Hate Me

“Your dad?” I tease.

She gets her phone out of her locker and hands me an earbud. We each put one in our ear.

I hear Damian being interviewed on a radio show.

He answers a few questions about the band.

His famous dad.

Then:

 “We hear you’ve been doing a lot of writing lately. How do you find your inspiration?”

“Well, there's this girl I met recently, and she fills my heart with music.”

“So, tell us about this girl. She must be pretty special.”

“Oh, no, Ryan. I’m keeping her all to myself.”

“Would you like to give her a shout-out, then?”

“Yeah, she’d love that. Pepper, you inspire me, baby. I love you.”

Peyton’s eyes are glistening with tears but she has the kind of beaming smile her brother gets when he’s really happy.

“This is crazy,” she says. “And the fact that he wants to keep it a secret is crazy too.”

“He’s just trying to protect you.”

“Oh, I know. And I’m happy about that. At first, my head kept telling me that guys only want to keep relationships a secret when they have other girlfriends or aren’t really that into you. But when I listen to my heart, I know it’s in my best interest. His life is getting more and more crazy as their songs keep climbing up the charts. They have two songs on the Billboard Top 100 this week.”

“I know. I’m so proud of him. I think once you get out of high school and go to California then you can go public with it.”

“I’m thinking about doing something crazy.”

“Like what?”

“Transferring out there to finish school. I only need one more class to graduate.”

“What does Damian think about that?”

“He thinks I should finish here,” she says with a pout.

“Well, having a diploma from Eastbrooke is more impressive than getting a GED. And Damian didn’t get to go through a senior year or graduate. I’m sure he doesn’t want you to miss out on all that.”

“He can’t come to Winter Formal with me, but he did promise to come to Prom.”

“When is Prom?”

“Late April.”

I close my eyes for a second to block out the vision I just had of Aiden taking someone else to Prom.

“So, I’m assuming you’re Pepper?”

“Yeah.”

“Why Pepper?”

“You know when we went to town and shopped? There was a store that had all these ceramic figurines, but when you picked them up they split apart—they were salt and pepper shakers. Damian joked that it looked like salt and pepper were having sex. Then he said, I’m salt and you’re pepper and pushed them back together. He was being silly. But then after we did it, he laughed and started calling me Pepper.”

“That’s cute. Do you call him Salt?”

“No,” she says, blushing.

“You’re blushing. What do you call him?”

She rolls her eyes and smiles. “It’s silly, but when we had sex, it was so unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It was hot perfection. And so different than it’s been with anyone else. When you do it with someone you’re in love with you have both the emotional and physical co

“Oh my gosh. What is it with guys and their penises? You’d swear it was bigger than them.”

“They are pretty proud of them!” she laughs.

“He said he loves you.”

“He told me that before we left the island.”

“Didn’t that seem a little soon?”

“Not really, considering that we’re getting married in a few weeks.”

My eyes get huge. “You're what?!”

She laughs out loud. “Ha. Gotcha!”

“Ohmigawd. You about gave me a heart attack.”

“What's wrong? You don't want me to marry him?”

“I’m fine with you marrying him. Just not yet.”

Not until I’ve dealt with Vincent.

I’d die if something happened to either Damian or Peyton because of me.

The secret party. 

10pm

Same routine as last night.

Katie and I immediately drop onto our beds, exhausted.

“Hey, did you get texted the name of your dorm Secret Santa?” she asks, looking up from her phone.

“Let me look.” I check my phone. “I did. I know it’s supposed to be a secret, but who did you get?”

“I got Sabrina.”

“Cool. I got Molly.”

“When we get a break, we’ll have to go buy candy and stuff for them while we’re in New York.”

“Yeah. So, we need something for every day next week and then we give them their bigger gift at Winter Formal, right?”

She nods. “Don’t you think that will be fun?”

“I think it will be very—”

She interrupts me. “Did you get the text about a secret party tonight?”

I scroll to a text from Dallas.

Dallas:  Stockton’s. 12:30. We’re going to party and say screw this secret Santa bullshit. Like any of us guys want to hide candy for other dudes. We’re doing Naughty Santas. Drawing’s tonight.

I look up at Katie. “Yeah, I did. That sounds fun, huh?”

“Naughty Santa sounds like something the guys thought up.”

I laugh with her. “It does.”

We take quick showers, set our alarms, and get a little sleep.

At 12:30, we go to the meet-up place Katie’s message indicated. Aiden greets me with a kiss, then throws pillowcases over most people’s heads and leads them to the party room.

Once they all get over the shock of the room and do shots, Riley and Dallas share the Naughty Secret Santa rules.

“So, the rules are: you will draw a member of the opposite sex. You will buy them fun, sexy, smutty gifts that they would be ashamed to show their mothers. One gift a day. Sometime during Winter Formal, you will give your last gift in person and reveal who you are,” Dallas explains.

“And you’re not to tell anyone who you get,” Riley emphasizes. “We want it to be a complete surprise.”

“All right. I’m writing down the girls’ names,” Dallas says. “We’ve got Maggie, Keatyn, A

He takes it around the room, letting the guys draw.

Then they do the same with the boys.

I smile when I draw Riley. He’ll be fun to shop for.

Dallas hands out shots then says seriously, “Memorize your names. Down your shots. Put the names back into the hat.”

We all sit on the beanbags, smoke a little, and I ask Aiden to tell me more about his game. He texted me some, but was busy studying for French.

“They were a really good team. Won state last year. But I don’t want to talk about that. I think you owe me a whole bunch of dances.”

He pops his phone into a speaker, hits a dance mix, pulls me close, and grinds against me.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7TH

Eager to sell.

9am

The dance team is up early once again, only this time we’re taking the train into the city for our competition.

I check my email, finding a message from Grandpa.

-All is well. We have representatives meeting with two of the investors this week. Both seem eager to sell. 

I write back:

-That’s so awesome! I hope they do! Thank you, Grandpa. You’re amazing!

Then I email Tommy, giving him the idea that I’ve been kicking around for his proposal.

He replies immediately.

-That’s perfect. She’ll love it! Love having the girls involved. Hey, any chance you could do a screen test this Friday in NYC at 2:30?