In Plain Sight (10 page)

Colby’s abs flex as he crawls onto my bed, a devilish smirk on his face. He smells clean and like a sporty guy shampoo, and I grab onto him, pulling him on top of me. His body is warm, his muscles rock hard. Our lips meet, his tongue sliding across mine.

He says, “I love you, Maddie.”

And that’s when I wake up.

I can dream about hot guys all day long. I can pretend they’re in my new room at Landon’s house, all sexy and hot and into me. I can even practically feel what it would be like to kiss a guy.

But love?

Yeah, not happening. Even my sleep-deprived brain knows better than to go along with such a stupid dream like that one.

I groan and roll over, the soft sheets and comfy mattress once again reminding me how lucky I am to have my mom fall in love with Landon.

Last night was rough with poor Starla. She has a fever and a sore throat, which means it’s probably strep. Mom’s taking her to the doctor today, but as for last night, I was up until dawn with my sister.

When I finally open my eyes, my thoughts still on Colby, I look around and find that my room is spotless.

Pam’s been here, probably while I was still asleep.

That is
so
weird.

Downstairs, my mom, sisters, and Landon are watching Disney Channel in the den. Mom’s relaxing on the recliner, reading a magazine.

“Where’s my sick girl?” I say, yawning.

“She’s on her way to recovery,” Landon says. He’s wearing pajamas, matching pants and a shirt, which is something we’ve never worn in our lives. He and Starla are playing with a toy car that travels on a plastic track, both of them on the floor like kids.

“The doctor gave her some medicine,” Mom says, looking up from her magazine. “Thank you so much for helping me with her last night, honey. I’m sorry you had to cut your party short.”

Colby’s face flashes in my mind.

“It’s no problem,” I say, ruffling Starla’s hair before sitting on the couch. I pull a couch pillow into my lap. “Family first.”

“Did you have fun?” Mom asks.

I nod. “Mindy was pretty nice, which is weird because she comes off as a stone cold bit—” I clamp my mouth shut since Emma is watching me. “Brat. But she was really nice last night. I guess it’s because she thinks I’m one of them.”

Landon nods in agreement at the same time Mom says, “No, that’s not it. She just didn’t know you before.”

Landon and I exchange a look, and I think it’s kind of cool that we have this secret together about me pretending to be a new person.

I shrug. “Anyway, I really liked her. And I haven’t been in a swimming pool in forever, so that was fun.”

“Good,” Mom says. “Landon has saved us from a life of hell.”

“Bad word!” Starla says, pointing her chubby little finger toward our mother.

“Opps!” Mom says, clamping a hand over her mouth.

#

Pam pokes her head into the movie room a few hours later. “Mindy Carmichael is here to see you, hun.”

She steps out of the way, and Mindy enters looking like some kind of runway model. Her hair is long and wavy, her makeup gorgeous. She can really pull of a smoky eye, something I’ve never been able to do with the eye makeup I bought from the dollar store.

Even though she’s one of the popular girls, she kind of has a gothic vibe about her. Like a preppy Wednesday Adams, which somehow makes her look even cooler than the rest of the popular crowd.

She’s wearing combat boots with very short black shorts and a purple flowy tank top with a long strand of pearls around her neck.

“Yeah so I totally didn’t get your number last night,” she says, plopping down in the recliner chair next to mine. “I had to come over uninvited like some freaking stalker.”

I snort and grab the remote to pause my movie. My phone is in my chair’s cup holder, so I get it out and slide open the lock screen. “What’s your number? I don’t have mine memorized yet.”

“Girl, you’re worse than I am,” she says with a laugh. She tells me her number, which I type into my phone and then I call her so she’ll have my new number. I had the old number memorized of course, but they don’t let you keep the number from a prepaid cell phone when you switch to a real phone plan.

“So . . . I saw you walk off with Colby last night,” she says, wiggling her eyebrows at me. “How’d that go?”

“It didn’t.” I’ve been watching this movie by myself since Starla is napping and Mom is baking cookies with Emma, but still, I look around the room anyway to make sure we’re really alone. “Nothing happened.”

Her face scrunches up. “
Wha?
He didn’t make a move on you? I’m gonna kick his ass.”

I shake my head. “He didn’t have a chance to make a move. My mom called and I had to run home since my little sister was sick.”

She lifts an eyebrow, and I get the feeling she doesn’t really believe me, but she doesn’t press any further.

“So . . . you still like him? Or you want me to find you someone better?”

“He’s hot, Mindy.” I’m glad the theater room is pretty dark so she can’t see me blush. “How much better do you think I could do?”

She flips her hair and studies her nails. “Girl, you’re almost as hot as I am—and I mean that in a good way. You could get any guy you want.”

I snort. “I am not even close to being as hot as you are.”

“Hello,” she says, circling her fingers around her face. “I did not wake up like this. We just need to style you up right and you’ll be bang-able in no time.”

I’ve always been a low maintenance kind of girl, which I thought I liked. But really, I didn’t wear makeup or dress nice because I couldn’t afford to. And now that I have the means to make myself look better . . . I kind of want to do it. Does that make me shallow and pathetic?

I swallow. As much as I want to be a new person with this new change in my life, I also don’t want to lose who I am at heart. I’m a good person who doesn’t really care about superficial stuff.

But I also want Colby to like me.

I bite on my bottom lip. “Will you give me some pointers to look hotter? I want Colby to like me.”

Her lips slide to the side of her mouth. “You know what, Maddie? I like you. You’re not afraid to say what you want, and I think that’s cool. It’s also why the other M’s don’t like you, but screw them.”

“Wait, what?” I sit up in my chair. “Maria and Matilda don’t like me?”

She rolls her head in this nonchalant way. “They’re just annoyed that you like Colby. I guess they’ve both been wanting to hook up with him this year?” She rolls her eyes. “I dunno. Those bitches say they’re my best friends but then refuse to tell me they’re crushing on a guy that’s basically my
brother
. I mean, really?” She flicks her hand in the air. “Bitches. That’s why I didn’t invite them over today.”

“I don’t want to like him if it’s going to start drama,” I say. As quickly as I’ve been accepted into the M’s, I could easily be kicked out.

Mindy shakes her head. “Screw them. Seriously. They had years to speak up and they never did.”

She stands and gives me a look that could move mountains. “Colby Jensen is your man if you want him. Now come on.”

My brows narrow. “Where are we going?”

“Uh,
shopping
,” she says with a roll of her eyes. “You wanted to look hot, remember? Let’s go.”

I can’t argue with that. We take her Lexus to the mall even though I kind of want to drive my new car. I’ve only driven it to the store twice since I got it because there’s really no other places to go. Getting to drive to school on Monday is about the only reason I’m looking forward to returning to the world of higher education. But every other aspect of going back to school can go screw itself.

At the mall, Mindy drags me into stores I’ve never heard of, with price tags that make my eyes bug out. She grabs clothes off the rack like she’s some kind of fashion expert—which I guess she is—and shoves me into a fitting room.

When I step out of the fitting room wearing a mini skirt and a tank top, Mindy is ready with her phone camera.

“Pose for me, gorgeous.”

I don’t know why I do it, but I find myself cocking out my leg, putting a hand on my hip and throwing a sexy wink to the camera.

“Perfect!” Mindy says, snapping more photos. I get all into it and make up silly poses, even turning to the side and poking out my butt, with a finger to my lips like I’m naughty Marilyn Monroe.

I buy everything Mindy picks out, swiping my credit card like I’ve been doing it my whole life. As soon as I sign the receipt, I get this sick feeling in my gut. Two hundred dollars would have fed us all for a month or more, back when we were poor. Now I’m dropping it on a pile of cotton and denim and chunky bracelets.

Still, I push the thoughts to the back of my mind and try to focus on the good parts of this. I have a friend, and I’m having fun. These kinds of things never happened before I become rich by association.

Mindy and I stop for a Starbucks, and this time I order the java chip frappuccino, acting like I know exactly what I’m doing at the counter even though this is only my second fancy coffee.

Mindy sips from her latte and checks her phone. A smirk slides across her lips and she looks up at me like she’s holding back an epic secret.

“What?” I ask, my heart racing. For a split second, I fear that she’s just realized who I am. A trailer trash fraud.

She turns her phone toward me, where I see Colby’s name at the top of the text message screen.

I panic as I realize she’s sent him two of the photos of me pretending to be sexy in the fitting room. But then I panic even more when I read his reply.

Colby:
Why waste your time giving her a makeover, Min? She was beautiful before.

“Oh my God, you didn’t!” I shriek, grabbing her phone.

She laughs. “Oh, I did. But look how well it worked out for you.”

I stare at the photos she sent him, at the sultry, sexy, and fearless girl on the screen. That girl is so not me. I only posed like that because I was being dorky, yet somehow they look . . . good.

I have never been so embarrassed and strangely proud in my life.

I groan and give her phone back. “I am gonna die.”

“Noooo,” she says, putting an arm around me. “I know I ragged on him last night, but Colby is a good guy.” She looks up and nods her head like she’s thinking it over. “I mean, he’s boring, and he’s kinda—well, boring—but he’s a good guy. He’s never been into slutty girls, if you know what I mean. So you’re kind of perfect for him. It’s just gross because, like I said, he’s like my brother. So yeah. Gross.”

“Well he’s not
my
brother,” I say.

“True.” She thumbs through her phone. “What’s your Instagram? We gotta post these.”

“My what?”

The second I say it, I know I’ve screwed up. Mindy gives me a sideways glance. “Instagram? The app? On your phone?”

“Oh,” I say with a nod, as I proceed to bullshit my way out of this. I have no idea what Instagram is, but I pretend I do. “New phone, remember? I haven’t set it up yet.”

“Ah, well let’s do that, shall we?”

With only two days left before school starts, the guys and I have decided to take it easy and just chill out a bit. That means we ordered a pizza, played a ton of video games, and then came out to Josh’s pool.

I’m still kicking myself for not getting Maddie’s number, especially since we had a few awesome moments together. She certainly seemed like she liked me, but maybe she was just being nice.

If I know anything about Mindy, my old friend has probably convinced Maddie to scope out all the eligible guys to date before she settles on me. This makes an annoyed type of anger rise up in my chest. I love Mindy, I do, but the girl can be brutal when it comes to dating. I kind of wish she’d never have met Maddie so she wouldn’t be so influential on her.

Still, school starts soon, and I’ll see Maddie then. I promised to show her around and she seemed to agree to that, right? I’ll get her number in two days when we’re walking to first period together. I’ll do whatever it takes to win her over. I don’t care how hard it is.

And yeah, the smart, logical part of my brain knows this little flirty thing we have might end before it even begins, but that’s a chance I’m willing to take.

“Any more matches?” Josh asks. He’s sitting in the shallow end of his pool, his back up against one of the jets.

“Matches?” I ask, looking over at him. It’s hot as hell outside, so we haven’t started a fire in the fire pit or anything. I’ve actually stolen his little sister’s hot pink donut floaty and have my arms slung over the edges to hold me up in the water because it’s too hot to be out of the pool.

“On the dating app.” Josh answers.

“Dude,” Bryce says from the edge of the pool. He’s still eating the last slice of pizza, so he’s only sitting with his feet in the water. “I got twenty-two likes overnight. Some of them are pretty hot, too.”

“But have you actually met up with these girls?” I ask.

Bryce nods. “Hell yeah. I’m meeting one tonight. Hooking up is so much easier with this app. You don’t have to talk and get to know each other and shit.”

I shake my head. “You need to get checked for STDs, man.”

Bryce simply kicks the water, sending a splash of chlorine right in my face. He snorts and keeps eating his pizza.

I look at Josh. “I uninstalled it. Everyone was too old, too weird, or too far away.”

Josh makes this
pshh
sound. “You didn’t give it enough time, dumbass.”

I shrug. “I’ll stick to girls I meet in real life.”

Josh had been wrapped up in a game of beer pong when I walked with Maddie in the garden. I’m pretty sure he didn’t see any of it, or he would have already asked me about her. Bryce didn’t show up until an hour later, sparing me the competition. Hitting on hot new girls is kind of his hidden talent.

The sound of the back door opening makes us all look over. Abigail, Josh’s thirteen-year-old sister walks out wearing a bathing suit that’s entirely too skimpy for a little kid her age.

“Hey guys,” she says, throwing her hair over her shoulder. “What’s up?”

“Go away, Abby,” Josh says, waving her away with his hand.

“Screw you, Josh. I can be here if I want, it’s my house too.”

“I can’t wait until I move out,” Josh groans, throwing his head back. “I’m sick of little kids everywhere.”

“Whatever,” Abigail mutters. She flashes me a smile and then saunters over to the pool’s edge. It’s no secret she has a huge crush on all of Josh’s friends, so I have to balance this thin line of being nice to her because she’s a kid, and making sure I’m not so nice as to make her think I’d like her back. Unfortunately, she seems to take even a contrite look to be some hidden sign that you’re into her. It’s very annoying.

After only a few minutes of Abigail laying out on a beach towel, Josh decides he’s sick of being around his little sister and insists that we go inside.

It’s already been an hour since we last ate, so I’m already hungry again. “Should we get some more food?” I ask, toweling off my hair as I plop down on Josh’s bed. “I could go for Chinese food.”

Josh looks like he’s about to agree when Bryce whoops from across the room.

“Da-
amn
,” he says to his phone screen. “Mindy posted pictures of this new chick who just moved here. She’s hot as hell.”

My stomach launches up into my throat. The last thing I need is for Bryce to start hitting on Maddie.

He clutches his phone to his chest and closes his eyes. “Oh, Instagram, you have been good to me.”

I breathe a little sigh of relief. Although Mindy posted a couple photos she captioned as “sexy clothes shopping with my new M”, she didn’t tag Maddie in them. I may or may not (okay I did) spend a few hours searching for her name on both Instagram and Snapchat and Twitter. Maddie either doesn’t have any social media profiles, or she has them severely privacy blocked. Probably the latter, obviously. No one our age isn’t on social media.

It just sucks because I don’t have her number and I couldn’t find her online. I’ve debated asking Mindy for it, but then she’d no doubt take all the credit for hooking us up. I learned a long time ago that one thing you should always try to avoid is being in Mindy Carmichael’s debt, real or imagined.

That girl can tell you it’s hot outside and then take the credit for it when you agree with her and put on a pair of sunglasses.

“She’s hot, but she’s unavailable,” I say. I don’t know why I do it. The very sentence alone opens me up for follow up questions—all of which will have to be a lie since the original thing was a lie.

But the thought of Bryce setting his sights on the new girl before I’ve officially won her over makes my blood boil. I don’t know how he does it, but Bryce has a silver tongue that’s a force to be reckoned with.

You know when you hear those stories on the news about a teacher hooking up with a fourteen-year-old student? Bryce does shit like that. He’s never been caught, either.

Sure, he’s tall, dark, handsome and all that, and girls think he’s awesome, but he’s kind of a sleazebag when it comes to dating. I meant it about the STD thing. I don’t even drink after the guy. He’s been having sex since he was thirteen years old and Josh and I still thought girls had cooties.

He will
not
get to Maddie.

Even if I don’t deserve a girl like her, that won’t stop me from protecting her from a guy like him.

Josh turns on an action movie, something I don’t really pay attention to because Bryce keeps verbally commenting on Instagram photos of hot girls at our school. I keep waiting for him to mention Maddie again, or maybe even for him to call Mindy and ask about her.

To my relief, he doesn’t. That doesn’t mean he won’t still try to hook up with her. It just means that for now, Maddie is safe from his prying, womanizing claws.