Lisa
Days later, I was experiencing more ups and downs than a damn roller coaster. Jennie completely aware of my presence and cringing every time she saw me—going up! Douchebags trying to fist bump me for screwing her like she was some skanky slut that would throw down anywhere—going down.
Motherfucking cell phone, internet, technology and shit!
And worst of all, I actually felt guilty.
I should've been thrilled. Especially since she had transferred into one of my classes yesterday, and I could fuck with her anytime now.
But things were different this year, and that photo hadn't helped. Guys wanted her. Like wanted her so badly that no amount of shit I spewed about her eating boogers, having lice, or even dissecting human cadavers in her home would dispel.
Screw it. There wasn't much I could do on that front anymore, and why would I want to? Why did I care if she dated or not? I didn't.
It simply bugged the shit out me to have a nearly naked picture of her zooming through cyberspace.
Jennie would assume I'd planned the whole thing, and she'd know that I would be thrilled about her humiliation. Let her, then. It worked to my advantage.
But that didn't mean that I was happy or okay with it.
"Toni, baby. Come with me." I hooked Toni Vincent, cheer captain, by the elbow and led her outside the double doors of the gym.
"Oh, look who's talking to me after weeks and weeks." Her sarcastic tone was playful but annoyed.
She and I had hooked up a couple of times last year, and while she was confident and fun, I wasn't in it for a relationship. She tried to push that shit.
She was cocky, though, and she knew how to work her tough streak. I admired that about her.
"We're better when we don't talk," I mumbled as I backed her into the wall.
She didn't want to give me an inch, but I saw the small smile peek out before she lowered her green eyes. When she looked back up, her gaze was steady. "So, what do you want?"
"The Cheer blog," I stated. "The picture of Jane and me? Take it down."
"Why should I?" she sneered. "It's getting a lot of hits."
"Because I'm telling you to," I ordered, not flirting or pretending in the least. "Today."
And I left her there, knowing she'd do it.
Later that day, I made my way to my final class, Themes in Film in Literature. I'd signed up for any courses I could take from Penley this semester. She was sweet, and I felt worse about my behavior towards her than any other teacher last year. It was the teachers who went the extra mile with me that got my respect, and after my dick behavior with her last fall, I'd decided to seize any opportunity I could to show her I was a good student. Or at least a nice girl.
Her classes, while she tried, were my least favorite, though. I hated literature and writing, and definitely hated expressing myself in public when it didn't involve some Patrón or a fast car.
But I looked forward to this class most of all now. Jennie sat two seats in front of me, and I could drill a hole into the back of her head the entire class.
Jennie
The fishbowl got smaller over the next few days.
Some people heard that Lisa and I were in the locker room having sex. Others believed that I'd invited her in an effort to seduce her. A few thought that she'd come in to threaten me after the episode with Mino. Whatever story people latched onto, I was receiving more stares and hearing more whispers behind my back.
"Hey, Jennie. Do you just screw in the locker room or do you do blowjobs as well?" Hannah Forrest, queen bee of the mean girls, shouted to my back while I walked to Calculus. Her drones laughed with her.
I spun around to face them and held my hand to my heart. "And steal all of your business?" I took the time to enjoy their dumbstruck looks before I twisted on my heel and headed to class.
As I disappeared around the corner, the echo of expletives from her and her crew brought a smile to my face. I'd been called a bitch before, and it didn't hurt the way being called a slut did. Being a bitch could be a survival technique. They get respect. There was no honor in people thinking you were a slut.
Lisa must not have received much of a punishment for being in the girls' locker room, since she was at school every day. She didn't look at me or otherwise acknowledge me even though we shared a class together. I had transferred out of a Computer class in the afternoons, having already exceeded the senior syllabus in France, and transferred into Themes in Film and Literature without knowing she was in that class, too. The elective was supposed to be a cruise course, lots of movies and reading.
"Jennie, do you have an extra pen I could borrow?" Bobby asked when we sat down in Themes. He, thankfully, had continued to be friendly and respectful in French, despite the current talk, and I was relieved with the distraction from Lisa in this class.
"Um…" I reached in my messenger bag, searching. "I think so. Here we go." Bobby awarded me with a brilliant smile that accentuated his dark blonde hair and green eyes. Our fingers touched, and I pulled away quickly, dropping the pen before he'd grasped it.
I don't know why I'd pulled away, but I felt Lisa's eyes wash over the back of my head.
"No, I got it!" He stopped me as I bent over to grab it. "Don't let me walk off with it at the end of class, though."
"Keep it." I waved my hand in the air. "I'm stocked. I mostly use pencils, anyway. With all of my Science and Math classes, it's a necessity. Especially with me…lots of erasing." I was trying at humility, but it came out as verbal diarrhea instead.
"Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot you were into that stuff." He probably didn't forget. He almost certainly had no idea. My nostrils flared with the reminder of all the damage Lisa had done. She was the reason more boys hadn't taken an interest in me.
"I'm trying to get into Columbia, pre-med. What about you?" I inquired. I hoped I didn't sound like I was bragging, but I didn't feel self-conscious with Bobby. His family owned a newspaper, and his grandfather was a judge. He'd probably be applying to Ivy League schools, too.
"I'm applying to a few places. I have no head for Math or Science, though. It'll be Business for me."
"Well, I hope you like some Math. Business goes with Economics, you know?" I pointed out. His eyes widened, and I realized he didn't know.
"Uh, yeah." He looked confused, but recovered quickly. "Absolutely. As long as it's not too much." He smiled nervously as I registered a snicker coming from behind me.
"So…" I tried to change the subject, "you're on the Homecoming Committee, right?"
"Yeah. You coming?" Bobby looked excited.
"We'll see. Have you booked a band, or is there a D.J.?" Band. Band. Band.
"A band would be nice, but they tend to play one genre of music, so it's hard to please everyone. We'll have a D.J. I think that's what everyone decided. He'll keep the party going with a good mix: pop, country…" He cast a smile as he trailed off, while I struggled to keep a happy face.
"Oh… pop and country? Can't go wrong there." I mentally cringed as I registered another snicker behind me, this time louder. Without the sense to let it go like the last time, I glanced back to Lisa, whose eyes were downcast as she fiddled on her phone. But I saw her lips turned up and knew her pent-up amusement was provoked by my conversation with Bobby.
Jackass.
Lisa knew I hated country music and had little tolerance for pop. As did she.
"So, you like pop and country?" I redirected my attention to Bobby. Please say "no." Please say "no."
"Mostly country."
Ugh, that's worse.
Math and Science? Negative. Musical tastes? Negative. Ok, last ditch effort to find something in common with the guy I would be sitting next to in two classes this semester. The teacher was going to be in soon.
"You know, I heard we get to watch The Sixth Sense in here this semester. Have you seen it?" My phone beeped with a text notification, but I silenced it and stuck it in my bag.
"Oh, yeah. A long time ago, though. I didn't get it. I'm not a big fan of those thriller-mystery type movies. I like comedies. Maybe she'll let us watch Borat." He wiggled his eyebrows teasingly.
"Hey, Jamison?" Lisa piped up from behind us, her inflection overly polite. "If you like Bruce Willis, Unbreakable is a good one. You should give it a shot…you know, if you're looking to change your mind about thrillers that is."
My desk had suddenly become the most interesting view. I refused to turn around and face Lisa. Words failed me when I realized that she'd remembered.
Bobby turned in his seat and responded, "Yeah, I'll remember that. Thanks." He turned back around and flashed me a smile.
Lisa was bold. She wanted me to know she remembered that Bruce Willis was my favorite actor. We had watched Die Hard one day when my father was gone, because Dad wouldn't let me see it due to all of the swearing. Lisa had a lot of knowledge about me, and I resented that. She didn't have the right to claim any part of me.
"Alright, class," Mrs. Penley called out with a stack of papers in her hands. "In addition to the packet I am handing out, Trevor is giving you a template of a compass. Please write your name at the top, but leave the areas surrounding North, East, South, and West blank."
We all took papers, stuffing the list from Mrs. Penley to the side and following the directions regarding the compass. Starting class with an activity relieved me. The tormenting pressure of the stare I could feel boring into the back of my head was distracting, to say the least.
"Ok." Mrs. Penley clapped her hands together. "The packets I gave you are lists of films where important monologues occurred. As we've already started discussing monologues and their importance in Film and Literature, I would like you to start looking up a few of these on the Internet for research. We'll discuss, during tomorrow's class, your first project for presenting a monologue to the class."
Solo presentation. Ugh! Acting out a monologue. Double ugh!
"Also," Mrs. Penley continued, "for various discussions this year, you'll be asked to pair up with a different person in class. You'll know who to pair up with based on this compass. You'll have five minutes to circulate the classroom finding partners for your North, South, East, and West. Whoever you pick to fill in on your North, for example, they will also put you as their North, and so on. Kind of elementary, I know, but it'll help mix things up."
Group work was fine occasionally, but I preferred to work on my own. My nose scrunched up at the thought of hearing "Buddy up!" constantly this year. Dreadful words.
"Go!" the teacher shouted. The screech of chairs scraping across the floor filled the room. Grabbing my paper and pencil, I started looking for someone not already paired up. As I looked around, others were jotting each other's names down, while I hadn't even started.
Lisa
My mind fogged over, and I heard the noise of Penley's voice but not the words. My eyes were trained on Jennie's back, and before I knew it, I was lost.
She had grabbed all of her hair and swept it up into a long ponytail, the wavy length cascading down her back like a waterfall, or a ….leash.
I clenched my fists.
Jesus.
I couldn't see my dick, but I swear it swelled up to twice the size it normally did when I was horny.
Her army green Five Finger Death Punch T-shirt wasn't too tight, but it draped slimly over her slender back and complimented her sun-kissed skin. I was nearly bleeding to kiss the patch of skin on her shoulder, at the curve of her neck where the collar rubbed.
That would be a good place for a little tattoo, I thought.
The hair, the outfit, it was the perfect blend of good girl and bad girl, of salvation and danger.
There was no point in lying to myself. As much as I hated her, I wanted a taste of her.
Angry sex is pretty good from what I hear.
"Go!" the teacher shouted, and I snapped my head up, blinking away the fantasy I'd gotten caught up in.
Oh, shit. Everyone rose from their seats and started walking around the room, carrying their papers and pens.
Was I supposed to get up? Dread gripped my heart as I glanced down at my jeans and then closed my eyes. Yeah, that's not happening.
And—fuck!—I couldn't stop the damn images of Jennie—in my car, in the janitor's closet, in my bed…
There was no way I could stand up right now, so I took some deep breaths and tried thinking about boring shit, like British period pieces and Ferris wheels.
Luckily, Ivy Donner strode up and wrote her name on my paper under 'East' and then my name on her paper. Good thing, because I had no idea what we were supposed to be doing, and my blood was coursing like lava. I was pissed.
Jennie was a good distraction from my father, but I didn't need her arousing me so hard and fast that I couldn't even walk out of the room in a fire drill without embarrassing myself.
Concentrating on keeping a scowl on my face and my breathing even, I let two more girls fill in blanks on my paper as I tried to calm myself down. I guess we were supposed to find partners on a compass and switch names for each of the cardinal directions or something. Whatever.
Jennie
Bobby grinned and nodded at me, so I filed over to him where we exchanged names on East. Catching sight of others' papers and their blanks, I was able to secure West and South from two girls.
I need a North. I mentally sang to myself as I looked around for another partner. Almost everyone scampered to their seats as the five minutes came to a close. I glanced to Lisa, who I don't think even got out of her seat. Everyone probably rushed over to her.
This was the part of school I hated. The sinking feeling in my stomach reminded me of all the awkward times, before France, that I'd felt left out. Grade school was easy. I had friends and never had to feel lonely in these situations. High school had made me less confident and more introverted.
I was still down one partner and would be left odd man out again. Weary of this feeling after being accepted in France for a year, I grabbed the bull by the horns.
"Mrs. Penley, I'm missing a North. Is it alright if I make a threesome with two others?"
Snorts sounded around the room, while some whispered under their breath. I knew I'd walked into that one.
"Hey, Jennie. I'll do a threesome with you. My compass always points North." Nate Dietrich fist-bumped his buddy as others laughed again.
Surprising myself, I threw back, "Thanks, but I think your right hand will get jealous." The class erupted in Whoa's and Burn!
It was that easy. Due to the use of a couple of immature quips today, I was able to regain a little respect from my classmates. Who knew? Pride hit me, and I had to bite back a smile.
"Does anyone need a North?" Mrs. Penley interrupted the barbs before Nate could shoot back with something else.
Everyone else was seated, meaning they had all of their partners. I kept my attention on Mrs. Penley, waiting for her to just tell me to find a threesome.
"She can be my North." Lisa's formidable voice hit me from behind, sending shivers down my spine.
The teacher looked expectantly to me. This couldn't be happening. Why hadn't she gotten off her ass and found a North like everyone else?
"Well, Jennie. Go ahead then," Mrs. Penley urged me.
Spinning around, I practically huffed back to my seat without sparing a glanced at my North, and carved "Lisa" on my paper…and I think accidentally on my desk, too.