Fourteen (14 page)

“Thank-you.”

“Anytime.”

I damn near skipped into school the next morning. I ignored all the looks I’d been dealing with all week and the aching muscles in my legs from running five miles the night before and walked straight to my locker as if I didn’t have a care in the world.

I wasn’t even concerned about the fact that my dad had grounded me for a week. I was only allowed to see Evan to work on our project, and it either had to be when he was home or I’d have to go over to Evan’s house where his mother could watch us. Apparently, everyone knew that she worked from home except for me. Regardless, I didn’t wholly regret the things I’d said to my father because, for the most part, they were true. I’d take the grounding rather than apologize for the things I’d meant.

But I’d met Evan’s family. He’d introduced me to them as his girlfriend, and they’d seemed genuinely happy to meet me. His younger sister, Sherri, who was attending a gifted art school in Albany, which I envied her for, was the epitome of energy, and it was obvious to see that she and Evan adored each other. His parents, Zack and Amy, were extremely nice, welcoming, and highly amusing. When they’d offered to whip out the baby pictures and started talking about some of Evan’s interesting bath time rituals from his younger days, Evan practically jumped on his mother and clamped his hands over her mouth.

I saw what I’d always imagined when I’d caught glimpses of them out and around town in the past; he was more relaxed and comfortable than he’d ever been in school. He was joking, laughing and enjoying every little thing anyone said—well, minus the bath and baby pictures thing—and it was really nice to see after the week he’d had.

He’d driven me home half an hour after I’d arrived and was about an inch away from kissing me goodnight when the front door opened and my father walked out. He leaned against doorjamb of the door with his arms crossed over his chest and looked annoyed. So I’d settled with a kiss on the cheek and made it into the house in enough time for my dad to tell me that I was grounded before he disappeared into the living room for the rest of the night. I’d merely gone in there to get my books before I went up to my room and finished my homework, going to bed early.

Despite that, I was still in a good mood because when I opened my eyes this morning, I realized that I got to see my
boyfriend
at school. For the first time in longer than I could remember, I was actually excited about having to go to that prison, disguised as a high school.

I shoved my bag into my locker, looked wistfully at the dried orchid I had hanging off the hook in the back, and grabbed my books for human physiology. When an arm wrapped around my waist, I jumped and then tensed, preparing myself for the worst before I felt him drop a kiss to the top of my head.

“Good morning, girlfriend,” he said.

I smiled and closed my locker door, turning and looking up at him.

“Good morning, boyfriend.”

“How’s it going?”

“Better.”

“Compared to?”

“I’m grounded.” I shrugged and his face fell. “We can only work on our project if we’re being supervised.”

“Supervised?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I don’t know what the big damn deal is.”

He sighed heavily and leaned forward to rest his forehead against mine. I wasn’t able to bite back the grin that spread across my face, and he chuckled.

“What has you so happy?”

“You,” I answered honestly.

“Is that right?”

“Mm-hm.”

“What about me?”

“Fishing for compliments, are we?” I asked.

He laughed and stood up straight, his arms back around my waist as he backed me up against the locker and looked down at me.

“No more than usual.”

I saw a flash go off from the corner of my eye before I heard, “You two might actually rival the two of us.”

Kyle and Ashley—with her ever-present camera hanging around her neck—stood behind us, both of them looking a lot more relaxed and comfortable than they’d been the last time I’d seen them. I felt a little cautious around them because, to be honest, I still didn’t know if they’d been a part of the locker incident. It had seemed like they’d tried to keep me from seeing it, but there were too many questions still bouncing around in my mind to feel completely comfortable around them.

“I don’t think that’s possible,” Evan said casually. He kept his arms around my waist and leaned against the lockers next to me, linking his fingers on my hip.

“Yeah, well, you know how we are,” Kyle said, draping an arm around Ashley’s shoulders.

“
We
? No, that’s all you,” she disagreed, pinching his side.

He yelped, and I looked on in thinly veiled amusement.

“I’ve never heard any complaints!”

“How can you when you won’t let me breathe?” she asked innocently, batting her eyelashes at him.

I laughed, and Kyle pouted as he crushed Ashley against his chest.

She scoffed and pushed him away from her. “Where are Christina and Vince?” Evan asked.

“They both have study hall first period, so they got their parents to write them a note to get out of it.”

“Lucky bastards.”

I laughed and agreed with him.

“So,” Ashley began, eyeing Kyle as he stood next to me, glaring at his girlfriend, “are you two going to Steve’s party tonight?”

“Uh . . .” I looked over at Evan. “I can’t.”

“And I probably won’t.” He sighed.

“How come?” Kyle asked, making his way back to Ashley’s side.

“Have you not been here all week? I’m not exactly talking to the same people anymore.”

“You’re talking to us.” Ashley shrugged, eyeing Kyle as he slid his arm around her shoulders. “You’ve always talked to us. Nothing’s changed there.”

“Why can’t you go?” Kyle asked, his gaze focusing on me.

Stepping closer to Evan, I said, “I’m grounded.”

“Oh, well . . . that sucks.” Then he got a mischievous look on his face. “Do you want to go? I’m sure I can concoct a plan to get you out of the house.”

“You are
not
going where I think you’re going,” Ashley immediately said, pointing at him.

“What? Babe, come on! I hardly ever get to wear my ski mask!” Kyle whined, going so far as to stomp his foot.

“Damn good reason for it, too.”

“How long have you two been married now?” I asked, laughing a little and forcing myself to relax.

“Too damn long!” Ashley exclaimed, rolling her eyes. “He’s like a damn dog with a bone, you know. He can’t just let things go.”

“Think so, huh?” he asked.

“Oh Jesus,” Evan said, leaning in and burying his nose in my neck. He looked up after placing a small kiss against my shoulder, resting his chin there. “Was there a reason you wanted to know about the party?”

“Come with us,” Kyle said. “Come on, Ev, it’s the last one before the big game! It’s the last time we’ll get a chance to relax before Coach tries to kill us during practice.”

“I think my invitation was revoked.”

I looked down at my feet, hugging my books to my chest. He still would’ve been invited had I not been in the picture. He stood up straight, his hands still linked around my hips.

“Fuck him. I just re-invited you.”

“I really don’t want to deal with his bullshit.”

“It’ll give me an excuse to smack him around a bit.” Kyle shrugged. “Come on, dude.”

“You should go,” I said.

He looked down at me, clearly surprised.

“What?”

“You should go,” I said again, chuckling nervously. “You’ve had a rough week and getting out with some friends is probably what you need.”

“But they’re not my friends anymore. Not really . . .”

“We’re your friends, dammit!” Ashley exclaimed, tapping her foot on the linoleum. “We invited you. You’re coming, and I don’t want to hear another damn word about it!”

“I don’t want to go without Anna,” he said.

I turned to him, leaning against the lockers so that I was facing him. He tightened his arms around me and pulled me close, smirking.

“I can’t go, Evan. And I probably can’t see you at all this weekend unless you really want to spend all of it working on the project.” He grunted. “So go to the party.”

“Why can’t we just go somewhere else?” he asked, turning to face Kyle and Ashley. “Maybe a movie or something?”

“The only thing going on anywhere tonight is Steve’s party,” Ashley said slowly, as if Evan were dumb. “Why wouldn’t we go there?”

She probably was a very nice person, but right now she sounded like the typical cheerleader that I’d done my best to avoid for the majority of my high school life. I forced my muscles to relax.

“I don’t really feel comfortable—”

“Since when has that ever stopped you from doing something?” Kyle interrupted, waving his hands around. “You’re Evan Drake. Fuck them.”

“It’s
his
house, Kyle.”

“Did he ever un-invite you outright?”

“He doesn’t say much of anything to me at all, which is another reason why I shouldn’t go to the party.”

“You can’t say that you were uninvited if he hasn’t said anything to you. The invitation is still on the table, and he hasn’t said otherwise.” Kyle held his hands out to his sides as if to say he was a genius. “You are still invited.”

“What are they going to think if Anna isn’t there?” He turned back to me. “They’re going to think that they won.”

“We’ll know the truth.” I smiled shakily at him. “That’s what makes the difference.”

“Yeah, it’s not like you’re going to jump on Brittany and start humping her the minute you walk in. Right?” Kyle said, shrugging nonchalantly.

Evan slowly turned on his heel to face Kyle. Ashley slapped her boyfriend on the back of his head, and I giggled at the perplexed look on his face. Kyle fidgeted when Evan kept staring at him.

“Right. So . . . no problems.” He laughed nervously, grabbing Ashley’s arm and pulling her in front of him in a sad attempt to hide.

Evan turned back to me.

“You’re really okay with this?”

Fuck no. I’m freaking out. My heart is beating ninety miles a second, and I’m terrified that you’ll realize how much you miss everyone else and everything will go back to the way it was before.

“I’m really okay with this,” I said instead, smiling brightly at him.

“I’ll call you first thing tomorrow morning.” He leaned in close to me.

“As you should.”

He smiled, and I sucked in a deep breath before he kissed me.

“And you said the two of us were bad?” Ashley teased.

“Go away, Ashley,” Evan said, pulling back from me and brushing the end of his nose against mine.

“If I remember correctly, you said it first,” I stated, turning again and pointing at them.

I made the mistake of looking down the hallway and found that everyone still lingering and waiting for the warning bell had been watching us. It was easy to pick out Brittany Feldman with her jaw on the floor and her face turning a brilliant shade of red. It was almost impossible to miss her. Kyle turned to see what I was staring at and threw his hands in the air. “Move along! Mind your business, please and
thank-you
.”

He turned back to us. “Sheesh.”

I looked down at my feet again, tapping my fingers against my books. Weird that Kyle would choose to help me out now when before, he was happy to ignore me. I knew he was Evan’s best friend, but I also knew that it didn’t automatically make him mine. Was he being genuinely nice to me in an effort to make up for everything or was he just showing off for Evan, intent to run back to Steve and tell him all that was being said? I was so confused.

“This is bullshit,” Evan mumbled.

“I’m sorry,” I said nervously, trying to take a step away from him.

“What did I tell you about that shit?” he demanded, pulling me completely against him.

I looked up at him, my arms tightening around my books.