Scarlett White (26 page)

"I guess you're going to have to face it and give it up. Tristan just isn't into you," Willow said.

"Not yet, he isn't."

"What does that mean?" Quinn asked.

"That means Alice Barrington never gives up. And this is just the beginning," Alice said as she stood up and walked out of the lunchroom.

As soon as lab had finished for Alice, she filed out with the rest of the students, but she lingered a little longer in the hallways. When the last of the students scurried into their next classroom, Alice made her way over to Scarlett's locker. She looked back over her shoulders twice, making sure that no one was watching her, before she slipped a small piece of paper in between two of the bars on the front of Scarlett's locker. It was similar to what she had done while the entire school was watching Kirsten's performance. Except that time, she had actually opened Scarlett's locker with a pin. Her hair pin. Her favorite bobby pin. She had placed it in Scarlett's Spanish book because Alice had done her research. Alice had found out that Scarlett had Spanish third period. She had put it in her Spanish book because she needed Scarlett to think that sufficient time had pass for Alice to get the texts from Tom and be able to print them out. She knew Scarlett was smart enough to figure it out.

Alice waited until she heard a satisfying 'ding' as the small paper hit the bottom of the locker after she had slipped it in. Smiling to herself, Alice turned around and almost ran right into...Tristan.

Oh, shit...
she thought.

"What are you doing by Scar's locker?" Tristan asked, spotting Alice.

Alice's anger raised a notch when she heard him say 'Scar.' Two days ago, she had been 'Scarlett.' Alice shook it off and smiled pleasantly,

"Oh, is this where Scarface's—oops, sorry—Scarlett's locker is? I never noticed. I was dropping a note off for Riley Willis. I hope he gets it in time for tonight." Alice spoke in a small, sweet, innocent voice. "Well, don't want to miss English class. I mean, Ms. Puckerman makes it just so damn interesting. So Tootles." Alice waved her fingers and then headed off into class before Tristan had a chance to retort.

During lab, Mr. Ortega allowed the students one more chance to complete their project. Tristan and Scarlett, pretending to take notes for the next chapter, talked since they had already finished the project while the other students hovered over their unread directions for their supplies and how to operate the project.

"What did Kirsten say during her temper tantrum?" Tristan asked conversationally.

"She said something along the lines of 'I'll make you pay for stealing Tristan'."

"Kirsten says a lot of things. Most of them end up at the part of her brain that she never visits, the intelligent section."

Scarlett laughed so hard that tears started coming out of her eyes. It wasn't so much that the joke was funny; it was just how cute Tristan was when he said it. Now she understood why all of the people at his table laughed all the time. When she gained control again she said, "I guess I was just over thinking it."

"You do that a lot," Tristan replied with a big, playful smile on his lips.

"Shut up," Scarlett mumbled.

"What did you say?" The playfulness was still in Tristan's voice.

"Nothing."

"No, tell me. I have horrible hearing. Repeat?"

"I said," Scarlett turned her face upwards to play-fight, but she didn't realize how close Tristan was to her, and their lips met. And Scarlett melted into his side.

While they were in mid-kiss, they both heard the others in the classroom go "Ooooh" and "Aaaah" the entire time. When Mr. Ortega finally caught on and looked up to see the two kissing, he rose from his desk and said, "There is no public display of affection in my classroom. The next time I see anyone doing it, I will write them up faster than they can say 'PDA.'"

When they pulled apart, Scarlett was red, and Tristan was smiling an ear-to-ear smile.

Tristan said, "Now, what did you say again?" His voice was a little husky.

"I said," Scarlett spoke barely above a whisper, "kiss me again."

"But what if we get caught?" Tristan asked jokingly, his eyes glancing up at their teacher.

"Fuck him," Scarlett replied.

Tristan laughed, and then his lips were back on hers.

When they pulled apart for the second time, Scarlett asked, "You know I was going to visit Charles tonight, right?"

"Yes, why are you asking?" Tristan muttered looking down at his notes when Mr. Ortega looked up suspiciously.

"I mean I guess I could visit him tomorrow."

"What in the world are you talking about?" Tristan asked, looking up from his notes.

"I thought you told me not to treat you like you were stupid."

"Yes, but you're not making any sense."

"I'm talking about that—"

"Miss White, is there something you'd like to share with the rest of the class?"

"Other than some actual brain cells, no," Scarlett said, getting irritated with this man's impatience.

Mr. Ortega looked shock for a second at being back talked by Scarlett White, the smartest kid in the school, the one who always followed the rules, the girl who kept her nose in a book at all times. And then he finally succumbed to the loud laughter that threatened to burst out at any minute. "That was a good one, Scarlett," he said, "But you still have to work instead of talking to Mr. Cox."

Scarlett, rolling her eyes behind Mr. Ortega's back, returned to her notes.

"So what were you talking about?" Tristan asked out of the corner of his mouth.

"In my locker, I found—"

"Psst! Scarlett," Katherine called from the desk next to her. "What in the world does this mean?" she asked, leaning in closer to Scarlett and showing her the crumpled up piece of paper with the directions of the project on it.

Scarlett quickly explained what she was supposed to do with the lab and then turned back to her notes.

"So what did you find in your locker?" Tristan asked; a little annoyed at the previous interruptions.

Scarlett looked at him a little confused. "The note," she said.

And then the final bell rang, signaling the end of the day. Scarlett began packing her books and stuffing them into her bag.

"What note?" Tristan asked.

"The note in my locker—"

"Hey, Scar!" Kate called.

"What?" Scarlet asked, annoyed at being interrupted for the third time in less than twenty minutes.

"You didn't forget, did you?"

"Forget what?"

"The movies! 'Drag Me to Hell'? We bumped the date up to today because Ginny has some doctor's appointment Saturday. C'mon, we gotta go," Kate said, grabbing Scarlett's hand and pulling her to the door.

"Bye!" Scarlett waved to Tristan as she was dragged out the door.

Tristan was left in the classroom dumbfounded.
What note!

Scarlett, Ginny, Kate, and Meghan were in Kate's car driving down the road to the movies to see 'Drag Me to Hell,' supposedly the newest, scariest movie. Scarlett couldn't help but think that the last scary movie she had watched resulted in being knocked out by a rock thrown through her window.

"So, what note were you talking about during lab today?" Kate asked, sitting next to Scarlett.

"Oh, Tristan left a note in my locker."

"How romantic," Meghan said dreamily from the backseat.

"What did it say? Are you two gonna, you know, do a lil' somethin' somethin' tonight?" Ginny asked, nudging Scarlett from the back seat.

"Um...no, and it's none of your business if we did," Scarlett replied, pulling the crumpled up note from her bag.

She straightened it and showed it to the girls.

S.,

Meet me at my house tonight at nine. See you there.

T.

The three girls squealed with delight while Scarlett sat silently in the passenger seat, thinking about how Tristan had acted as if he didn't have a clue about this note.

During 'Drag Me to Hell,' Scarlett could only think about that night. She couldn't wait for nine o'clock, though she had an eerie feeling about it. In the note, Tristan had written
"meet me at my house at nine"
but during lab he had acted as if he had no idea about what she was talking about. All Scarlett could think about was,
This better be important because I'm skipping my visit to Charles tonight.

Scarlett didn't jump one time throughout the movie because her mind and thoughts were elsewhere. She scarcely noticed Meghan, Kate, and Ginny screaming their heads off or that they were curled into small balls in their seats.

When the movie was over, and they were walking out of the theater, Kate was still shaking with fright, Meghan was gripping Kate's arm, and Ginny was laughing her head off, "Do you remember when she was walking around her house saying, 'Here, kitty, kitty'? Hilarious!"

"Scar, are you okay?" Kate asked, noticing Scarlett's rigid position.

"Oh, fine, thanks," Scarlett muttered.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked.

"Nothing, really. Do you think you could drop me off at Tristan's house?"

"Sure. Wonder what's going to happen," Ginny said, nudging Scarlett's arm playfully. "Are ya gonna get it on?"

"Ginny, shut up," Meghan said.

"Why?"

"Because that's private," Kate said.

"So? I'm her best friend," Ginny replied.

Kate faux coughed, "I'm her best friend, too, you know."

"Yeah, but she likes me better," Ginny said, skipping a little in front of the rest of the girls.

"Says who?" Scarlett asked.

"Says me, duh," Ginny replied, still skipping.

"Stop it, Gin, you're embarrassing me," Meghan whined, still clutching Kate's arm.

"You wanna see embarrassment?" Ginny asked a devilish smile on her lips now.

"Ginny, if you get yourself killed...well, good riddance," Kate said.

"Shut up, idiot. Watch this," Ginny said deviously, skipping ahead of them and 'accidentally' bumping into a pair of guys walking to their cars. "Oh, sorry," Ginny giggled.

"No problem, hottie," one of them said.

Ginny smiled and stood on her tip toes to whisper something into the boy's ear.

When she finished, the boys turned around, looked right at Meghan wide-eyed, and then hurried off in the opposite direction.

"What did you do?" Meghan asked, outraged when Ginny skipped back to them.