Chapter 37
He nodded at my words. His dark eyebrows furrowed in thought. Dark and brooding... the classic combination for a mysterious guy. Then he backed off.
He stopped leaning against my locker and stepped into the middle of the foot traffic. Students immediately got out of his way or slowed down to watch what Zenon Albert was doing. He was purposefully attracting attention.
"I enjoyed you last night."
A girl behind me dropped her books. Someone else audibly gasped. People all but stopped and stared.
"What?" I gasped. He just announced to the school that we had sex.
And coming from his mouth...
My heart dropped from my chest to my stomach.
His soft, pink lips curled into a knowing smile. "A little less foreplay next time or I won't be able to last as long."
TMI even for a lie. He's insane.
"Forget the therapy clinic. You need to see a psychiatrist," I said.
My face turned beetroot red from blushing. I wanted to murder him. I was so embarrassed. What was he doing?
He teased me, "Who's embarrassed of who now?"
That mother fu....
He walked away, knowing that he won. "Dare me again, Candy."
OK. He proved his point. He likes to play games, but I already knew that. And he doesn't give a fck about his reputation. Why does that make him hotter?
I ran away from my locker before the rumors enveloped me. I expected to be notorious by lunch time. Sleeping with Zenon Albert.... the story definitely made its rounds. It even reached our Comp Gov teacher.
Everyone was talking about Zenon's sexual declaration and he didn't avoid it. He didn't deny it. And the best part was, that no one knew it was me.
Fortunately, no one knew my name. I really was invisible. He had called me Candy, so everyone thought that the girl he'd been talking to was an innocent freshman named Candy Turnstead. She received the brunt of the gossip.
She was confused, poor thing.
So was I. My feelings were a tangled mess of spaghetti.
School could not have ended sooner. I made my getaway in my beat up car and drove home as quickly as possible. I wanted to hide.
Zenon and I arrived to our homes within a few minutes of each other. We got out of our cars at the same time. Our houses were opposite each other and, now that he knew who I was, he paid attention.
"You put on a real show today, asshole," I called out from across the street.
Today consisted of me being terrified that I would be identified as the junior Zenon banged. Everywhere I went, people were talking about it.
He slammed his door shut and shot me his charming smirk, "I was proving a point."
"Well you failed at making me less annoyed with you."
"You enjoyed it."
"I did not. You lied and said we had sex in front of the whole school!"
The grandma from the house next door was crossing the street. She looked horrified. I apologized.
"Then tell me this, Candace Turner," Zenon answered smoothly. "If you didn't like it, why didn't you deny it?"
I think there's some sexual tension between Zenon and me. Am I crazy to say that?
Why else would I feel like I'm electrocuted every time he touches me?
Why else would we joke about having sex?
Why else would we find excuses to hang out?
I tried to get Zenon out of my head. It wasn't productive. I had classes to attend, my part-time job at the clothing store and...
That's it.
I didn't have much else going on to be honest.
"What's your name?" the barista asked me.
There I was, in the Coffee Bean by the mall, at the front of the line. Matt stood opposite the counter with his brown apron, a name tag and the ever-powerful sharpie.
I folded my arms across my chest. "Seriously? I come here almost every day Matt. You go to my school. We swapped lockers in middle school."
Not to mention, you're dating my sister.
He looked at me funny. "Do you think we're friends or something?"
I glared, "Sure. Put that on my drink: Deluded."
He shrugged, and did.
So I took my 'deluded' caramel macchiato and walked across the parking lot to my car.
Just another Monday.
"Hey boo," Julia greeted me by my locker, "Sorry I wasn't able to hang. The girls and I are so busy with back to school rituals."
She makes it sound like she's been a part of their gang all year.
"No worries. I'm sure it's been fun," I said, happy for her.
"It is. I promise I'll join you on the couch soon. You've probably been through a lot of TV shows, huh?"
"Less than you'd think," I answered truthfully, swinging my backpack onto my shoulder.
Life with Zenon has kept things... interesting.
"Well we should def catch up. I can't believe I haven't asked you about summer yet. Are you still down to tutor me in calc?"
"Of course. Let me know whenever you're free," I smiled at her as the bell rang.
I was excited that Julia wanted to hang out. I missed my friend to be honest. She was trying so hard to be a part of the LUCKY group. It seemed like a full-time commitment.
But at least I was keeping busy... well, Zenon was keeping me busy. I was slowly working off the cost of his laptop, one painful annoying request at a time.
I was also about to start my after-school job at Lola Rae, a boutique women's clothing store. I went over there at lunch time to get a training session in. The store assistant wanted to show me how to use the cash register before I started work.
Julia texted me: The girls didn't invite me to lunch today. Where on the bleachers are you?
I quickly texted back, Sorry I'm not at school.
I didn't mean to sound mysterious, but I was already late to my first appointment so I hustled to get there in time. The boutique was small and filled with gorgeous, stylish outfits.
The store assistant showed me the security cameras and said that if I had any on-the-job questions, there was a white landline phone I could use. She talked me through punctuality, closing shop and the returns policy. Then she spent the rest of the time showing me how to log inventory and use the cash register.
I was so late to my next class.
I ran into Comp Gov 20 minutes after it started, desperately apologizing for being late. Mr Laghari saw my exasperated expression and gave me a pass. I walked to my chair, feeling a certain pair of blue eyes on me.
I stayed quiet through class until the bell rang and then I stayed behind to write our homework down. When I turned around, Zenon was surrounded by other basketball players and they walked off to practice.
We live in different worlds.