Cammy stood on the opposite side of the
table, nearly bursting. I glared briefly at her before shooting.
Missing the cue ball entirely, heat flooded my cheeks. It’s not
like that wasn’t inevitable. I mean, I’m not usually that bad but
it was hard to focus while Lance was so close.
I did manage to improve enough to assist in
a victory. But Dean and Cammy came back to beat us the next game.
Lance started racking the balls for our rubber match when my cell
rang. I frowned when ‘The Man’ came up on the screen. I really
needed to speak to Jake about his timing.
“
Hey, Jake,” I answered a
little stiff. Lance’s brow shot to his hairline as his eyes
narrowed. “What’s up?”
“
Catch you at a bad time,
angel?” he asked.
“
Just shooting pool with
some friends,” I replied in a tone I hoped sounded casual. I smiled
at Lance and he relaxed, leaning his athletic frame against the
table.
“
Is Mr. Wonderful there?”
Jake teased.
I chortled. Annie, who’d been sitting on a
sofa, flipping through one of her beloved tabloids, shot me a
questioning look. I shrugged. “Yes.”
“
Good, I hope he’s jealous
because you’re talking to me. Won’t hurt him a bit.”
“
I highly doubt that,” I
muttered. This was Lance we were talking about. He never had a
reason to be jealous.
“
You never know, Iz. I told
you, you’re a very pretty girl. If it were me, I’d be seething. I
wouldn’t want my woman talking to some guy I didn’t know on the
phone.”
I wanted to remind him that technically I
wasn’t Lance’s woman—he was only taking me to the dance. It’s not
like we were going steady or anything. But I couldn’t very well
utter those words while Lance listened to everything I said.
“
Maybe,” I muttered
instead. “Jake, can I call you back? They’re sort of waiting for me
so we can finish the game.”
“
Sure, Iz,” he laughed.
“Give me a call later.”
Stuffing my phone in my pocket, I smiled.
“Are we ready?”
“
Who’s Jake?” Lance
asked.
“
An old friend of mine.
From home. Remember when I said something about him at the
bonfire?” Okay, so Jake wasn’t really an old friend from home, but
did Lance really need to know that tidbit?
Lance merely nodded, and we finished the
game a little more quietly than before.
***
The Wednesday before the Fall Festival
started out bad and only got worse. Annie had had an early meeting
for the school newspaper, so she hadn’t been around to throw a
pillow at me when my alarm blasted. Therefore I was late getting
out of bed. I had skipped breakfast, which was not a good thing for
someone like me, and ran out of the dorm in a flurry to reach my
first class before the final bell. I had a pop quiz in Government
which I was totally unprepared for, and Lance hadn’t shown up at
all for Calculus. I hadn’t seen him all day until he shouted for me
as I was hurrying to make it in time for my last class.
“
Bella, wait up,” he
shouted. My heart flipped and all worries about tardy slips left my
mind. He reached my side with an uneasy smile.
“
Hey, where have you been?”
I asked as he took my arm and hurried me toward the English
building.
“
I need to talk to
you.”
I shrugged, a little concerned about the
anxious tone of his voice and the way he avoided my eyes.
“
Umm, Krysti and I talked
this morning. I think we might get back together.” My heart sank to
my toes and tears prickled the back of my eyes. I managed to keep
my composure as I nodded. I didn’t know what to say. “She wants us
to go to the dance Saturday.”
“
All of us?” I blurted.
Stupid, stupid me.
“
Umm, no. Just her and I. I
told her I would. I’m really sorry, Bella, but you understand,
right?”
I swallowed the huge lump in my throat.
“Sure, Lance. That’s fine. I understand. Don’t worry about it. I
really need to go, though. I’m already late for class.”
I managed some kind of smile as I turned
before heading in the opposite direction. I heard him call out to
me, but I ignored him as I made my way blindly to my dorm. I
slammed the door and dropped my book bag to the floor. Of course
Annie wasn’t there – she was in class, as was Cammy.
The tears fell from my eyes and hysteria
loomed nearby, but I wasn’t about to give in to it. I would be
strong. I paced the small room, taking deep, steadying breaths. My
eyes fell on the hoodie sitting on top of my dresser. I’d pulled it
out that morning, intending on throwing it over my school shirt,
but I was in such a hurry, I’d forgotten it. It was Jake’s hoodie.
Jake.
I grabbed my phone and hit his number. He
surprised me when he answered immediately.
“
Hey, Iz. Need help with
your homework?” His cheerful tone released the pain in my
heart.
“
Jake,” I croaked as the
tears increased.
“
Iz,” he said, startled.
“What’s the matter? Are you hurt?”
Sniffing, I took a few more breaths, trying
to calm my tears so I would be able to speak. He waited patiently
until I was able to pour the whole pathetic story out to him.
“
That…” I cringed at the
rather colorful names he came up with for Lance. He paused, and I
thought he must have run out of insults and needed a second to
think up a few more. But he didn’t. “I’ll take you.”
I blinked, stupidly thinking that would
clear my hearing. “What?”
“
I said I’ll take you to
the dance. What do we have to do to get me in that fancy school of
yours?”
I sank to my bed as I cleared my mind. “Um,
well, I have to have my dad sign a permission form saying it’s okay
for me to have a guest. Do you really want to do this? I mean, it’s
not necessary. I could always use the time to do homework or
something.”
“
I want to take you, Iz.
It’ll be fun. I’ll spend the weekend down there and take you for
that Big ‘Un I owe you. Maybe we could do that Friday
night.”
My heart lifted at the thought of spending
an entire weekend with Jake. I missed him sorely and really wanted
to see him. But I was a little worried about him coming to school.
What if everyone mobbed him?
“
Are you sure?”
He chuckled. “Absolutely.”
“
Okay. There’s a party
Friday night, but I don’t really want to go. I’d rather gorge on
junk food.”
His laughter brightened me a little, and
Lance’s rejection was slipping slowly out of my mind. “Are you
allowed to leave campus?”
“
Yeah. Curfew is 1:00AM on
weekends for seniors.”
“
Cool. I’ll get a room in
town, and you can meet me in the lobby Friday night. We’ll go do
something, then I’ll take you to this dance Saturday.”
A slow smile spread across my lips as my
heart filled with affection. I sniffed again. “Thanks, Jake. For
everything.”
“
Not a problem. It’s the
least I can do for carjacking you.”
I managed a sincere laugh, feeling somewhat
better. We chatted for a little while, and he told me about his
visit with his father. Finally, I declared I had to get my homework
done. We hung up just as Annie stormed into the room, obviously
having already heard the news about Lance and Krysti. Her dark,
angry face changed quickly to confusion at my nonchalant
attitude.
“
Hey,” I said. “I guess you
heard about Lance.”
She nodded, lips set in a firm line. I
decided to put her out of her misery and let her in on Jake’s
plan.
“
You can’t be serious!” she
exclaimed, eyes gleaming. I could actually see the wheels turning
in her head. “Wait until everyone hears this!”
“
No,” I said, grabbing her
arm. “Please, Annie, you can’t tell anyone.”
“
Why?” she persisted. “It’s
not like no one will recognize him.” Annie pouted, arms crossed
over her chest. She was personally vying to become the next great
tabloid editor, and with gossip like this, she’d definitely move up
a peg or two.
“
Because,” I answered. My
mind whirred, realizing what a disaster this could turn out to be.
Sure, I would absolutely love to see Lance’s reaction to my
replacement date, but I didn’t want to use Jake. How uncomfortable
would that make him? And what about when he was recognized? Doubt
crept into my mind and I gazed at the cell phone I’d dropped on my
bed. Should I call it off? “I don’t know if this is such a great
idea.”
“
What’s not a great idea?”
Cammy asked as she drifted into our room. She plopped on Annie’s
bed and watched us with inquisitive eyes.
“
Jake’s taking Bella to the
dance,” Annie blurted, ecstatic to be telling someone.
Cammy’s eyes widened as she gasped. “I
thought Lance was taking her?”
“
He dumped her for Krysti.
Can you believe that? Denise told me that Krysti was all jealous
because Lance was paying Bella so much attention, so she convinced
him to skip class and they talked all day. Supposedly Krysti had
some kind of meltdown in the cafeteria bathrooms, and Karen found
her and told Lance. Apparently, he forgave her, and now they’re
going to the dance.”
“
No!” Cammy exclaimed, hand
to her heart. “That’s not very nice.”
“
I know,” Annie
emphatically agreed. “So Bella called Jake, and he offered to take
her. How cool is that?”
“
How romantic!” Cammy
dreamily declared, head in the clouds. Did they even remember I was
in the room?
“
Yeah, I know. But Bella
won’t let me tell anyone,” Annie said, shooting me a dirty
look.
“
Hello,
I am still here,” I said.
“
Sorry,” Cammy apologized.
“Jake Johnson is
really
taking you to the dance?”
I lowered my body to the bed and nibbled on
my bottom lip. “Yeah, he said he would. But I’m beginning to think
it’s a bad idea.”
“
Nonsense,” Annie said,
waving my concerns away. “Jake is used to the attention. Besides,
if he didn’t want to take you, he wouldn’t have
offered.”
“
I know,” I sighed. She had
a point. But that little cloud of guilt hovered inside my head.
“Maybe I should just hang out with him in town or
something.”
Cammy nodded. “That would be sweet.”
“
Oh no you don’t, Isabella
Ames,” Annie warned. “This is your chance to pay Lance
back.”
“
I’m not concerned with
paybacks; I’m concerned with Jake getting mobbed.”
Annie and Cammy exchanged a glance but
remained silent.
***
“
Daddy?” I said brightly
into my cell phone. I paced the sidewalk outside the Admin building
hoping my voice would cheer him. “I need you to do me a huge
favor.”
“
What do you need,
princess?” he asked. I grinned. I absolutely adored being a Daddy’s
girl.
“
Well, the Fall Festival is
this weekend, and I need you to sign a permission slip allowing one
of my friends to come on campus this weekend . . . as sort of my
date.”
“
I thought your mother told
me you were going with some football player?” he mumbled in an
absent tone, more than likely focused on a case file or something.
“Did something happen?”
“
Yeah, he sort of asked
someone else. But it’s okay,” I hastened to add. “My friend, Jake,
said he’d take me, but I need your permission for him to come on
campus.”
“
Do I know this friend,
Jake?” I wanted to groan but I didn’t. So sometimes being a Daddy’s
girl wasn’t so wonderful—especially when it came to things like
boys and dances.
“
Well, you don’t know him
yet. But I hope to introduce you to him during Thanksgiving break.”
Okay so that wasn’t the total truth. But, it wasn’t a bad idea. I
wondered if Jake would consider coming to my house if they were off
for the holiday. I could just imagine Seth’s face.
“
Is he your boyfriend?” Dad
continued to grill me. I could hear him rustling papers on his end
and I hoped he was busy enough to cut the inquisition
short.
“
No, Dad. He is just a
friend. I was upset because the jock dumped me for a cheerleader
with a big chest, and when I told Jake, he volunteered to take me.
He’s a very nice, decent guy, Daddy. You’d love him.”
I crossed my fingers, hoping he wouldn’t ask
any more questions. “Okay, fax me the form. But do it now—I’m due
in court soon.” I nearly jumped for joy. “But I want to meet this
boy.”
“
Thanks so much, Daddy!
You’ll meet him soon, I promise.” He chuckled and ended the call. I
raced inside the building to get the form from the secretary. I
grabbed a pen and filled it out best I could. I scratched
‘graduate’ in the school section, hoping no one would question me
on it. I had no idea what school Jake had attended and if he had
even graduated at all. Age. Hmm, I was pretty sure Annie had told
me he was twenty. I reluctantly scribbled that in the space. I
stared at the form, horrified by how little I actually knew about
Jake. I knew he had a younger sister about my age and a father in
Chicago. I knew his mother left when he was very young. I knew he’d
been playing in bands most of his teen years and that the drummer,
Nick Collins, had been his best friend for practically ever. I knew
he was smart but hated school because it annoyed him. I knew he
formed Controlled Environment when he was fifteen and got his big
break at seventeen.