Scarlett White (24 page)

"You'll pay for what you did!" Kirsten screamed at her.

Scarlett remained quiet as Kirsten continued.

"I swear I'll make you pay for stealing Tristan!" Kirsten obviously wasn't listening to any reason. "But if I can't do it, I'm sure Alice will find a way.

"Is that a threat?"

"No," Kirsten growled. "It's a promise."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever," Libby interrupted, stepping in the middle of the crowding and joining Scarlett by her side.

Kirsten went to find another rock to throw at Libby, but there weren't any more around her.

"Give it up, Kirsten, you're just not cheerleading material. So deal with it like a big girl and get your ass out of your head. C'mon, Scar, let's get out of here," Libby added as she walked with Scarlett away from the humiliating scene.

"What a bimbo," Libby giggled as they headed towards the entrance of the school building.

"I kind of feel bad for her," Scarlett replied quietly.

"Really?" Libby searched Scarlett's expression to make sure she wasn't kidding. "Well, you shouldn't. She's an idiot."

"Do you think I should be worried?" Scarlett asked, also quietly.

"'Bout what?" Libby questioned when they reached Libby's locker. She began pulling out the books that she needed for her first class. Scarlett leaned against the locker beside Libby's, her arms folded across her chest.

"I'm not really sure if it's anything to look too deeply into, but when Kirsten said that if she couldn't get me to pay for whatever the hell she was accusing me of, then Alice would. Now I'm not really scared of Kirsten—she's not the brightest crayon in the coloring box—but Alice is pretty intimidating," Scarlett admitted.

"True dat, sista. But, honestly, I don't think you have anything to worry about. Alice is all talk, and no walk. She knows how to bitch talk like the back of her hand, but when it comes to actually taking action, she's dumber than a doornail," Libby reassured Scarlett's worries.

At that moment some kid who owned the locker that Scarlett was leaning against walked up, saw the two more popular girls talking, and decided that he needed to wait until they were done. But Libby glared at the pimply boy. "What do you want?" she barked.

"Um…I need to get my books." He pointed at the locker Scarlett was leaning against.

Scarlett started to move away so the poor boy could get to his books, but Libby continued to bark, "She doesn't need to move for you. Do you know who this is? This is Scarlett White. Did you know that she is now currently dating Tristan Cox? The Tristan Cox?"

"Oh, no. I didn't know that. So sorry to interrupt." The boy scurried off in the opposite direction.

"You didn't have to do that. I could have moved," Scarlett said.

"That's the joy of being popular." Libby flicked her hair over her shoulder. "C'mon, let's go get some coffee."

"Where?"

"The teacher's lounge."

"Students aren't allowed in there."

"The students who are on an errand to bring some fresh coffee to the busy teachers who don't have time to do it themselves are most definitely allowed though," Libby said with a wink.

"I think I'm beginning to like this whole popular business," Scarlett giggled.

"Most of us do," Libby replied.

Kirsten walked into the girls' bathroom to clean herself up. As soon as the crowd had dispersed not long after Scarlett and Libby had left, she had dried her tears and gotten up off the ground. She looked at her tear streaked cheeks and began to wipe the eyeliner off her face. As soon as her face was shiny clean, she began to reapply her makeup, so it looked as good as new. She looked down at her dirty jeans with dismay. She unzipped her book bag and pulled out a brand new clean pair of jeans. She swapped the dirty jeans for the new ones and threw the dirty ones away in the garbage can. She looked at herself in the mirror, fluffed her hair, and smiled after she applied more lip gloss. She looked awesome.

Just then the door opened, and in walked Alice Barrington. Her heels clacked on the hard floor of the bathroom. Her brunette curls bounced with every step she took. Her sharp eyes glittered with pride and mischief. Her pearly whites gleamed as she smiled broadly.

"I saw the end of your performance. Very nice. You should start doing drama."

"I do drama every day," Kirsten replied with a smile. "Did you get the papers printed?"

"Yep. And they are exactly where she will find them."

"And the times match?"

"Yeah. Everything is ready." Alice's eyes glinted in the mirror with the utmost pride of success.

"Perfect. I do have a question though," Kirsten asked.

"Ask away." Alice turned to look at herself in the mirror.

"If my performance was just so you had time to stash the papers, why did you literally take my cheerleading uniform away if it was all just pretend?"

"Good question," Alice replied.

"And the answer?"

"That was true. You really are off the team. Sorry, but your hurkey just isn't what it used to be. And that cellulite on your fat thighs is disgusting. Well, tootles." Alice flipped her hair over her shoulder.

She clicked her way out of the bathroom, leaving Kirsten standing there completely shocked with her mouth wide open. She stood utterly still and rigid for a full four minutes until Andrea walked in. She remembered Andrea because that was the girl with the pretty pearl necklace from last year. The one she had destroyed.

"You should probably shut your mouth, Kirsten, you might catch a fly, or worse, choke on a pearl." Apparently she still held a grudge. Fan-fucking-
fabulous
.

The bell hadn't rung yet. And the class wouldn't start until the teacher walked in, but who knew when that was going to happen? It was rumored that Mr. Macgregor had been doing some drugs lately. And the class didn't expect him in class any time soon, seeing as he had been at least twenty minutes late for three consecutive days now. Scarlett was sitting at her desk while Tristan sat on top of it. The entire school now knew they were dating—then again it wasn't really a secret, seeing as they had been holding hands for the past ten minutes.

"Did you hear about Kirsten's meltdown?" Tristan asked.

"I saw it actually," Scarlett replied as her heart fluttered every time Tristan's thumb would stroke the hand he was holding.

"I can't believe Alice kicked her off the cheerleading squad."

"She was the best one, besides Alice," Scarlett replied.

"What are you doing this weekend?" Tristan asked, his eyes boring into Scarlett's.

She was just as mesmerized; her eyes locked completely on his, "Studying for Monday's English test," she said automatically.

Tristan leaned down and whispered in Scarlett's ear, "Are you sure about that?"

The gentle breath on her ear made Scarlett's eyelids flutter. "I might be able to reschedule."

"Might?" Tristan switched to her other ear.

"Probably," Scarlett whispered.

That wasn't enough. Tristan brushed his lips lightly against Scarlett's.

"Definitely," Scarlett said.

"Perfect."

"Why? What are we doing?"

"It's a surprise."

Scarlett pouted, "I hate surprises."

"Well, you're going to have to learn love them." Tristan smiled.

Just then the bell rang, signaling the beginning of class, but no teacher showed up—must be high—so the students continued to talk and gossip and giggle and throw paper plane messages to each other while they sat on top of the desks and drew inappropriate pictures on the whiteboard. Tristan's phone vibrated, and he quickly sent a few texts.

"Tom is so stupid," he whispered to himself and then brought his attention back to his new girlfriend. Scarlett and Tristan talked about random things for as long as possible until a glossy, red-eyed teacher stumbled into the classroom to begin a very interesting class.

Soon enough it was time for second period and then third period, and Scarlett headed off to her AP Spanish IV class. She was in a gleeful bliss as she sat through her boring teacher's lecture about how important conjugations of verbs in the preterite and imperfect tense were. She wasn't taking her usual notes. She wasn't even looking at the board, or the book, or the teacher. Her eyes were glazed over with the image of Tristan.

But then she heard a piece of paper fall out of her text book as she flipped the page automatically. She snapped back into reality as she reached down to pick it up. She wasn't sure what it was until she started reading it:

Wednesday, 8:50 p.m.

Tristan: Hey, wat r u doing?

Alice: Nothing. Y?

Tristan: Im so bored. Wanna oral?

Alice: R u sure? I saw you w/ scarlett white.

Tristan: Shell never find out…

Alice: Well, if ur sure…

Tristan: Sure am. Wat r u wearing?

Alice: A tshirt and cotton shorts. U?

Tristan: Nothing but my ripped jeans. R u wearing underwear?

Alice: Yeah…wbu?

Tristan: Definitely not.

Thursday, 8:30 a.m.

Tom: Dude, wtf? Scarlett white?

Tristan: Wat can i say? Shes hot. U havent seen her w/ short shorts and a tight shirt on.

Tom: Hot. Wat made her catch ur attention?

Tristan: Francis. As soon as they strted dating, i had 2 have her. And shes rlly sxy. But her kissing sux. She needs 2 wrk on it. I guess i was her 1st. Pathetic, but watevr, shes still hot (:

Tom: Well, wen ur done, i get to heal her hart :P and by that i mean, get n her pants

Tristan: Watevr

This didn't make any sense. It was obviously Tristan's texts printed out on paper. But how did they get there? Who would have done it? It had to be Tom or…Alice. It was definitely Alice. It was easy enough to figure out how she had gotten the texts shared between her and Tristan, but how had she gotten Tom's? Well, Scarlett could only imagine. A little flirtation, a little making out, and those texts were as good as hers. But still, how had she slipped the note into Scarlett's book. Again Scarlett could only imagine.

Scarlett reread the piece of paper again, trying desperately to make the words change, or better, disappear. And that was when she really saw the dates and times. She really noticed what it meant.
Wednesday, 8:50 p.m.
was only about fifty minutes after Tristan had left her house last night; after he had made that promise.
Thursday, 8:30 a.m.
was near the beginning of history class with Tristan while their teacher was late getting high. And something clicked in Scarlett's mind.
Tristan's phone vibrated and he quickly sent a few texts.
"Tom is so stupid." he whispered to himself and then brought his attention back to his new girlfriend.