The Bad Boy's Dance (37 page)

              “Why don’t you go back to your slut, huh? I knew you were bad for her, I
warned her
, but she made the mistake of trusting a womanizing jerk like you,” Dana spat.

              Then Dana said something that froze the both of us.

              “At least Jared never cheated.”

              Oh God,
no!
No, no, no! She couldn’t compare him to Jared; he would take it to heart, and it would tear him to shreds.

              I heard a sharp intake of breath, and before I could stop myself, I opened my eyes to find his cobalt gaze filled with agony and glassed over. He staggered back as if Dana had dealt him a physical blow, and she took the opportunity to hurry us into the car and lock it. We each had a spare of each other’s house and car keys, and Dana extracted her copy of Caleb’s car keys, screeching from the parking lot. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, as he leaned against the red brick wall and slumped to the floor, his head in his hands.

              “Why did you do that?” I shrieked at Dana. The car veered to the right with her surprise. She turned to stare at me, wide-eyed at my outburst.

              “What do you mean?”

              “You compared him to Jared! He knows about Jared, Dana, he understands what you meant. That’s the worst thing you could have said to him,” I said, my voice quieting as I was leaned my head against the window pane, my tears clouding the window.

              I heard Dana gasp. “I-I had no idea. I just…I thought-I’m sorry, Ives.”

              My shoulders shook as I remembered the pain on his face. No matter how angry at him I was, how betrayed I felt, I could never have said something like that to him. He didn’t deserve it.

              By the time Dana pulled up at my house, I was unresponsive again, and Paul carried me to bed. Dana entered, closing my door and sitting on a chair beside my bed silently.

              Caleb called her later, and Dana told him what happened. From the sounds of it, she persuaded him to stay at the after party and not to come here straight away. She wheeled in the TV from my parent’s room and inserted a DVD for the entire fourth season of the Vampire Diaries, my favorite season. But while she watched and talked animatedly, I stared blankly at my ceiling.

              This was all my fault. How could I have ignored everything I’d known about Asher? I’d known it was like playing with fire, but I’d gone ahead anyway. Had he been pretending the whole time? Was all the time we’d spent together, the promises we’d made, a lie? Every time I had considered distancing myself from him before I fell too deep, I’d panic. And now he’d destroyed everything singlehandedly.

              He knew how much I couldn’t stand Brenda, and yet he let her put her hands all over him. He let her touch him.

              Later in the evening, Caleb joined us, dressed in sweats and a ratty T-shirt. He threw Dana her PJ’s silently, and he didn’t even complain when they spent the rest of the night watching The Vampire Diaries.

              Sunday morning, a heavy weight dropped on my chest woke me up from my restless sleep. Golden curls brushed my cheeks, and Jodi’s chubby hands pulled at my ears.

              “IIIIIbbbeee,” she cooed. I righted her when she started to slip to the side and glanced questioningly at Spencer.

              “I figure if anything can help snap you out of this funk, it’s her drooling all over you,” he shrugged. “Paul has a seminar in Danport and he refuses to leave you here. Apparently, he doesn’t think I’m ‘emotionally sensitive’ enough to take care of you. What a load of horse shi-”

              At this point, he let out a girly screech as he tripped over Dana and Caleb’s sleeping bodies on the floor and ended up in a tangle with Dana. She roused and blinked lethargically at Spencer, who was lying underneath her wide-eyed.

              She yawned, gave a satisfied nod, and dropped her head back on his chest.

              Spencer glanced at me for help, but I was having a tough time keeping Jodi from bouncing on my stomach like a trampoline. He didn’t need my help anyway.

              An earsplitting shriek jolted Caleb awake as Dana’s eyes flew open. “Crap! This isn’t a dream, this is real, holy crap!” she floundered, crawling off Spencer, who tripped over the blankets in his hurry to get up.

              “IIIIbbbee,” Jodi smacked my cheek to regain my attention. I sat up, bouncing her in my lap and watching my friends amusedly. Caleb stumbled up and started walking, half-asleep, only to bump into the wall.

              “Ow!” he mumbled. His eyes opened fully, and he finally realized he wasn’t at home. “Awkward.”

              “Get dressed you two,” I said hoarsely. My voice had taken a vacation, and I sounded like a chain-smoking eighty year old. “You’re going to go have fun today. Tomorrow’s Monday, and I don’t want to ruin your weekend.”

              They shook their heads in unison. “I won the soccer game yesterday, Ives. Shot the winning goal. My fun quota has been filled,” Caleb informed me.

              “And my fun consists of hanging with my best friend’s. And whaddya know, here they are!” Dana said, point at me and Caleb with an exaggerated surprised face.

              The door opened, and Spencer dropped off a tray of food for me and Jodi. “You two don’t get a waiter service. Breakfast is downstairs,” he said to Dana and Caleb.

              Once the door shut behind him, the tell-tale redness of Dana’s ears faded. She sighed dreamily. “Damn, I can’t believe I was all tangled up in that hotness.”

              Yuck. She should watch him eat, see how hot he was then.

              They headed downstairs for breakfast while I tried to feed Jodi without getting bits of food on my bed. She acquiesced, and the dreadful process was over relatively fast. I looked at my own food, but the thought of eating anything made bile rise up in my throat. Placing my untouched tray on the dresser, I twirled a strand of Jodi’s silky hair between my fingers. She blinked at me with her luminous green eyes and smiled.

              “Hi, sweetie,” I murmured.

              She stuck her finger in my mouth.

              Giggling, I pushed her hand away and handed her my Minnie Mouse stuffed doll to play with. “Be careful when you grow up. Listen to what the other’s say, Jodi. There’s no changing a bad boy,” I whispered. “He’ll take your heart and crush it without blinking.”

              Her answer was to chew on Minnie’s foot.

              Dana and Caleb returned, and they spent the rest of the day with me. When they insisted they were sleeping over again, I put my foot down. “No, you’re not. Get dressed and go home. I will see you both tomorrow.”

              “You’re going to school?” Dana asked with shock.

              Despite the roiling in my tummy at the thought, I nodded. After more arguing, they both gave up and went off to change. Caleb kissed my forehead and patted my arm. Dana squeezed me tightly. Caleb had to pry her away. “She’s not going off to war, Dana, let go,” he grunted.

              A few minutes later, they were gone, and I was left alone with my thoughts. Paul and Spencer had been trying to feed me since Friday, but I couldn’t eat anything. I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep it down, and I got nauseated at the thought of even trying.

             
Are you going to lie here for the rest of your senior year? Torn up and depressed over a guy who clearly couldn’t give two tosses about you?

             
Yes, dear subconscious, I have every intention of doing just that.

             
He’s the one who cheated on you. You can’t let him see how much he’s hurt you. Pretend you don’t care. Hurt
him
back.

             
What’s the point of it? It wouldn’t do anything to get rid of this ache in my heart.

              Instantly, I was slammed with the image of a half- naked Brenda straddling him, her hands roving his body, kissing.

             
Don’t let him and the bitch crush your pride even further. She wants a reaction from you, wants to crush you. Are you really going to let her? And him! Show him you don’t need him.

             
Revenge was sounding sweeter and sweeter.

              I also really needed to stop talking to myself.

              I reached over for my phone and dialed Caleb and Dana. They both answered after two rings, which was slightly creepy.

              In the morning, I showered off the grime and grossness of the weekend and tried to psych myself up for what I had in mind. Parts of it would be a pleasure doing, but every time I thought of seeing
his
face, my heart clenched.

              When I thought of Brenda’s face, I saw red.

              Drying off, I spent the next twenty minutes straightening my mahogany curls and piling them high atop my head, fluffing them into a facsimile of the hair the Plastic girls were sporting. I’d raided Mom’s untouched makeup supply and nicked the things I would use.

              I covered my lips with crimson stain, wiping away the excess redness. I spent another ten minutes on my eyes, curling my eyelashes and layering with eye shadow and mascara. My skin was clear and pale, so I patted on some blush. When I felt tawdry enough, I headed to my closet and extracted the single outfit I never thought I’d ever wear.

              It had been a gag gift from Dana when we’d considered trick-or treating as Charlie’s Angels freshman year. It was a tight, short black dress with garters disappearing under the matching pair of high heeled mid-calf boots. Struggling into it was a battle on its own, and when I’d added the boots and a long beaded black necklace, I dared to head to the bathroom down the hall to peek into the mirror for the full effect.

              Holy fajitas. I looked like a prostitute.

              Perfect.

              I didn’t bother grabbing my backpack, only my phone and wallet. My assumption was I’d be called into the office before second period. It was Dana’s turn to do the school rounds, so I zoomed quickly through the front door and into Dana’s car before they could get a good look at me.

              Caleb was munching on a granola bar when he glanced my way and promptly started choking. Dana thumped him on the back and turned to ogle.

              “What the hell!” she shrieked, and only the loud honk of an approaching car stopped her gaping.

              “Are you crazy? What are you wearing?!” Dana hollered. “Isn’t that the costume I got you freshman year? This was
not
part of the plan.”

              “Er…I think she looks nice?” Caleb tried hesitantly.

              Dana thwacked him on the head. “She looks
hot
! A corpse would get a boner looking at her. But that’s not the point. This is because of Asher. When she said revenge, I guess she meant on all parties involved.”

              I winced when I heard his name, and my resolve wavered before I straightened my spine. “This isn’t because of him. It’s my senior year, I’m single, why can’t I try a new look? Maybe I’m sick of being boring old Ivy, the baby everyone has to coddle. I like this outfit,” I said defensively.

              “You realize Mr. Henderson is going to call home to get someone to pick you up, right?” Dana said, ignoring my rant.

              “Yeah, well, whatever,” I grumbled.

              Dana parked in front of the school, and before I could second-guess myself, I threw open the car door. The boots were strappy and sexy, but they had three-inch heels, which for a Converse 24/7 girl, was like trying to hike up a mountain on my tippy-toes.

              Inhaling deeply, I threw open the front doors of the school, fixing a bored expression on my face as I strolled to my locker. Heads turned in my direction, and whispers lit the hall like a wildfire. It was amusing to see the jaws dropping left and right, and a feeling of power filled me. Rationally, I knew dressing like this and going to school was hardly going to heal me or punish Asher.

But it made me feel better in a different way.

              I unlocked my locker and pretended to rummage inside. When I closed it, I was surrounded.

              Dana and Caleb had dragged themselves and Kyle away to fulfill the other parts of my revenge plan. Three guys, two of whom were Plastics and had never given me the time of day, crowded around. Josh, a Plastic, leered at me, blatantly checking me out. Daniel, the non- Plastic, winked and leaned closer.

              “You look hot. Ivy, right?” he winked again. Swallowing my discomfort, I tried for an alluring smile, hoping I didn’t look like a dying squirrel. Judging by the third wink, I assumed it worked. Peter’s eyes were on my chest, and my fingers twitched with the urge to slap him and cover my exposed skin.

             
You can do this. Deep breathes.