Chapter Sixteen
Wade
The usual suspects crowded around Josh, listening to his dumb jokes and laughing at the appropriate times. All of them hoping to earn favor from the King of Idiots. Marsha glimpsed Wade as he passed. She flashed him a smile, eyes roaming up and down his body. Wade could feel her stare on his back as he continued down the hall and until he turned the corner.
He adjusted his messenger bag and entered his combination into his lock.
Marsha surprised him when she came up and leaned against the locker beside his. “This biker thing really is working well for you. But you and I know you’re far from a bad boy. Wade Diaz, savior of the nobodies and hottest guy at school. You’re such a contradiction.”
“What do you want?” He searched through his books.
“Is that any way to treat an old flame?”
“One kiss in ninth grade doesn’t constitute ‘old flame’ status.”
She straightened and placed her hand on his biceps. “You’ve been working out.”
“Yeah, here and there.” He pulled out the book he needed, breaking her grip on his arm, and slipped it into his bag. “So you going to tell me what you want?”
“I wanted to invite you to my Halloween party tomorrow night. You know it’s going to be better than the Layne sisters’ disaster will be.”
“You must fear the competition to ask me to go to yours.” Wade slammed his locker shut. “What happened to you? Huh? You and Iris were best friends in eighth grade. She became more popular than you did. Didn’t she? That’s why you just had to knock her down. Well, you got what you wanted. Why don’t you leave us peons alone?”
Marsha frowned and took a step closer to him. “Oh, you don’t get it, do you? It was never about how popular she was or that she had Josh. It was always about you. Even after I told her about my feelings, she left Josh and hooked up with you. Friends don’t do that to friends.” She laughed, a sarcastic one, and her eyes teared a little. “But I guess I’m the bitch, right? Because your precious Iris could do no wrong. Or could she? Don’t forget how she suddenly dumped you to get back with Josh.” She walked away, discreetly wiping her eyes.
Iris weaved around groups of students, sprint-walking over to Wade. “Hey, we need to talk fast,” she said, grabbing his elbow and leading him to the exit. Just outside the doors, she turned to him. “Okay, this is going to sound crazy. Like batshit crazy.” She took a breath.
Wade suddenly felt uneasy. She was a mess, shifting her weight anxiously from foot to foot, gripping the handles of her backpack tightly.
“Oh god, I don’t know where to start.” She took another breath and released it slowly. “I had it all planned out and now I just don’t know.”
He dropped his hands on her shoulders. “Calm down. Just tell me.”
“You’re going to think I’m insane.” Her eyes went to a guy and girl passing them and going through the exit doors.
“Start at the beginning,” he said, removing his hands.
“Okay, so Aster went to a tarot card reading last year. And—” She squinted her eyes tight before continuing. “And she had a reading.” She rubbed her temples.
“Are you getting another headache?”
She nodded and glanced up, her eyes half opened. “Where was I?”
“Aster and tarot cards,” he reminded her.
“I’m out of time. I’m not myself.” She flinched and bent over. “Talk to Daisy.”
“Hey.” He wrapped his arm around her back, supporting her. What was going on with her? He couldn’t believe the doctors hadn’t found anything wrong. “Maybe we should go to the nurse’s office.”
She straightened. “I’m fine. Just ate too many pancakes this morning.”
Fine? He doubted it. She was anything but fine.
“What do you want me to talk to Daisy about?” he asked, not sure if she was okay or just faking it.
“I said that?” She smoothed down her shirt.
“Yeah, and something about Aster and tarot cards?”
“Oh, I was just wondering if you thought it would be a good idea to have Daisy be a tarot card reader at the party.” She adjusted the backpack on her shoulder. “Astor had dressed up as one before. We have all the stuff. Just thought it would be cool to add one, since we have that drinking game with the cards.”
“Sure, but why do I have to talk to her? Why don’t you just ask her?”
“Because she won’t do it for me, but she will for you.” She touched his cheek. “No one can resist you.”
He chuckled. “You’ve resisted me before.”
“I’m claiming temporary insanity on that one.”
Wade laughed and snatched up her hand. “I’d say you were insane. Come on, we’d better get to class.”
As they walked through the doors, Iris lightly slapped his chest. “That isn’t funny. I’m not insane.”
Marsha passed, glaring at them.
There he was again holding her hand and walking her to class. It felt natural to him. He could do this. It was time to take the next step. Wade was tired of fighting his feelings. He wanted her badly, to the point it hurt.
“Just a minute,” Iris said and walked after Marsha. She called her name and Marsha turned around.
Wade trailed her.
Marsha crossed her arms and frowned at Iris. “What do you want?”
“Nice outfit,” she said, inspecting Marsha’s attire. “How do you stay so thin?”
Marsha gave a look at Wade before answering, “Discipline.”
“Must be. Anyway, I wanted to invite you to our party.” Iris removed a tarot card from the outside pocket of her backpack and handed it to Marsha.
Marsha gave the card a curious look. “No thank you.”
“Just take it,” Iris urged, stretching out the card. “You never know, you may just want to stop by.”
Marsha rolled her eyes. “If it will get you to leave me alone—” She grabbed the card. “Ouch. Use a Bounce sheet or something next time. You shocked me.” She strutted off in her high heels as if she was on a Paris runway.
Iris laced her arm around Wade. “So I read in the newsletter that the drug dogs are inspecting our lockers today.”
“I’d better hide my stash, then,” Wade joked. “Marsha’s having her own party. Why did you invite her to ours? She’ll suck the fun out of it.”
“It was a peace offering. You needn’t worry. She won’t come.”
They stopped in front of Iris’s classroom. He wondered if they should talk about the other night on the boat. She didn’t seem awkward about it. If she really was ready to take their relationship to the next level, he was game. Hell, he was more than game.
As if she was reading his mind, she leaned close to him. “You know, we could ditch and go to my house. No one’s home.”
Maybe they should. She had declared her love for him. And he knew how he felt about her. It was a natural next step. He’d imagined having sex with her many times. It was on a repeating loop playing in his dreams most nights.
His phone vibrated in his front pocket and he tugged it out. It was a text from Violet.
He looked up at Iris. “My dad. He’s back home.”
“That’s great.” She seemed disinterested as she watched the kids rushing to class. “So are we ditching?”
“No. I have a test. How about a rain check?” He slipped his phone back into his pocket. “I’ve got to get to my class. See you later.”
She pushed him against the lockers. “You sure?” She reached up and kissed him. Her hand ran along his thigh and heat rose in his pants. Her kiss deepened as her hand traveled around to his butt and she lightly squeezed it.
“Get a room,” a guy grunted as he hurried past them into Iris’s class.
“We’re going to get a PDA write-up.”
She pulled away from him. “I just wanted to show you what you’ll be missing.”
“Oh, I know what I’m missing. Trust me.”
“Well, I’ll be thinking of you.” She sauntered off and followed the guy into her room.
Wade’s Doc Martens thudded against the tiled floor as he sprinted down the hallway. He mentally kicked himself. It seemed like forces were in play, keeping Iris and him from going all the way. The frustration was building inside him. Most guys his age were getting it all the time from their girlfriends. Hell, Dena had more action with Violet than he had with Iris.
Violet was pacing behind the bleachers when Wade arrived. He hoped it didn’t have anything to do with Dena. After Violet found out that she was the one who took the pic, she had forgiven her. Carys hadn’t been as lucky. Violet wasn’t sure about Carys’s role in Marsha getting ahold of the photograph. Maybe this meeting had something to do with that.
At hearing his boots crunch against the gravel, she glanced at him. Her mascara was smudged under her eyes and red streaks marked her chest. Scratching her chest was a nervous habit she had.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I just left Daisy.” She started pacing again. “She ditched school and was home when my dad dropped me off to get my car.”
“Okay. Do you need me to talk to her?” He was getting dizzy watching her. “You could call your mom or Gram. They’d know what to do. When do they get back?”
“Mom will be home on Sunday. Gram another week. But they can’t help.” She stopped and looked over at him. “It’s about Iris. I need your help.”
“Sure. What’s going on?”
She took several steps and gave him a tight hug. “You’re going to think I’m crazy, but don’t say anything until I’m done.”
Everyone’s crazy lately or thinks they are, anyway.
Wade was starting to think that he was the only sane one these days. From Dena and the Bra-gate incident to Iris and her sudden sex drive and to all the strange things in between, some lunar phenomenon had to be causing it. Like an asteroid heading for Earth or something.