Ex-Factor (Diamond Girls) (2 page)

Along with a fine physique, the guy sported a toothy grin and a seriously cute dimple on his left cheek. His voice was deep and had a distinct raspy tone that liquefied my bones into a warm, gelatinous mush.

“Sorry about Sandoval.” He rattled my paper at me and let out a chuckle as he began walking. “Nice map.”

I fell in step alongside him, trying, and subsequently failing, to retrieve my wayward schedule.

“Hey!” He threw up a bronzed hand as he looked down at me over his shoulder. “You’ve got Foods with Keltar first period. Me too. Niiiice.”

Yeah, nice.
It would be great if the cute guy would give me my map back. Yes, the map was lame, and yes, I was sure I looked like a major tool with it shoved in my face, but the fact remained, I needed the stupid thing. Grant High was huge, and I didn’t know where I was going. With my luck, I was following him to the exact opposite side of the school I needed to be in.

Unsure of my surroundings, I peered down the hall in the opposite direction and subsequently walked straight into a short guy with glasses and a runny nose. Books scattered across the crowded floor.

“Sorry,” I said, flushed and a little flustered. I bent down and swiftly gathered the fallen textbooks and handed them to their owner.

By the time I looked up, the guy, who I had now affectionately labeled Paper Thief, had rounded the corner, disappearing from sight.

Crap.
Jumping to my feet, I scurried around the corner after him and rammed into a wall of pink. Pink, as in three deeply tanned blonds wearing nothing but Victoria’s Secret Pink clothing from head to feet. From the familiar fruity smell wafting off their bodies, it was safe to say they’d bathed in that particular line’s scent as well.

“Watch it, newb!” the one in the middle screeched. Her blue eyes glared at me with obvious disdain, her fake lashes doing little to shield me from her death stare. It was clear she was the Queen Bee in the little group and took her job seriously. Her silent companions crossed their arms over their chests and huffed as they joined her in blasting me with obvious hatred.

“Crap. Sorry,” I said, craning to look over their shoulders for Paper Thief. I faced the oh-so-welcoming trio again and raised a brow. “Maybe if you didn’t form a human barricade while you walk down these narrow halls, people wouldn’t bump into you?”

Nasty Girl’s silent companions sucked in a ragged breath and spoke in unison, creating a surround sound effect that was both dizzying and disturbing. “She. Did. Not.”

The Queen Bee’s eyes grew wide, her jaw dropped, and her cheeks flushed a bright shade of crimson. She mashed her frosted lips together before whispering a shocked and breathless sounding “bitch.” Girlfriend was right ticked.

Oh, for the love of…

I rolled my eyes and sidestepped the grumbling trio in search of Paper Thief. I didn’t have time for a group of
Mean Girl
wannabes. Fate had smacked me upside the head with a hard truth this past year: life was short—really short. I didn’t have time for haters.

With my new flops clacking against the white tile floor, I sauntered up to Mr. Tall, Dark, and Has My Paper. I forced a smile and gestured for my map. “Hand it over, PT.”

He jerked his hand back, confusion flashing behind a pair of gorgeous green peepers. “PT?”

“Paper Thief,” I said, while staring at the thick fan of black lashes rimming his eyes. I frowned. It seemed entirely unfair to me that the sex who more often than not could be found scratching their junk were blessed with better features than their female counterparts.

He relinquished my schedule and flashed me a wicked smile that sent my knees wobbling. “So, uh, I know every girl in the school except for you. You’re new here. What’s your name?” Those big eyes of his peeked out from beneath the baseball cap he wore, piercing me with a heated “I like what I’m looking at” stare.

I knew that look and I flushed, my skin growing impossibly warm despite the barely there tank and shorts I wore. I bit back a smile and looked down at my feet.
Well, okay then. Maybe today doesn’t blow after all.

“So, this is how it’s gonna be, huh? Not gonna give me your name?”

My gaze snapped back to his.
Crap.
I’d totally left him hanging.

He swiped a thumb across his mouth, the corner of his lips lifting into a crooked grin.

Mesmerized, I gawked at him in silence, the sappy smile plastered to my face making my cheeks ache. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d cracked an honest-to-goodness, genuine smile.
Damn.
Awareness took hold of me and squeezed. This guy was special. He masked the empty sensation I carried with me wherever I went. He made me forget.

He sighed, thereby breaking the hypnotic trance I was under, and with a cheeky smile, patted me on my shoulder. “You’re welcome,” he said, stepping inside the door of the nearest classroom and giving me a generous view of his gorgeous backside.

Oh.

My.

Gravy.

“Excuse me?” I called out, confused, and if I was being honest, a bit dazed by his extraordinary good looks. “What exactly am I supposed to be thanking you for?”

He hooked a thumb over his shoulder and grinned. “I got you to your first class.”

The late bell rang, a long, obnoxious sound that grated against my already frazzled nerves.

He gave a small chuckle and tapped the chipped metal threshold leading into the classroom. “Looks like you’re late.”

I scrunched up my nose, flashed him a cheeky smile, and flipped him the bird.

Chapter Two

Status update:
Grouchy Santa = no fun. Someone give that man a cookie.

Liv had warned me early on that although Mr. Keltar looked like a wannabe Santa Claus with his wide girth and puffy white beard, he was anything but jolly or good-natured.

He was dressed in a pair of navy polyester pants two inches too short and several sizes too small at the waist, a wrinkled blue and white checked button down, and loafers. He stood, leaning against his large desk, chubby fingers tugging at his beard.

He gestured toward me as I attempted to scuttle to the back of the room. “Stop right there, Ms.…”

Crap.
I closed my eyes momentarily, under some bizarre delusion that if I blocked him out, he would disappear. Of course, that wasn’t the case, as he was still glaring at me with visible disgust when I opened them again.

I sucked in a quick breath and prepared myself for public humiliation. “Evans. My name is Nevaeh Evans.”

I waited for recognition to alter the sneer spreading across his face, but it never came. And why would it? I was hundreds of miles from my old home, in a city filled with strangers who didn’t know me or my pitiful story.

Thankfully, the awkwardness of the moment lasted all of two seconds. Keltar quickly retreated into what I could only assume was his normal, crotchety self. He cleared his throat with a grating cough and glared at the sea of students before him, arm raised, finger pointed at me. “Let me make myself perfectly clear. Lateness such as this,” he jabbed the fat digit through the air in my direction, “will not be tolerated. I expect each and every one of you to be in your seat and ready to work before the tardy bell rings. Is that clear?”

He turned his head and beamed me with a set of invisible death rays. Had he truly possessed any kind of superpower, I was certain I’d be toast. And really, what was his deal? Why was he so uptight and serious? It wasn’t like he’d be doling out Top Secret government information. He taught Foods, for Pete’s sake. His biggest concern should be making sure the jackass in the corner didn’t set fire to himself when he lit the gas burner to cook.

I kept my expression blank and my gaze to the floor as I shuffled toward the station near the back of the class that offered two empty seats. I’d reached my max quota of negative attention for the day with that little display and was eager to get out of the limelight.

Paper Thief chuckled as I whisked past him and slid into the empty seat across the table.

The room was utilitarian and beige, much like the rest of the school. Keltar’s display table, which looked a heck of a lot like a cooking cart, sat at the head of the room and was flanked by storage on either side. A set of giant sliding white boards sat directly behind it. Six “cooking stations” filled the rest of the room, each comprised of a U-shaped counter complete with oven, sink, and a bevy of appliances and various kitchen type objects. An aging set of table and chairs rounded out each station and provided a place for the students to sit while Keltar prattled about the day’s culinary creation.

The moment Keltar turned his back to the class, Paper Thief leaned forward and placed a hand on the table in front of me, eyebrow raised. “Troublemaker, huh? Guess we’ll have to watch out for you.” He cast me a quick wink before righting himself in his seat and turning to face the front of the room.

His deep voice and million-dollar smile sent a frenzy of knots whirling in my gut, and my cheeks flushed much to my utter, freaking dismay.

A bit flustered, both from Keltar’s scrutiny and Paper Thief’s persistent flirting, I sucked in a few quick breaths as I stashed my bag beneath my chair. Half-worried I looked like a blushing idiot and in no rush to make my presence further known, I sat quietly in my seat and surveyed the eclectic group of students that made up my station.

A beefy-looking boy wearing a football jersey sat directly to PT’s left. And by beefy, I mean the boy sported the type of muscles one would assume could only be achieved with some sort of artificial enhancement. No joke, the boy had no neck, just a clump of muscles that connected his noggin to a burly set of shoulders below. His brown hair was shaved all over, save a thin strip along the middle that stood maybe a quarter inch in height, and a small patch on the left side that showed his number: twenty-two. His blue eyes sparkled beneath the dull fluorescent lighting accentuating a good-natured face peppered with freckles.

To the left of Muscle Boy sat a petite girl with long, auburn hair. Large brown eyes topped with a set of thick, dark lashes framed what would be a pretty face, if only she were to stop scowling. Eyes narrowed in apparent disdain for me, she crinkled her nose and made a face before looking away.

Okay, then. Avoid the bitchy brunette at the end of the table.

The seat directly across from Ms. Grumpy Pants was empty, which left one other person, the student sitting next to me. The girl was blond, sported a pair of vibrant blue eyes and a warm smile. She was the first student in the room—well, aside from Paper Thief—to speak to me.

“Hi. I’m Erin. Erin Matthews.” She waved a well-manicured hand in front of her body and waited expectantly.

Her eyes were bright, and her smile was genuine, two traits that put me at ease at once. This girl was the real deal, a nice person, and I liked her right away.

I returned her wave with one of my own and smiled back. “Nevaeh Evans. Nev, for short. Nice to meet you.”

She leaned in close and kept her voice at a near whisper, in what I assumed was an effort to go unnoticed by Keltar.  Her brow lifted and her lips curled into a knowing smile. “It’s hard being the new kid. Trust me. I know all about it. I was the newb last year.”

She cupped her left hand over her mouth to shield her words from the rest of the table and thrust a pink tipped fingernail toward Beefy Boy. “That’s Tommy Doleman. He plays defensive back on varsity football. He’s a bit of a goof, and he parties way too much, but he’s basically a good guy.”

I mashed my lips together and nodded. I knew Tommy’s type well. He was exactly the type of popular and perpetually drunk guy I’d hung out with before my world turned upside down. Definitely not the type of guy I planned on spending any kind of time with outside of school.

Erin pointed toward the girl with the painted on frown. “That’s Meg Crewson.” She pursed her lips and raised a brow. “Two words: elitist bitch. She’s the junior class’s student body president and thinks she’s God’s gift to mankind. Her dad not only owns Soledad Vineyards, but over half the land in Indigo Falls, so she’s got money coming out her pores.”

I pressed my lips together as I regarded the surly brunette. She was dressed from the skin out in designer clothing and wore an expensive pair of Gucci sunglasses like a headband.
Humph.
Money indeed.

I lifted a brow and gave a slight nod in the direction of Paper Thief. “And, uh, what about him? What’s his name?”

Erin’s smile intensified as she regarded the handsome boy seated across the table. The look that crossed her face was fleeting, almost imperceptible, but I saw it clear as day and knew the loaded expression well. It was a look filled with longing, lust, and complete and total bliss. Erin had the hots for Paper Thief.

A twinge of disappointment swirled in my gut as I stared at the back of Paper Thief’s broad shoulders. Flirting with him had temporarily erased the guilt and numbness that had been weighing me down ever since my father had passed. He made me feel good, which, considering my mood as of late, was a huge thing. Didn’t matter though. I wasn’t about to get my flirt on with my new friend’s crush, regardless of the healthy attraction I felt toward him. Some lines you just didn’t cross, and seeing as I was the new guppy in a huge pond, I wasn’t about to mess up the first potential friendship that presented itself.

A crimson flush crept up the sides of Erin’s face, and she let out a small giggle as she stared at the back of PT’s head. “That’s Eli Walker, varsity quarterback and most popular guy at Grant.” She angled her body toward me and leaned in close. “We’ve sort of been seeing each other for the past few weeks. Unofficially.”

My stomach dropped even further, my perception of the friendly, flirtatious boy changing almost instantly. I felt a little stupid, and a whole lot annoyed. Pretty Boy Eli was a player and a flirt, and my stupid ass had fallen for his shtick hook, line, and sinker.

I surveyed the happy blond next to me, bit my lip, and forced a smile. Did she have any idea her boy was talking up other girls? I had no clue and wasn’t about to be the one to fill her in. Life is short, and good friends are hard to come by. I had a good feeling about this girl and decided my best course of action would be to keep my mouth closed and stay as far away from Eli as possible.