White Liar (23 page)

    Taking him by surprise, she walked straight up to him, grabbed the collar of his shirt and laid a kiss on his lips that left him feeling a little weak in the knees.  When he finally pulled back from her, he was a little breathless and grinned.  “And good morning to you too, babe.”

    Lifting her hand, she rubbed the top of his lip with the pad of her thumb.  When Justin looked at her with questioning eyes, she showed him her thumb with the lipstick smudge and he chuckled.  “Only you Cathy, only you.”

    He watched her wipe her hand on her jeans and then she shrugged before hitching her back pack up a little higher on her shoulder.  “I heard the good news.  John woke up.”

    He nodded.  “He did, last night.  I got to see him when I took Alana over there.  He looked good, considering.”

    Cathy shook her head.  “Poor Alana, she didn’t deserve getting suspended from school like that.  It was that bitch’s fault, she should have been the one to get suspended.”

     Justin  took a step back, shocked by the anger in her tone.  “I’m not taking sides or anything, but Alana did start it.”

    “For good reason.” Cathy put in.  “That girl almost killed her brother.  She deserved every punch that she got and then some.  Girls like that don‘t belong here in this school and I can guarantee you that the rest of her year here is going to be hell because I plan to make it that way.”

    “What do you mean by girls like her?  It was an accident.  She didn’t mean to hurt John, it was all supposed to be a joke.  You shouldn’t be so hard on her.”

    Cathy’s brows furrowed.  She was staring at Justin so hard, he almost felt like she was studying him.  When a full minute passed and she didn't say anything, he wondered what she was thinking.  He had opened his mouth to ask her that very question when she spoke first.  “Why are you taking up for her?  She used John to get into the locker room and then she tried to sabotage the game and make complete fools out of the two of you in the process.  Girls like that are asking for trouble and I plan to give her all she can handle.”

     This time Justin took a step forward, making sure to crowd Cathy’s space.  He has known Cathy for a long time.  They had an on again, off again thing going on since middle school.  They both shared their first times with each other and as awkward as that was, over the years, they even learned how to make it better.

    They weren’t necessarily together now as a couple, they just sort of did the hang out thing with each other.  When one of them needed the other for a little release or just a little fun, the other was always there.  The relationship was handy, convenient, and they had this sort of unspoken agreement that they were both free to see other people if they felt like it.  It just worked for them.

    “Look, do me a favor and just back off of Chloe for a bit, alright?  She’s having a hard time with all of this as it is.  She feels bad enough without people giving her extra shit over it.”

    “Chloe,” she huffed.  “So now you’re on first named basis with her.  Isn’t that just cute.  What? Did she come cry on your shoulder Justin?  Did she get down on her knees and beg for your forgiveness, maybe do a few other things while she was down there to earn it?  Is that it?  Is that why you suddenly have this soft spot for-”

    Justin suddenly snapped.  Grabbing Cathy’s arm, he shoved her a little harder than he probably should have up against the locker.  He wasn't sure where all the anger surged from but right now, she was really pissing him off.  “Look, let’s get one thing straight.  She has never come on to me like that, not once.  Chloe is not that type of girl and if you know what’s best for you, you and your little crew will leave her alone.  Are we clear?”

    Cathy’s dark eyes went wide and a little of the color drained from her face.  That look only lasted about ten seconds before she grabbed his wrists and jerked her hand away from him.  “Who are you Justin?"  She asked, shaking her head.  "This isn’t like you.”

    It was kind of funny he thought to himself, since John’s accident, he'd been asking himself that very same question.  “Cathy, just let it go, okay?”

    “No Justin, you’re the one that needs to let it go.  While you’re listening to her pity party, just keep in mind in who your real friends are and what she almost did to them.”

    With that being said, Cathy roughly pushed past him, her shoulder bumping hard into his.  He continued to watch her confidently walk down the hall with her perfectly round shaped cheeks swaying in time.  Any other time, his gaze would have been hypnotized by the movement, his body roaring to life with the seductive enticement- but not this time.  This time, it was just what it was ….. It was just there.

    And now doesn’t that just put a monkey wrench in a teen male’s hormonal psyche.

                                      ***********

    Four classes down and Justin had managed to see Chloe once- and that was during first period.  She snuck in at the last second before the bell rang and as soon as the bell rang again to dismiss class, she was up and out of there as if a fire had been lit up under her butt.

    Any other time, he would have seen her ten times by now, but when he really wanted to see her, she was like Waldo is a sea of students.  Justin couldn’t find her anywhere.

    “What’s up man?”  As soon as he walked into the cafeteria, Dan was there with several of the guys.  They did their bro code thing, hand shakes and fist bumps included.

    “Not much, just doing.”  he replied easily while sweeping the cafeteria and looking for one person in particular.  Sure enough, just like the rest of the day, she was nowhere to be seen.  How does a girl just disappear like that?  It’s not like their school was all that big and he knew for a fact that they had the same lunch.  The chick’s gotta eat, right?

    “So John woke up, huh?”  Hearing Don again, Justin suddenly turned around and faced the guys.

    “Yeah, last night.  If all goes well, he’ll be back to his usual self, flirting with the girls and making you guys look like fools." Justin supplied.

    Dan chuckled.  “Yeah, you’re probably right about that one.  It’s good news to hear though.  For a while there, we were all worried about him.  He’s one of our own, and we take care of our own.”

    “Yeah,”  he agreed, moving towards the food line.  "I plan to go by and see him this afternoon after practice.  Hopefully, I can find out just how long he’ll be out of commission and then bust his balls about scaring the shit out of everyone.”

    “I hear ya dude.  Bust a ball for me too.  I don’t want to ever go through that again.”

    “No problem, I have ya covered.”  Picking up a tray, Justin mused over the choices before finally settling on the usual.  Pepperoni pizza and a double order of fries.  He was just reaching for his daily two milks when he heard the commotion on the other side of the cafeteria.

    “Oh hell, did you see that?  She got done.”

    Hearing those words, the hair on the back of Justin's nape stood up straight and a sudden  foreboding feeling swept over him.  Slowly, he turned around and at the entrance of the cafeteria, he saw it.  For what seemed like forever, he just froze.  He saw what was happening, but processing it, believing what his own two eyes were seeing, was something else entirely.

    Chloe stood there shaking, covered in what had to be three trays of spaghetti and something else that was green, spinach maybe.  Cathy and two other girls from the squad surrounded her, pushing her back and forth between them like a ping pong ball, hurling insult after insult.

    This was so unlike the Chloe that he knew.  The Chloe that he had come to know, wouldn’t have just stood there, she would have fought back baring her teeth and swiping out with extended claws. She would have given them just as much crap as she was getting in return.

    But this Chloe only stood there.  She just stood there and she took it.

    Why?  What had suddenly changed?

    Finally, Justin couldn’t take it anymore.  Cathy was showing no signs of letting up either.

    “Hey man,” Dan choked out between laughs.  “Where are you going?”

    He thought this was funny.  Glancing back, Justin realized that they all thought this was funny.  What in the hell was wrong with these people?  This wasn’t a circus show for their entertainment, this was life, Chloe‘s life in particular.

    “This isn’t right,“ he sneered at him and then looked over at all of them.  All of the guys that he considered his friends.  “None of this is right!” he yelled out loud.  They all had the gall to look away from him like he hadn’t even said a word.  All Justin could do was grunt in disbelief at what he was seeing.  “Whatever," he waved them off angrily.  "Do what you want but I’m going to put an end to this shit, now!” 

Chapter 19

    After last nights self-imposed pity party, Chloe decided that the best thing she could do was just stay away from everyone.  If Erica wanted to keep doing her stupid pranks, fine- she could do them by herself.  Now that she knew John was going to be okay she washed her hands of the whole ordeal. Chloe was done.

    And with just a little over a month left of school, all she really wanted to do now was graduate and get the hell out of here.  She didn't think that was too much to ask for, was it?

     She snorted. With her track record she should have known better than to ask herself that question.  Nothing in life could ever be that simple.  Experience alone, taught her that much.

    The lunch bell rang and the last place that she wanted to go right now was the cafeteria where everyone else was.  All day long, she had done her best to avoid two people in particular - Justin and Erica.  And up to this point, she had managed that task pretty well.  No Justin and no Erica confrontations to deal with at all.

    She ate pop tarts for breakfast this morning and had hoped that they would hold her through the day but when the lunch bell rang, Chloe's stomach betrayed her with a loud growl that refused to be ignored.  So much for hoping.

    The next thing that she knew, she found myself standing in the hall just outside the cafeteria having one of those one sided conversations with herself.

    What would it hurt to run through the a la carte line and grab a bag of chips?  She didn’t have to actually stay in the cafeteria and eat them.  It would take ten minutes at most, and afterwards she could go outside to enjoy the snack- alone.

    In theory, it sounded like a good plan.  But theories are just that- theories.  You never know what's really going to happen until it happens and then it's too late.

    The chances of running into either of the people that she had been trying to avoid would be slim to none if she moved fast enough.  And in all likelihood, she ran Justin off yesterday with her tearful emotional breakdown.  Her stomach growled out loud again, finally making the decision for her.

    Steeling her resolve, Chloe put her big girl panties on and turned to walk in the cafeteria.  It was now or never.

    Any other time, she would have been thinking straight.  She would have been alert and she would have seen it coming but this time, she was so inebriated with her thoughts of staying out of Justin’s path and avoiding Erica that she had let her guard down for just a minute- a minute too long.

    And that one mistake ended up costing her big time.

    She had taken no more than three steps into the cafeteria when she ran into them, literally.

    “Well, well, well.  Look what the cat dragged in today.”

    Turning to the very feminine voice that had spoken, Chloe instantly realized that it was one of Justin’s bimbos.  She wasn’t just any bimbo either, she was a cheerleader- head cheerleader at that.  She thought that the two of them together seemed so fitting- so cliché that she almost started to laugh right there in front of her face.

    Chloe had seen her on more than one occasion getting up close and personal with Justin.  She was the touchy feely type and liked to do it in public so that everyone knew whom she belonged to.  Why she‘d want to lower herself to that level was beyond Chloe but to each his, or in this case her, own.  She definitely wasn’t someone that Chloe would personally want to associate with.