Jenny

“I was so upset with her that I was two seconds away from throwing a tantrum like a two-year-old,” I confessed to Lo. All morning long I’d been ranting about how my mom threw my right under the bus. 

She draped an arm over my shoulder. “It won’t be so bad, I bet. Just help the poor guy pass, and he’ll leave you alone.”

“Easy for you to say, you don’t have to deal with him.”

“At least you’ll have something pretty to stare at?” She said it like it was question. Like I didn’t know that Draven Lepage was hot. So what if he was? He was like a forbidden piece a fruit. If you bit into him, you’d likely die a slow painful death.

“Call me tonight when it’s over, and I’ll bring over ice cream. We can eat it out of the carton while we binge watch Netflix.”

I could handle a reward like that. “Fine. But keep your phone on in case something terrible happens and I need you.” 

“What could you possibly need me for? If it’s CPR then let Mr. Hottie McDimple face handle it. You’ll be fine.” She winked. Her sarcastic wit was one of the many reasons I loved her so much, but she always picked the exact wrong time to chime in.

“How are we even friends?” I called after her. 

“Have fun.” She waved. 

Turning back to face the school, I waited for Draven to grace me with his presence. I was giving him exactly five minutes, and then I was calling the whole thing off. 

It sounded good in my head anyway. 

The parking lot was starting to empty and there was no sign of him. Maybe it was my lucky day. Maybe he found someone else to tutor him, and I’d be off the hook. Oh, if only life could be that easy. All these years I had managed to steer clear of guys like Draven. I’d only dated a few people and none of them were on the radar at this high school. I preferred it that way. I just wanted to get out of this place unscathed, with no one talking about me. As small as this town was, it was hard to go unnoticed. I’m not even sure that I did, but I sure tried. I worked hard to get good grades, to stay out of trouble, and to not get picked on by guys like him. Karma must’ve thought “Hey! There’s a nice young girl. Let’s see what we can do to spice things up.”

I laughed at the thought. My mind somehow got carried away from me. 

“Screw this.”

I headed towards my car, not wanting to wait another second for him. It was probably a waste of my time trying to tutor him anyway. If he was anything like his Dad, then the only things he needed to know were the survival skills needed for prison.

“Jenny Baby, wait!” 

“Stop calling me that.” I didn’t turn around to see his face. I kept on walking towards the back of the parking lot. In the last day, I had managed to get noticed more than I had in my entire four years of high school, and it was ticking me off.

His hand landed on my door as I yanked it open with force. “You’d think you’d be a little nicer to someone who is helping you, or at least show up on time.” I grated. “It’s no wonder you’re failing. I wouldn’t put up with your crap either. Is this how you act in class? Do you even do the work? Hell, do you even go to class?” 

“Finished?” He asked, and the simple tone of his voice made me want to claw out his eyeballs. “Sorry,” he sputtered the word. 

“If we’re doing this, then you better get in the car.” My voice was more of a growl. I wanted to just leave him standing there in the parking lot. I seriously thought about it. Truthfully, I wasn’t even sure why I told him to get in the car. We should’ve stayed right there at school where there were witnesses to see what we were doing. It was going to cause even more drama driving away with him in the passenger seat. Within an hour rumors would spread that we were running off to raise our love child.

The sound of his door closing meant it was too late for that, so I sped off in a hurry.

“Are you hungry?”

“What?” I glanced over at him. 

“You’re moody, so I just figured you were hungry. Chicks get angry when they’re hungry. There’s even a word for it. Hangry. Are you hangry Jenny?” He shot me a panty-dropping smile. Lucky for me, and unlucky for him, my panties remained firmly in place thank you very much.

I rolled my eyes. 

“Or maybe you’re just sexually frustrated.”

Without even thinking, I slung the back of my hand towards his face connecting with his cheek. I backhanded him. It happened so fast that I didn’t even realize I was doing it. I’d never hit anyone ever. At least not like that. 

I pulled the car over quickly to the side of the road nearly getting the backend of my car smashed up by the truck that was behind us in my swift maneuver.

Draven didn’t say a word. He had recoiled back in his seat and was staring at me. It all happened so fast, and I felt like the biggest ass. I couldn’t believe I did that. Both my hands moved quickly to my face, covering my mouth and nose. What the hell was I thinking? That wasn’t like me at all, and I felt sick to my stomach. I hit him. Who was I?

“I’m so sorry, Draven. Seriously. I…”

He shook his head no while his hand rubbed the red mark across his cheek. “It’s okay. It was my fault. I deserved it. Sometimes I say things before I think.”

“No!” I shook my head back and forth. “It wasn’t your fault. I’ve never done that before. I’ve never even hit my little brother. It was like a reflex, and I swear I didn’t mean it. I feel horrible.” And I did. Sure he probably deserved it for his smart mouth, but I hit him. I freaking hit him right in the face. 

“Really. It’s no big deal,” he responded, but I felt like he was lying. His whole demeanor changed. “Let’s just start over.”

“Start over?” My heart was racing and I felt like I might cry. I was so ashamed of my actions. What he’d said was a joke, and I knew that. There was no excuse for what I’d done. 

“Yeah. We’re good. Let’s just pretend this didn’t happen.”

I was surprised at how subtle he was about the whole thing. 

“Okay,” I said, but my voice was hesitant. 

The car ride was silent all the way to my house, and it wasn’t sitting right with me. I could tell something was bothering him, or maybe he was just afraid if he said anything else that I’d hit him again. 

That wasn’t going to happen. I’d never intentionally do that to anyone, and I would never do that again. EVER! Some freaking alien took over my body, or it might’ve been raging hormones. I couldn’t be sure. Maybe it was just the fact that Draven affected me in a way nobody else did.

He made me crazy. Yeah, that was it.

When we pulled up in the driveway, I told him to wait before getting out of the car. 

“I feel like a total ass. Seriously. You haven’t said a word, and I know that it’s bothering you.” I wished desperately for a rewind button so I could do that moment over again. 

“What do you want me to say?” His tone was clipped. His demeanor was completely off kilter. Just ten minutes ago he was all, sarcastic and butt-face like. He was his normal self. “It’s cool. I said it’s cool. Now can we get this over with?”

That sounded a little more like him. “That’s the best you got?” I glared at him through my heavy lashes. The guy known for his quick wit, and smart mouth was a little short on words.

His stare was blank. When his eyes narrowed, I wasn’t sure what was about to come out of his mouth. “Yesterday,” he paused for a second. “Yesterday, when you came down the stairs.”

“Yeah.”

“I could see your nipples through your bra.”

My mouth dropped open and he laughed as he stepped out of the car. My face flamed red, and I remembered why I loathed him.  

Ugh, this was going to be a long night. 

Leave it to me to overreact about his earlier reaction. The guy didn’t have a sympathetic bone in his body. Remorse or weakness wasn’t possible when it came to Draven.

Inside the house, I found a note on the kitchen counter that said Mom was at the grocery and she’d be back later. Dad didn’t get off work until around six o’clock, and Trevor was going home with his friend Owen after school. So the house was officially empty, and I was alone with Draven.