Chapter Fourteen

Luke

After getting the text from Ayla, I hurried toward the locker room. She’d helped me out earlier this week when I needed it, so now it was my turn to be there for her. Although I wasn’t sure what I’d be able to do. Or what the damage was.

When I neared the gym, Ayla and Chloe stepped out. My eyes widened. Well, people would definitely remember Ayla, that was for sure.

She bit her lip and watched me. “It’s bad, isn’t it?”

“Well…” I rubbed the back of my neck with my hand. “I’ve never seen anyone wear quite that combination of an outfit. Unless you count my little brother. But you could make it work for you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Funny, but at least you’re not laughing. I don’t think a freaking model could make this disaster work.”

I chuckled. “It’s cute. Really.”

“You said you wouldn’t laugh!” She socked me on the arm.

I held up my hands. “Sorry. Okay, so what’s the plan?”

Chloe glanced at me. “If you’ve got a few minutes, we could use your help in the locker room.”

“I can’t go into the girls’ locker room, I’ll get in trouble,” I said. And I had enough of that going on lately, if the video wasn’t evidence enough.

“Ms. Cooper already headed into the assembly.” Chloe tugged me after them.

I glanced around then followed them over to a pair of pom-poms, which already had a bunch of chunks cut out of them. They hauled out a pack of tampons and began tying them into the pom-poms, along with strands of toilet paper.

“Can you look to see if there’s anything we can put on the megaphone?” Ayla asked.

“Sure.” So I wandered around the locker room and into Ms. Cooper’s office. Then I saw it, a tube of mascara sitting on the edge of her desk. I swiped it and rushed back out to where the other two were. “Will this work?”

“Yes. It’s perfect.” Ayla grinned, taking it from me. She unscrewed the cap, dipped the brush inside, then took it out and proceeded to dab it on the mouth end of the megaphone. When she finished, she handed it to me, and I rushed it back into the teacher’s office.

“Our business here is done.” Chloe put the items into Jenna’s locker.

“Remind me to never piss you two off,” I said.

Ayla peered up at me. “Jenna deserves it. She’s such a jerk to people. Trust me, I would’ve let things be had she not pulled this shit today. But now, more than ever, I want to win this thing.”

I grabbed her hand and pulled her closer. “You’ll definitely make an impression today. And it’s about time someone stood up to Jenna. Don’t ever let anyone, especially her, make you feel inferior.”

She groaned but stared at me expectantly. “Now you’re teasing me.”

“Nope. I’m not. Use this to your advantage—the way you’re dressed. You’re trying to show support for various groups of people. The sweatshirt is for the goths and those people who are a little darker. The leggings are for the popular girls—the high-tops represent the jocks…”

“You are brilliant.” Ayla wrapped an arm around my waist. “I can totally use this. I knew I liked you for a reason.” Her eyes softened.

I swallowed hard. Had she just said she liked me? Or was she joking? “See, I’m not all bad.” My voice came out huskier and deeper than I’d intended. The way she smiled at me made me feel important, like I could do anything. It also scared the crap out of me.

Chloe cleared her throat behind us. “We should probably go now.”

“Yeah, we don’t want to be late,” I said, taking a step back.

When we got inside the gym, Ayla made her way to the principal and Jenna, who were waiting in the middle of the floor. Two tables were set up, each with a picture of the candidates on them.

I found a seat next to Brady, who gave me a fist bump. “What the hell is your girlfriend wearing?”

“Don’t even ask. Jenna sabotaged her.”

Brady quirked an eyebrow. “Jeez, Jenna’s not holding back, is she?”

“No crap.” My mouth drew down. Great. Everyone was going to be talking shit today. By making a fool of Ayla, Jenna was also doing the same to me. People filtered into the bleachers, and I tugged Brady up into the corner, where no one else was sitting yet. “Look, I need your help with this. To help it blow over quicker.”

“What is going on with you lately?” he said.

I leaned back against the wall, stretching my legs out in front of me so no one would sit there. The need to confide in someone overwhelmed me. “You know my mom. She’s been having moments again. And, well, this Ayla thing kind of came out of nowhere.”

“Ayla thing?”

“It’s complicated. I didn’t intend for her and me to even be hanging out. Stuff just happened.”

“What kind of stuff?” He watched me closely. Brady could read me pretty well.

“What I’m about to tell you goes no farther than us, okay? I mean it.” I lowered my voice to a whisper.

“Fine, whatever.”

“She recorded us defacing the statues and drinking. She told me that if I helped her win this election and pretended to be her boyfriend, she wouldn’t rat me out.”

“Oh, fuck. Are you serious?” Brady rubbed his temples. “If this came out, we’d all be screwed. You. Me. Jack.”

“I know. Why do you think I’ve been helping her? But the thing is, she’s not actually as bad as she seems. I know it sounds crazy as hell, but she’s really nice.”

“Oh, God. So she’s forcing you to play her boyfriend, but you’re kind of liking it? Pretty masochistic, man.” Brady stared at me as if I’d grown a third nipple or something.

“Tell me about it. I can’t explain this. I mean, you don’t know how pissed I was when she showed me the video. How I wanted to find a way to bring her down. But then we started hanging out. The other night, after Mom and I had this huge blowout, Ayla actually snuck out to cheer me up and talk.”

“Unless she’s doing it to get more ammo on you.” Brady nudged my arm, pointing at Jack climbing the stairs and heading toward us.

“I don’t think so. Shit, I’m just so confused.” I rested my head in my hands. “I might need your help to pull this off, though. So far things have been going well, but I need someone in my court.”

Brady nodded. “Whatever you need, man.” He studied me for several seconds. “Are you sure you haven’t already fallen for this chick?”

I snorted, watching as Ayla picked up the microphone, her tight orange leggings the talk of the gym. Her face reddened as she stepped forward.

“No way. I’m being blackmailed. That’s it.”

But when I saw her trembling hands as she stood there at the center of the whole student body, my pulse quickened. I was nervous for her. I wanted nothing more than to go down there and hold her hand. To give her strength to face whatever criticism came her way.

This couldn’t be normal. Damn. Who the hell felt bad for the person who’d set out to destroy them when he was one mistake away from a court date?

Man, I was screwed up.

Ayla cleared her throat and began to talk. “Hi. I’m Ayla Hawkins, and I’m running for senior class president. There are so many things I hope to accomplish for you if I’m elected. And when I say you, I mean all of you. Not just one group of people. Everyone. We all deserve to participate in clubs and things we love. Our clubs deserve to have funding. I’m not striving to put anyone out but to bring everyone in. To give equal opportunity to all students. We should all be heard, no matter how small or big our voices are. If you vote for me, I promise to be your voice. I promise to represent all of you. It’s time for a change, and I’m ready to go to battle for you.”

Seeing her up there, it broke something inside me. Thawed the coldness that’d been building up. Everyone in my life had always walked away or hurt me. But Ayla was the one person who’d been there for me lately. Coming to my rescue not just with the car, but the other night as well.

I stood, cupping my hands together. “Woo—go, Ayla!”

Some of my basketball buddies did the same. Brady glanced at me but shoved to his feet next to me, hollering her name and cheering for her, too.

Ayla smiled at me, then turned her attention back to the crowd. “I know I look kind of crazy today, but I did this to show you that I’m willing to go that extra mile for you. That I’m not going to let anything or anyone pressure me. I’m representing everybody, not just one ideal or one person. Change starts when we all come together and push for it. When we let the world know we are not going to just settle for the status quo. This election is for us.” Ayla pointed into the stands, gesturing to Jenna. “Not her. If you’re ready for a change, ready to make some noise about the things you love and want to do, then stand with me. We will be a force to be reckoned with.”

With that, she handed the mike back to the principal and moved toward the bleachers. Without a second thought, I walked down partway to meet her, offering her my hand. My heart swelled. She’d done well by not backing down from Jenna. And I vowed that no matter what happened, I’d help her win this election.

Brady scooted over when we came up. He glanced at me, his eyebrow raised. I shrugged at him. Because honestly, I had no damn clue what I was doing or what’d gotten into me. Jack moved closer to us and sat next to Brady. He wrinkled his nose at us, as if disgusted by Ayla’s appearance. But for once, I didn’t give a shit what he thought. Ayla was a far better person than him. And if he had any idea what she’d just gone through to give her speech, he might actually be impressed.

Brady leaned over to Ayla. “Awesome speech. You did great.”

“Thanks. Honestly, I couldn’t have done it without Chloe and Luke.”

“Are you still coming to my party this weekend?”

“Yeah.” Ayla turned to me. “Wait, are you sure you can get it off work?”

With my mom now back to one job, I wasn’t sure if I should give up the hours. Brady caught my eye, and I glanced back to Ayla. “Of course. We’ll be there.”

I clutched Ayla’s hand in mine, giving it a squeeze as Jenna finished her speech and disappeared into the locker room. When she came back out a minute later, she got into position with the rest of her squad. She raised her pom-poms and began the cheer. Tampons and toilet paper came flying off them, and she glowered, then tossed them aside and used her hands for the routine instead. When it came time for her to use the megaphone, Ayla peered at me.

“Well, this ought to be good.”

“Can’t wait,” I whispered.

Jenna screamed into the megaphone, and when she pulled it back it’d left a black mustache-type ring around her mouth.

Everyone started laughing. But Jenna wouldn’t figure out why until after the assembly. Chloe moved up with us, grinning and clapping.

“Thanks for helping us, Luke. We never could’ve pulled it off without you,” she said.

Brady stared at her for a moment then said, “Are you coming to my place for the party, too?”

Chloe smiled. “Of course, unless I’ve been uninvited.”

“Nope. You should come. We’ll be playing some basketball, and my grandpa’s going to hook up the tractor for a hayride, then we’ll do a bonfire afterward. There will be some guys from the team there with their girlfriends…and a few other people.”

Jack glanced between us like we’d lost our minds. “So we’re just inviting anyone now? I thought our parties were private.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “We let you come, don’t we?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jack’s jaw tightened.

“It means it’s my house and I’ll invite whoever the hell I want.” Brady leaned forward, jabbing Jack in the chest with his elbow. “In other words, don’t be a douche bag.”

He glowered but said nothing else. Instead he turned to talk to some girl next to him.

Ayla’s grip on my hand tightened. “Ignore him,” I whispered against her hair. “You’re welcome at Brady’s party.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. You better not back out on me. Otherwise you’ll leave me alone with him.” I nodded at Jack. “Do you want my mind corrupted by that kind of influence?”

“Good point. I’ll be there.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear. Besides, you’re my girlfriend. We need to make appearances together, remember?” My stomach knotted. This would be our first official date in public. Or at least fake date. My friends would see us interact. They’d be watching us, testing us. We had to make it look good—believable. It was one thing to have lunch with Brady but quite another to be around our group. Especially with Jack.

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow about four, if that’s okay,” I said to Ayla.

She took her hand from mine and stood as the assembly wrapped up. “Sure. Oh, and my parents wondered if you wanted to come over on Sunday, after work. You can bring Landon with. Dad’s going to play at the pub around dinnertime.”

“Let me check to make sure I’ll be off in time. If so, we’d love to.”

“Hey, don’t forget, we have the photo booth tonight, too!” Chloe said. “I mean, if you guys are still in?”

“Shit, yeah, I’m in,” Jack said, chiming back into the conversation.

Brady smiled. “We said we’d help, and we will. Besides, you spent a lot of time decorating the booth.”

“Wait, you worked on the booth without us?” Ayla said. “I thought we were going to put it together after school today.”

“Well, you and Luke have been super busy, so I conned my art teacher into letting me come in a couple nights this week to get it taken care. Brady even helped me paint last night.”

It was my turn to be surprised. “You helped her out?”

“Yeah. No big deal. I wanted to make sure it was ready in time.” Brady shrugged.

“You guys are seriously awesome,” Ayla said. “I don’t know what I would do without you.” She clutched tight to me, turning her big brown eyes until they met mine.

She had no idea the kind of pull she had on me. This might be a fake relationship, but it was beginning to feel pretty real to me. The problem was, what would happen once the election was over? Would everything go back to the way it was prevideo? And if so, was I okay with that?