Chapter Thirteen

Ayla

I’d never imagined in any lifetime that Luke Pressler would be sitting across from me in my tree house. We’d moved back inside, both wadded up in the blankets I’d brought. If my parents found out about this little rendezvous, they’d probably kill me. So I needed to keep an eye on the time and watch for Mom’s bedroom light. As long as he was gone by five, we’d be okay. Not that I planned on spending the whole night out here.

I pulled my blanket tighter to my shoulders. “So, did you want to talk?”

He glanced at me, propping himself up on his elbow. “Are you sure you want to hear all the grisly details?”

My fingers traced the wood-plank flooring. “I’m all ears.”

He sighed, sitting up. Luke grabbed a candy bar from my stash of junk food. “I’m just tired. Tired of my life. Tired of having to work so much. Tired of my dad not helping us out or seeing us. Tired of my mom, who can’t seem to keep her shit together. Tired of trying to live up to everyone’s expectations…”

I swallowed hard, watching as his face fell. He clenched his fists in his lap. “So what happened tonight?” Obviously something had set all this in motion, otherwise I don’t think he would’ve messaged me. Or maybe he hadn’t meant to.

“Well, after working a long shift, I came home to my drunk mother. She went on to tell me she thought it was a bad idea to hang out with you.”

“Ouch,” I said. “This is definitely a first. I’ve never had someone’s parent hate me before. I’m normally the one they like.” Great. I wondered if this would screw everything up.

“Don’t take it personally. She’s probably more worried that it’ll mean less hours for me to work, which means less money coming in. Shit. If it wasn’t for Landon I probably would’ve found a way to emancipate myself.”

My chest tightened. Luke’s life was totally crappy. And I wasn’t helping it any. “What about your dad?”

“Like I said the other night, he doesn’t come around. Last we saw him, I was in fourth grade. He’s moved on—has a new family. A part of me wonders what really happened with him and my mom. Either way, it ended, and he doesn’t bother seeing us.”

I didn’t even know what to say to all this. I thought Luke had it all going for him. He was the star basketball player, he was in the top five of our class, he was cute—who could not fall for him when he turned his big blue eyes on them? And apparently he wasn’t as jerky as I first thought. But most of all, I’d been totally wrong about him. He had this big heart, and the way he stared at me sometimes made me feel beautiful. The more time I spent with him, the more I wanted to be around him.

I reached across the short distance between us and caught his hand. “I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have this all on your shoulders, it’s not fair. Your parents should be stepping up. It isn’t your job to raise Landon or pay the bills.”

“I know. But if I don’t take care of things, we won’t survive. My mom doesn’t make enough to cover groceries half the time. And Landon, I’m praying I can make things as normal for him as possible. I’m freaking out about going away to college next fall. Wondering if my mom will keep her head out of her ass long enough to make sure Landon will be okay.”

“Do you have any other relatives you can reach out to?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No. My grandparents on my mom’s side are dead. The ones on my dad’s side pretty much cut us out of their lives when my dad divorced my mom.”

Something inside me twisted, and my eyes welled. Damn it. Luke was going to make me cry. I wet my lips, keeping my gaze averted. “You know, you and your brother are always welcome here. In fact, my dad mentioned maybe having you guys come with us next week to watch his band.”

“Your dad’s in a band?” Luke sounded surprised.

I laughed. “Yeah. He’s in this Irish band that plays local pubs and stuff. They’re actually pretty good.”

“That’s cool. What’re they called?”

“Bollocks and Beer. I know—totally creative.”

“Actually, I kind of like it. Sounds all British or something.”

“Well, my dad’s family is originally from Ireland. Not quite Britain, but on the same side of the globe and stuff.”

“Your dad really invited us?” He watched me.

“Yes. He wants to get to know my boyfriend.” I smiled. “You’re kind of a novelty, you know, my first boyfriend—fake boyfriend or not, you’re my boyfriend nonetheless.”

We stayed up and talked until about four, at which point my eyes burned and I couldn’t stop yawning.

“I should probably head home. I have to be up in about two hours,” Luke said, but he didn’t move.

“Yeah, my mom will be up soon, and if I’m not in my bed, she’ll send out the military to find me.”

He pushed to his knees and stared at me. “Look, I know I haven’t always been the greatest person at school, but I’m trying now. And tonight, you didn’t have to invite me over—but you did. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to just talk to someone, you know. Like, really talk to them. So thank you.”

“Any time. I mean it. We are a couple, you know—or at least we are for now.” I scooted closer to him, and before I could change my mind, I gave him a big hug. “If you ever need to talk or to get away for a while, message me or call. I don’t care what time it is.”

He went still for a moment, then at last he seemed to relax as he hugged me back. His palm rubbed between my shoulder blades, and my skin sizzled at his touch. His breath was hot against my cheek, and I pressed against his chest. What was I doing?

He turned his face slightly, his thumb resting beneath my chin as he tilted it up. He studied my face. “Ayla,” he whispered.

My heart hammered against my ribs. Was Luke going to kiss me? Did I want him to? Freaking out, I swallowed hard then said, “Mmm…you smell like pizza.” I snuggled closer to him and licked his cheek.

“Ew, you did not just do that.” He pulled back, laughing, and wiped at his face.

The moment was broken, but maybe that was for the best.

“I did—and for future reference, you don’t taste like pizza.”

“Anyone ever tell you, you’re crazy?” He crawled toward the trapdoor in the floor.

“Pretty much everyone that comes in contact with me. But I’m okay with that.”

We climbed out of the tree house, and when we were standing on solid ground again, he drew me into his arms and hugged me tighter. My head rested against his chest. He seemed so solid beneath me. But I knew something about Luke that no one else did. He wasn’t as okay as he pretended to be. No matter how tough and perfect he seemed on the outside, he was broken.

God. I’d wanted to hate him. To just use the video to make sure I won the election, to ensure my friends and I would have scholarships for our writing and journalism skills. However, I realized that in some strange way, Luke needed me. That he was getting under my skin. I wasn’t sure any of this was a great idea. What would happen when we broke up? Would we still be friends and talk? Did we have to break up at all? We only had a couple weeks left, and that made me sad. As I watched him pull away from my house, I knew I was in trouble.

…

I ran another loop around the track, breathing heavily. Damn, I regretted not taking gym my freshman year, back when I was in much better shape. Jenna Lee passed me twice before she finished her run and went into the locker room to get changed. She didn’t need this class; she was just doing it for fun. What kind of masochistic person was she?

“Come on, Hawkins, pick up the pace or you won’t finish by the end of the class,” Ms. Cooper, the gym teacher, hollered at me.

“I’m running as fast as my stubby legs will carry me,” I said, out of breath.

“I don’t believe that. Push yourself. Unless you want to repeat this class in summer school next year.”

She cranked up some music in the stadium. Like “Eye of the Tiger” was supposed to inspire me. All it made me want to do was punch her in the face, kind of like Rocky.

I wiped the sweat from my brow with the back of my hand. My lungs burned, and I knew my face was red, because I could feel the heat on my cheeks. Great, I’d look lovely in front of the whole school today. Why did Ms. Cooper have to schedule our running test for the same day as the pep assembly—the same day I had to be introduced as one of the people running for class president?

Jenna Lee would look perfect as always. She’d barely broken a sweat. I forced myself to add another couple of inches to every step. Each pounding footfall like a nail in my grave. God, this was complete torture.

At last, the finish line came into view. I pumped my arms. My thighs were rubbing together like nobody’s business; I’d probably chafe. The gym teacher obviously never had any fat on her legs.

When I finished, I wanted to collapse on the ground and just lie there.

“Get a move on, Hawkins. You only have ten minutes to hit the showers and get changed.” Ms. Cooper swung her stopwatch around like a lasso.

I kind of hoped she’d clock herself in the head with it, but no such luck.

When I got to the locker room, it was empty. So I grabbed my towel and quickly stripped out of my sweaty uniform. I hurried into the shower. The water was lukewarm at best. But I scrubbed the sweat off me as fast as I could, then walked back to my gym locker.

When I reached inside to grab my clothes, I went still. They were gone. Fuck. No. No. No. So was my gym uniform. The only thing sitting there were my large white granny panties and my sweaty sports bra. God, why hadn’t I put the lock on it? I honestly hadn’t thought I had to worry about someone taking my clothes.

Frantic, I searched the floor and along the other lockers. They weren’t here.

Suddenly, I knew Jenna had taken them. What better way to keep me from getting a chance to talk about my candidacy? Wrapped in my towel, I stalked to Ms. Cooper’s office, ass cheeks hanging out and all.

She sat behind her desk, her feet propped up, her whistle looped around her neck. “Hawkins, what are you doing?”

“Someone stole my clothes. They’re not in my locker or anywhere.”

Her brow wrinkled. “Are you sure you didn’t drop them?”

“Yes. I checked.” Jeez, she acted like I was stupid or something. No, I didn’t check. As if I wanted to parade around naked. “There’s only one person in class who would’ve done this to me,” I said.

“Who’s that?”

“Jenna Lee. She hates me.”

The teacher scowled. “Do you have any proof?”

“No, I—”

“Then let’s not jump to conclusions. Why don’t I come help you look? If we don’t find them, I’ll talk to Jenna Lee Monday.”

“Monday?” That wasn’t going to help me today.

“I won’t see her until then.”

So Ms. Cooper helped me search for my clothes, and big surprise, we didn’t find them.

“What am I supposed to do for clothes now? I’m a part of the assembly today!”

Ms. Cooper eyed me, chewing her gum like a freaking cow chomping down grass. “You can check the lost-and-found table. Maybe there’s something there you can use.”

With water dripping off me, I watched her walk back to her office, then grabbed my phone and texted Chloe.

Need your help. EMERGENCY. I’m in the locker room.

Chloe: On my way. What’s wrong?

Will tell you when you get here. I’m so screwed.

A couple minutes later, Chloe came bounding in. “What’s going on?”

Tears welled in my eyes. “This.” I pointed at my towel. “Jenna stole my clothes. Ms. Cooper is being an asshole—and I’ve got to be at the assembly in like twenty minutes.”

Chloe glowered. “Jenna is a freaking B. I swear. Okay. Let’s think this through.” She eyed my flowery blue towel.

“Ms. Cooper told me to look through the lost-and-found for clothes.” I sniffled. Not that I thought for one second that anything in it would fit me. I was curvy—plus-size. My boobs couldn’t just squeeze into some tiny tube top or something.

Chloe grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into the athletic office, where they had a table set up with various pieces of clothing. All I saw were things no one in their right mind would want to be seen in. Hence, why they were in the lost and found.

Chloe, who was a fashion expert, wrinkled her nose, which wasn’t a good sign. She scoured through things, holding them up. Most of them were about five sizes too small for me. Size-zero jeans—I couldn’t get my pinkie toe into those suckers. At this rate, I might as well just go out there in my towel. Maybe that’d get me a few more votes.

“I think these might work.” Chloe held up a pair of orange leggings. “I’ll see if I can find a shirt.”

“Orange isn’t really my color.” But I realized they were the only bottoms on the table that I might be able to shove my ass into.

“Just go with it. We’ll make this work.”

I sat on the bench and attempted to tug them on. With a grunt, I stood, hopping up and down until I had them pulled up. My gaze shifted to the mirror. I cringed. These leggings were doing me no favors. My legs looked like a pair of giant cheese puffs. Maybe I could just go home for the day. But if I did, I knew Jenna would get what she wanted. Damn.

“I’m in,” I said, pointing at the bottoms.

“See, they fit!”

“Except I can’t breathe. And if I bend over, I’ll probably have a blowout,” I said.

Chloe grabbed a large black sweatshirt with skulls on it. Totally not my style at all. But it was either this or the towel. So I tugged on my sports bra, which gave me an instant uniboob, and then put the sweatshirt on, over my head. I looked like a Halloween decoration gone bad. Like, way bad.

“Did Jenna at least leave your shoes?” Chloe chewed her lip.

I went over to my locker and scoured it. “Nope. What a fucking jerk.”

“Well, these will have to do, then.” She handed me a pair of blue-and-white boys’ basketball high-tops.

I slid those on, too. They were a little loose and made me look like I had clown feet. Every time I took a step, it sounded like Bigfoot lumbering in the woods. This was not how I’d thought today would go. That I’d be a walking joke before I even had a chance to speak.

“Here, let me at least do your hair. I have a couple of barrettes. I can twist back the sides.” Chloe got my hair situated. Once she finished she smiled. “There. Perfect.”

I glanced down at my outfit and back at her. “You are freaking nuts if you think this is perfect.”

“Well, it’s a little unconventional. But you’ll appeal to lots of people this way. I mean, you’re not all dressed up and preppy and stuff. You’re you. Or kind of a crazy version of you.”

“Not helping,” I said.

My phone buzzed in my hand. It was Luke.

Luke: Where are you? The assembly starts in five minutes.

Jenna struck. Had a clothing emergency. Promise you won’t laugh when you see me.

Luke: What happened?

Long story short. She stole my clothes. I rummaged through the lost and found. Wait until you see me. Totally awful.

Luke: Crap, I left my warm-ups at home or I’d let you borrow those. Don’t worry, I’m coming. We won’t let her get away with this.

My heart skittered in my chest. Luke was being awesome—sure, he was being blackmailed, but that didn’t mean he had to come to my rescue or be all supportive and stuff.

Yep. This means war, I typed back.

And it did. If Jenna thought for one damn second that I’d let her get away with this, she was out of her mind. She was going down if it was the last thing I did. I’d played nice for too long, let people walk all over me. But no more.

I needed to find my voice.

That’s when I noticed her pom-poms sticking out of her locker. Of course she hadn’t grabbed them yet. She wouldn’t need them until after they did our introductions, at which point I was sure she’d come back here to change into her cheerleading outfit and grab her pom-poms. As well as the megaphone that was propped up near her locker.

This gave me an idea.