My Best Friend's Brother (4 page)

His eyes are crap compared to Luke’s.

Then my cell phone rang. Luke to the rescue, thank God! Speaking of which…

“Hi, Luke!”

Jake sighed heavily, turned and stomped back into Sullivan’s room. I got up and shut my door for privacy.

“Hey, how’s it going?” he said. “I wanted to give you my number.”

“Great,” I said, copying it from the caller ID to the cover of my journal.

“So you got home okay?”

“Yeah.”

“It gets cold up here, huh?”

I giggled. “It’ll get colder.”

“Ouch! Yeah, things are pretty dry at my house this evening. Everyone hit the sack early.” After a brief silence, he cleared his throat. “You’re quiet tonight.”

“Well you
just
called, give me time!” I said with a chuckle. “And my ex was just here, he kinda annoyed me,” I confided. “He always hangs around my little brother.” I closed my book and tossed it on my desk. I put a pillow under my chin and listened to the brief pause on the other end.

“Sounds like he still likes you,” Luke said. “Do you still like him?”

“Not exactly,” I said. “I like you, though.”

Silence.

Then he said, “Really?”

“Yeah.” I guess that means he didn’t notice my drooling in the mall.

He cleared his throat. “Maybe we should hook up again, if you want to? Don’t want to force you into another relationship or anything.”

I walked over to the door and opened it wide. “Luke,” I said loudly, “I’d
love
to go out with you!”

He laughed. “Awesome!”

A door slammed and heavy stomping descended the stairs. The front door opened and slammed shut, hard enough to shake the house. “Hey!” Sullivan screamed as he emerged in the hall and peered down the stairs.

I smiled to myself and shut my door.

“Thanks for the great time today,” I breathed. “It was a lot of fun.”

“I had fun, too. Will you be in school tomorrow? I don’t really know anyone else… Always unprepared.”

I beamed. “Locker fifteen blue. The walls are color-coded with the lockers, so it’s easy to find your way around.”

He cleared his throat. “Fifteen blue. Sweet. Okay, well, I’ll drop by before my first class.”

“Great.”

“Great,” he confirmed. “Good night, Beautiful.”

“Good night, Luke.” I hung up and gripped my heart.

I turned off my lights to change by moonlight. Changing with the lights on freaks me out—I keep thinking some pervert is watching through binoculars.

Outside, the wind blew through the moonlit spruce. I slipped on a silk nightgown. It had a slit on the side, and it was rather tight on my body.

Under the comforter, I thought about things. Like Luke. His crystal blue eyes. His perfect hair. His cool demeanor. And his focus on
me
. I sort of liked the attention, from a guy like
him
. I broke into a grin. I couldn’t
wai
t to see him again!

I wished I could call Lilly to tell her about him, but she was probably sleeping. And I was half asleep myself.

I’d call her really early in the morning and wish her a nice trip. Not getting a vacation didn’t seem so bad anymore—at least I could hang around that hunk Luke.

IV

Luke waited by my locker in the morning, wearing an awesome blue muscle shirt and loose black jeans. Three girls stood drooling across the hall.
I’ll bet
they
think he’s a Greek god, too!

“Hi!” I stopped just short of him.

“Hey.” He seemed hesitant, like maybe he wanted to kiss me but wasn’t sure if he should.

Yeah, I’m sure that’s just wishful thinking.

I wore a tight sweater, denim jeans, and my hair perfect. Perfect because I spent hours in the bathroom that morning washing, conditioning, blow drying, brushing, moisturizing. Then there was the task of make-up, and getting dressed. I had to look good for him. And by the looks he gave me, it seemed I’d succeeded—at Lilly’s expense, because I never called her.

“You found your locker, I see,” I said to break the silence, pointing at his muscle shirt.

He laughed. “Yup, put my jacket away.”

“So, what classes are you taking?”

He pulled his schedule out of his pocket. “Math first, then history, art, and creative writing.”

My face lit up. “You have creative writing with me! You’ll love it, it’s awesome!” I couldn’t believe my luck! Awesome class, awesome guy!

He raised his eyebrows. “Is it fun?”

“Like english class, just with writing about whatever you want. And it’s certainly funner than math!”

He leaned against the locker next door. “I guess you’re a writer, then,” he breathed. “No wonder I found you in a bookstore.”

I laughed, pulled my home economics notebook out of my locker and threw my book bag in. Sometimes I’d rather carry books. That enables me to drop them when I see a cute guy. Then he’d pick them up and fall in love with me.

At least, he would in my fantasies.

“I
love
writing! And honestly, I think it’s painful that you have math class first thing in the morning!”

“I don’t mind it at all. It wakes me up.”

The warning bell rang. Noisy people crowded the hall, elbowing their way through. I shut my locker and turned the combination dial on the lock.

“I’ll see you at lunch?” His gorgeous eyes twinkled.

I smiled shyly. “Yeah, I usually sit in back. My best friend’s gone, and we have plenty of room at our table!”

In an instant, Tristan Minter flung around the corner and slammed into Luke. Tristan’s a big, dark-haired, green-eyed jock who failed his last IQ test.

Tristan swore, called back, “Sorry, man,” and went about his way, while Luke was flat against me, pinning me to the locker.

He pulled away bashfully. “Sorry,” he breathed, his face flushed. “Got pushed.”

I grinned. I’d just felt bulging muscles! “Don’t worry about it! The halls get way too hectic around here.”

He nodded. “See you at lunch?”

“See you there!”

I was off to home economics, smelling like Luke, knowing that I won’t be able to concentrate on a damn thing. And I liked it.

~ ~ ~

Home economics is a terrible class. Not because we have to balance “checkbooks” and memorize recipes, but because everyone I hate is in it. Everyone includes
Jenna,
and Jake’s best friend, Tom Belling. Tom’s got highlighted spiky brown hair, green eyes, and a pierced ear. His talent lies in mocking and poking fun at people, like the parasite he is. He was actually cool with me in the eleventh grade, but now he just taunts and laughs at everything I do. What’s worse, he is in
every
class with me this semester.

“Hi, Shorty,” Tom mocked as I sat in my seat to his left. It’s an assigned seat, certainly not by choice. I rolled my eyes. Compared to his
mom
, I’m tall.

I began my work as he and slutty Jenna talked about me behind my back. Jenna sits behind him, and uses words like “like” and “oh my God!” in every sentence. She has long, light brown hair, blue contacts over brown eyes, and ridiculously tight clothing that practically rolled up her body. She’s also taller than me by about four inches.

Jenna’s not much different from the ditzy giggly girls at the mall. It’s shocking that I never saw her in that bookstore with them. Then again, I suppose tending to the needs of every guy on the football team is
very
time consuming.

“Oh my God, Tom, did you see that blond guy by, like, Adonia’s locker? Like, what is he
doing
wasting time on
her
?” she asked like I wasn’t even there.

She has the hots for
my
boyfriend, go me! And if I wore clothes that I outgrew five years ago, I bet I’d have more guys hanging around
me
than she does around
her
.

“Heard about that dude from Jake last night,” Tom said. “Haven’t seen him yet.”

“Like, why was
Jake
talking about him?” Jenna asked in a shaky tone I secretly loved.
She’s worried?
I laughed under my breath.

Ms. Sanderson made her entrance. She’s ancient. And because she’d started teaching in the early 1800s, she was so old-fashioned that no one could talk without expressed permission—if they did, they’d get written up. She’s hunchbacked, small-figured, with tiny reading glasses that hung off a chain around her neck.

Everyone groaned when she walked in.

After dragging through attendance, she got up, just barely, closed the door and started lecturing on the proper boiling time for spaghetti.

As Ms. Sanderson faced the board, Jenna whispered, “I think Adonia like, wants to steal Jake back. That’s why she’s pretending to be, like, that cutie’s girlfriend. Oh my God, I bet they’re like, study partners.”

Tom laughed under his breath.

I wish my first class didn’t require toothpicks to keep my eyes open. And I wished those two would just die!

~ ~ ~

The instant class was over, Jenna grabbed Jake’s butt and shoved her tongue down his throat. I’m not sure why she thought I’d care. I mean, all she’s got is Jake, and he’s no Greek god!

At least she’s not in my second period gym class, although Tom and Jake are. Without Lilly there, I was pretty damn miserable.

Jake looked my way constantly. He’s way meaner in school than he is at my house; I guess he’s got an image to protect.

“Volleyball today!” screamed Ms. Gee as she blew her horrid whistle. She’s very butch, and it seemed she enjoyed the girls’ locker room. I always feel awkward changing in front of her.

I won’t deny my passionate hatred for gym class. It’s stupid! Ms. Gee obviously isn’t losing a pound, so what good is the class, anyway? At five-foot-one and ninety-eight pounds, my weight is one of the few things I never worry about.

I hid in back, but for the sake of my grade, I hit the ball on occasion. The seconds dragged on. Why couldn’t Luke be in
this
class, too? I wouldn’t mind seeing him in gym shorts.

Jake was on my team and Tom was on the other. People kept urging me to hit the ball and got pissed when I missed. Seriously, people take this game
way
too damn seriously!

When I finally hit it, it bounced off my hands and went right over the net, splat onto Tom’s fists and back in my face—
POW!

I covered my face. It burned and it
stung!
I tried to contain my tears. Everyone looked. My eyes settled on Jake just as the whistle blew.

“Tom, on the bench!” Ms. Gee screamed, pointing to the bleachers. “Adonia, are you all right?”

I nodded, humiliated. I didn’t want her bringing it to everyone’s attention anymore, so I waved her off and dove for the ball again after the whistle sounded the second time.

On second thought, maybe I should have asked to see Mr. Bias—I think I’m emotionally scarred.

~ ~ ~

Our cafeteria is huge, round, and practically made of windows, but no matter how aesthetically pleasing, it’s still plagued with that nasty cafeteria-food smell.

I paid for my tray and sat in the back. I kept an eye out for Luke, hoping he wouldn’t notice the red in my face. It’s not a story I wanted to share.

I sat with Anna Davis, the smartest girl in school. She’s a genius. Just being around her makes me feel dumb. She isn’t in any of my classes—she’s in advanced courses—calculus, ecology, anatomy, and physics. I met her at the start of the semester, she’s a tutor in Lilly’s environmental chemistry class.

Jake, Tom, Jenna and Tristan sat at the table across from us. Jenna sneered from what used to be my seat. I shot her a look and applied ketchup to my burger.

“You seem down,” Anna noted, pulling a tight, curly lock out of her face. She has smooth, caramel-colored skin and a complexion to die for. It’s like she never had a zit in her life.

“Lilly’s gonna be gone for three weeks. First day in and I got smacked over the face with a volleyball by
him
.” I gestured toward Tom with my nose.

“Ick, what a jerk!” She ate like a homeless girl; practically inhaled her burger. “Lilly’s having fun now, be happy for her! She’s in a better place!”

I sighed and nibbled on my food. “Did you guys hang out this weekend?”

“No. I was too busy studying. She invited me ice skating, but I figured she’d be busy with her brother and stuff anyway. Have you met him?”

“No. I don’t even remember his name.”

She looked like she was trying to remember, but she finally shrugged and said, “I don’t think she even told me his name, she mentioned him in passing. I didn’t even know she
had
a brother!”

I put my burger down. “Me neither. Isn’t that just weird?”

Anna nodded, shoving about seven fries in her mouth. For a slim girl, she eats a lot. Being a genius must build up an appetite. “Tell me about it! But that girl’s full of surprises. It must be worse that she didn’t tell you, I’ve only known her a few months.”

“I know! We’ve been best friends for six years!”

Anna shook her head and gulped down her milk.

“Any room for me?” asked the irresistible voice of someone towering over me.

I finally found something to smile about again. “Sure, sit!” When he did, I introduced him to Anna. “This is Luke Pawlak. He’s new.”

Anna smiled—the kind of smile you smile when someone’s drop-dead-gorgeous. “Hi, Luke!” She shook his hand and continued her lunch, her eyes peeking his way every now and then. “Don’t mind me, I’ve got exams to study for, plus the ACT. I’m trying to finish eating quickly so I can get to my locker.”

Luke nodded and gave me a light smile. “How was your morning?”

I shrugged uneventfully, hoping he’d never find out. “So-so. And yours?”

He ran a French fry through a puddle of ketchup. “Interesting. Had math and history. At least math was good.”

A whistle sounded from the next table over—Tom, Jake, and Jenna’s table. We turned our heads to Jake. “Hey, that’s the guy in my math class!”

Luke turned to me. “Who’s
that
guy?”

I sighed. “The ex I told you about.” I rolled my eyes as Jake pecked Jenna’s cheek.

“Oh.” Luke was quiet after that. He ate his fries, glancing at me from time to time.