The Last Girl (12 page)

“
We both know that’s bullshit,” Zac said, taking another step closer. “If you ever talk to her again, I will-.”

“What are you going to do?” Stephens laughs. “‘Bust my brains in?’”

Zac smiles, “Exactly.”

And the next thing I knew, Stephens was doubled over in pain, clutching the left side of his jaw. I looked up in shock at
Zac as he calmly examined his knuckles. There wasn’t even a mark.

“Hey!”

Zac and I both look in the direction the voice had come from. My heart starts to pound as I see one of the campus supervisors run towards us. Oh no.

“What is going on over her
e? Did you punch him?” she asks, bending down to peer at Stephens.

Zac
looks at him too, “Yeah. But it was self defense.”

“No it wasn’t!” Stephens yells.

“You were harassing her and calling her rude names!” Zac argues.

“That does not mean we resort to violence,” the woman says. “Did he touch you or her in anyway?”

Zac looks down, “No.”

The woman nods, “Both of you come with me,” she grabs
Zac and Stephens by their arms and pulls them towards the hallway.

I stand in the same place I had been the whole time, frozen.
Zac glances back at me and smiles before disappearing behind the door. I just stare after them.

What the-?

I feel myself run to the parking lot, losing all thought of Jessica. My backpack hits my side with every step I take. I find Hayden’s car in its usual spot and quickly throw open the door. I slam it behind me as Hayden looks at me startled.

“Hey, babe.”

All I can do is break down crying.

“Jenna?” he grabs my hand. “Jenna, what happened?”

It’s hard to tell Hayden through my tears what had happened. But, I do and he somehow manages to understand my slurred words.

“Oh my God, who was he?”

“I-I don’t k-know. His last name was Stephens,” I sob.

“Tom Stephens?”
Hayden almost shouts.

“I don’t know, I guess.”

“That creep! He thinks he is such a badass because he’s the school quarterback,” Hayden rants.

I knew it.

My tears start to slow and Hayden says, “Come on, let’s go home.”

“And they say, she’s in the class A-team, stuck in her daydream, been this way since 18, but lately, her face seems, slowly sinking, wasting, crumbling like pastries, but they scream, they worst things in life come free to us. Cause we’re all under the upper hand, and we go mad for a couple grams. And we don’t want to go outside, tonight.”

I breathe softly against
Hayden’s chest as I listen to him sing. We had gotten back to his house about an hour ago and I collapsed on his bed. I couldn’t stop crying until about half an hour ago when he started singing. It had calmed me somehow, and he knew it too because he hasn’t stopped singing since. His hand rubs my back gently and he plays with the ends off my hair. I probably would have been much happier about this right now, if I hadn’t just seen Zac punch a guy across the face.

“And in a pipe we fly to the motherland, and sell love to another man. It’s too cold outside, for angels to fly.”

He stops singing and I sigh, causing him to laugh.

“You like my singing?”

“Very much so,” I sigh again. I look at him, resting my chin on his chest.

“Are you feeling better?” his eyes twinkle with concern.

“A little bit,” I nod. “I just feel terrible for Zac. Who knows how much trouble he got into.”

Hayden
glances at the clock, “Call him. It’s been an hour; he’s probably left the school by now.”

“Okay,” I say getting off the bed. I walk to my bag and pull out my cell phone. There was a text from Jessica that she had sent an hour ago that read,
Sorry, I can’t meet you something came up. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.
I roll my eyes. So she never did show up.

I find
Zac’s contact in my phone and click his number. He picks up on the third ring.

“Hey,” I hear his voice through the speaker.

“Hey, are you okay?” I ask urgently.

I hear him laugh, “The question is are
you
okay?”

“Of course I’m okay; nothing happened to me! What happened? Are you expelled?”

“No, just got two weeks of lunch detention. The other guy got one week of detention. I guess that means I won’t be joining you guys at lunch for a while,” he laughs again.

“How on
earth are you laughing?”

“Oh, Jenna it’s fine. I have had detention before; it’s not so bad. The teacher just leaves you in there to eat, claiming they have a camera in there watching you. Hint hint, they
totally don’t,” I feel myself smile as he continues, “I’m just glad you are okay.”

“Yeah, I am thanks to you
. I just feel terrible that you are stuck in detention. And it’s probably on your permanent record now too,” I moan.

“Jenna,” he laughs another time, “seriously don’t worry about it.
  My permanent record, that’s hilarious.”

“Okay,” I sigh. “Well, I owe you one.”

“Nah, consider it an apology.”

“For what?”

“You know what,” and then I hear the three
beeps
form my phone telling me he hung up. I throw my phone in my bag.

“So, what happened?”
Hayden asks, leaning up on his forearms.

I lie on the bed and push him back down, kissing him softly on the lips, “He got two weeks of detention
.”

“Not too bad,”
Hayden says.

“Yeah, thank God. I would have died from guilt,” I turn to lie on my back.

Hayden turns as well so that he is on top of me, “You’re too good of a person, you know that?”

“That’s not true.”

He raises his eyebrows, “It’s not?”

I shake my head, “I was a real bitch to you in the beginning, wasn’t I?”

He smirks, “And that’s exactly why you stole my heart.

Chapter 22:
Being Badass

“Hey,” Hayden says, poking his head into the doorway. I pause the video on the screen and look up at him from behind the laptop on my legs.

“You are a slow ass dishwasher.”

He smiles, “Just be happy I didn’t make you do it, slave.”

We both chuckle and he sits backwards on the swivel chair in front of his never used desk.

“What are you doing?” he asks, spinning in the chair like a ten year old.

“Watching AmourGlamourfied on YouTube,” I say, clicking play.

Hayden gets up from the chair and sits next to me on the bed. “What’s that?” he asks peering at the screen.

“She’s my favorite beauty guru on YouTube. She
’s really funny and informative,” I explain.

“‘How To Style A Jumpsuit?’”
Hayden asks, reading the name off the screen.

I nod, “Yeah, in this video she shows how to style a jumpsuit
.”

“Why is she creepily molesting a flower?”

I laugh, “That’s just her, she’s really good though.”

Hayden
closes the laptop in the middle of the video. “Hey! I was watching that!”

“Please,”
he laughs. “Would you rather watch AmourGlamourfied on YouTube or make out with me?”

I glance at the laptop and back at
Hayden, “Er, that’s a tough one.”

He smirks, “You jerk
face.”

He pushes the computer off my lap and pulls me to him, making our lips meet in the middle.

“
Hayden! Jenna! Want me to come in and dance again today?”

“Dear Lord, no mom!”
Hayden yells back.

I hear Anne laugh from the other side of the door, “Well time to wake up!”

I laugh and slowly sit up, only to have Hayden grab my hand making me jump.

“Remember when I asked you to ditch school and stay in bed with me all day two days ago?” he asks.

“Uh-huh,” I mumble, stretching my arms and legs under the grey covers.

Hayden
leans up quickly and wraps his arm around my waist, tugging me down so that my back was flat on the bed and he was over me.

“That offer still stands.”

I giggle underneath him, “Sounds tempting. But unfortunately, my answer is still the same as it was two days ago.”

Hayden
sighs and leans down closer to me, his curls brushing my forehead, “You’re such a goody-goody.”

“Am not.”

“Are too!”

“Am not!”

“Alright then,” he says smiling evilly. “Prove it.”

I am about to open my mouth to say that I will stay home with him when I realize what he is doing. I close my mouth.

“Nice try, I know what you are trying to do and it’s not going to work.”

He looks at me innocently, “Oh what am I doing?”

I push him off of me and onto his back so that I am on top of him, “Would it have something to do with using reverse-psychology and tricking me into staying here with you?”

He looks up at me with hurt in his eyes, “How could you think that I,
Hayden Edward Sharpe, would ever do that to you?”

“You’re right,” I whisper, leaning in closer to him. “You’re not that smart.”

“Hey!”

I giggle and lightly brush my lips with his. We are so close so that we are almost but not fully kissing.

I quickly jump off the bed, “Well, time to go to school!”

I hear him groan as I enter the bathroom.

“Hey Jenna, hey
Hayden!” Daisy calls to us. We walk up to her locker and I couldn’t help but be appalled at her outfit. She was wearing bright green sweats and a pink tank top, reminding me of a watermelon. Her hair was in a messy bun and where there were usually no glasses resting on her nose due to contacts, there were some today. I looked down at her feet only to see the worst things I could possibly see on her feet; Crocs. It looked like she had woken up this morning and gone straight to school without doing anything.

“Hey Daisy,” I say trying to ignore her clothes. “Are all your clothes in the wash and did your dog pee on your shoes or did you run out of contacts so you couldn’t see what you were pulling out of your closet this morning?”

“Jenna!” Hayden looks at me surprised and then breaks out into laughter. I shrug.

Daisy laughs too, “I knew you would say something along those lines. Well, actually I was expecting much worse so I guess that means you are in a good mood today. What did you do to her
Hayden?”

Hayden
sighs and squeezes my hand, “Unfortunately, nothing yet.”

Daisy and
Hayden crack up laughing and I feel my cheeks turn bright pink. After a few more moments of them laughing, I clear my throat. “We were talking about your outfit for the day.”

Daisy wipes some tears from her eyes, “Oh yeah. Well I have
a big trig test today and I was up late studying so I didn’t feel like getting all ‘dolled up’ this morning.”

“And you don’t care what other people are going to think when they see you?” I ask.

“No, why would I?”

“Man,” I say, “that’s brave.”

“Oh shut up,” Daisy laughs. The bell rings and Daisy leaves to go take her test. Hayden and I walk hand in hand to my biology class and I stand on my tiptoes to whisper in his ear, “I hate you so much.”

He laughs, “You want to hate me but you just can’t.”

“I know,” I sigh, “you make it so damn hard with your adorable little curls,” I look up at him and frown, “Which are covered by your stupid beanie.”

“What? You don’t like my beanie?” he asks, flashing me puppy-dog eyes.

“I like your hair.”

“Well, I would take off my hat, but I have hat-hair.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Well, it’s um hat-hair.”

“Oh, I see,” I say sarcastically and stop him in front of my classroom. I turn around and wrap my arms around his neck and lean in. He puts his hands on my waist as our lips meet and we stand there, with people walking by to get to their classrooms eyeing us, for what feels like an hour. When I know it’s time for me to go to class, I slowly creep my hands up and rip the beanie off his head. He pulls away surprised and I run my fingers through his indeed very messy curls.

“Hey!” he says trying to grab his hat back.

“Embrace your hat-hair,” I laugh. I turn and walk slowly into the classroom and throw my stuff down on my desk. Turning back to the door, I notice Hayden still standing there, glaring at me. I twirl his hat around my finger and wink at him before he stalks off down the hall, “embracing his hat-hair.”

Giggling to myself, I shove the beanie into my bag as the tardy bell rings. My teacher closes the door and begins to teach, uninterrupted for ten minutes. There is a pound
ing on the door and the teacher opens it to the same campus supervisor who had taken Zac to the principal yesterday.

“Hello, Amy,” my science teacher says.

“Hello,” Amy says, stepping aside to reveal a student behind her. She pushes him into the classroom and I recognize him because he usually sits right next to me in this class. His name is Joe and I never really talk to him unless it’s to borrow some paper. “I caught this student attempting to ditch your lesson today, Mr. Cox.”

“Ah, thank you Amy.”

Amy nods and leaves the room.

“I believe that’s seven days of detent
ion for you, Joe,” Mr. Cox says. Joe sighs and slumps down into the chair next to me.

So you get seven days of detention for attempting to ditch a class? Interesting.

“Commence day one of eating without
Zac now,” Luke says when I come up to the lunch table.

“I’m a terrible person,” I sigh.

“No you are not,” Hayden kisses my cheek. “Unless you don’t give me my hat back, then you are a terrible person.”

I laugh and pull the black beanie out of my bag and hand it to him, “Can you not put it on yet though?”

He laughs and pulls it on, “No.”

I put my hand to my chest, “You just murdered my heart.”

“Sorry babe,” Hayden says laughing. He grabs my face with his hands and pulls me in for a five second kiss. We pull apart and I notice Nolan, Luke, Daisy and Jessica glaring at us.

“You guys make me sick,” Jessica states. The rest of the table nods.

“I can’t help that I’m in love,” Hayden smiles. I look down smiling as well, feeling the familiar back flips in my stomach.

“So what did you want to talk to me about yesterday?” I ask Jessica, opening my locker.

“I honestly don’t remember.”

I look at her, “So, I landed Zac a spot in detention for nothing?”

“I’m sorry! But I have something else to tell you. I talked to
Nolan yesterday.”

My ears perk up, “You did?”

“Yes,” she nods. “And it was amazing. It was so nice to talk to some who understood, you know?
“That’s who you blew me off for yesterday, isn’t it?” I slam my locker closed.

“Well he found me in the hallway and we talked for almost an hour. I just lost track of time.”

“Thanks, while I was out getting yelled at by a maniac and getting Zac detention!”

“That’s really getting to you, isn’t it?” Jessica leans up against the wall.

I nod, “Yeah, it really is.”

“Just find some way to make it up to him.”

“I’m trying.”

The bell for the end of lunch rings and Jessica tells me she needs to get to class because it’s on the other side of the school.

I walk slowly to my class. I want to think of some way to make it up to Zac. I know he said he didn’t care that much, but if I keep going like this the guilt is going to eat me from the inside out. I am about to walk into my class when I spot the Joe kid who got in trouble earlier today walking down the hall. I watch him, feeling a little bit creepy as he closes his locker and walks into the class next door to mine. I try once again to walk into my class, but I just can’t. Something is stopping me.

I lean up against the wall next to the door, trying to convince myself that this is the right thing to do, even though every fiber in my body is telling me otherwise. My parents would kill me! But,
Hayden is right; I am too much of a goody-goody.

The tardy bell rings, causing me to jump. I peel my back off the wall and look at the door one last time. I can do this. I slowly walk away from the classroom, towards the back of the school. My heart pounds as I pass by some kids who are running to their classes. I open the door and the cool air creates goose bumps on my arms. I turn left and find myself not knowing where else to go. I slide my back against the brick wall and collapse on the ground.

Hopefully one of the campus supervisors will find me soon enough. Hopefully I don’t miss too much of the lesson.

I pull out my phone
and start to play Angry Birds. My mind isn’t able to focus fully on the game so I end up just staring at the home screen until a voice yells, “Hey, you!”

It’s Amy.

Is she the only supervisor at this school?

She runs up to me and I can’t help but watch her stomach bounce up and down with every step.

“What are you doing?”

“Playing Angry Birds,” I say, really because I have no idea what else to say.

“Why aren’t you in class?”

“I-I didn’t feel like it.”

Amy shakes her red curls at me, “Show me your I.D. card and schedule please.”

I pull them out of my binder in a matter of seconds and place them in her pale, wrinkly hands.

“Jenna Brown? You are supposed to be in Geometry.”

“Uh-huh,” I mumble as I pull my back up higher on to my shoulder. She hands me back the I.D. card and schedule and I shove them in my purse.

“Come with me,” she says and I follow her into the hallway. She knocks on my teacher’s door and he opens it up.

“Hello,” he says looking disturbed.

“Sorry to interrupt but, I caught your student trying to ditch class,” Amy explains as I walk into the classroom.

My teacher looks surprised at me, “Jenna?”

I nod and Amy says, “I’ll leave you to it,” before exiting the class.

“I wouldn’t have expected this from you,” my teacher says, opening the top drawer on his desk.

All I can do is shrug.

He sighs as he hands me a pink slip of paper, “
One week of lunch detention, Brown. Starting tomorrow.”

I looked down at the slip as I walked to my desk. I didn’t even think about the parent signature I needed to get by tomorrow.
How will I get that? My parents are going to kill me and then they won’t let me stay at Hayden’s for the rest of the week. Ugh.