White is for Virgins (19 page)

“Oh,” she nodded. “Wait – but, you’re not a whore. Are you?”

“No, Ms. T,” I told her, “Stay with me here.”

“Emery, Emery, Emery…” she sighed, “This will all work out. But I’m sure Fox didn’t mean for the gossip to start.”

“No, he probably didn’t,” I shrugged tearing up again. “But that’s the thing about Fox. He doesn’t
think
, at all, about what he’s doing and how it’ll affect others.”

“
Ohh, harsh,” she whistled.
Ms. Tibble is way too young for this job.

“Bastard deserves it,” I muttered under my breath. Then I looked up to see if she would scold me for the language. She only smiled and shrugged.

“I’m not Mrs. Sawyer,” she laughed, “Relax, hon.”

I didn’t cringe as she added that last part.
I think Ms. Tibble and I just… bonded.

“Things will all blow-” she cleared her throat, “Um, pass. Soon,” she assured me with a pat on the back.

I laughed, wiping any stray tear trails from my face. “You know, I never would’ve caught on to that if you hadn’t paused. I’m not as perverted and corrupt as other teenagers,” I laughed.

“Sorry,” she said sheepishly.

We both got up, and I ran a hand through my hair as I swung my backpack over my shoulder and headed for the bathroom to fix the disaster on my face. We walked through the empty hallways, a good four minutes before lunch.

“Hey,
Em?” she called.

I turned around and walked back over to her. “Hmm?”

She stretched her arms out and nodded for me to hug her. Something possessed me, and I wrapped my arms around her small, warm waist.

“Thank you,” I chuckled awkwardly, feeling guilty for hating her and judging her.

“Anytime, Emery,” she replied, releasing me and sending me off into the direction of the bathroom, “See you in health!”

I nodded and held my breath as I walked back into the dreadful bathroom. I exhaled when I glanced at the mirror, now clean and sparkling.

I fixed my face real quick, wiping away the smudged makeup and reapplying mascara.

I can do this… I can last the day.
Such a mantra I repeated over and over.

Oh, who was I kidding? All that ‘The Little Engine That Could’ bullshit,
pshh
. I wasn’t climbing a hill; I was dealing with high school. That was like… trying to climb a mountain, with no trails or guiding bright colors or beautiful scenery. Just snow, and ice, and wind, and jagged rocks at the bottom, which was where I was about to slip at any minute.

You can’t write a cute little book about that. You can only write a check to a therapist.

I found Lily at our regular table and practically ran over to her, taking a seat and acting as if nothing was wrong. She acted too, God bless her soul. She smiled and offered to split her lunch with me, seeing as I was too scared to go up and get something.

***

.FOX POV.

I stared at Emery from across the cafeteria. She was pale white but her cheeks were pink. They didn’t look normal; she wasn’t doing the whole blushing thing. No – they were more… pink and blotchy. Holly looked like that every Sunday after she finished wailing about how we wouldn’t go see ‘Emmy’ at the Daycare.

I concluded that she’d been crying, a lot. And she’d skipped history, which I had to admit, I was seriously in shock about. That was so un-Emery. And it was so unlike me, too, because I actually paid attention. The only reason I lived through that grueling 45 minutes was because we had a quiz coming up and Emery hated me, so I doubt she’d be tutoring me anymore.

“You guys should have seen what we did this morning,” Teresa bragged and all eyes turned to her, including mine.

“Tell them, Trisha,” she squealed, and her pet took stage.

“We had experimented with a little Arts n’ Crafts,” Trish smiled wickedly, flashing her yellow teeth.

Crest whitening strips, anyone?

“In the bathroom!” Teresa interrupted.

“Cool…” Nick nodded humoring them as he rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, and Emery actually cried when she saw it,” Trisha laughed. My brain went off like an alarm clock.

“What?” I asked, and they flashed me a pleased grin.
Shit
, now I’d have to beg them for details.

“We just wrote some stuff on the mirrors,” Teresa shrugged nonchalantly.

“What stuff?” I almost growled.

“Stuff we thought,” Trisha paused, examining her claws, “the whore should know.”

I shoved my tray of food in their direction on impulse, and they squealed as the contents threatened to spill on them.

Nick actually looked interested, for the first time in months, as I stepped onto the rectangular table and scanned the cafeteria. Half the faces were already looking at me; it was just a matter of getting them to shut up.

“Hey!” I yelled, making sure I was loud enough, “SHUT THE HELL UP!”

They all quieted down in an instant, and I locked eyes with Emery for a few seconds before continuing.

“Damn,” I whistled, surprised they listened.

“So, as most of you know,” I started loud and clear, “We have a new student this year.”

Most of the faces turned to look at Emery, whose face was as bright as a fire truck. Even from this distance I could tell.

“Instead of you being nice to her, or completely ignoring her, you won’t
freakin’ shut up about ‘er,” I stated. “It’s none of your business whether she’s a virgin or not, whether she wants to be a nun or whether she’s had tons of guys in her bed-” I stopped when I realized I was only making it worse.

Exhaling I began again, “Well, she doesn’t want to be a nun, and she’s no whore. So just because stuff is going around, doesn’t mean it’s true. You people need to shut your mouths and focus on your own problems, it’s pathetic,” I concluded.

The guys at the table sneered, and I flashed them a glare.

I figured they got the point, and Nick got up and extended his hand to me, as if I needed assistance getting off the table.

“Asshole,” I smirked, placing my hands on his head and jumping over him, as if he were a hurdle.

“Teresa, no more ‘Arts n’ Crafts’,” I scowled.

“We’ll see about that, Fox,” she smirked.

“Unless you
wanna decorate the bathroom on your own behalf, you’ll shut the hell up,” I assured her.

God, why did I ever sleep with her?

“Fox, please follow me,” a high-pitched voice said, and I turned to find Ms.
Tibble strutting past me and out of the cafeteria.

I followed her, expecting a detention or two because of the remarks I’d made.

If this didn’t make Emery happy, I didn’t know what the hell would.

We walked until she decided we were far enough from the cafeteria, and then she spun around on her heels.

“Mr. Evans,” she said, trying to imitate Mrs. Sawyer. She and I both knew she couldn’t pull it off.

“I’ll be brief,” she sighed, “I should be giving you a detention – a Saturday detention, if anything.”

I nodded, rolling my eyes.

“But I won’t,” she said, and I eyed her curiously, “Because Emery really needed that. People listen to you, so you’re off the hook… this time.”

“Cool,” I nodded, a little confused, but if she was letting me off the hook I didn’t want to risk her taking it back.

I turned and headed back to the cafe, but she called after me.

“And I’m sure she’d give you a chance,” she said smiling knowingly, “That was really sweet of you.”

What the... she thought that I – no.
Hell no
.
Me and
Emery
?

I strolled back into the cafeteria, where everyone watched me head for my table. But as I did so, I looked at Emery, who was still a little red in the face.

She stared at me, with something that resembled a smile.

I tore my eyes away from her, and focused on the death glares Teresa and Justin were sending me.

“Suck it up, bitches,” I muttered as I took my seat across from Nick.

I guess I paid attention in history today for nothing.
God, Mondays suck.

Chapter 14

.EMERY POV.

I felt uneasy as I stepped into the Red Cross center after school. Running my hand through my hair, I arrived extra early so I could avoid direct contact with Fox.

Thinking about today’s incident in the cafeteria made me smile a bit, and the heat in my cheeks was undeniable. He’d stood up for me, in front of everyone. The fact that he wasn’t the least bit nervous in front of people amazed me, because I was the complete opposite.

To be honest I hadn’t thought Fox would take the situation seriously. I hadn’t imagined he’d follow through and actually ‘fix’ things. But he did, or so it appeared. His speech was pretty intense; I really believed that people would keep their nasty, corroded mouths shut this time.