“You’re okay, right?” she asked. “Cause that’s my cue.”
“Huh?” Cue for what?
Sophie winked and whipped off in the opposite direction faster than I ever thought a pair of heels in grass could go, leaving me dumbfounded and utterly confused.
“What the hell?” I shouted out to her. Really wish I hadn’t. All I got in return was an intense pain in my head, and I groaned and buried my head in my hands.
“Again, really sorry about that.”
I finally glanced up at my assailant, immediately blinded by the mid-afternoon sun. I threw my hand up to shield it, but I didn’t get a clear look at the guy until he sidestepped to block the light with his body.
He was tall, good-looking and built nicely, and I guessed the muscular calves were from years of playing soccer, seeing as how he was pressing a soccer ball into his side. It probably didn’t help that the sun hit perfectly behind his body and a warm, buttery shine surrounded him, making him look even more alluring than he probably really was.
But beautiful shine aside, if those spots I was seeing all over him weren’t permanent, well then hot damn! I was actually surprised Sophie didn’t stay and fight for the guy. I may have been the one that got whacked but he was technically still fair game.
Like a fool I just sat there and stared up at him, completely forgetting he had attempted to apologize twice already. Maybe he did hit my head a little too hard. I seriously didn’t think my poor head could take any more hits right now.
“I’m Chance.”
“Jenna.” Good. Knowing my name was good. Now he won’t think I need a drool cup.
“Have we met before? Because there’s something really familiar about you.” He squatted down to bring his face to meet mine. Now I could see that his eyes were rich mossy green with little gold flecks splattered around the pupil. His eyelashes were thick and curled just right, which made me completely envious – mine were so thin and limp.
“I’m pretty sure I would’ve remembered someone slamming a soccer ball into my head before. So, doubtful.”
“Not if I hit you hard enough,” he muttered, failing miserably to maintain a straight face. I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Let me get you a treat. Or at least some Advil for your head.”
“Forgive me, but seeing how bad your foot is at aiming, I’m a little suspect of your driving capabilities, particularly the braking part.”
He pressed his full lips together tightly, trying to suppress a smile. “Well, how about we walk then? If I trip and fall towards you, you have my consent to push me in the opposite direction.”
Our eyes locked while I contemplated. I really wanted to go – who wouldn’t? But the pain in my head was pulsating, like my body was trying to spell out Are You NUTZ!! in Morse code.
“Come on,” he beckoned. “Your friend approves of me.”
“She does not!” I blurted.
“A strange guy kicked a soccer ball into your head and she bailed on you within thirty seconds. Trust me, she approves. Speaking of…” He stood to his feet, took a few steps and kicked the soccer ball to a group of guys across the park. Then he reached his hand out for me and cocked a lopsided grin. “Shall we?”
That dimple was too cute. “Eh. What the hell.”
“That’s the spirit! I love girls with low expectations. Makes them really easy to please.”
“Uh-huh.” I allowed him to take my hand in his and he gently pulled me to my feet. His hand was smooth and warm and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like the way mine fit perfectly within his. He led me to the edge of the park, towards a snow cone shop by the water and motioned for me to sit on one of the benches.
“So which snow cone will it be? Or do I need to go buy painkillers?”
“Uh…” Funny thing was, my head didn’t really hurt that much anymore – just a mild vibration remained. Maybe I was becoming accustomed to head injuries. “Grape.”
“Grape? Just grape? You’ve got like fifty flavors to mix up and you just want grape?”
“Yep.”
“Alright. Just Grape Jenna. It suits you.”
He returned a few minutes later with one snow cone shaded purple and a second striped with several colors.
“Ooh. What’s that?”
He cocked his eyebrows and smiled before he scraped his teeth across all the flavors. After he licked his lips clean of the colored ice, he replied, “This is the Chance Special. Five flavors you would never think to put together, but when blended, they make an awesome new flavor. Really, it’ll change your life.”
“Wow. Life changing. Mind if I try?”
“Sorry Just Grape Jenna. You’re cute and all, but we just met and I’m not looking to swap spit with you just yet. Maybe next time I’ll get you one of your own.”
I huffed. “Are you seriously trying to bait me into a second date by promising me a sweet, sweet snow cone?”
Chance shrugged innocently and pretended he didn’t know what I was talking about. He was quick to finish his icy treat, but I was a lot slower. The ice sent a rush of cold to my head and gave me brain freeze, which only amplified my headache. When he wasn’t looking, I squeezed the rest on the grass behind the bench.
“Done,” I announced, tossing the paper cone into the trash bin and wiping my hand dry on my jeans. “So what now?”
“Well, I guess I’ll have to come up with something because apparently we’re on a first date.”
OMG!!! I did imply that, didn’t I? My heart jumped inside my chest and panic rushed my senses. Trying to keep my voice smooth, I threw him a twisted smile and smartly rebutted, “You know, I’ve never been smacked in the head by a soccer ball before, but I can only think of two instances where that may happen. Either the guy hates me that much, or the guy really wants to attract my attention.”
He sucked on the inside of his cheek for a moment, refusing to allow a smile to break. “You’re missing the third instance.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“Total accident.”
I huffed and shook my head. “Is that the one you’re gonna go with?”
A huge smile spread across his face as he reached out for my hand and pulled me off the bench and into motion. “First date it is.”
However, my smile faded when I realized he was leading me to the empty two-seater paddleboat on the edge of the pond. I wasn’t technically afraid of the water, but it had only been two weeks since I drowned. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous.
Chance could feel my hesitation when my body turned to stone and he was no longer able to pull me so easily. “What’s wrong? Do you not like the water?”
“It’s not really that.”
“Snakes?” he asked.
“No, not really the – wait! Snakes?”
“Frogs? It’s the frogs, isn’t it?”
“No. It’s just,” I stood there fidgeting in place, “I drowned once.”
“Holy crap! When?”
“Two weeks ago,” I confessed quietly.
“Fu-dge me,” he blundered.
“Did you just say fudge me?”
“Well, yeah. I’ve got a little sister at home, so it’s sort of become habit to change the curse words to something less offensive.” Laughing, he added, “Bad thing is, she always expects me to have chocolate when I say that. I have to keep a stash for her just so she doesn’t realize I’m cursing.”
I smiled and reached my hand out playfully. “So where’s mine?”
“Great. You too? What is it with girls and chocolate?”
“Think of it as a swear jar. Instead of putting money in the jar every time you curse, you get to put chocolate into my mouth.”
“You do realize that’s going to encourage me to swear, right?”
“Oh, right. Never mind.” I lowered my hand again.
“So if you’re not really afraid of the water, do you want to give the paddleboat a try?”
I swallowed hard and my body language screamed apprehension.
Chance raised his hand and recited, “I solemnly swear that I will not rock the boat. And if I do, you have my permission to push me overboard and paddle away without me.”
I glared at him. “It doesn’t count when you use your left.”
He chuckled and let go of my hand so he could raise his right hand. “See? Solemnly swear.”
“All right,” I replied hesitantly.
He held the boat steady and I climbed in carefully. I gripped the edge tight when a ripple hit the side and a few drops splashed onto my arm. He pushed the boat free from the bank and jumped in, causing the boat to rock and my stomach contents to somersault. I gripped so hard my knuckles were turning white.
“Sorry. Unavoidable.”
I laughed it off weakly, embarrassed to show it really did startle me. I calmed as we began to slowly paddle our way out, and I forced myself to let go of the edge and sit up straight.
“So, Just Grape Jenna. Which high school do you go to?”
“Pennington Academy.”
“Oh my God!” he whined. “You’re a prep girl?! Ah, man. That won’t do at all. No way I can date the likes of you. My friends would kill me if they found out.”
I understood his rant completely. And I understood he was just joking, but a lot of the people at Pennington had that ‘I’m rich and that makes me better than you’ mentality. I just avoided those types. But there were also quite a few that didn’t let entitlement go to their heads.
“Darn,” I teased. “Guess that’s that then.”
“Do you really go there, because you don’t seem the type.”
“If it helps, I’m there on scholarship.”
“Well, it helps a little. But that means you’re smart and that’s a whole other battle to defend.”
“Well,” I huffed in an over-the-top dramatic fashion. “You just want your relationships to be all easy-peasy and handed to you on a silver platter.”
“You know what would help?” he joked. “A record. Then no one would focus on your smarts or being a preppy. We need to give you a juvie record. Like breaking and entering. How’s that sound?” He cocked his eyebrows and gave me that lopsided grin again.
I started to laugh but I was startled by this annoying repetitive beep.
“What is that? Is that your watch?” I asked.
“That’s weird. I didn’t even set it.”
He pushed a few buttons but it just kept beeping.
“Jenna!” I heard a female voice shout. It sounded like Sophie but there was no one remotely near us in the pond or on the banks. “Jenna!”
I jerked as something soft hit my face and a pair of rolled up socks magically appeared on my lap. “What the hell?” I exclaimed, picking them up. White socks with repeating stripes of various colors. These were Sophie’s!
Suddenly, my eyes shot wide open and I was laying in my bed back at the dorm. The alarm next to me was blaring and I held a sock ball in my hand.
“Jenna!” Sophie yelled. “It’s Saturday. Turn that crap off!”
I leaned over and switched the alarm off. Sophie huffed and threw herself back onto her pillow. I was kinda bummed the dream got cut off. Yay imagination for giving me a hotty to keep me company, but it was too bad we didn’t get to the kissing part in time.
5
One of the perks of senior year at Pennington was that I got to fill my schedule with electives that were similar to the field I wanted to study in college. The bad part was that whatever Robert was interested in studying, it wasn’t science-related like me. And we didn’t seem to share the few normal classes we were forced to take, like Calculus and English.
I guess he really was gonna wait for me to come and find him when I was ready. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems kinda cruel to make the girl who was utterly humiliated in her undies to have to go chase down the boy that got to see the free show.
I hadn’t actually seen Robert since I got back from the hospital. I never saw him in the halls and we obviously didn’t have the same lunch break, so how the heck was I supposed to come and find him anyway? I mean seriously, I’m just supposed to know where his dorm room was?
Alright, I actually did know where his room was. But it was only by complete happenstance that I found it. I by no means found it on purpose. I just happened to be walking down one of the male hallways last year – which I wasn’t really supposed to be doing – and just happened to notice his name on a door: Robert Jennings and Jhett Murdoch. I remember when I saw it that my heart actually fluttered and I lost my breath. Pathetic, I know. What’s worse? I bolted and practically threw myself down the stairs before someone could catch me in the act.
Well, at least this time I wouldn’t run in fear…hopefully. My panic-mode switch was still a bit twitchy when it came to Robert.
I entered the common room that attached the male and female buildings and braved the entrance to the boys building. There were a couple of guys hanging out that followed me with their eyes when I hit the stairs and ventured farther in than I was supposed to. Robert and Jhett’s room was the first door on the second floor. Wish I had known that the first time I happened to find his room – of course I started on the wrong end of the hallway that day.
I sucked in a deep breath, trying to slow my heart, and knocked on their door. Once ten seconds had passed, the loud thumping in my chest began to calm. Figures. I scribbled a note on their door and hightailed it out of there so freakin’ fast.