The Last Girl (13 page)

“Well, well, well,” the girl who sits to my right of me whisper. I don’t kno
w her name. “I guess the Slave Auction really does change people.”

I roll my eyes at her, “Oh please.”

Well, mission accomplished, I guess.

I pull away from Hayden and lie on my back. I look up at the white, uneven ceiling pattern and think of how I should tell him I got detention. He will be so proud and he won’t be able to call me a goody-goody anymore.

“So guess what?”

“What?” he asks, propping himself up on his elbow to look at me.

“I got detention today.”

He laughs, “For what?”

“Ditching class,” I state, holding my breath.

“Ditch-? When did you ditch class?”

“Sixth period today. I wanted to make it up to
Zac for getting him in trouble so I ditched to get a week of detention with him. You know, so he won’t be alone. I guess I’m not a goody-goody after all,” I say smugly.

I see a hint of annoyance in
Hayden’s green eyes, “Why would you do that?”

“Wha-what do you mean? You are the one who wanted me to skip class in the first place.”

“Yeah,” he says sitting up. “So you could spend it with me. The point was to skip school so we could hang out, not so you could spend time with my best friend in detention.”

I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t think
Hayden would get mad at me.

“I did it so I could prove to you that I’m not a-.”

“That you’re not a goody-goody?” he asks angrily. “That wasn’t the point, Jenna. Like you said, that was just a lame attempt at reverse psychology!”

He pulls open the covers and gets in the bed, pulling the sheets around him. He lies on his side so that his back is towards me.

I feel a cold chill go through me. I can’t believe he is mad at me over something so stupid. I want to yell at him and tell him to grow up but a voice inside my head tells me that that won’t make anything better.

“
Hayden,” I say. “I did it so I wouldn’t feel so guilty about what happened to Zac. I thought you would have thought it was funny. If I had know you would have gotten upset about this I wouldn’t have done it, you know that.”

I slowly get in the bed too, and I face the wall so that my back is toward
Hayden. Everything just feels so distant now. In only a matter of seconds, everything has changed.

“Maybe this is a good thing,” I mutter.

“Why?”

“Because now I know that I hate it when you’re mad at me.”

I hear him sigh and feel a ruffle of the sheets beside me. His arm snakes around my waste and his chin rests on my shoulder. His warm breath tickles my neck giving me goose bumps.

“I’m not mad,” his deep voice says.

“Oh, really?” I ask sarcastically.

He chuckles, “I’m just hurt, I guess.”

“What did I do that hurt you?”

“I guess just the fact that you wouldn’t ditch with me, even though I begged you a bunch of times to, and you ditched for
Zac without hesitation.”

“There was a lot of hesitation, trust me,” I hear him chuckle again. “But,
Hayden, I didn’t think about it that way at all. I was more focused on how nervous I was on skipping than thinking about how it would hurt you. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry for getting mad.”

“Ah, hah! So you admit that you were mad!” I exclaim.

He laughs again and kisses me on the cheek, “Yes, I was a little mad.
But I’m not anymore. I’m sorry.”

I nod and turn to face him, “We can ditch tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow is Saturday,” he whispers.

“Oh, well we can ditch Monday.”

He shakes his head, “No, it’s fine babe, you have detention anyway.”

“Even more of a reason to skip.”

“Look at you becoming such a badass after ditching once. Excuse me- after attempting to ditch and getting caught once.”

I shrug and move closer to him, wanting to feel his warmth.

“What can I say; you have that effect on me.”

Chapter 23:
Saturday Night

“Good morning.”

My eyes snap open and I jump a little, not expecting to see the two bright green eyes staring back at me.

“Jesus, Hayden!”

He smirks, “Did I scare you?”

“Oh, not at all.” I reply, sarcastically.

Hayden
leans down to kiss me and then hops off the bed. “Come on, I’m hungry.”

I slowly lean up, my eyes still adjusting to the light, “Yea
h, I bet making me jump really worked up an appetite.”

Hayden
smirks again, “It did.”

I stand up and stretch
, making sure to go as slow as possible.

“Any day now, princess.”

“I’m a princess now? I thought I was a badass,” I laugh, walking over to him and grabbing his outstretched hand.

“You
couldn’t be a badass if you tried.”

I raise my eyebrow, “Are we really going over this again
?”

He laughs, “I think we are.”

I shake my head and we walk into the kitchen. Hayden leads me to the fridge where there is a note taped to the door.

“‘
At hair appointment. Be back later,’” Hayden reads off the yellow lined note. “Seems like we’re alone.”

I feel my face spread into a smile
as I see his familiar wink sent in my direction. Hayden opens the fridge and puts some bread into the toaster.

“It appears we are,” I say as I jump up to sit on the counter.
Hayden smirks and makes his way towards me. His nose is touching mine and I can smell his cologne that sends shivers down my spine.

I feel his hands wrap around my waist, “It’s sad we only have three more days left.”

Due to the fact that my throat feels dry and tight from my nerves at how close he is to me, I can only nod. He leans in slowly, keeping eye contact with me the entire time, and I feel his warm lips press against mine. Long before I wanted it to end, I hear his phone
beep
from his back pocket. He pulls away to check it and I hear the
pop
from the toaster. I hop off the counter to get the toast and I see Hayden smile down at his glowing phone.

“What?” I ask getting the butter.

“Want to go to a party tonight?”

“Whose party?”

“A friend of mine; you don’t know him.”

“Well, what’s the occasion?” I ask as I pull a sparkling knife out of the drawer and spread the golden butter. It begins to melt
on the warmth of the brown toast.

“Just to hang
out. His parents are gone for the weekend,” Hayden says with a casual tone in his voice.

Oh. So it’s one of those parties. It’s not t
hat I have never been to a party. I have. It’s just that I haven’t been to a high school party, you know, being a freshman and all. I don’t even know if I want to go to those types of parties. And I really don’t want to see Hayden in that type of environment. Who knows how he’ll act.

But, I guess since I am his girlfriend, I’m going to see it eventually.

“Who’s going?” I close the butter container and turn around, handing the plate to Hayden and taking a bite of my own. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until now.

“A bunch of people from
school. And probably Zac, Luke, Lance, and Nolan. And you, if you want,” he says stepping forward and grabbing my hand.

“So, all seniors?”

I already know the answer before he even has to nod.

“Can Jessica and Daisy come?”

I see some hesitation and doubt on his face but he nods anyway, “Yeah.”

“Then I’ll go,” I take another bite.

He nods slowly and then types something on his phone. I pull out my own iPhone and text Daisy and Jessica about it. Maybe they will both meet some cute guys. They need it.

“Can you forge a signature on m
y detention slip for me?” I ask suddenly.

“Why can’t you?”

“I guess I’m nervous that I will mess it up and it will be obvious. I would just feel better if you did it.”

He smirks at me, “You could always just go ask your parents.”

I shake my head quickly, “No, they can never know about this. They would kill me. Besides, they are out of town.”

“Out of town where?” Hayden asks curiously.

I am quiet for a while. “A place.”

“Whoa, what’s with the secretive answer?”

“Never mind, we can talk about that another time. Just can you do the signature for me?”

“Okay…” he says slowly, confused at why I snapped at him.

I nod. “Thanks.”

There’s another
beep
from Hayden’s phone and he looks up smiling a little, “Party’s at eight.”

I look over at the glowing red numbers on the digital clock on the bathroom counter. It was 7:30. I do one last once over at myself in the mirror. I was wearing a black shirt with hints of gold shimmer all over. Jessica had dropped off some clothes earlier because, well, I was in dire need of a new outfit for tonight. Thank God she did otherwise I would be wearing a baggy grey sweatshirt and tennis shoes instead. I look down at the brown, knee-high leather boots that were half a size too small. Jessica had freakishly tiny feet. My black skinny jeans that had a few rips were tucked into them. I put one more pat of powder on my nose and check to make sure my gold eye shadow and dark black eyeliner and mascara weren’t smudged.

I unlock the bathroom door with a
click
and see Hayden sitting on the bed wearing a blue plaid shirt and black skinny jeans. And his hair. Oh, that hair. It framed his face perfectly and the blue in his shirt made the green in his eyes pop more than they usually did, if that was even possible. I felt my body stall in the doorway, taking in his god-like appearance. There wasn’t anything special or different about him tonight, but at the same time, there was. I wanted to just run up to him and kiss him. But hey, if you had a boyfriend named Hayden Sharpe who looked like he did, wouldn’t you want to do the same?

He looks at me strangely, “What?”

I shake my head, not even realizing that it had taken me a few seconds to respond, “Nothing.”

“Why are you looking at me funny?” he asks standing up. He flicks his head to the right, moving the hair out of his eyes.

I shrug, “I’m just happy, I guess.”

He smiles and inches towards me. I feel the pressure against my forehead as he pushes his against it. I get lost
in the jungle he calls his eyes and next thing I know, we are kissing. I feel the feeling you get in your stomach when you are on a rollercoaster and you are at the top of the very last drop of the ride. I didn’t want it to end.

Hayden
pulls away and I feel myself moan. He laughs, “Sorry Jen, but we are going to be late. We have to pick up Daisy and Jessica too.”

Jen. I like it.

“We aren’t taking Lance too, are we?” I ask as I follow him out the door.

“No. He’s going with Kelsey.”

“Good, that would be a very awkward car ride.”

We pull up as Taylor Swift’s “22” comes on the radio. The house we pull up in front of isn’t even a house. It’s a mansion. Big, white stone pillars stood on either side of the grand brown wooden doors. Each window had a stain glass painting on them, and you could tell they were polished daily. There was a four car garage and the driveway had about 10 cars already parked in it. I recognize Zac’s motorcycle parked across the street. I feel myself smile. Hayden parks in front of the mailbox. He turns off the engine and I get out of the car. I look at Jessica and admire her outfit; a pink little dress with a black leather jacket over it and black heels. It really went well with her hair color. Next, Daisy got out of the car, in her usual baggy jeans and a plain grey, long sleeved shirt.

“Why did you have to wear the most boring outfit ever?” Jessica whined at Daisy.

Daisy just shrugged.

“Well at least take my earrings so I don’t feel like falling asleep when I look at you,” Jessica
demands as she takes out her sparkling diamond hoops. “And take off that damn beanie. Jesus this is a party.”

Hayden
locks the car, “I’m just now realizing you girls are really mean when it comes to clothes.”

“I’m only trying to help,”
Jessica says innocently.

I laugh and link my arm through
Hayden’s. Walking up the cobblestone path, I can hear the music pumping from the house. People were sitting on the hoods of cars in the driveway and laughing uncontrollably.

Maybe this party will be fun.

“Jenna,” Daisy whispers in my ear. “Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.”

“It’ll be fun,”
Hayden says, clearly overhearing what Daisy had said to me.

“Yeah guys. I can’t wait,” Jessica agrees.

I give Daisy an encouraging nod and Hayden opens the door. Doesn’t even knock or anything. Just walks right in. On the way here, I really did not think there would be that many people at this party. But as soon as Hayden opens the door, I can tell by the noise that there were clearly more than two hundred people here. I feel my grip on Hayden’s arm tighten.

I feel
his warm lips against my cheek and some of my worries begin to melt away. At the bottom of the stairs is a big group of people all holding red plastic cups. Everyone in the group is laughing and talking and I want to be a part of it for some reason.

A tal
l guy with black hair standing in the center of the circle, locks his eyes on Hayden. A huge smile grew on his face.

“Hey everyone, it’s
Hayden!” he says making his way through the crowd. He throws an arm around Hayden and I let go of him, “The party’s here!”

What does that mean?

Everyone cheers and next thing I know, we are the center of the circle.

The guy who had announced
Hayden’s arrival spots me and embraces me tightly, “You’re Jenna! Be careful tonight, I am sure a lot of angry guys who lost to Hayden at the auction are   here.”

The guy laughs and
Hayden looks nervously at me. He clears his throat and says, “Jenna this is my friend Stan. This is his party.”

“Nice to meet you,” I say trying to ignore the bad feeling in my gut.

“You too, hot stuff,” he yells over the music with a wink.

My eyes flash to Daisy and Jessica, and I quickly push my way out of the circle.

“You guys okay?” I ask.

“Girl
, please,” Jessica scoffs. “I’m gonna go dance.”

She walks into the next room and Daisy rolls her eyes, “And I’m going to go watch her. Have fun with
Hayden.”

She winks and follows Jessica.

I turn around and see Hayden standing behind me.

“He was kidding, you know,” he yells reassuringly. “Stan makes inappropriate jokes all the time.”

I shrug, “It’s fine.”

I don’t even know if
Hayden heard me because I couldn’t even hear myself. He nods anyway and then nods toward the room opposite the one Daisy and Jessica entered, “Let’s get something to drink.”

I grab his hand as he leads me through the maze of people. I could tell the room was a living room but I couldn’t actually see any furniture.

Along the way, this girl with bleached blonde hair runs up to Hayden and hugs him.

“
Hayden! It’s been so long!” she shouts. I feel my blood start to boil. Hayden doesn’t hug her back, but then again he doesn’t push her away either.

She eyes me, “Who’s this?”

I glance at our entwined hands as
Hayden says, “This is Jenna. My girlfriend.”

I felt reassured at his words, but that melts away as the girl laughs
.

“She’s so adorable! I didn’t know you liked younger girls,
Hayden. How old is she, like 12?”

“No, she
’s a freshman, Victoria,” Hayden says, sounding bored.

“Oh, a three year age difference how cute. Well, I’ll see you around
Hayden,” she says as she ruffles his hair and walks away.

I look at him questioningly.

“She doesn’t go to our school,” he says plainly.

We walk through a swinging door and enter a humungous kitchen. I felt like I was in a restaurant kitchen it was so big. And yet again, the room was impossible to navigate through.

“Stay here, I’ll go get us drinks,” Hayden says dropping my hand.

I do as I am told and stay next to the pantry. I watch all the couple
s around me dance, talk, laugh. A few of them were making out on the counters reminding me of earlier this morning when Hayden and I were doing the same thing. I feel myself become uncontrollably hot, probably because there were too many people in this room at once. And everyone who was dancing up against each other was sweating, making the whole place smell, causing the whole thing to become even more unbearable. It was just a hot mess.