Chapter Three
Layla
He’s amazing. Adam taped a rose to my locker with a note that asked, “Dinner, Saturday?” Awww!
As Rachel and I are gushing over it, my sister stops by. My sister never comes by my locker, FYI; so this is major.
“You lost?” Rachel sneers.
Juliet glares at her. “Do I look lost?” Then she turns to me. “I need your help.”
“With what?” I ask.
Juliet twirls a piece of hair around her finger. “Um. So, if you saw something. Maybe you weren’t really sure what you saw. But it looked like something. Anyway, if this thing could hurt someone would you tell if you weren’t a hundred percent sure? Or would you just let it go?”
“What do you think you saw?” I ask.
Rachel elbows me. “She probably saw her favorite nerdball friend smoking pot or something.”
“It wasn’t … just never mind.” Juliet storms off mumbling curses at Rachel.
I face my friend with a glare. “Why do you do that? This was obviously really bugging her.”
Rachel flips her auburn hair off her shoulder as Mark, Jared, Tyler, and Austin stroll past us. Rachel waves, “Hey, boys.”
Austin nods. “S’up, Rach. We on for tomorrow?”
“Sure are, sexy.”
I roll my eyes. I love my friend, but she’s a total nympho. Really, she is. I think her goal is to hook up with all the hot football players in the senior and junior class.
I grab my things from my locker and shut the door. Rachel turns to me. “I like messing with your sister; it’s funny. Besides, she knows I don’t mean it.”
“Whatever. Next time could you keep it zipped? She was really upset.”
“Fine,” she says, followed by a noise of disgust.
I know it’s a lost cause to ask for some peace between them. Whatever, I can’t worry about this now. I continue down the hall and suddenly something slams into my side. I can’t catch my balance before my butt hits the floor. A tall guy with brown hair topples into me, and is now using my body to break his fall.
“What the hell?” I roar as I smack the guy on the top of his head.
Out of the corner of my eye I notice Austin laughing. Jared helps the guy off me. The guy looks back at me with a smirk. “Ah, thanks for breaking my fall, Layla. But we should probably keep our love for each other to ourselves.” Then Tyler Richardson winks and extends a hand to me. “What would Adam think?”
I smack his hand away and push myself up onto my feet. “You’re such a jackhole, Tyler!”
He shrugs. “You love it.”
“Keep telling yourself that.” I brush some dust off my shorts.
“I will, Princess.” Ugh! I hate when he calls me that. He then proceeds to bow.
I give him one last hot glare then march off down the hall.
Aside from my sister’s meltdown and being used as a safety pillow to break someone’s fall, my day was pretty much a bore. I went to all my classes. Got assigned homework in some of them. Saw the same people causing trouble in the cafeteria and the same girls ditch Gym using the same weird excuses. This week it was a sprained foot. Mind you, Kat the girl claiming her foot was injured, hasn’t done any physical activity in or out of class to cause this. She was perfectly fine before class. I should know because she sits next to me in history. This meant our teams were uneven for volleyball again.
Instead of my day ending and me going home, I have cheer. Unlike most schools, our field is not located on our high school grounds. It’s actually near our middle school. Since I’m grounded, Adam and I devised a plan for me to catch a ride to the field with him to and back. Instead of actual alone time and possibly talking about our day so far, he cranked up the radio so loud I could barely think.
When we pull into the parking lot, he shoots out of his seat then says, “Babe, come on. I got to lock up my car.”
I feel my brows gravitating toward the middle of my face as I grab my gear and get out of his stupid car. Your car is a total POS; no one would ever dream of stealing it. No kiss, hug, just get out of my car. “I’m sorry for getting grounded,” I grit out.
He starts tapping away on his phone. “Back at ya babe.”
“What?”
He looks over at me. “Didn’t you say you loved me?”
Oh, my God! I can’t right now. I storm off to my practice.
Usually I’m excited to cheer, today however, is a different story. My boyfriend is being a total jackass and now, my coach is yelling at all of us. We aren’t getting the routine down because she keeps changing it up and adding more stuff in. We haven’t even had a chance to perfect what she had us do yesterday or the day before. Our first meet is in a few weeks. I don’t want to be the one to remind her we lose every year because our squad isn’t prepared. And we always end up with two girls who can only do back-handsprings but can’t do an aerial to save their lives. All the other squads can do multiple tricks, flips, and twists. They kick our butts because they actually function well as a team and don’t fumble around.
After practice is over with Rachel growls, “Water breaks. That’s all I’m saying.”
I nod as she waves and hops in Austin’s truck. My joints and muscles protest in agony as I search the parking lot for Adam after practice. He’s my way back to school since he insisted we ride to the field together.
I can’t seem to spot him anywhere though, and I have to return to school for my weekly Junior Elite’s meeting.
I make my way to the fieldhouse, where the football team’s locker room is located. As I reach the door Jared Black plows out of it. “Oh, hey, Layla … ”
“Hey. Is Adam in there?”
He runs his hand through his wet, dark locks. “Um … I think he bounced.”
“What? He was supposed to give me lift back to school.”
He shrugs and walks toward the lot, and I follow. “His car doesn’t seem to be here,” Jared says then looks over at me. “If you need a lift back to the school … um … Tyler probably has room. That’s where we’re heading. If you can wait around for two more minutes.”
Great. My man leaves, and my only option for a ride back to the school is the class clown. Fan-freaking-tastic. I frown. Everyone else I know has already cleared out. “If you two don’t mind.”
He smiles. “Yeah, Ty drives an SUV; there’s plenty of room.”
I snort at his comment about plenty of room. Has he seen Tyler who’s well over 6’3 and has a massive ego?
Jared makes his way over to Tyler, and I stay back observing. Tyler peers around Jared with a smirk then nods. I should run away. Catch a bus. Grab an Uber. Something else. If that smirk was any indication of what this ride back to the school will be like, I should leave right now. I’d really hate to wind up in a vehicle when Tyler has bad gas or something. I think guys can handle bad farts, but I can’t.
Tyler and Jared head toward me after a moment, beaming like he’s just won the lottery. “Adam left? What did you do tell him, you two have to start wearing matching pink shirts? Or that you’re secretly in love with me?”
My veins pulse with annoyance. I shoot Tyler a glare. He is such a jackhole. This boy thinks everything in the world is one big fat joke.
“No. You know what? I think I’ll go catch a bus instead.” I know I’ll be late for my meeting but I’d rather be late than deal with this jerk for the next ten minutes on the ride back to school.
“I’m kidding, Valentine. Damn; learn how to take a joke.” He smiles at me, and it looks almost wicked. A shiver spirals down my spine. He walks over to a silver Jeep Grand Cherokee.
“Need help getting in, Princess? Or do you think you can figure it out?”
God, I want to punch him in the mouth.
“Tone it down, Ty,” Jared warns.
“Yeah, all right.” He climbs in on the driver’s side.
Jared smiles at me. “Front or back?”
“Back.” I’m not sitting next to Tyler. Ugh. I’d rather chew my own hand off.
After I climb into the back, Jared shuts my door and gets into the passenger seat. I notice the plush leather seats in Tyler’s Jeep. I also notice it’s surprisingly clean.
“What’s up, Princess?” Tyler asks as he eyes me in his mirror.
I hold back my groan at the stupid nickname. “Your Jeep is pretty spotless. I’m shocked.”
He laughs. “Duh. No girl wants to get down and dirty in a trash can, Honey.”
And with those words I feel my stomach turn. What a pig! This is why I can’t stand hanging out at his house or going to his parties. He has to turn every conversation into a dirty one. I’d stick my earbuds in if they were in my gym bag, but they are at home on my nightstand where I left them this morning. Note to self: never leave home without them ever again.
Jared glares at him then turns back to me. “Um … how’s Juliet been?”
“Uh … she’s fine.” This is strange. No one ever asks me about my sister.
“Cool. Does she plan on going to the game on Friday?”
I laugh. “Juliet doesn’t do games.”
“Oh. I thought she did.”
I shake my head. “Nope. She’s not into it. Now if you asked me if she was going to get that Jeep of hers covered with mud this Friday, I would say that’s a high possibility.”
“No way, your sister takes her Jeep mudding? What trails does she usually take?” Tyler asks.
“Um, yeah. Don’t know what trails she takes. I don’t go with her.”
“Well, I think it’s cool as hell.” He elbows Jared. “At least someone doesn’t have a stick wedged up their ass.”
What? I don’t … ugh! This ride cannot end fast enough. “She also dresses like characters from whatever books she reads to the kids at the library. I personally think she could read the books without the whole dress-up bit, but what do I know?” I say.
I catch Jared smiling. “I think that’s cool.” Yeah, sure he does. He’s probably saying that to be nice because Jared is genuinely super sweet. And he’s not going to call my sister a weirdo to my face like most people do.
Tyler shakes his head. “Nah, man. I think that’s strange, but to each their own.”
We pull into the school a few seconds later, and I hop out. “Thanks for the ride.” I hurry off into the school and down the hall to the art room where the Junior Elite meetings are held. I skid into the table where Rachel sits, plop down beside her, and huff. “Oh, my God, my everything aches.”
Rachel gives me a funny look. “Did you and Adam, like, do it in the parking lot after practice or something?”
“What? Ew! No! I’m not a skeeza.” Then I bite my tongue because I remember Rachel telling me a month ago that she and Harris, a senior at our school, did it in the parking lot. I shudder at the memory. Yes, my best friend loves to overshare. She will tell you every detail about the deed and how it was performed, and rate boys from one to ten. I lower my lashes and say, “He totally left me at the field.”
“Shut up! What a prick. How did you get here then? I would have had Jenna totally come back for you.”
I rub my temples. “It’s fine. He probably has a lot on his mind. Anyway. I caught a ride with Tyler and Jared.”
“Ugh. Did it smell like sweaty balls? Did Tyler give you a shit ton of one liners?”
I wrinkle my nose. “Nooo. It smelled like … ” Hmmm, what did it smell like? Not sweat. Or even anything disgusting. “Rain storms. And Tyler was kind of a jerk but it was whatever.” I don’t mention Jared had asked about my sister. Rachel flipped out because she has a major crush on Jared. Plus, he was probably being nice and there is no need to get Rachel all riled up over nothing.
She nods. “Interesting.” Then she throws an elbow into my side.
I look over at the door. Instead of Ms. Batistel, the advisor who’s in charge of overseeing everything we do, it’s my sister, dressed like a wizard or something. Omigod, why didn’t she change? I shrink in my chair. I love her but sometimes I can’t believe we’re related.
“Is that a wand in her pocket?” Rachel snickers.
“Shut up!” I’m not in the mood for Rachel’s snide remarks about my twin. Even though I am pretty sure that is a wand in her pocket. She really has no shame in showing people how truly nerdy she is.
“Geez, you need to chill or something,” Rachel snaps.
“I’m fine.” I fold my arms over my chest. Truth is I’m still ticked Adam left me. He’s never done that before. There are a lot of things he’s been doing lately that he’s never done before though. Maybe it’s a phase or something. Couples go through that. Right?
Still, it bothers me. What if this isn’t a phase? What if … crap. I turn to Rachel and whisper, “Do you think he’s going to break up with me?”
“Um … I’m not sure. Did you all make a date when you’ll do the big deed yet?”
I shake my head. I don’t know why it’s so important. Big deal, I have no interest in having sex yet. I shouldn’t have to set a darn date for it. Shouldn’t it be when the moment’s right? Ditching me and texting ‘heart you’ instead of saying I love you on the phone is not helping him get what he wants. More like helping me decide he shouldn’t be my first at all.
“Well, you might want to do that if you don’t want to lose him.”
I glance over at my sister. Maybe dressing up like a dork and not caring about the consequences is the way to go. At least then you can see who really cares and who doesn’t. Right now, I’m starting to question who is actually in my corner.