So Many Boys (6 page)

She had an assignment. One she was determined to finish.

The operative started her car, glancing once more out the window. Then she saw her. Tessa Crimson standing in front of her full-length mirror—in her cheerleading uniform. The operative’s mouth opened. Tessa wasn’t even on the squad anymore, but…she wore her cheer uniform at home? Something about this little secret both pleased and irritated the operative. It was sad—pathetic almost—and it made her feel sorry for Tessa. And that wouldn’t do. Tessa had already lost Aiden, the squad, and SOS. Now the operative just needed to make sure things stayed that way. It was the only way to achieve her goal.

Shifting gears, she swung out into the road, illuminating her interior with the streetlights, and headed for home.

The cheaters would be caught. She’d make sure of it.

THERE WERE WHISPERS. SINCE SCHOOL HAD
started last month, there had been lots of gossip about Aiden and me—about why we broke up and why I’d left the cheerleading squad. And because the most popular rumor was that Kira had been dating Christian until I’d “stolen” him away, it had been really hard to defend myself. Not without exposing the Smitten Kittens as SOS.

So I kept my mouth shut. I denied what I could, hoping the rest would eventually fade away. It was amazing how differently people treated me now that I wasn’t their spirit savior. I was…ordinary.

“Hey, Tessa,” Chris Townsend said as I walked into language arts. The sound of his deep voice startled me. Gosh, I was really on edge!

“Oh, hi.” I glanced around the classroom, the circular arrangement of the desks, the stacks of books that overflowed from the shelves, feeling a little lost.

“You okay?” Chris asked, tilting his head toward mine.

“Uh-huh.” But I wasn’t. I was decidedly not okay. Chris was nice enough; I didn’t want to worry him. He was on the football team—a meaty linebacker with a great chance at a scholarship. He had light blond hair and a perfect speckling of freckles across the bridge of his nose. And lucky for him, he looked fantastic in uniform. Kira had pointed it out on a number of occasions. The ladies of Washington High were crazy about him. Maybe I would have been too, if I didn’t have Aiden.

Chris smiled at me. “Well, I’m here for you if you wanna talk,” he said, backing away, his sneakers squeaking on the linoleum floor.

I nodded, not sure if he was trying to be comforting or trying to ask me out. Seemed that since I’d become single, there were a lot of guys trying to “comfort” me. But they didn’t understand that Aiden and I were still figuring out our relationship.

“Take your seats,” Ms. Lipton said as she stomped into the room wearing her leather combat boots. She had short, spiky black hair and a closet full of flannels. She was pretty but in desperate need of some lipstick. Still, I enjoyed her class.

I sat down at the wood-top desk and folded my hands in front of me, thinking over what Leona had said the day before. Was I home when someone broke in, asleep in my bed while an intruder tiptoed around my house? I shivered.

“Ms. Crimson?” Ms. Lipton asked. I glanced up quickly only to meet her very stern expression.

“Yes?”

“You were mumbling,” she said, squinting her dark eyes. “We have a test—are you unprepared?”

I gasped. Of course I was prepared. What a silly question. “I studied,” I answered, trying to flash a winning smile. But by the expression on her face, I could tell I was unconvincing.

After another second of scrutiny, she nodded and hopped off her desk to grab a stack of papers that was sitting on its wood surface. She counted out the tests row by row, and we passed them backward as usual. When Ralph Moss turned around to give me my test, he grinned. “How’s it going, Sex Kitten?” he asked.

Gross. I’d caught his dimpled rear…well, I’d
seen
his dimpled rear through the back windshield of his Bronco two years ago. He was cheating on his girlfriend with a foreign exchange student from Brazil. But I was pretty sure the only reason Magdalena was in that truck was because she didn’t speak English. Ralph was a tool of epic proportions.

“I’m not on the squad anymore, Ralph,” I said as politely as possible. No need to feed into his negativity. “And besides, it’s
Smitten
.”

“Not what I heard,” he said with a laugh before turning around.

Sigh. That joke had gotten old. No one ever actually came out and accused me of anything scandalous—my sources were secondhand (aka: Kira).

As I turned to pass the test behind me to Megan Wright, she smiled. “Don’t listen to Ralph. He’s an idiot.” She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and rolled her eyes in his direction. “Remember when he cheated on Jessica with Maggie Jimenez?”

“I think so.” Of course I remembered. I’d seen Maggie’s entire anatomy and physiology and captured it on film. Good gravy! It’d just occurred to me that the copy-Kitten had highly sensitive information. There was more at stake than just our reputations.

Megan nodded. “It was totally weird. You know the only reason he was able to hook up with Maggie was because she didn’t understand English. If she did, she would have known that he was a complete butthead.” I laughed. My thoughts exactly.

“Ladies, do you mind?” Ms. Lipton asked, tapping her black boot on the shiny classroom floor.

“Sorry,” I answered, turning back around. I didn’t like being scolded.

“By the way,” Megan whispered from behind me. “The cheer squad’s not nearly as good now that you’re gone. Caught their practice the other day, and their cheers were pretty lame. You really rocked as captain. Way more original.”

I pressed my lips into a smile and glanced down at the sheet on my desk. It was sweet of her to say, but my stomach dropped. I missed the squad, being a part of something. Dismissing the thought, I looked closer at my test. I apparently had other problems to think about because none of the questions on my test looked even remotely familiar. I rubbed my eyes and checked it again. Nope. Not a clue.

My cell phone vibrated in my pocket. For a second, my heart sped up, but then I remembered that it wasn’t the SOS phone—it was just mine. I hadn’t gotten used to that yet. With a cautionary glance toward Ms. Lipton, I slid my pink cell out of my pocket and looked at the incoming number. I didn’t recognize the area code.

I clicked the phone off and slipped it back into my jeans, turning back to my test. Honestly, had I even read
Death of a Salesman
? It sounded tragic.

“Ms. Crimson?”

I looked up, startled by Ms. Lipton’s voice. She was sitting at her desk, staring at me. Next to her was a freshman I barely recognized, clutching a slip of white paper. He handed it to her and walked out.

“It’s from Principal Pelli,” my teacher said. “He wants to see you.” She pursed her lips as if the next part disgusted her in unspeakable ways. “You can come in during lunch to finish the test.”

“Really?” That was excellent news! I’d be studying all through the morning. Hm, where could I get CliffsNotes at this time of day?

“Meow,” Ralph Moss said as I stood up.

“Moss, I’m beating your ass after school,” Chris Townsend called from across the room. I smiled a little. It was nice of him to stick up for me.

“Enough, gentlemen.” Ms. Lipton shook her head.

I shoved my pen into the front pocket of my backpack and grabbed my test, handing it off to Ms. Lipton.

She took it, her face tightening at the sight of my blank page. Ms. Lipton rolled her eyes and handed me the hall pass. “See you at lunch, Ms. Crimson.”

I made my way out the classroom door and into the deserted hallway. I was a little creeped out. The corridor was empty, but I couldn’t shake that paranoid feeling. That feeling of being watched. Having someone break into your house will do that to a person.

I wrapped my arms around myself and began the long walk to the principal’s office, listening to the echo of my footsteps.

“Hey, prez.”

I twirled around to see Chloe Ferril hang her dark leather jacket in her locker. Immediately I was reminded of my vow to investigate her. The corner of my mouth twitched.

“Chloe.” I nodded in her direction.

Since last year, her style had gone from vixen to vampire. She dressed in goth clothes, even going so far as to paint her ragged fingernails bloodred. But I couldn’t complain. At least her breasts were covered up now.

She smirked. “How’s Aiden?”

I nearly hissed. “He’s great. Thanks for asking.” She knew it got under my skin when she inquired about my ex. That was probably why she did it every time she saw me. Which, thankfully, wasn’t very often.

Chloe laughed, tilting her head so that her smooth blonde hair flowed over one shoulder. “I’m glad to hear that. Tell him I said science isn’t the same without him, okay?”

“Sure.” I most certainly would
not
.

She smiled and slammed her locker shut before traipsing off in the opposite direction, her boots thudding on the hall floor.

“I’ll get right on that,” I mumbled as she walked away. Well, she definitely shot up on my suspect list. I made a mental note of her locker number and decided that I’d pick the lock after school and see if she was hiding anything inside there. Then maybe tonight I would take a drive by her house.

I pulled my lips into a pout. Seeing Chloe today was particularly irksome. At least I didn’t have to deal with Christian. The brother-sister duo would have been a little too much, especially right now.

My phone vibrated in my pocket again. I exhaled, slightly unnerved by Chloe’s mention of Aiden, and slid out my cell to check the number. It was the same unfamiliar one from before.

“Hello?” I asked, my eyebrows pulled together.

“Tessa? Hey, it’s Mary.”

I squealed. “Mary! How are you?” Mary Rudick was our ex-captain and the founder of SOS. She was, like, the ultimate in pep preservation, so she’d called at the perfect moment. “I haven’t talked to you in forever!” We barely spoke now that she was going to school in California.

“I know,” she apologized, her voice raspy but upbeat as always. “I’ve been going crazy with these courses. College. Is. Super-hard.”

“That’s what Aiden tells me.”

“Aiden? He—I mean, I thought Kira told me you two broke up.”

“Sort of,” I said, my stomach turning at the mention of it. “But we’re…um, anyway, he goes to Washington State now. He’s always studying.”

“Oh, well, that’s good,” she said, then paused. “I’ve been there a few times. It’s a beautiful campus.”

I frowned. “I’ve never been up there.” At that, I wondered why none of my sessions with Aiden had taken place on campus. Hm. I’d have to ask him if I could come visit.

“Actually,” Mary said, sounding suddenly serious. “I was wondering if you had a sec. I wanted to talk with you about something.”

Even though I loved to talk cheer, there was the pesky matter of the note in my hand from Principal Pelli’s office. “Do you think I could call you when I get to lunch?” I asked, reaching behind me to rub at my back muscle. “I’m at school, and Principal Pelli just summoned me to the office.”

“Are you in trouble?” Mary asked.

“Don’t think so. Probably just a new student to shadow me or something.” I swallowed hard, remembering the last time a new student came to this school. He ended up with his tongue in my mouth. Gross. “But I’d love to catch up,” I added into the phone, shaking the uncomfortable memory.

“For sure,” Mary said. “It’s…no big deal. I just wanted to touch base. I’ve missed you girls and I couldn’t get through on the SOS phone, so I thought I’d try your cell.”

My heart skipped a beat. None of us had told Mary that we’d dissolved SOS. When she went to school here, she’d put her all into SOS. In fact, nearly every detail of the society came from her. She might freak if she found out we stopped without consulting her, and, well, we didn’t want to disappoint her.

“Sounds great,” I said, gnawing at the corner of my bottom lip. “The squad will be stoked to talk to you.” And they would. I’d just have to make sure they kept it short and sweet. I wouldn’t want Mary’s college workload to be impaired by stress. And I certainly didn’t want her getting wind of this copy-Kitten nonsense. After all, her rep was on the line too.

“Talk soon,” she sang.

I took a deep breath and shoved my phone back into my pocket. This was a very delicate situation, one I’d have to take charge of. Whatever we did, we’d have to act fast. And most importantly, we’d need to keep it quiet.

 

When I entered the front office, the smell of paper and potpourri immediately struck me. The dark-haired, middle-aged secretary behind the desk waved. She was great like that. Total spirit addict.

“Morning, Tessa. How are you?” Her desk tag said Mrs. Lambert, but she let all of the students call her Peggy. Unfortunately a few people called her Piggy behind her back, but I always made sure to correct them. There was no excuse for unwarranted rude behavior.

“I’m doing very well,” I said, smiling. “Thanks for asking. Principal Pelli sent for me?” I handed her the note and reached up to adjust the ribbon of my ponytail, stopping when I realized that the ribbon wasn’t there. I instead smoothed out my hair in one nervous movement.

“Oh, right.” Peggy snapped her fingers. “He wanted to talk to you about homecoming.”

“Homecoming?” Perspiration was beginning to gather under my arms, which was a disturbing development. I’d never had perspiration problems before. “Why me?”

“Because you’re head of the Washington High welcoming committee. If it’s a problem, I’m sure he can call Kira—”

“No,” I interrupted. “I’m still the president of the homecoming committee. He’s right. Sorry.” I didn’t want to burden Kira with anything more and hey, at least I was still in charge of something. “He’s expecting me?” I asked.