The Queen Bee of Bridgeton (13 page)

"No way."
Colbert turned away.

"Wait." I grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. Thankfully, she wasn't into theatrics like Ashley was. "Do you want to make up with Sasha or not? How important is my sister's friendship to you?"

Colbert sighed then looked around. The bell sounded and students started herding into classrooms. She grabbed my arm then pulled me into the same stairwell where I found
Emmaline
.

"Okay, what do you already know?" she asked once we were alone.

"I know they're behind the Fat Tuesday prank. I suspect they stripped
Emmaline
and left her naked right here in this stairwell. They left a threatening note on my door. Now Sasha says Ashley, Brittany, and Lauren are pissed that I'm dating Will."

"She gave you names?" Colbert's eyes expanded.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because no one really knows for sure who's in the Bitch Brigade. It's a secret society. You have to be invited in, then there's some sort of initiation and you're sworn to secrecy for life. Each year a new Queen Bitch is selected to run the society and then she passes on the power to an underclassman before she leaves. The Bitch Brigade has been talked about for longer than we've been alive. My mother remembers them from when she was here. In all that time, no member has been officially identified."

"Well Sasha knows who they are. Maybe that's the first step to bringing them down. You,
me
, and Sasha can stand up to them. Isn't it about time someone stopped them?"

Colbert stared at me as if I was speaking another language. I actually did a mental check to make sure I hadn't slipped into Spanish. Suddenly Colbert started laughing. Her shrill cackle filled the empty stairwell.

"Oh my God.
I thought you were serious for a minute. Sonya, you can't stop them. They have too much power. Listen, my advice to you is to do whatever Sasha tells you. That's what I should've done." She closed her eyes and shook her head. She placed the back of her hand on her forehead as if she was about to swoon. I noticed her trembling fingers. "I am so not up for school today."

"Are you sick?"

Colbert rolled her eyes again. "Yeah, Sonya, I'm sick. In fact, I need to make a visit to Dr. Bloomingdale's." She dug her cell phone out of her pocket and said, "I'm out," while bounding down the stairs toward the first floor exit. "Don't forget to talk to Sasha for me." She called out behind her.

"Okay," I said even though I still wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to talk to her about.

***

"So where are we going?" I asked Will after school a few days later.

Will dribbled his lucky basketball on the sidewalk. "We're
gonna
go improve your basketball skills."

"
Improve
my basketball skills? Mr.
Maddox, that
would imply I have some basketball skills to begin with. If that's what you think, you are sadly mistaken."

Will laughed. "Don't worry, I'm a good teacher." He tossed me his basketball. In true pathetic girl fashion, I yelped and stepped out of the way. He shook his head. "This is
gonna
be harder than I thought.

Thankfully, Bridgeton's gym was empty so no one could see my pitiful attempts at imitating Will's moves. After about thirty minutes of learning some basics and throwing up some practice shots that never went in, Will decided to challenge me.

"We're
gonna
play a game of Make-it Take-it."

"Okay, how do you play?" I asked, clapping my hands together and doing my best imitation of an excited, pumped jock.

Will chuckled. "Well, usually, Make-it Take-it just means that if you make a shot you take possession of the ball. But I was thinking of adding a little twist to it." Will's trademark devilish grin returned. God, he was sexy.

"What did you have in mind?"

Will took the ball and spun it around on his index finger as he said, "Well, let's say I make a shot, then I get to take a kiss…anywhere I want."

My breath caught in my chest causing my heart to momentarily pause. My skin tingled in anticipation. This was about to be one hot February afternoon.

Will tossed me the ball and let me take the first shot. He laughed when I lobbed it up and it slammed against the backboard. Then he came from out of nowhere, grabbed the rebound and sunk an easy lay-up.
Smiling as if about to burst with delight, he strode over to me.

"Time to claim my prize."

I closed my eyes and lifted my head in expectation of his lips on mine. I felt his face nearing and smelled his green apple scented breath, but I didn't get what I was expecting. Instead, he lifted my hair and graced the side of my neck with his soft, powerful lips. He massaged the sensitive area with his tongue then pulled away abruptly, leaving me aching for more.

"That's one," he said, dribbling the ball around me. "We play to fifteen."

I didn't know if I could take fourteen more kisses like that. I already felt weak in the knees. Will kept dribbling and waiting for me to move.

"You plan on doing any defense?" he asked after a few seconds.

I snapped out of the momentary trance that kiss had put me in and tried to block Will's next shot. He toyed with me by dribbling the ball through his legs and around his back laughing the entire time. If he wasn't so darn cute and sexy, I might have gotten annoyed.

I tried to focus and keep my eyes on the ball, but seconds later he did some sort of turn and side step then sailed toward the basket almost making a slam dunk.

"Oh, now you're just showing off," I said, crossing my arms and feigning irritation.

Will just smiled and grabbed my hand. Then he pulled me toward him, slamming my body against his in the process. He wrapped his arms around my waist and stared into my eyes. He licked his lips slowly as he leaned down. His nose touched mine and his breath caressed my lips. He left me in that state of blissful agony while he rocked me back and forth in a sensual two-step. Finally, he lifted my chin to the left and stroked my right collar bone with a gentle kiss.

He smiled. "That's two."

Still woozy from the kiss, I tried to concentrate and figure out how to steal the ball. It didn't work. Within seconds he'd made another shot. This time when he approached me he let his fingers slowly trace the lines of my neck. Then he unbuttoned the top button of my uniform shirt. I tried to look down to see what he was doing, but he lifted my chin and held my eyes with his as he undid another button. The palm of his hand slid down to the swell of my breasts and my mind went fuzzy. The only thing I could think about was how much I wanted him to rip my shirt completely off. He was driving me crazy.

Will leaned down and kissed where his hand had just been, letting his tongue slip between my breasts. My whole body felt engulfed in flames.

"That's three," he said, pulling away.

I grabbed his shirt and pulled him back to me. "Where do you think you're going?" I slipped my hands under his un-tucked shirt letting my hands roam his smooth, rock hard chest.

"Hey, we have a game to finish," he teased as he removed my hands from his body and started dribbling again.

"Will," I whined.

"What?" he replied
innocently.

I decided I'd had enough of this. When he squared up to take his next shot, I ran and jumped on his back, throwing him off balance. As he fell to the ground, I landed gracefully on my toes and easily retrieved the stray ball. I stood right under the basket and banked it off the backboard and into the net.

"See, you made it," he said, getting to his feet.
"Told you I was a good teacher."

"Shut up and kiss me."I grabbed his shirt and pulled him to me. I moaned in ecstasy as the taste of his lips finally satisfied my intense craving. My arms reached for his neck. He lifted me off the ground and my legs wrapped around his waist.

His hands slid under my uniform skirt clutching and massaging my thighs all the way up to my panties. I pressed my body closer to his. I wanted to melt into his essence. I wanted to be one with him.

Will knelt to the ground and laid me down on my back. He ripped open my shirt then rained luscious kisses on my breasts. He created a path with his tongue down to my navel then down to my skirt. In one swift movement, he whisked my skirt off. He kissed my stomach again as his thumbs hooked into the sides of my panties.

"I want you so bad," he said, slowly tugging my panties down.

"I want you too, Will. I want you to be my first. I want you to be my one and only."

Will
froze
. He sighed and rolled off of me. I knew what the problem was. "Will,
it's
okay. I'm ready. I want to do this."

He shook his head. "You don't want to know how many times I've had sex in this very gym and with how many girls. It makes me sick just thinking about it." He closed his eyes and shook his head again. "I want it to be different with you. I don't want to be
Will
the Drill with you." I scooted closer to him and rested my head on his chest. He rubbed my back and said, "
You
might be ready, Sonya, but
I'm
not."

"I understand." I tilted my head back and stared into his sweet yet tortured eyes.

"Isn't that weird? With you…when it means something…I'm afraid."

I shrugged. "I like weird."

Will had ripped the buttons right off of my shirt so he let me wear his as we lay in each other's arms staring at the gym ceiling.

"Let's go to Prom together," he said.

"Prom?"

"Yeah,
it's
a little thing Bridgeton has every year where people dress up and dance."

I slapped him playfully on the stomach. "I know what Prom is. I just don't think it's my thing."

"Why not?" he asked.

"In case you haven't noticed, I don't really fit in here at Bridgeton."

Will shrugged.
"So what?"

"I already feel out of place on a daily basis here at this school. I'd feel even more awkward at a thing like Prom. I don't even have the right clothes to wear. I just don't belong at something like that."