The Last Girl (19 page)

Chapter 28: The Week is Up

I wake up slowly and look at the clock- 10:00 a.m. What a perfect time to wake up.
I would be in second period right now, learning how to conjugate verbs in Spanish. I look over at Hayden sleeping beside me and giggle. Apparently, he decided to take his shirt off after I had fallen asleep. He is lying on his stomach, his face buried in one of my purple silk pillows. I rest my head on my pillow and listen to him breathe for a few minutes, hoping he would sense my stare and wake up. He doesn’t.

Becoming bored, I start to rub patterns on his bare skin with my fingers. I trace the muscles on his back and wonder how much time he spends at the gym. Probably a lot, the proof was there. I draw a few sta
rs, a house, and a heart and begin to get bored again. I guess I’m going to have to wake him up the harsh way.

I stop drawing the patterns and am about to shake him when a husky growl comes from his throat, “Who said you should stop?”

I laugh, “How long have you been awake?”

“Since you started staring at me five minutes ago, you creep.”

“Why did you pretend you were sleeping?”

“I was going to say something but then you started rubbing my back and I wasn’t going to stop you.”

I laugh, “Thanks.” I kick him lightly in the leg.

“Hey, now, violence is never the answer,” he says jokingly.

“Says the guy who punched Tom Stephens,” I lay my arm on his chest so I can look at him.

“Okay, violence is sometimes the answer, especially when it’s Tom Stephens. And you can’t blame me, I was drunk.”

“What a great excuse.”

His green eyes lock onto my hazel ones, “Are you still mad at me about that?”

“Not entirely. I’m madder about the punching thing.”

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking. I just didn’t like what he said to you.”

“Yeah, I know. But Zac had already taken care of him.”
“Yeah, but you’re my girlfriend,” he says, flipping us over so that I was on my back, “I wanted to stick up for you too.”

He presses his lips against mine and as usual my heart nearly beats out of my chest.

He pulls away, “Do you get nervous when I kiss you?”

“No,” I say confused. “Why?”

“Because I can feel your heart beating. Really fast.”

“Funny, I thought that was yours.”

“Did you?”

“No,” I say giving up, “because I knew it was mine.”
He laughs, “So I do make you nervous?”

“No-” he cuts me off mid-sentence with his lips. I thought he would pull away quickly and make another crack about my heart beat but he doesn’t. The kiss lasts much longer than I expected, getting more and more passionate and heated by the second.  After a while, I feel his hands begin to travel to the bottom of my shirt and he begins to yank the material up.

I grab his wrist, “What are you doing?”

“Well,” he begins, “I thought since I’m shirtless, it’s only fair if we both are.”

“Nice try.”

“But, it’s our last day together.”

“That doesn’t mean I won’t see you ever again.”

“You’re stubborn.”

“And you are persistent,” I laugh.

I wake up the next morning in an empty bed. I turn off my alarm clock and plop back down onto the mattress. It felt weird to be alone for the first time in two weeks. Weird, but good at the same time. My phone vibrates and I look to see a message from Hayden:

Morning babe, I’ll pick you up at 7:20. It was weird sleeping alone last night

I smile to myself. He is the cutest thing ever.

I pull myself out of bed and get ready. I have a mission today:

1.) To talk to Luke a little bit

2.) To avoid
Zac and Emily at all costs

They are both pretty impossible to do since I have detention at lunch today with Emily and
Zac, and lunch would be the only time to talk to Luke.

Well, I’m going to fail at this mission.

I walk down the hall and find Jessica at her locker.

“Where’s your Siamese twin?” she asks.

“My Siamese twin?”

“Yeah, Hayden. It’s like you two are Siamese twins since you started dating. You’re always together.”

I laugh, “Well yesterday was the last day of the Slave Auction so I don’t have to stay at his house anymore.”

“And that’s why you were sick yesterday,” she uses her fingers as quotations on the word ‘sick.’

“Yup.”

“And he didn’t offer you a ride to school this morning? That’s rough.”

“No, he did. He drove me here.”

She rolls her eyes, “Why am I not surprised?”
I laugh, “I’ll find you someone, don’t worry.”

“Really? Who?”

“You don’t think Hayden as any hot friends?”

“We hang out with all of them, though. I want to meet someone new.”

“He has other friends.”

“Well, hurry up and get on it. I’m lonely now that you and Daisy have boyfri-” she cuts herself off as her eyes lock onto something behind me. “Did Emily have some plastic surgery done and join the cheer squad or is that not Emily?”

I turn around to see a dark-haired girl in a freshly washed cheerleading uniform making out with some guy pressed into the wall. But it wasn’t just some guy- it was Zac. And that girl was definitely not Emily.

“Wh-?”

“What happened to Emily?” Jessica cuts me off.

All I can do is stand there and stare. Which is probably what
Zac was hoping for.

“
Zac doesn’t strike me as the type of guy who would be into cheerleaders. He seems like he would like more punk girls like Emily,” Jessica says, unaware of my shocked state. “Weird. I wonder why the change of heart.”

Chapter 29: Detention: Day 2

I walk into the detention classroom and look at all my possible choices of seating arrangements. Unfortunately for me, there was only one seat open today; next to Zac. Why does this happen to me? My life is just ridiculous. I can’t catch a break.

I slowly make my way to the open chair and notice Emily sitting in the very back corner.
She’s just glaring at Zac looking pretty pissed off. What the hell happened?

“No talking,” Ms. Right reminds us before locking us in.

All at once, everyone gets up to talk to their friends. Everyone except Emily, Zac, and I. I really, really don’t want to talk to him, but my curiosity wins out.

“What did you do?” I ask.

He gives me an amused look, “What do you mean?”

“Well, by the way Emily is glaring holes into the back of your head; I’m guessing you did something to hurt her.”

I see his eyes flicker to the back of the room and Emily quickly looks away. “I just told her it wasn’t going to work out.”

“M
mhhhmm,” I start, “was that before or after you made out with that cheerleader?”

He smirks, “Before.”

I shake my head, “You’re unbelievable.”

“Jealous again? Jenna, I don’t know if I should be flattered or creeped out.”

“Why do you always assume that I’m jealous?”

“Why do you
always make it so obvious?”

“
I’m not jealous! I have a boyfriend,” I say angrily.

“But then you notice when I make out with a cheerleader.”

“The whole school noticed, especially since you were supposedly dating someone else. Why didn’t it work out between you and Emily? Get bored already?”

“No,” he says. “I know how much you hated her so I thought I would make you happy.”

“How sweet of you,” I say sarcastically.

“Thanks, I’ve been told that I am pretty sweet,” he smirks.

“How did you meet her anyway?”

“
Who?”

“The girl whose face you were sucking this morning!”

He smirks, “Oh, her.”

I roll my eyes, “Obviously.”

“Well I was watching cheerleading practice the other day and one thing lead to another…”

I roll my eyes again, “Good luck with that
Zac.”

“Thanks,” he says leaning back in his seat. “But I don’t think it’s going to last very long.”

I am about to ask him what he means, when the class room door opens.

“What is this?”
Luke asks as the door closes behind him. “Don’t you all know the rules? No talking!”

Everyone stops dead and looks quietly at him. Then, all at once, just like when Ms. Right left a few minutes ago, everyone breaks out into intense laughter.
Luke’s strict face cracks and he throws his head back to laugh with everyone else.

His eyes land on me, “Jenna! There’s the little rebel.”

I laugh, “What are you doing here?”

He makes his way over and sits down on my desk, “I’m Ms. Right’s Student Aid
e. Sometimes she asks me to supervise detention.”

“And I take it you’re not very strict?”

“Oh no I am. If you say one word I will yell harshly and tell Ms. Right.”

I look a
t him quietly and listen as every person in the room talks and laughs in their own conversations. The irony of his statement sinks in, “Right.”

“So you ditched with
Hayden yesterday?” he asks.

I
can’t help but think of how good he looks in his grey shirt with long dark blue sleeves. His hair actually is growing back out nicely. All I can do is nod at his question.

“What did you guys end up doing?”

“Yeah, did you ‘do the nasty?’” Zac chimes in from where he had been sitting quietly.

Luke
and I both look at him oddly.

“No…” I start, “We just hung out at my house; baked a cake, watched some movies.”

“There you go Zac,” Luke says, “They didn’t ‘do the nasty.’ You happy?”

Zac
glares at Luke and slumps back into his chair.

I can’t help but smirk, “So did I miss anything interesting yesterday.”

“Actually,” Luke looks at Zac. “Yeah.”

“Shut up,
Luke.”

Luke
’s eyebrows rise, “Oh, seems he’s sensitive about it.”

“What happened?” I ask leaning forward.

“Zac and Emily were talk-”

“
Luke, stop!” Zac yells standing up.

“Dude, calm down it’s not that big of a deal,”
Luke assures.

Zac
rolls his eyes and moves away, towards the back of the classroom and joins a group of ‘detention regulars.’

“Okay, he’s gone, what happened?” I ask again.

Luke smiles, “Emily and him were talking before school started and then all of a sudden she just started yelling and said ‘What do you mean?’ And then she smacked him. Like super hard. Like his face was red all day.”

“Did
Zac tell you what happened?”

“We asked but all he said was the obvious; they broke up. Next thing we know, he was
making out with that cheerleader today. Zac always said he hated cheerleaders.”

“Really? And you have no idea what’s going on with him?”

“He won’t tell us anything,” Luke shrugs.

A memory stirs in my mind. Something about cheerleaders and
Zac. But I can’t remember. What is Zac doing anyway? Clearly he is trying to make me jealous. But why use that cheerleader? He should have just stayed with Emily and that would have worked too. Well, whatever. I am not going to let Zac know it bugs me. No matter how much it does.

“So what have you been up to lately,
Luke?”

He shrugs, “Same old, same old.”

“Well, that’s boring.”

“It is,” he laughs. “My life is just so boring ever since you left my house.”

“That I believe,” I nod. “I just make life interesting for everyone.”

“It’s true. What do I do now? I come home from school, do homework, watch TV, and fall asleep. That’s all I do anymore.”

“Which is exactly what you when I was there,” I giggle.

“Yeah, but at least
you were there to make it more fun,” he smiles and I feel my insides warm. “So what’s it like being back home after two weeks.”

“It’s
nice,” I respond. “I hadn’t even realized how much I missed my bed.”

“
I bet, after two weeks.”

I nod and an awkward silence follows. I look up at
Luke sitting on my desk and take in his appearance again. I really have missed talking to him- and looking at him, for that matter. But, I can’t keep doing this. I’m dating Hayden. Why isn’t that enough? Why am I still fawning over his best friend?

“What are you doing this weekend, Jenna?”
Luke questions.

“I don’t have anything planned, why?”
I shrug.

He smiles at me, “Want to hang out Saturday? Maybe
watch a movie or play video games or something? And if we get bored, we can always kick ass at laser tag again.”

I laugh, “Sounds like fun.”

Just then, another surprise walks through the detention room door.

“
Hayden?” I ask.

His eyes land on me and he smiles, “Hey, babe.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I didn’t want to be alone at lunch.
Lance is with Kelsey, Nolan is with Daisy, Luke and Zac are here, and Jessica is at some club meeting.”

“You won’t get in trouble for being here?” I wonder.

“Yeah, I’m going to get in trouble for sneaking into detention. Mr. Wild, right here everyone,” Hayden says sarcastically, as he sits in the seat Zac was sitting in. “Unless, Luke is going to tell on me?”

Luke
laughs, “Don’t tempt me.”

Hayden
turns his attention back towards me, “You want to come over after school today?”

I shake my head, “I can’t. Tuesdays are the days where I have a lot of homework.”

“Aw, who cares about homework,” he wines. Getting out of his seat, he lands on his knees next to my desk and wraps his arms around my waist, bringing me closer to him. Even though he was on his knees and I was sitting in a tall desk, he was eye level with me. It was the perfect chance for him to give me puppy-dog eyes. “We can hang out at your place if you want.”

“
Hayden,” I laugh as I push him away a little bit, “I told you, I can’t.”

“
Please,” he begs. He leans in really closely so that his lips brush mine while he talks, “I missed you so much last night.”

“Well, you’re going to have to miss me for a few more nights, babe.”

He groans upset and slumps back into the chair beside me, “You’re no fun.”

I laugh and my eyes finally tear away from him to look at
Luke still sitting on my desk.

“Excuse me, I think I have to go and vomit,” he mumbles jokingly and slides off my desk.

“Are you sure you can’t hang out tonight?”
Hayden asks me for the billionth time.

“
Hayden,” I groan.

He smirks before kissing me softly, “Okay, fine. But that means you have to make it up to me this weekend.”

“ How?”

“I’ll think of something,” he whispers in my ear evilly before turning to walk down the hall.

I giggle as I walk into class, but my teacher stops me at the door, making my smile disappear instantly.

“Are you ready for your test today, Ms. Brown?” he asks.

“Test?” I manage to squeak out.

“You were absent yesterday, the day of the test, so that means you have to make it up today. Hope you’re ready.”

Shit.

How could I have forgotten that the test was yesterday? Oh, I am so screwed.

“Could I possibly get one more day before I take it? I slept all day yesterday and didn’t get to study at all.”

“But you studied all weekend, like you were supposed to, right?”

“Right,” I lie through my teeth.

I really am screwed.

My teacher sets up a desk and chair outside his classroom and hands me a test, “Good luck.”

I’ll need it.