Stalk Me

I pour three more shots. “I’m not sure if I’m even going to be sitting there next year.”

“Are you moving?” Mandy asks.

I clink their glasses and toss back my shot.

And wonder why the hell I just said that.

The girls freshen up in RiA

I think the sports talk must have worked.

She looks pretty in her red dress. With her dark hair, she always looks great in bright colors.

“Love your dress,” she sneers at me. “Very virginal.”

I am so done with her nasty comments, and I’m not putting up with them anymore.

“That’s enough, okay. I know what happened with you and Cush, and I know what happened with me and Cush. While I may look virginal, I can assure you that I’m not,” I lie.

I so lie.

Her face maintains its perfect shape, but I can tell she’s pissed at me. The corners of her eyes have widened, and she’s tapping her foot. She starts to open her mouth, which I know will spew more nastiness.

I’m not even going to let her get started.

“This party is kinda boring,” I whisper to her. Then I say much louder with my happy, breezy voice, “So Cush and I are heading out. We have another party to go to but wanted to at least make an appearance. Thanks for inviting us.”

Her mouth falls open in disbelief. I’ve never seen her look so surprised. She is an expert at always looking calm and collected no matter what feelings are roiling beneath the surface.

I walk away, leaving her standing alone with her mouth wide open.

“Let’s go,” I say to Cush, grabbing his hand.

I don’t know why I’m lying about another party. There is no other party. But I’m so pissed at Vanessa, I can barely see straight. Everyone will hear that we only came to this party out of obligation. Now we’re leaving to go have some real fun.

If Cush is surprised by what I just said, he doesn’t show it. He wraps his arm around me, pulls me into a kiss—um, well it’s more than a kiss. It’s sort of a mini make-out. The kind of kiss where everyone can totally tell that tongues are involved.

The kind of kiss that makes my knees feel weak.

And the kind of kiss I should pull away from and slap him across the face for. But I can’t. Since I just lied to Vanessa, I have to go along with it.

“Your wish is my command,” he says sweetly. Then he turns to Alex. “You and the rest of the soccer team should head out too. We’ve got to be on the bus at seven-thirty.”

Ohmigosh! He’s brilliant! Not only are we leaving, we’re taking Vanessa’s prized stallion and all the soccer guys out the door with us.

She’s going to be beyond pissed at me, but when Cush flashes me his dimples, I decide I really don’t care.

We head out of the party, saying good night to people along the way.

“You’re leaving already?” Ellie says. I’m shocked Ellie got invited. We have math class together, and she’s always talking shit about Vanessa. She also loves to gossip.

“We have another party to go to,” I whisper to her in supposed confidence, totally knowing she will spread it like wildfire the second we’re out the door. “We wanted to at least make an appearance. You know how it is. See you at school.”

We stop to thank RiA

“I can’t believe we just did that,” Cush says the second the massive iron doors shut behind us. “Why did we just do that?”

I give Cush big eyes. Eyes that say, I don’t want to talk about it right now. “See you later, Alex,” I say.

“Get some sleep, boys, and be ready to tear it up on the pitch tomorrow,” Cush says to the six other soccer players behind Alex.

Once we pull out of Vanessa’s neighborhood, I turn to Cush. “I can’t believe we just did that either. I wasn’t pla

“What’d she say?”

“She said, I love your dress. Very virginal.”

“I take it that pissed you off?”

“Yeah, but I’m even more pissed at myself. I lied. Twice. Then I did something bitchy. I said something she would’ve said. I’m just as bad as she is.”

“What did you lie about?”

I hang my head. I can’t even look at him. “You,” I mutter.

“What did you say?”

“I’m sorry, really. It was like something inside me snapped. I said, That’s enough. I told her I knew what really happened between you two. Then I said, While I may look virginal, I can assure you that I’m not. I whispered to her that the party was boring. Then you heard the other part.

“I’m pretty sure everyone heard the other part. So what did you whisper to Ellie?”

“I lied again, because I was mad. I told her the same thing I told Vanessa. That we had another party we had to go to, but that we wanted to at least make an appearance. Everyone knows you save the best parties for last. Ellie is a big blabbermouth. She’s going to tell everyone that we’re going to a better party. A party Vanessa wasn’t invited to.”

Cush whistles. “Ohhhh, she is go

“No, she’s go

He reaches over and squeezes my hand. “You’re not like her. You might have lied about what we did, but you aren’t using it against me. And I don’t care why you kissed me back; it was hot. So are we really going to another party? I am all dressed up, and it’s not even ten.”

“I lied about that too, but Mom and Tommy were going to a party tonight.” I grab my cell and call my mom.

“Hey, honey.”

“So, I’m all dressed up, have a hot date, and nowhere to go. Tell me you are at a fabulous party that we can crash.”

“We are. I’ll put your name in at the door and text you the address. We’re about ten houses farther down the beach.”

“Awesome.”

My phone vibrates. It’s Brooklyn.

B:  Hey, change of plans. The guys and I decided to head out early. 

Me:  You left me?

B:  Didn’t really think it was a big deal. You know us, we’re not big pla