Chapter Four

Stayin’ Alive

Tuesday, September 20

“We need an emergency meeting,” Mandy told Cammie and J.T. as soon as she spotted them in the hallway.

Cammie looked perfect as always, her dark hair and lashes highlighting her delicate olive-skinned features. J.T., on the other hand, looked like he’d just escaped a wind tunnel, his blond hair going in twenty different directions, his clothes disheveled. But his killer smile and sexy David Bowie eyes—one green, one blue—overshadowed the messiness.

Gus sauntered toward them, grinning, making her stomach flutter.

“Hey,” he said, stopping next to them.

“Hi,” Mandy said, wishing she’d never seen him kiss Kay. If she could just pretend it never happened…

“There you are!”

Speak of the devil. Kay bore down on them, her predatory gaze locked on Gus. She stopped next to them and looped her arm through Gus’s. “We’re having lunch together. Just you and me.”

Gus blinked in surprise. “We are? I was thinking I’d eat with these guys today.” He gestured toward them, but Kay ignored it.

“You can eat lunch with them whenever. Today, I need you.” Kay ran a finger down his chest.

Gus’s neck flushed, but he shrugged. “Okay. Sounds good.”

Mandy’s heart sank to her feet. She didn’t have a chance, not against Kay.

“Cool with us,” J.T. said. “We have stuff to do.”

Mandy glanced at him, surprised. Shouldn’t he be on her side? Or at least anti-Kay?

The first class bell rang, sending everyone scrambling down the hall because their principal, Dr. Harris, aka Dr. Hairy, was a stickler about tardies.

“We need to talk,” Mandy said before they separated. She should’ve called them last night, but she’d been paralyzed by panic. She’d tossed and turned all night, stressing over Caleb’s proposition.

J.T. nodded, and Cammie squeezed her shoulder. “Don’t worry. Whatever it is, we’ve got your back.”

Mandy smiled her thanks, then rushed to her first-period class. She could always change her mind. It was a crazy plan. Ridiculous. Complicated.

Doomed.

At lunch, Mandy and her friends piled into J.T.’s clunker, scarfing down fries and chocolate shakes in the fast-food parking lot. Mandy sat in the backseat while her two friends angled in the front seats to face her like she was the criminal and they were the jury.

“What do you mean, Caleb wants to be your fake boyfriend?” Cammie demanded. “This has disaster written all over it.”

“Maybe,” J.T. said around a french fry. “Maybe not.”

“What?!” Cammie exclaimed. “Did we not establish his certified assholery after he drove Mandy home Saturday night, attacking her with insults?”

“We did,” J.T. agreed. “He hates everything and everyone.” He paused. “Except you, apparently.” J.T. waggled his eyebrows at Mandy. “So maybe this will work.”

Cammie crossed her arms over her generous cleavage, of which Mandy was not-so-secretly jealous. “I don’t want Mandy getting hurt.”

“Why would she?” J.T. said. “Caleb’s not going to accidentally fall for her, and she’s definitely not going to fall for him. And maybe this will finally make Gus see the girl who’s been there for him all along.”

J.T. and Cammie shot each other meaningful glances. Mandy sighed and searched for a mantra. The universe brings me exactly who I need, when I need them. Her friends were there for her. Always. Even when they acted like she was their little sister they had to protect. She adored them, but sometimes they made her feel incompetent, and she already had enough of that going on with her classes.

“I know it’s a crazy idea. But when I see Gus with Kay…” Her words trailed away. Kay was evil. Gus didn’t belong with her. He belonged with Mandy, who appreciated him. Who wouldn’t suck out his soul.

“Maybe try it with Caleb for a day or two,” J.T. said. “See what happens.”

“Speaking of, why aren’t you with him right now?” Cammie asked. “Shouldn’t you be eating lunch with your fake boyfriend?”

Mandy choked on her drink, then finally managed to squeak out a reply. “I haven’t seen him today.” Because she’d hidden from him every time she’d caught a glimpse of the black leather jacket and rock star hair. “Maybe he’ll forget,” she said hopefully. “Maybe it was all a bad dream and—”

“He won’t.” J.T. shoved a handful of fries in his mouth.

“Why not?” Cammie demanded.

J.T. shrugged. “A guy like Caleb doesn’t throw out that kind of deal and forget about it. Do you think Lucifer forgets when he makes deals for people’s souls?”

“Well, I don’t think you should do it,” Cammie said. “Relationships built on lies never last.”

“But I’m not having a relationship with Caleb,” Mandy said, blushing as she remembered how she’d responded to him last night in his car. Jerk. She’d never get suckered in by his fake seductions again.

Cammie’s face crinkled in sympathy. “Sweetie, I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I think Gus is so sucked in by the Kay spell that he’s not going to notice anyone else. Not even you and Caleb trying to make him jealous.”

“But he can’t be,” Mandy protested. “Not already. They just hooked up over the weekend. That doesn’t have to mean anything, does it? If he and I could just go out, the two of us…” She thought of her favorite Chinese restaurant, the Silk Lamp. She imagined staring at Gus over candlelight, reaching across the table to hold his hand.

J.T. and Cammie gave each other the look again, and a jolt of anger and determination shot through her.

“I don’t care what you guys say. I’m going to try it. What’s the worst that can happen?”

“Famous last words,” Cammie muttered under her breath.

…

Caleb ate by himself as usual, reading at a table in the corner of the cafeteria. He’d seen Mandy and her minions leave, and he’d felt a mixture of relief and disappointment. Mostly relief, he told himself.

She’d been avoiding him all day. She probably thought she was being sly, but it was hard to miss her darting around corners and ducking into classrooms whenever he came near her. Her shirt glittered so much it could probably be seen from outer space.

He took a swig from his soda and refocused on his book, a worn collection of short stories he’d found in his favorite used bookstore.

A freshman scurried by, tripped, and his tray flew through the air, sending an avalanche of food onto Caleb’s table. The cafeteria went dead silent as everyone waited for the explosion.

Caleb wiped food off his jacket before aiming his glare at the kid, who looked like he weighed maybe sixty pounds.

“I-I’m s-sorry, sir,” the kid stammered and Caleb almost laughed.

Sir? Seriously?

“Watch where you’re going next time.” Caleb moved his book out of the way of a spreading puddle of soda. Murmurs rose around him and he knew people were waiting for him to lose it, to go ballistic on the kid. Just because he’d lost it one time.

The story had been told and retold so many times he didn’t even recognize it anymore, but the reputation had followed him for years, even though he hadn’t been in a fight since ninth grade.

“Get outta here, kid,” Caleb said. He stood up and the kid took off, tripping over his shoelaces.

Caleb shoved his book in his pocket and stalked out of the cafeteria, debating whether or not to stick around for the rest of the day. He had calc next, a class he wasn’t doing great in. He should probably stay for that, but he could miss the rest of the afternoon since he was killing AP English and history.

Elle pounced on him as he rounded the corner. “Hey, gorgeous, where have you been hiding?”

Crap. He took in her skintight dress that barely covered her ass. He knew she’d worn it for his benefit and was surprised she hadn’t been sent home for violating the dress code.

“I wasn’t hiding.” He kept moving, hoping she’d get the hint.

She didn’t.

“So anyway…I was thinking about homecoming. It’s only two and a half weeks away.”

He stopped at his locker and willed her to disappear.

She didn’t.

He made the mistake of glancing at her. She didn’t look all misty-eyed like she was in love with him. She looked…fanatical. Scary. Like she’d be just as happy killing him as kissing him.

It sort of scared the crap out of him.

He glanced up and down the hall at the swarms of students returning from lunch.

Where the hell was his fake girlfriend when he needed her?