Shut Out

Had Je

“There’s nothing going on between—”

“Whatever you say,” she said, waving me away. But even before Je

“We’ll take care of it,” Cash said, coming up beside me. I felt heat rise in my cheeks, wondering how much of my conversation with Je

“We’ll see about that.” She grabbed her purse and, without a good-bye, walked out of the library.

And I was left alone with Cash.

But that wasn’t the end of it. After my shift was over I called Logan, who was already ru

He answered after four rings.

“Shit, Lissa, I forgot.”

“Hello to you, too, dearest brother.”

“Can you get another ride?” Logan asked.

“Why? Where are you?”

“I’ve got a date tonight,” he said. “I’m driving to meet her right now. I’m sorry, Lissa. I totally forgot it was a Thursday.”

“Are you kidding me?” I asked, hoping it was just a coincidence that Je

“Sorry, Lissa. Call someone to come get you,” he said. “I’ll make it up to you later. Gotta go. ’Bye.”

Click.

“Damn it,” I muttered, shoving my cell phone in the back pocket of my jeans.

“Hey,” Cash said, brushing past me (deliberately, I was sure) on his way to the exit. “Everything okay? Do you need a ride?”

I sighed, knowing I didn’t have much of a choice. “Yeah, I do. Do you mind?”

“Not at all.” He reached up and flipped the light switch by the door, plunging us into darkness. I gasped, startled by my sudden blindness, and Cash said, “Sorry. Should I turn it back on?”

“No, it’s fine,” I said. I was only a few yards from the door. I’d have to be a real klutz not to be able to successfully close that space in the dark.

I took a few fumbling steps toward Cash and the exit, but right before I made it to the door, my sandal snagged on a wrinkle in the rug, sending me stumbling forward. Naturally, I fell right into Cash’s arms. God, he was good. This was clearly arranged to make me crazy. Now that he was leading the boys’ side, distracting me would obviously be his goal. And he knew just how to do it, too.

“You okay?” he asked, his lips only a few inches above my left ear, sending a chill down my spine.

“You’re doing this on purpose!” I snapped. I don’t think I really meant to say it out loud, but as always, the words just seemed to spill out when I was around Cash.

“Doing what on purpose?”

Torturing me.

Teasing me.

Trying to trick me into ending the strike.

“Nothing,” I said stiffly, shrugging out of his arms and scrambling away. I found the door and pushed it open. “Lock up from the inside and go out the employee exit. I’ll meet you at your car.” I paused and cleared my throat before adding, “Um, please?”

“All right.” I could just make out the green of his eyes, and for a moment I considered moving back to him, letting his arms wrap around me again, and acting on a few impulses I could only excuse in the dark.

But I didn’t. Instead, I hurried out the door and went to wait in front of Cash’s car.

A few minutes later he walked out the side door and crossed the parking lot to meet me. He smiled as he unlocked the car and opened the passenger’s-side door for me. “Here you go,” he said.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, sliding in. This was all Logan’s fault, and Cash was just being a jerk, toying with me this way. I hated boys. All of them.

I was more determined than ever to lead the girls to victory over the rivalry and the guys who broke our hearts and messed with our heads. We had to win.

That night, after di

I hurried through the rest of my work without double-checking my answers the way I usually did—when was I going to use physics in real life, anyway? I wanted to major in English, not build roller coasters—and reached for the book. Cash had said there was a battle of the sexes involved. I needed to know which side won.

chapter twenty-­two

The third slumber party was held that Saturday night at Kelsey’s house. A few girls made excuses not to come because, well, they couldn’t stand Kelsey and didn’t want to be anywhere near her “fortress of evil.” But I managed to convince Chloe not to bail, and we headed over together at around eight.

By that point, I wasn’t getting nearly so anxious about the slumber parties. I’d gotten to know all the girls pretty well, and I was even getting used to the crowded bedrooms. That night, I was actually looking forward to the sleepover.

Turns out, Kelsey probably should have been throwing the slumber parties all along. Her place was huge. Especially her bedroom. It was as big as my living room and featured a giant wall-to-wall window looking out over her backyard, where there was an Olympic-size swimming pool and a swing set—the latter, I’m guessing, belonged to Kelsey’s little brothers.

“Rich bitch,” Chloe muttered when we walked into the room.

“Be nice,” I hissed. Part of me wanted to tell her what Kelsey had told me in my kitchen—that she only hated Chloe because she was jealous. But Kelsey wouldn’t want her to know that, so I kept my mouth shut. Maybe they’d be happier hating each other, anyway. It kept both of them from getting bored.

We took our places on a small love seat across from Kelsey’s bed. Kelsey had just run down to let in a few more girls, but we’d arrived a little early, so hardly anyone was there yet.

“Why does anyone need a bedroom this big?” Chloe asked. “Seriously.”

“I don’t know, but I’m not complaining. We won’t be so crammed in tonight. Please be nice, okay? I really don’t want her to kick you out, and you know she’ll be on the lookout for any excuse to do it.”

Chloe sighed dramatically. “Fine. I’ll be on my best behavior.”

“Thank you.”

Just then, Kelsey walked back into the room with Ellen, Susan, Mary, and a few of the soccer players’ girlfriends. “Take a seat wherever you’re comfortable,” Kelsey said. “Just don’t make a mess.”

“She treats us like we’re five,” Chloe growled.

“I do the same thing,” I reminded her in a whisper. “And you don’t complain.”

“Yeah, but I like you. That’s the difference.”

I nudged her foot with mine and she fell silent.

Ten minutes later the rest of the girls had arrived, and Kelsey was playing hostess, passing around a plate of mini-cupcakes and retrieving extra pillows for people to sit on. It was a side of her I’d never seen, and it amused me. I think Chloe was getting a kick out of it, too, because she kept glancing at me and giggling between cupcakes.

“So let’s get started,” Kelsey said after the cupcakes had been passed around. She sat on her bed and crossed her legs. “What’s on the agenda for tonight?”

“Dude, it’s a slumber party, not a student council meeting,” Chloe said.

“But we usually do have something pla

“That sounds so awkward when you say it out loud,” Ellen joked.

“We could tell fu

“Yeah, that could be fun.”

I nodded at the suggestions tossed out by a few of the girls. This time, though, I wouldn’t be sharing. Catching your boyfriend cheating on you at Homecoming isn’t that fu