They ignore me and just continue to talk like I’m not even here. “As soon as Jess gets here with the ice we’ll take her,” the guy on the left whose name I still don’t know says.
“Hey.”
“You don’t think she has a concussion do you?”
“Hey,” I say a little louder.
“Probably, I’d be surprised if she didn’t have a big ole knot on the side of her head.”
“Hey!” I shout, then wince. They both snap their heads in my direction. “If you two don’t mind I’d like to get up so I can go get ready to go home.”
They glance at one another like I just said something stupid until the broody one speaks first. “We do mind actually.”
“Yeah, you are not going anywhere yet, darlin’,” he says with a smirk.
“Excuse me? First off, I’m perfectly fine. Secondly, don’t call me darlin’ because I don’t even know you and quite frankly, it’s kind of creepy. And finally, do
not
tell me what I can and can’t do.”
Guy on the right snickers while the one on the lefts jaw drops.
“She’s feisty. I like her, Bo.” So guy on the lefts name is Bo.
What a weird name…
The guy on the right falls over laughing. What the hell? “I happen to like my name thank you very much,” Bo replies, clearly amused.
Holy crap, did I just say that out loud?
Before I could embarrass myself even more, I force myself to sit up, and then after a minute, I stand. Jess finally returns with the ice. With a smile, I take it from her and press it against the knot I’m sure is forming. Bo hands me my mp3 player with a smile. I mutter a ‘thank you’ and walk off.
I don’t get very far before my feet are swept out from under me, causing me to shriek. “Put me down!” I demand, but Bo just laughs. There is a part of me, a rather insane part, that likes being in his arms. Yeah, I’m just going to use the ‘I-just-hit-my-head-so-I’m-kind-of-out-of-it’ excuse.
“Cass, he’s not going to so you might as well give up,” The guy, whose name I still don’t know, states.
Wait…how did he know my name?
“Everyone knows your name darlin’.” Either I spoke my thoughts out loud again or he just read my mind.
“So much for being invisible,” I mutter to myself.
“What was that?”
“Nothing,” I reply quickly. He just shakes his head and keeps walking.
“I am capable of walking you know,” I huff.
“I didn’t say you weren’t.”
“Then why are you carrying me?” I retort.
“Because I can.”
“What kind of reason is that?”
“A good one,” he simply states.
“I like her accent. I wonder where she is from?” Now the guy is talking to Bo again like I’m not even here.
“I don’t know, J. She definitely ain’t from around here so she has to be from the city.” Well, I finally know the other God’s name now.
“She’s from Indiana. Indianapolis actually,” Jess speaks up. I want to shoot her a glare, but I can’t see where she is.
“God, that has to suck,” J grumbled like it was the worst thing in the world.
“Do you two always do that?” I ask, interrupting them.
“Do what darlin’?”
You’ve got to be kidding me!
“Stop calling me darlin’ you are creeping me out with that.” I glower my eyes at him. “Do you two always talk about people like they are not even here?”
He smirks. “No, we just do that to you.” Ugh!
This is going nowhere!
“Do you always think out loud, darlin’?”
Now he is just pissing me off! “If you call me darlin’ one more time I will punch you in your throat!” I threaten him. His body shakes with laughter.
“Did she really just threaten you, Bo?” J asks as he laughs at me.
“Apparently, J.” He laughs along with his friend or whatever he is and continues to carry me into the school.
Chapter Two
J
“Thank the lord above this is our last year of high school.” Bo, my step-brother grumbles. “I think I’d rather be out on the ranch all day every day instead of listening to a teacher try to shove knowledge down my throat.”
I hold my fist up for him to pound it. “I second that brother.” We bump knuckles and utter a prayer that we make it through our senior year without wanting to blow our brains out. “The only reason I survive school is for football.”
“Yeah well, the only reason I survive is because of the girls…and football, of course.” Bo wiggles his eyebrows up and down while I try to come up with a reason why I shouldn’t punch him. He isn’t blood, but he is my family so I think that’s the only thing that is saving him from being on the other side of my fist at times. Bo likes to test my patience…a lot.
Bo and I have known each other since we were running around in our diapers still. He is technically my step-brother, yet, I consider him my real brother. We always have each other’s backs when the other needs help.
Girls tend to annoy me with how they flock us, well mainly Bo, because I don’t fall to my knees and claim my attraction to them. Bo is a sucker for them while I on the other hand, am waiting for that one girl who brings me to my knees. She would have to be one hell of a girl to do that and she can’t be from this school, that’s for sure. I know every girl in this school or rather have heard about every girl in this school and their…extracurricular activities, so to speak.
Take Ellen, for example, who is currently feeling up Bo. She is a class A bitch, she’s fake as all get out, and she flashes her daddy’s money all the freakin’ time. She likes to let everyone know her father is the Mayor of this small town and that she could get away with whatever she wants. I can’t stand her. It doesn’t matter to me if she is the popular chick in this school. It doesn’t matter that to me how beautiful she is on the outside. On the inside, she is as cold hearted as they come and likes to make people’s lives hell. Ellen is a five foot five inch bully with bleach blond hair and blue eyes.
She turns her attention to me and my mouth forms a thin line. I gave into her one time by mistake and she thinks I’ll slip up again so she can have her way with me. She bats her long, fake eyelashes at me and I gag right in her face. Her eyes narrow into slits at me and she turns back to Bo who is eating it all up. I shake my head and look away from her to almost being knocked back into the wall.
Who is that?
The force the unknown girl gives off hits me square in the chest, hard enough for me to stumble back. I grab Bo’s arm for support as I watch her walk down the hall in our direction. The first thing I notice is she didn’t look like any of the girls at our school, she has a look all her own. The second thing I notice is that she seems the type to keep to herself. The third thing I notice is how drop-dead gorgeous she is. And I bet she had no clue. Her shoulder length golden brown hair is draped around one shoulder. My fingers itch to tuck it behind her ear. Her bright blue eyes remind me of a beautiful sunny day when the sky is clear. She is at least five three…maybe five four, which was about a good four inches shorter than me. She doesn’t look like she is from the country nor does she look like she is some rich girl like Ellen. She looks perfect and she never looks my way, not once. Not even she stops at her locker to put some binders away.
In my daze, not once did I even think to walk over and talk to her. It is too late now because by the time I break the trance she has me right back in another one. My eyes glued to her backside as I watch her sway her hips as she walks away.
Bo hits my shoulder blade. “Hey man, are you alright?”
A smile breaks out on my face as I rub my hands together. “Yeah…I think I’m gonna be just fine.”
As usual, the clock ticks by slowly until finally, the one fifty bell rings and it’s time to suit up for gym class. Bo and I head straight for the locker room to dress out.
Somehow, I had not seen the new girl since this morning. For a minute, I think I had imagined her. That is until I overhear some of the guys on our team talking about her. Heck no, it’d be a cold day in hell before I let one of them get to her first. The odds for me aren’t looking good at all since she isn’t in any of my classes.
I walk up to their huddle to but in their conversation, pretending not to know what they are discussing. “What are you crazy asses goin’ on ‘bout?”
“We have a new girl that is fine as hell,” Colt informs me of what I already know. He has a shit-eatin’ grin on his face I’d like to wipe off.
“What’s her name?” I at least need to know that bit of info before I go and talk to her.
“Cassie?” He looks to the other guys for confirmation and they all nod in agreement.
“Cassie,” I test her name on my lips. Darn, now I really need to meet this girl who has my world spinning on its axis.
I hear my name being yelled from across the gym. I whip my head around to see Bo motioning me to throw him the ball. I walk over and pick up the football lying in the middle of the court. I rear my arm back fixing to let it loose. And that’s when I see her. She has her headphones in, jogging the baseline around the gym. Cassie looks incredible in baggy mesh shorts and a t-shirt.
“J, throw the ball!” I rear my arm back once more and let the ball fly in Bo’s direction; well I thought it was heading in his direction. Bo had to sprint a few steps to his left to catch it and ends up plowing into Cassie. When I notice the collision about to happen, I run towards her. I guess I thought I was superman and I was gonna be able to stop Bo from colliding with her.
Bo hits her with so much force it knocks her back several steps and she falls into the concrete wall. I wince myself when I hear her head smack the wall. “Cassie!” I didn’t reach her in time to catch her before she hit the floor. I punch Bo in the shoulder when I see he rendered her unconscious.
“What the heck, bro?!” I growl as I press my fingers to her throat making sure she still has a heartbeat. “Thank God,” I mutter when I feel the steady beat of her heart beneath my fingertips. My heart is running a hundred miles an hour as I continue to reprimand Bo.
Jessie, one the girls from our class, crouches down beside us. I’d like to point out that Jessie is not one of the girls who fawn over us all the time. “Oh my God! Is she okay?”
I want to say yes, but I’m not sure she is. “I hope so.”
When she finally starts stirring, my heart starts beating faster than ever. Her eyes flutter open, revealing her sea blue eyes and I am sucked in. Heck, I am done for. Looking at me, you wouldn’t know it, but I’ve always been a sucker for the ‘love at first sight’ stuff. I am a goner before she even utters a word.
I tried to keep my jealousy at bay when Bo kept flirting with her, but she made it bearable when responded to his ‘charm’, as Bo would call it, with a threat. Right off the bat, I notice this girl can hold her own. Heck, she just drew me in further with that.
I am like a darn cow she is roping in, and I am loving every second of it.
Chapter Three
Cassie
Bo doesn’t set me down until we are in the nurse’s office, and that was on the table. J stands by the door, blocking it, with his arms crossed like he thinks I’m going to make a run for it.
I just might…
Taking a good look at J, I notice he is as muscular as Bo. What are they on, steroids?
Bo stands next to me, explaining to the nurse what happened. After she asks me question after question, I guess to make sure I’m not looney. She checks out my head and then proceeds to shine a light in my eyes.
Finally, she gives me some more ice for the knot on the side of my head and instructs me to go home and lie down. I don’t mention to them I don’t have a car. I’d hate to know what Bo and J would do then. And I’m not riding the bus home. No way. I’d rather walk home. I have not ridden the bus a day in my life and I’m not going to start now.
“Alright Cassie, let me call your parents and have them come get you.”
“No!” All three heads whip in my direction. Well, four including, Jess. “I mean, they are at work so I don’t want to bother them,” I add quickly. What I really mean is that my dad is probably stoned out of his mind and my mother would brush it off like it was no big deal and then yell at me for it as soon as I got home because “I attracted attention to myself”. She is probably as coherent as my father right now to tell you the truth. She acts all high and mighty, but she is no better than him. “I’m fine, honestly.” The nurse purses her lips but doesn’t say anything.
“We can take her home,” Bo speaks up from beside me.
I look at the nurse, shaking my head. “No, no I’m fine.”
“Cassie, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go home by yourself. I highly suggest letting someone drive you home.” She turns and looks at Bo. “Y’all don’t mind taking her home?”
“No, ma’am. We’d be happy to.”
She smiles sweetly. “That’s sweet of y’all boys.”
Jess gives me an apologetic look. “Girl, I would take you home in a heartbeat, but I have some get together with my parents.”