.”

“
Blah, blah, blah, save the
sermon, Maggot. I’ve heard it enough from you to last me a life
time.”

It was pointless talking to
him. Zack was a narcissist through and through. He was the star of
the baseball team, a fact he shared with me daily the entire time
we dated. Who could have believed anyone would want to keep track
of hits, runs, and '
RBI’s,'
whatever that was. I was surprised when we
started dating, we didn’t exactly run in the same crowd.
I now regret having ever dating him, and hated
that I’d shared anything about my life with him. It's a mistake
that won’t happen again.

“
Hillary,” Zack said as we
approached them. “You know my girlfriend, Maggo-ah-Maggie, right?”
This couldn’t be good. I tried to pull away, only he tightened his
grip further. “Please,” he hissed in my ear. I folded my arms and
kept quiet, seriously, I needed to have my head
examined.

“
I heard you two had gotten
back together. Strange, because Melody’s been telling everyone you
broke up before Christmas break.” Hillary spoke directly to Zack,
probably hoping I’d disappear.

“
A little misunderstanding.”
He smiled and kissed my cheek. I shoved my hand into my pocket to
keep from wiping off the slop. Disgusting! “We made up last night.”
He gave a tug on my waist, I forced a smile. Seth’s eyes narrowed,
but he said nothing.

“
Do you and Seth want to
double date with us to the Winter Festival this weekend?” My mouth
dropped open before I could stop it. This was his plan?

“
Sure, sounds fun,” Seth
said. My eyes and still gaping mouth turned back to him. He smiled
widely and slipped his arm around Hillary’s small shoulders. She
beamed.

I had to think of a way out of this
awkward scenario. “I can’t. I’ve a huge paper due in Mythology, and
I have to get started, it’s due soon.”

“
It’s not due for six weeks,
you’ve got plenty of time,” Zack said, pinching my
waist.

I felt defeated. My mind was a
complete blank. “Fine.”

“
I hate to be rude, but
we’re going out for lunch. We’ll see you two later,” Hillary said,
looping her arm around Seth’s and gloating directly at
me.

I really can’t stand that
girl!

“
You two are welcome to come
with us, my treat.” The look on Hillary’s face tempted me to accept
Seth’s offer, only the idea of having to watch her wrap herself
around him for an hour stopped me.

Zack, on the other hand, had no
problem accepting a free lunch. “Sounds great.”

I jerked out of his grip. “No, sorry,
I have other plans, maybe next time.” Before anyone could press me
about my plans, I raced out of the cafeteria.

“
I’ll give you a ride home
today, babe,” Zack belted out across the room as I rushed through
the door. Groaning, I went straight to the library and secretly ate
my peanut butter sandwich, safe and sound with Washington Irving
and Ichabod Crane.

***

I immediately planted myself in the
empty chair next to Julie when I got to culinary class. Seth
entered the classroom seconds later. Julie practically drooled when
he walked past our desk heading toward the back to sit with a large
kid named Dwayne. It was lecture day, which meant I didn’t have to
worry about being teamed up with Seth to cook.

After school, I tried to take a new
way home in hopes of avoiding Zack. Sadly, he discovered me jogging
across the track field.

“
Not so fast, girlfriend.”
He cinched his arm around me, dragging me to his car and
practically shoving me inside. He started driving toward his house,
not mine.

“
Where are we
going?”

“
Relax.” He shook his head
as if I were some pathetic moron. “I want to let you know the game
plan.”

“
Game plan?”

“
For the Winter Festival,
stupid.”

“
If you keep insulting me,
I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“
Here’s the deal, I want to
go out with Hillary, and she only dates guys who are involved with
someone else, well, except for Prescott.” He tightened his grip on
the steering wheel. “Anyway, she gets a thrill out of stealing guys
away from their girlfriends. Wild, huh?”

He turned down his street,
continuing with his sick fantasy. “I need you to pretend we’re
dating again. We don’t have to
really
date, of course, we could make
out if you wanted." He smiled wickedly.

“
Disgusting!”

“
Still as frigid as
ever.”

“
I’m—”

“
Just come with me to the
Winter Fest,” he said, overriding me, another charming trait
of his. “You’ll have to hold my hand, that’s it.”

Yeah, right, as if he’d ever
kept his word
.
“I
see a few flaws with your plan. One, she likes Seth. Two, why would
she even think about dating a creep like you when she has him?
Three—”

“
She told me she doesn’t
like Prescott, she’s only using him. She said she could have anyone
she wants on the side, as long as no one finds out. Those were the
exact words out of her hot little mouth.” I looked at him in
disgust.

“
Maggot, do you realize how
many guys are trying to steal her away from him? Imagine the
reputation I’d have if I stole Prescott’s girl. Anyhow, I’m not
interested in a permanent relationship. Rumor has it she’s a total
make-out whore.” The guy’s expressions were crude at best. How he
had made it on the honor roll was a mystery to me.

“
You’re sick. I’m not going
to help you use her.”

“
She’s giving it away,
Maggot. How can you use someone who’s giving it away? Besides, she
really hates you for some reason.” A dark expression filled his
face. “If Hilly thinks she lured me away from you, who knows what
could happen. What did you do to make her hate you
anyway?”

“
Nothing. She’s
delusional.”

“
You should have seen how
excited she got when I told her we were dating again. She came on
to me like crazy in the cafeteria until Prescott showed up. She has
to keep up the pretense in front of him. She needs him.”

“
Needs him for what?” The
more I got to know these two, the more I realized how perfect they
were for each other.

“
He’s rich, popular and
people are naturally drawn to him for some reason, even the
teachers treat him like an equal instead of a student. He has a lot
of power at Port Fare High, Maggot, and Hillary loves power. She’s
an unbelievable manipulator.” He wagged his brow.

Why did I ever go out with
this guy
?

"What do you think this little scheme
of yours will do to Seth when he finds out his girlfriend’s
cheating on him?”

“
The guy can have any girl
he wants, he’ll find another one,
if
he finds out.”

“
And you think I’ll help you
because…”

“
Because we’re friends,” he
said, smiling sweetly. I stared back at him coldly. “Because if you
don’t, I’ll tell everyone we slept together.” His eyes were now as
cold as mine. He meant what he said, and even if I denied it, the
seed would be planted, and there would be people who would always
doubt my word. This was why I preferred to be alone. This was why I
trusted
no one
.

“
You’re vulgar and
disgusting. You two deserve each other.” At the next stop sign, I
jumped out of the car and started walking back toward my
house.

He stuck his head out the window and
yelled, “Is that a yes?”

I wheeled around glaring at him for a
moment. I felt trapped, just like with everything else in my life.
“Fine, but this is last time I’ll ever do anything for
you.”

I took off running before the tears
started, I wasn’t about to give Zack the satisfaction of seeing me
cry. After several minutes, I slowed to a walk, chastising myself
for crying again as I dried my face.

I was sick of Zack and sick of feeling
trapped. I refused to let him manipulate me anymore. If he wanted
to try and get Hillary away from Seth, he’d have to do it without
me. I would simply explain it all to Seth tomorrow on the way to
CaL class. He seems like a reasonable guy, he’ll probably believe
me, I hope.