White Liar (6 page)

She frowned.
 
She hated when guys wanted to "ask a question".
 
That always meant that she was not going to like where the conversation was going but at this point, she didn't see any way to get out of it.
 

Sighing, she closed her eyes.
 
"Sure, shoot."

"
Yeah
...
w
ell, I was hoping that maybe you would go with me to the homecoming dance after Friday's night game.
 
What do you say?"

She was already shaking her head before he finished the question.
 
Chloe didn't do dances, at least not since her sophomore year.
 
Not even bothering to spare him a cursory glance, she quipped a short, "No," and pulled away from his grip.
 
Moving as fast as her two feet would take her, she started towards the school.
 
There was no way would that she would ever go to another school dance after what had happened before.
 
No freaking way.

"Hey!" Troy called out to Chloe's retreating back only to be promptly ignored.
 
He tried
 
once
 
more, a
little louder this time.
 
"Hey!
- Is that it?
 
Are you telling me no?"
 

She heard him call out to her and Chloe only pushed herself to move even faster.
 
He may be cute, he may act sweet but he was still a player and she wasn't about to be played, again. No, she refused to let herself fall in that trap.
 
She learned that lesson the hard way and it's one mistake that she planned to never repeat.
 
Never.

Chloe was going into the last class of the day and she breathed out.
 
So far, so good.
 
She had spotted Mr. Playboy Player several times but he kept to his crew and there were no other incidents to report.
 
The two of them had shot each other a few curt glances throughout the day and Chloe didn't miss the calculating look on his face.

Yeah, she was positive that he was most definitely up to something.
 
Thankfully, it looked like whatever he was up to, it wouldn't be today.
 
She was bloated, irritable and right now, she just wanted to go home.
 
She could deal with Justin Pinnix later in the week.

She was already planning her next move.
 
Friday night at the big game had the promise to be a little more than anyone would have normally bargained for.
 
She had something up her sleeve that she hoped would be the cause to his ultimate downfall.
 
She was all but salivating at the prospect of the outcome.

The bell finally rang, signaling the end of class.
 
Chloe found herself still sitting there, not realizing that that it was actually over.
 
She had been lost so deep in her thoughts that she couldn't have told you if Ms. Dale talked about polynomials or theorems during the last hour and frankly, she really didn't care.
 
She stood up, grabbed her unopened book and was stuffing it in her bag when she felt someone touch her shoulder.
 

Startled, she whirled around and the movement occurred so fast that she ended up dropping her bag on her bare toe.

"Ow, dammit!" She cursed and did this hopping around on one foot dance,
 
while holding the pained one in her hand.

"Shoot, I'm sorry," the guy
 
apologized.
 
"Are you okay?" he asked.
 
He bent down and picked up her bag from the floor and then reached out with his free hand to steady the bobbling Chloe.
 

She glared at him.
 
"What do you think?"

The guy offered her a sexy smile and she groaned.
 
She did not need this now.
 
All she wanted was to go home.
 
Was that such a big thing to ask for?
 
"Give me that," she suddenly snapped, letting her sore foot fall to the floor and snatching up her bag out of his hands.

He instantly held his hands up in surrender to her.
 
"Sorry," he
 
apologized
 
again.
 
"I just wanted to introduce myself.
 
"I'm John by the way, and you're Chloe?"

"Two points for Einstein here," Chloe grumbled under her breath and turned to leave.
 
John
 
was
 
obviously one of them too.
 
She had no patience whatsoever for pretty boys who thought they were the best thing since chocolate ice cream.

She left him standing there and was walking down the hall when she heard the sound of foot steps trailing behind her.
 
As soon as he reached her side, she knew that it was
 
him
 
and that he was back.
 
She picked up on the scent of the old spice cologne that he was wearing and wrinkled her nose.
 

"You're not very nice," he pointed out while she adverted her face and continued to stare forward She was adamant about ignoring him.

She could just imagine what his
 
definition
 
of
 
nice wa
s.
 
She would just about bet that he's not so
 
nice
 
in the morning after once he has slept with some hopeful girl that only wants to claim his heart. Afterwards, he probably leaves with no intentions of ever talking to her again.
 

For him it was probably more like-
 
wham, bam, thank you ma'am.
 

"I don't do nice," she replied snidely, still steadily trying to walk away from him.
 
They were outside now and her car was only about twenty feet away.

"Really," he noted, amusement coloring his tone.
 
"What if I can convince you otherwise?"

"Why don't you just go to hell,” she calmly retorted.

"Now I'm just hurt," he made a face and palmed his chest.

Before she reached her car, Chloe had already pressed the button on her
 
key chain
 
to unlock it.
 
The dude evidently wasn't getting the message, he was still following her.
 
Ignoring him, she grabbed the handle and wrenched open the door with a little more force than necessary.
 
Maneuvering her body, she slid into the driver’s seat and tossed her bag into the passenger floor board.
 

She was seconds from slamming the door closed when John gripped the frame of the door and bent down so that they were staring at each other on the same level.
 
He was still giving her that devil may care grin of his and Chloe huffed out a loud breath of impatience.

"One question," he said, "And I'll leave you alone."

She stared up at him and
all but growled.
 
"What?"

"Go to the homecoming dance with me Friday night?"
 
He watched her with something a keen to anticipation written all over his face.
 
If she had been the naive girl that she had been a year ago, then she probably would have said yes to him, right here on the spot- but a year later and a whole lot wiser, not a chance.
 

"Drop dead," she sneered and leaned forward so that she could shove him back enough to allow herself room to close the door.
 
She heard his laughter through the closed window but continued to ignore it and started the car instead.
 
Backing up, she had to glance back in the rear view mirror and saw that he was still standing there, with his hand over his heart, feigning hurt.
 

Yeah right, and do I look like I have jack ass written on my forehead?
 

Now fully irritated, she threw her car in gear and peeled out of the parking lot.
 
She had promised her Aunt Jill that she would stop in town and pick up her dry cleaning before she headed home since Erica was at ballet practice.
 
She felt it was the least that she could do considering that they were keeping both her mom and herself up until they were able to save up enough money to get a place of their own.

It took only ten minutes for her to reach the dry cleaners and luckily, the order was ready as soon as she walked in.
 
The place was hot and the air was sticky so she was more than glad to not have to hang around in there too long.
 
She smiled at the older woman with a million freckles on her face when she handed her the receipt.
 
She then accepted Aunt Jill's clothes from her.

“
Good night," the older lady said when Chloe turned to depart.
 

"Good night," she mumbled in response and after walking outside she took in a deep breath of the cooler night air as soon as it hit her face.
 
She didn't see how anyone could work in a place like that for any length of time.
 
It about suffocated her and that was only after ten minutes.

Getting back in her car, Chloe was finally glad to be going home.
 
Today had been nothing but complete weirdness.
 
She had been asked out by not one, but two guys to the homecoming dance.
 
And both guys being the very same stereotype that she loathed.
 

She shrugged her shoulders and decided that neither guy was even worth wasting her time on. She turned the radio up and was set to jam when she heard her phone ring.
 
Not thinking about it, she grabbed the phone, flipped it open and said, "Hello."

"I want a good time.
 
Can you come show me one babe?"
 
The unfamiliar male voice took her completely off guard. She pulled the phone from her ear and stared at the unknown number.

"Wrong number jerk!" she angrily bit out and snapped the phone shut.
 
Guys could be so stupid and so remedial at times she thought to herself while tossing the phone on the empty seat beside of her.
 
But no sooner than she dropped the phone, it rang again.

This time, she thought it was probably her mom or Aunt Jill and picked it up again, "Hello."

"How about I show you a good time," a different the male caller purred.

Chloe gasped, and then she lost it.
 
"Perv!" she hollered into the mouth piece and slammed the phone closed again.

What in the hell is going on?
 
One prank call maybe, but two though, not likely.
 
She
 
was starting to get a really bad feeling about this.

Sitting still a red light, the sound of a honking horn caught her attention.
 
Turning to her side, she looked over at the car where two guys were hanging out the window, signaling for her to roll her window down.

Reluctantly, she did as they asked and held up her hands.
 
"What?"
 

The taller guy that was driving leaned over and spoke.
 
"Hey, if you are really up for a good time, I'd be more than happy to take you to my place and show you what a real man can do for you."

Her eyes about popped out of her head.
 
She was sure that she probably looked something similar to a gold fish the way that her mouth gaped open and then closed.
 
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Chloe demanded after she managed to get over the initial shock.

The guy pointed to the side of her car and grinned cheekily.
 
"Hey, you're the one that's advertising- I'm just answering."

"Huh?" She looked
back
at him dumbly.

Both of the guys fell back in their seats and died laughing.
 
"Pull over and take a look at your car lady."