Rival Love (27 page)

Sky just gets talking to someone when she turns, probably to the growling sound which is currently being made by the body-building-looking dude who I just cut in this so-called line. Sky’s eyes lock with mine and she blinks a few times. “Caleb? What are you doing here?”

“I followed you. You were really incredible up there.”

She nods. “Thanks.” Her cheeks are starting to form a blush and I smile.

“Can I walk you back?” She’s picking up her guitar so I assume she’s leaving. I want her to say yes.

She narrows her eyes a bit and then sighs. “I guess.”

I go to reach for her hand but stop myself. “May I carry that for you?”

Her fingers tighten around the handle and the only reason I know this is her knuckles are now bone-white. So I don’t ask her again. We head out of the club, and down the street. We’re walking slowly, which is a good thing because it means more time with her. “Do you want to go ice skating tomorrow?”

“Why?” she asks while her eyes watch me.

I shrug. “I want to do something fun with you.”

“I’m practicing.”

I nod. “Okay. Never mind.” She’s practiced twice a day since Tuesday evening. We’re going home in two days and you’d figure the girl would just take a break. But it’s probably because I’m asking. “Who’s the song about?”

“The song?”

“Yeah, the one you just sang?”

She stops walking and rocks on her heels. “You don’t want to know that.”

“Yes I do.”

She looks at the ground. “It’s about someone. Someone I like but shouldn’t. It doesn’t matter.” She starts to walk off and I follow.

“Sky, wait a sec.” She pauses again. “What I did at the game…I’m sorry. You caught me off guard. Everyone was staring. Still, that’s no excuse for what I did. Especially since all I ever do is think about it.”

“Think about what?” she whispers.

I close the space between us and gently touch her cheek with my fingertips. I push away some locks of hair from her face, and lower my mouth to hers. She gasps a little, right before our lips touch and we kiss. My entire body is on fire, and yeah, we’re kissing but she’s not close enough. I wrap my arm around her waist and bring her right up against me. She moans against my mouth and I let my tongue slide across hers. Jesus, she tastes so good, and the way she’s working her mouth over mine is turning me on so much more.

I pull back a little and breathe, “That’s what I should have done that night. And that’s what I want to keep on doing.”

“You do?”

“Yeah Sky, I do.”

“But I thought…”

I kiss her again. “You thought what?” I breathe against her lips.

“I thought you wanted Lidia. She told me you kissed her and…”

I interrupt her. “Lidia? Hell no! Skylar, you’ve been in my head and in here”—I take her hand and put it on my chest—“for so freaking long that anyone else is not even worth my time. Just you.”

Chapter 45

Skylar

To say I’ve been on a constant high, cloud-nine style since Caleb and I returned from New York would be one hundred and ten percent accurate. We’ve been down-playing it at school for a few days now. Which is actually good for me because I don’t feel so guilty about sticking to my schedule.

Kayla slides up beside me on the way to my car. So far the swim team has been okay with me joining them—well, most of them. Amber and her group of zombies glare at me and watch me like a hawk. Actually, Amber’s stare is more like a twitching eye glare, and I really hope she doesn’t pop a blood vessel in her head or eyeball.

“Hey, wanna come over tonight?” I ask.

“Um…sure.”

“Well, don’t sound so excited. You might hurt yourself,” I tease.

She smiles quickly and gets into my car. She’s been a little down, and I think it has something to do with Lance hanging out with Amber and her flock during the break. And I was in NYC so I couldn’t exactly be there to comfort her. So, how do I propose to make this up to her and show her I care? By hooking her up with Lance, of course. The best part: neither of them knows this. She thinks Lance and I rescheduled our tutoring session and he thinks we still have a session tonight. I know, sometimes I’m still a little evil.

I pull up to the house, and notice Caleb is here, but my mom and Brian aren’t. Double score, unless…no, I can’t jinx it.

Once we’re in the house, I run upstairs and drop off my bag. Arms slip around me and lips caress my neck. I giggle and turn my face to meet his mouth. When we connect, my body feels like a torch has been lit inside of me while butterflies dance around in a crazy tango. I don’t want this to end, but I have to pull back.

“I missed you,” he says as his green eyes take me in.

I let my finger trace his lower lip. “I missed you too. Kayla is downstairs though. You don’t mind, do you?”

He shakes his head and laughs. “I don’t mind.” He kisses my cheek and we walk downstairs. Kayla is in the living room looking through one of the latest teen magazines my mom bought me when we were at the airport. I actually hate those things, but my mom seems to think I love to read them. I’m happy someone is enjoying them.

“Hey, Kayla, how was swimming?” Caleb asks as he takes a seat in the La-Z-Boy.

I try not to frown because he feels so far away from me now. But I do smile because I know what he’s doing and it’s really sweet. He’s almost perfect. I can’t believe a few months ago I loathed him.

We’re just starting to watch the movie
The Mummy
when the doorbell rings. I get up off the couch and answer it. Lance stands at the door. “Hey, Sky. Should I head to the kitchen?”

“Oh, Lance…I forgot.” I slap my forehead for a dramatic effect. “Come on in though.”

I pull him into the living room and say, “Hey, look who came by. Well, it was my bad. I forgot to tell him that we were doing suicide intervals in swimming so I’d be too beat for the whole diving-into-history stuff.” I smile at Caleb and then look over at Kayla. “This is Kayla, you know her, right?”

“Yeah, uh…hey. So what are you guys watching in here?” He takes a seat next to Kayla and I walk over to Caleb and sit in his lap.

He pulls me against him and kisses my neck. “If I didn’t know any better I’d say you planned this, Fletch,” he whispers.

I turn my gaze to him and smile. “Maybe I did. Are you complaining?”

“You’re in my lap.” He smiles. “Definitely not complaining at all.”

Our little bubble of happiness breaks as soon as headlights shine through the living room. Caleb and I break apart since we’re pretty sure if my mom finds out about us, she’ll ship me off to my dad’s so fast it wouldn’t be funny. Not that she doesn’t like Caleb. She does, but I’m pretty certain she’d be freaking out about what could happen with all of us living under the same roof. Like unplanned pregnancies, which is the stupidest excuse ever. Unless someone forced you to do it, then I’m sorry, I find it hard to believe a thing like a pregnancy is unplanned. When you have sex, that’s one of the things that can happen, so how is it unplanned?

Twenty minutes later, Kayla is leaving with Lance. The two of them have been in deep conversation about movies, and yes, I believe this is the start of a hopeful relationship. And yeah, I’m taking full credit for it. Once they’re gone, I grab the box of takeout that my mom brought home and head to my room.

But I’m not in my room alone very long. A knock comes, and my door opens then closes. Caleb has his backpack in one hand and his takeout in the other. I pull the chair near my desk out for him and reach for his backpack.

“Yeah, so remember when you and I did homework together and it was great? I sort of figured we could do that again,” he says as he hands over his bag and takes a seat next to me. “But you look like you don’t want me here. I can go.” He starts to pull himself back up and I stop him.

“It’s not that. I’m just thinking about tomorrow. It’s my first meet, and I know this sounds completely stupid, but I’m nervous I’ll suck.”

“What do you mean? Of course you won’t suck. And you know what?” He pauses for a second.

I smile at him. “What?”

“You’ll break your own times in every event. And I’ll be there in the stands watching because, you know, I’ll have to go.” We laugh and then he kisses my forehead. “But for kicks, tell me, why would you think that?”

I shrug. “I always do. I know I’m good, could always be better, but sometimes I feel like any day I’m going to meet my match. And I’ll lose. It won’t be pretty, but it will show me one of my biggest fears, which is that I’m not a talented superstar like everyone paints me to be.”

He places his arm over my shoulder and pulls me in for a hug. “Sky, that’s what makes you different. The fact that you can realize this makes you a very dangerous opponent. Because you know there’s always room to improve. There’s going to be someone out there with the same mentality and the same drive as you. They might be better, or damn close. Point is, you’re not letting what the talent scouts say get to your head.”

“Do you let them get to your head?”

He sighs. “I did. But then someone saw flaws in me.” He kisses my cheek. “Ready to start on some homework?”

I nod. But the truth is I’d rather be kissing him to the point I can’t breathe. It’s not going to happen though, not with my mom and Brian here.

***

I asked Coach for the morning routine in order to get double my practice time in. She agreed to it and normally Kayla comes with me, but this morning she called and asked to skip. And she’s probably right. Skipping a practice the day of the meet would be a wise thing to do, but my mind is on perfection.

I head to school, and go to open the door, but notice it’s not closed. Not fully. There’s a piece of cardboard and gum stuck between the lock. What the heck?

As soon as I enter the girls’ locker room, my instincts tell me to turn around and run.

All of the once-brown lockers are painted orange. I hold in my gasp and keep going. I need to see what my old school has done. The pool area is sabotaged. The flags have Bulldog decorations strung across them. The pool water is black. Like black as the night sky. The diving area is orange, with paint dripping off the board. On the one wall under the huge electronic scoreboard is a banner. “HOW
DO
YOU
LIKE
US
NOW?”

My stomach knots. They’re going to think I did this. I’ve got to get out of here. I start to go too, but streaker lady comes out of the locker room fully dressed. She looks around and screams at me. “What have you done?”

I shake my head. “No, I didn’t do this. I was…” Still in my freaking warm-up suit with a huge duffle bag in my hand and a key around my neck. She has every right to assume I did this. “I was coming here to swim. You see me here every morning. With my friend Kayla,” I plead with her.

“You’re that girl.” She waves her finger at me. “A vandal!”

“I’m not a vandal. I’m serious, I just got here.”

She points at the tile. “Your shoes have orange paint on them.”

I look down and see what she means. I wore these shoes when I tagged Caleb’s car. “I’m going to call someone.”

“No need, I’m calling the cops.”

“Okay.” I dial my mom’s phone while the woman calls the cops. I’ve got a feeling I’m going to be going to the police station.

The phone rings and rings then goes to voicemail.
UGH!
I try again. Rings and rings again then someone grumbles, “Hello?”

“Brian?”

“Skylar? It’s almost six in the morning. What’s wrong?”

I sigh and turn away from the older woman. “Brian, I think I’m going to jail. The school, well, to be specific, the natatorium, is completely ruined, and I’m pretty sure my meet tonight will be cancelled.”

“Jail? We’re on our way.”

I’m about to tell him to calm down and that I’m innocent, but the call has been disconnected. Five minutes later the cops are here, and sure enough I’m being read my rights. All because my shoes look like evidence. And the cop recognized me as the Bulldog Skylar Fletcher.

Thank God my eighteenth birthday isn’t until next month. Still, if colleges get ahold of this, I might have to grant Dad’s wish and go to Columbia after all. That’s if my mom doesn’t decide to kill me first.

Taken out of the back of the police cruiser at the police station, I’m walked into the building. Some dirty bum and a few hookers in handcuffs look at me. There’s a twitchy person in the corner and just beyond that mass of misfits is my mom, scowling. Brian’s frowning, but Caleb isn’t with them. “I’m that one’s mother. What’s going on here?” my mother growls. She’s not a morning person. In fact, she’s more like a bear being woken up during hibernation.

“The school was vandalized, ma’am. This one was at the scene of the crime with evidence on her shoes. We’re taking her in for questioning right now. How old is she?”

“She’s a minor until next month, so you need me in there.”

Leave it to my mom to go all
Law and Order
on someone. If I weren’t in cuffs, and my mom didn’t look like she was about to chew off someone’s head, I’d be laughing at her giving this cop crap. The guy takes me into one of the rooms, and my mom takes a seat next to me. The guy leaves to apparently go get one of his partners to help out. I take this time to tell my mom my side of the story.

“I went for a swim. I swear.”

“Why did he say he found evidence?”

“I have paint on my shoes.” I’m not telling her how that got there.

She eyes me. “I don’t know what to do about you anymore. Skylar, I thought you were trying. You weren’t moping, you made friends, and then you just pull this stunt. Do you realize the amount of trouble you’re in?”

“Mom, I’m telling you I had nothing to do with this.” I have a damn good feeling I know who, but I’m not giving up names. “I went to the school to practice. When I got there the lock was jammed with cardboard and gum.”

“Fine, explain the paint on your shoes then.”

“I can’t.”

She shakes her head. “How can I believe you, if you won’t tell me everything? I’ll tell you this much: I’ve got no idea what you’re going to do when the school expels you. You realize the amount of damage you just caused? Your whole future is in jeopardy right now.”