The Challenge (7 page)

"Oh, my God, is she okay?" Lena asked, with fear in her voice. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling as I was put on the concrete by the pool. Someone hit my face lightly a few times. "Henry, do something!" Next thing I knew, someone was doing mouth-to-mouth on me. I knew it was Henry. Just to freak him out, I pressed my mouth against his the next time he did it and right after, we were making out. Then, I decided to give up on the drama queen thing, and wrapped my arms around his neck. The sound of everyone laughing made me pull away and look at them.

"Dude...how good
are
you?" Lukas asked.

"Obviously,
brilliant
," Henry bragged. I looked at him and smiled. "You
were
pretending, weren't you?" he chided.

"Yeah," I said, nodding.

"Right, then," Henry announced. I squealed when he lifted me up. My arms were still around his neck. He couldn't drop me into the pool if I was attached to him, right?

He went onto the diving board, bounced a few times then threw me in, somehow managing to get me unattached to him.

"HENRY!" I screamed, once I surfaced. He took off his shirt and jeans so that he was clad only in a pair of red boxers, before doing a cannonball into the water. I wasn't the only one who screamed that time. I swam over to him as he rose to the surface and dunked him back under the water. He grabbed my hips, and pulled me down with him. Man, he was good. I opened my eyes under the water, but closed them almost instantly. Henry suddenly did something I never thought was possible-he kissed me...under the water. We came back out of the water kissing.

"God! Can you guys, like, not do that every five minutes?" Mark asked. I pulled away from Henry, laughing.

The rest of the morning was spent in the pool, playing Marco Polo and volleyball. It wasn't until the phone rang at about two in the afternoon that I got out of the pool. I hurried and answered it.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hey, Kris," Megan's voice replied.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked.

"Teresa's mom got called into work and I don't have any money for the bus, could you have someone come get me, maybe?" Megan asked.

"Umm...sure. Let me ask the guys," I said. I held the phone against my chest. "Hey, does someone want to pick up Megan?"

"Where is she?" James asked.

"She's at Teresa's place," I said.

"Where's that?" Henry asked, coming out of the pool.

"A ten-minute drive from here."

"If you come with me, I'll get her," Henry offered.

I told Megan that Henry and I would be there in about ten minutes.

"Who's that?" Megan asked.

"I'll explain when we get there," I said. "Just be ready."

After giving Henry directions, we got to Teresa's house within seven minutes. As usual, Megan was nowhere in sight. I leaned over and honked the horn a few times, then sat back and waited.

"Are we going to make your sis believe we're together too?" Henry asked.

"You were the one who said everyone had to believe it." I honked the horn again. This time Megan ran out the door. She stopped to look at us, before shaking her head and getting into the back seat.

"Got a new boyfriend, Kris?" Megan asked, putting her seatbelt on.

I introduced Henry to Megan, then Henry drove us back to the house. Once we got there, Megan jumped out and went inside. I got out and looked at Henry. "Aren't you coming?"

"I have to get home," Henry said. "Bye, pet. Thanks so much for the party."

"Okay... well, bye," I said, waving slightly and watching him until he disappeared around the corner. I felt sad. I made sure I wasn't frowning when I turned around. Good thing too, because everyone was either standing at the window or at the door, watching me. I laughed at them and hurried to get inside.

SUNDAY WAS FAIRLY uneventful. I sat around the house all day in my pajamas, not feeling like doing anything. Part of me thought about calling Henry, but I decided against it and hung up the phone. I'm not his girlfriend. I'm his pretend girlfriend who's going to become his pretend former girlfriend once his real girlfriend finally comes around. That thought hurt. I started wondering if I was losing my mind after pretend dating this guy for only two days.

Monday came quickly and I woke up late. There must have been a power outage during the night because my alarm clock had not gone off, and the time was flashing, stuck on three a.m. I looked at my cell phone and realized I had only fifteen minutes until Henry got there. After swearing and running around trying to find things, I ran down the stairs as the front door opened and Henry popped his head in.

"Oh, hi!" I said. "Would you put some Pop Tarts in the toaster for me? Thanks!" I didn't even wait for an answer and ran back up the stairs to finish brushing my hair.

Megan and I both went down the stairs at the same time, ready for the day. We went into the kitchen, where Henry had apparently found the Pop Tarts.

"Thanks!" Megan said, grabbing a couple of them before leaving. "Bye!"

"Bye!" I said, grabbing the other too. "Come on!" Henry and I left and ate the breakfast treats in the car.

"For someone who did everything in the last twenty or so minutes, you look good," Henry complimented me.

"Thanks, Henry," I said, smiling.

"Oh, that reminds me," Henry said. "I've got something for you." He pulled a box out of his pocket and handed it to me. "Open it before we get to school."

I did what he said and in that box, staring back at me, was a gorgeous ring with a silver band and a sapphire.

"How did you know that was my birthstone?" I asked.

"I asked Lena," Henry admitted.

I smiled and put the ring on my right hand. "It's beautiful, thanks."

There was a satisfied look on his face, a look that said more than words. He pulled into a parking spot at school and we got out of the car. I admired the ring one more time before collecting my things and flanking Henry on our way into school.

The rest of the week went by as usual, with one exception. In Drama class, we actually did practice the kissing scenes, which made Mrs. Coolidge very happy.

On Friday, Lena informed us that Saturday was Couples Night at the local karaoke bar. She basically told us we had no other option but to do it. So that night was spent going through a list of songs (Lena, of course, had to help us). It wasn't easy work.

"God, how many songs are there?" I complained.

"A bloody ton of 'em," Henry said.

Both of us held pages of lyrics for different songs. I looked at Lena, wondering if she had any ideas, only to see her looking at us with ra ised eyebrows.

"I give up," Henry said. "When's this deal at?"

"It starts at six-thirty tomorrow night," Lena said. "Sources inform me that Lauren talked David into it."

"Oh, poor girl!" I jested. "David can't sing worth shit." I felt Henry chuckle.

One hour later, Henry had had enough. "Well, I'm going home. I need some sleep." I looked at him. His eyes were glossy and his expression vacant. He definitely appeared exhausted.

Both of us stood up, and I went outside with him to the car. "Get some sleep. You're gonna need it," was my advice.

"This coming from the girl who can sleep for a solid ten hours and still wind up falling asleep in class," Henry joked, putting an arm around my waist and pulling me closer to him. I enjoyed this affection because it was a brisk night and he always seemed to be warm.

Then he leaned down and kissed me. I quickly responded and wrapped my arms around his neck and slid my tongue forward to meet his. Pressed up against him, I suddenly felt the need to be closer to him. I moaned as one of his hands moved around my waist. His other hand was on the car next to me. He moved closer to me, making it so that I was stuck between him and the car.

"I think...that you should go home and get some sleep, cowboy," I said, smiling.

"Oh, right," Henry said. He stepped back, and it took a lot of control not to pout or whimper at the lack of contact. What was wrong with me? I moved away from the car and Henry got inside. "So...how does noon sound?"

"Sure, if you want to meet my uncle." I replied. By now, Megan already knew this relationship wasn't real and she promised not to say anything to our uncle. Okay, so I had to pay her fifty bucks to keep her mouth shut, but the fact is she had kept her mouth shut, up to now, at least.

He pulled out of the driveway and I went back inside to see Lena standing by the door, hands on her hips. "What?" I questioned her.

"Are you positive you two are still pretending?" Lena asked.

"Yes," I said, unsure of myself.

"Well, that five minute lip lock outside didn't look like pretend," Lena laughed. "As your friend, I don't want you getting hurt, Kris," she warned in a more serious tone of voice.

"Le...it's fake," I said. "I'm not gonna get hurt from this." Lena still looked worried. "Let's just pick a song for tomorrow, okay?" She sighed, but then nodded and went back to looking through the many song sheets.

I LOOKED AT Henry and smiled. He was nervous, although he was hiding it. It was just over a week of being his fake girlfriend and I could already tell how he felt just by looking at him. I was surprised early today when we were in my room singing the karaoke song. He was a decent singer, thank God!

Lena and I had narrowed it down to five songs and when Henry arrived the next morning-after Uncle Ethan had to leave-he picked one out that I really liked.

Now we were at the bar watching other people sing. We had signed up to go in the middle. They were only letting twenty couples go sing tonight and we were tenth. For the most part we just sat and laughed and I again found myself sitting on Henry's lap.

"Aren't you guys going up soon?" Amanda asked.

"We're after the couple that's after David and Lauren," I said. "I checked."

"Oh...so once we hear a cat going through a blender, we'll know it's almost y'alls turn," Curtis joked. Both Henry and I laughed.

For the most part, people were doing super sweet, romantic songs. I'm not overly big on the romantic stuff. The song we chose was a bit more...promiscuous. I looked at Henry again. He's good at singing, but he told me that he rarely sang in England aside from at football matches and was feeling nervous right about now.

"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts," I sang in a whisper. That made Henry laugh. I discovered earlier today that the song reminded him of his mother, and it always made him laugh when she sang it. It was like his happy song or something. "Here they are a-standing in a row."

"Big ones, small ones..." Henry whispered.

"Some as big as your head," I sang, flicking him in the head. We both laughed. It hit me that we really were acting like a couple...either he was really good at acting or he was starting to feel the same way I was.

David and Lauren were up on stage and sang a song with very few words for David, so our ears were thankfully saved. Once they finished, someone came over to the table to get Henry and me. Everyone said "good luck" to us as we walked away. We passed Lauren and David and I stuck my foot out to make David stumble.

"Did you just do what I think you did?" Henry asked.

"Maybe," I said, smiling mischievously.

"That's my girl," Henry boasted. I felt myself blushing.

The next couple finished, we were introduced and a lot of people-minus Lauren and David-clapped. Most of the people here were from school and know I can sing. I love singing, so it wasn't a secret. The music started and I exchanged a look with Henry, then we started singing Jace Everett's
Bad Things
together, alternating lines.

I tried not to laugh when he played air guitar. It was a hard task to accomplish, but I managed it.

As we finished singing, Henry leaned down and kissed me. The hand holding the microphone stayed at my side, but the other one went around Henry's neck. When we were finished, we pulled away, smiling and then laughed as we heard people clapping and cheering. Curtis and James were even making cat calls. We put the microphones away and all but ran off the stage, laughing.