Serenity (4 page)

“Wow, you aim high.” Ren wrinkled her nose. “Isn’t valedictorian decided by your grades? How in the hell does she have any control over that?”

“Whatever…you know what I mean. She has power that hasn’t even been tapped yet and I plan on tapping it if you know what I mean.” He winked.

“Gross.” Ren felt her stomach churn.

“My dad was a Phi Delt. If I’m going to follow in his footsteps, I can’t be playing second fiddle to Jolin. This is my opportunity to move up. It’s all about status.” He ran a hand through his hair. “And she, my friend, is status with a capital S.”

“And if she finds out about us?”

“She better not.”

“This is high school, a synonym for gossip central.”

“She won’t find out because you won’t talk about it.” His eyes were empty of emotion. It chilled Ren to think she spent her fair share of nights in dark corners with him.

Ren narrowed her eyes. “Stop with the bullshit. What do you really expect to get out of this? Liz isn’t worth all the trouble.”

Brock leaned in, his lips brushing her ear. “I expect to get everything. I want to rule this school. I want his life. He’s hovering. Until he’s totally out, I can’t get in.”

“She’s not the only one missing a heart,” Ren mumbled.

“Ren. You have a gift. Do this for me.”

Ren sat back in her chair and stared at him. Had he seriously complimented her on her blow job abilities? She was on the fast track to hell.

“Three hundred dollars. I know you need money. I know your douche of a brother just got fired and with your grams death and your mom…”

Ren held up her finger to stop him. “You what? Want me to just walk up to him and say,
Dude you look a little down, how about I give you a blow job
.”

He held up his hands, waving off his last comment. “You’re going to ask the office to switch you to my class. Tell them you need extra hours at work since your grandma died and need seventh hour off. I need to get close to Lizzie, and it’ll get you close to him. Once you’re in the class, I can get Mr. Carson to switch partners.”

“You’re going to a lot of trouble for status.” Ren slammed her book closed. “And I haven’t agreed to do it yet.”

“Shh. Three hundred bucks, baby. That’s like a week of work at the coffee shack. You’ll do it.” His smile made her want to smack him. “Or maybe I cut you off all together. I can always go back to my old ways.”

“What? Wacking off to bad internet porn? You can’t get what I do from the girls around here.”

Brock’s confidence faded a little.

Ren had turned the tables on him. He wanted her bad, and she knew it. “Fuck,” she blew out the word. “I want the money up front.”

“Only after I know…and everyone else knows you two have a study date. At his house. I’ll know if it doesn’t happen so you better get this done fast. I need Lizzie on my arm by homecoming.”

“There is no way he’s going to let me give him a blow job on our first study date.”

“Figure it out. He’s pissed at Liz. He’ll do it to get back at her,” Brock said.

It made her sick that she was sitting in senior Biology class bartering out the details of a blow job, but Brock was using the fact she needed money to try and control her. She didn’t like the feeling of being out of control. She needed to keep the upper hand.

“I’ll do it,” Ren whispered.

-oOo-

“The date for changing classes already passed,” the counselor said flatly.

Ren closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Brock said he was going to take care of this, but obviously he hadn’t. “My grandmother passed away a few weeks ago, and I need extra hours at work. I need senior bio and there’s a first period class I can switch to.” Ren tried to keep her voice even.

“I understand you are having a difficult time, but we can’t let students manipulate their schedules without parental consent.” He shuffled some papers on the counter.

“My mom has only recently returned to my life. I don’t feel comfortable with her being involved in my academic decisions.”

“Well she needs to be.”

“I don’t need another English class. I can drop it without being short any credits. Mr. Carson has already approved it,” Ren pleaded.

The counselor walked around the counter and took her by the elbow, leading her out of the office. “I’ll need to talk to Mr. Carson myself.”

“I checked with him to make sure he had a seat available,” Ren lied. She hadn’t talk to anyone.

The counselor scowled then attempted to look compassionate but really only looked ill. “I’d like to talk to your mother about Quill’s absences. He’s missed more classed than he’s attended. Graduating will be difficult if this continues.”

“We haven’t really settled in. He’s having trouble dealing with Grams. His grades are staying up though?”

“Well yes. His grades are holding steady but attendance and participation will affect…I’d really like to talk to you mother about this.”

Ren sighed. He wasn’t going to let this go. “Now isn’t a good time. It was her mother.”

“I understand. I’ll give him a week or two more but if things don’t improve I’ll have no choice but to contact her.”

Ren nodded. “Okay.”

“I’ll get this switch taken care of in the computer. Go ahead and start attending the earlier class.”

Jolin

Wednesday, October 16

7:00 a.m.

“Let me get this straight.” Akeo’s arms moved frantically as he spoke. “She broke up with you during the
daylight hours
?” Jolin met Akeo in the hall before class to fill him in on his latest drama.

Jolin let out a laugh. “I guess.”

“And she didn’t burst into flames?” Akeo leaned forward to rest his arms on the lab table.

“She’s not that b-b-bad,” Jolin complained.

Akeo looked at Jolin and shook his head. “She’s keeping you around for a booty call here and there. She’s
that
bad.”

Jolin shrugged.

“It’s genius.” Akeo clapped his hands. “Sex with no strings. It’s every man’s dream.”

Jolin shoved him in the shoulder. “Shut up. I don’t want to b-b-be a b-b-booty call. I want to be her boyfriend. Everyone already knows we b-b-broke up. I want t-t-to be with her.”

“Yeah…” Akeo shook his head. “I don’t think you do.”

Jolin shrugged, exhausted from the effort to not stutter through his mopey rant…and not succeeding. Akeo was right, he didn’t really want Lizzie. He wanted his life back and for some reason she held the key. Not going out with the head cheerleader dropped him a peg or two on the social ladder. Actually, it dropped him to the fucking bottom of the heap.

“Holy shit.” The words escaped before Jolin could pull them back. Any thought of Lizzie slipped from his head.

Akeo looked shocked. “What? Do you have Tourette’s now?”

“Who
is
th-th-that? She flipped Liz the bird the other day.”

“And a point for human kind.” Akeo turned around to see who Jolin was looking at.

His gaze was glued to a girl standing pateintly at the front of their biology class. She was tall, thin, and beautiful. Actually she was more than beautiful. And definitely not knocking on the door of his social circle. Even though he’d been notified he was currently hovering on the outskirts of his old social group, he still considered it his. His so called friends hadn’t officially kicked him out, only Elizabeth, and even though he’d just told Akeo he wanted her back… he was still deciding if he actually did. The mystery girl turned and flipped her hair over one shoulder. Her hair was blonde, but when it swished across her back he could see, the curls trailing down her back had been died in horizontal lines of bright colors. Jolin had never been one for the goth or punk look, but on her it just added to her striking beauty. Her eyes were lined in thick black and her lips were a deep red. She wore a pair of black leggings, paired with black motorcycle boots that buckled up the side. A long sleeved black and white striped shirt skirted her hips and a short black leather jacket finished the outfit.

He felt his stomach clench as she neared.

“Hey, Akeo.” She nodded in their direction.

“Hey, Ren.” He nodded back trying to look cool.

Jolin let out a breath.

“Who the hell…” Jolin closed his eyes to calm himself. When he opened them Akeo was waiting patiently for him to finish his sentence, “is th-th-that?”

“Dude.” He laughed. “Watch the drool.”

“Who is th-th-that?” Jolin whispered.

“What happened to the
she broke up with me
sob story from a minute ago?”

“Who is th-that?” Jolin repeated.

Akeo leveled his stare at him. “Are you serious?”

Jolin raised an eyebrow. He’d reverted to flagrant facial expressions when words failed him.

Akeo’s whisper was harsh. “Dude. Ren Diaz? We went to elementary school with her. She moved away for awhile but came back end of middle school. Lives with her grandma. Who, by the way, just died.” Akeo grabbed his books and headed down the hall. Jolin swung his backpack over his shoulder and went after him.

“I don’t remember.”

He stopped and stared at Jolin again.

“What?” Jolin tapped his head to indicate his loss of memory from the accident.

“You’re an asshole you know that right?” Akeo finally said.

Okay Jolin knew he could be, but he was a little unclear on why he was currently one. Jolin stared him down shaking his head.

“You’re such a douche bag. Have you ever looked past the end of your dick? I should drop your sorry ass.”

Jolin rolled his eyes. “Like that c-c-could ever happen.”

“Don’t push me, Jo.” Akeo shoved him with a shoulder.

Jolin held his hands up in a sign of giving up. “Ke?”

Akeo shook his head. “Dude. It has nothing to do with your head. You’ve have been wrapped around Elizabeth for so long do you even know what’s going on outside of your social penthouse. There is a whole school down here.”

Jolin shrunk back a little. Akeo was right. He’d been on the top of the social ladder until his injury. He’d acted like he was above everyone in the school for the past three years. Slowly his elevator was bringing him back to the lower floors. He was lucky Akeo was even walking down the hall with him. “I’m s-s-sorry. B-b-but it isn’t like that anymore.”

“Since like two minutes ago.”

Jolin raised an eyebrow again.

Akeo blew out a breath. They’d been friends forever. Although, until recently, that friendship never graced the halls of the high school. Once Jolin became the quarterback of the football team, their social circles had divided. They’d only hung out outside of school. When he was with the crowd, he barely gave Akeo the time of day. Damn, Akeo was right, he was a total asshole.

“Serenity,” Akeo mumbled glancing over his shoulder to make sure no one was listening.

“You’re feeling p-p-peaceful?” What the hell was he talking about?

“Her name. It’s was Serenity, now Ren. Her twin brother is Tranquillity, but we always called him Quill or he would punch your face in?” Akeo was getting snotty. “They’ve had a crappy life. Keep your crappy life away from hers. If for one second you pulled your head out of your ass you would know someone besides the posse of assholes you hang out with.

The warning bell echoed and Akeo turned around leaving Jolin to try and jog his memory.

Jolin made it to class and assumed the position, hunching down in his chair, stretching out his legs.

He couldn’t figure out why Akeo was so mad. Who cared if he couldn’t remember Serenity? She wasn’t in the crowd he hung out with. He couldn’t be expected to know every kid in the school. He wanted to know her now…didn’t that count for something?

Jolin perked up a bit when the girl who piqued his curiousity walked into class and stood patiently by Mr. Carson’s desk waiting to hand him her schedule.

“Serenity Diaz.” Mr. Carson read the name on the paper.

“Ren. It’s just Ren. The counselor let me move from seventh hour to first hour due to my work schedule.” Her voice was soft and smooth when she corrected him. The hair on the back of Jolin’s neck stood up.

“Well, Ren, let’s put you in the mix.” Mr. Carson walked to his podium and scanned the seating chart. Then looked up and pointed a finger toward Elizabeth. “Elizabeth would you please move back a seat?”

Akeo leaned over and hissed in Jolin’s ear, “Your holy shit’s heading this way.”

Jolin waved his hand in Akeo’s face, getting him to back off.

Elizabeth shot a nasty glance toward Akeo before gathering her books. “Sure, Mr. Carson.”

Ren stood next to Jolin’s desk and waited for Elizabeth to clear out.

“Sorry.” Ren shrugged.

“Slut,” Elizabeth muttered, shoving her shoulder into Ren. Elizabeth gave Jolin a weird smile when she moved to Brock’s table group. Jolin shook his head. He had a feeling Brock had something to do with this current situation.

Jolin glanced up to catch a sad look in Ren’s eyes. The image of a little girl in a ripped and soiled pink dress, her hair a ratty mess, flew through Jolin’s head. Yeah, he remembered her. The police had come to their elementary school and arrested her on his tenth birthday. At least that’s what he thought then. Later he understood Social Services had taken her away because her mom was a drug addict.

Ren rolled her eyes and dropped her books on the table with a thump. “She’s a ray of sunshine.”

Jolin’s opportunity to get reacquainted with Ren came sooner than he’d expected. She almost immediately was assigned as his new lab partner while Elizabeth became Brock’s.

Ren turned in her chair to face him and held out her hand. “Hi. I’m Ren.”

Jolin took a deep breath, closed his eyes and said, “J-j-jolin.”

Ren’s expression remained neutral, grabbing his hand and smiling. “Nice to meet you.”

He smiled back, but didn’t say anything. She was the first person to not give him a look of sympathy when he stuttered.

“So I guess we’re lab partners for the project.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“We should get started with our research. We’re behind. Can I come to your house this afternoon?”

He raised both eyebrows this time. She was kind of straight to the point.