No More Nice Girl

5. She's Back

Meredith

When I walked into school the next day, everyone seemed to be buzzing with excitement or anxiety, I couldn't tell. As I walked down the halls I had some people look at me blankly, and some give me thumbs up. I sat down in AP Bio right at bell, and then the lecture started. Halfway through, a folded up piece of paper landed on my desk, and I sneakily unfolded it while keeping my eyes on the PowerPoint.

Marcus lost his position as captain. Lucy is back from her "flu". Meet me after school at your locker. - J.

I couldn't believe it; Marcus had lost his position as captain? I knew that they would bring him in, but I didn't know that they'd have evidence against him. I'll have to ask Jason where Coach B got the name of the kid peeing in Marcus' drug cup. When the bell rang, I stay behind to talk to Ms. Aliano about the research program over the summer.

"Yeah I definitely think you'd be a great candidate for it. What do you need from me?" She asks.

"I just need a letter of recommendation." I say, smiling at her. "And a pass to second." Ms. Aliano and writes a pass for me. I thank her and walk out of her class towards the gym, where I had to coach some freshman. I turned down the dim hallway, there were no windows there, the lighting was horrific, and dark brick surrounded me as my steps reverberated down the hall. When I got to the gym filled with freshman, I pushed open the door and they all fell silent as I walked in front them.

"Get in line, guys." I say to them, and they scramble to form a single file line of uniformed young girls all hoping for a spot on the freshman squad. "Right," I say, my ponytail swinging as I tilt my head. "You all should have learned the routine for today. Let's see how well you do." I press the play button on my phone which was rigged up to the gym speakers and had the girls do their whole routine for me, from start to end. A girl who fell trying to land a roundhouse didn't make the cut, and another who couldn't form a pyramid wouldn't make it either, but other than that I thought everyone was good, and I put that into my note for Coach. The decision wasn't up to me in the end anyways. The bell rings and we all move out of the gym, the freshman girls chatting excitedly to each other. I walk down the creepy hallway alone, my headphones blasting music into my ears as I pass familiar faces, waving at people when I want to and smiling at others. Marcus sits at a table I pass in the commons area, and his eyes follow me as I walk past him. I noticed that Lucy was wearing the jacket I tossed into the box of his shit. The rest of the day passed normally and when the bell rang I jet out of seventh period and head straight for my locker where Jason was already waiting for me.

"Hello, princess." He smirks and I roll my eyes.

"What, did you skip seventh period or something?" I say to him, rolling my eyes as I put in my locker combination.

"Oh, don't be so cold." He says dramatically, his hand over his heart. His eyes are flirty as he smiles at me.

"What did you want to talk about, Jason?" I ask, closing the door to my locker. I jump when Marcus's face appears in front of me as the door swings closed.

"Hello, sweetheart." He leers, and I sigh.

"Can I not have one day where you don't make me sick to my stomach, Marcus?" I spit at him, and he chuckles.

"I can make you sick many ways," he winks.

"Yeah, after seeing what you did for Lucy, count me out." My voice is edgy and tense as I wordlessly dare him to mess with me again.

"Forget him, babe." Jason says from behind me, wrapping his arm around my waist. Marcus's face tightens and he flexes his fingers.

"Someone moved on fast." Marcus says, glaring at Jason. "Or you didn't, and you want to make me jealous."

"Oh grow up, Marc." I say, "We're eighteen, not eight. And at least I waited till I was single to move on, and I didn't sleep with my boyfriend's best friend."

"We all know you weren't sleeping with anyone." Marcus says, and my cheeks redden.

"Oh, yeah. It's my fault you decided to put your dick somewhere it shouldn't have been!" We were starting to attract a crowd now, and they were all whispering to each other.

"Well the place it should've been wasn't willing enough!" He says venomously and my cheeks go even redder.

"Wow I didn't know you couldn't control your own hand." I cross my arms, and a collective ooh comes from the crowd around us.

"You're playing with fire here, Mer." Marcus says.

"Sorry for pissing on your parade, Marcus." I say, landing the last blow to his ego. I turn to Jason. "Let's go." We walk away from Marcus and towards the senior lot, making sure that people can see our linked hands.

"That was fucking ballsy, Duvall." Jason says, and I smirk.

"Thanks." I say. We get to my car and he leans against the driver side door for a few minutes. "What are you doing?"

"What, no kiss bye-bye?" Jason chuckles, and I roll my eyes.

"Haha, no." I say, and reach around him for the handle of my car door. He doesn't budge.

"Even closer," Jason hums deeply, his eyes burning into mine. I glare at him but he just smirks, the corners of his lips lifting arrogantly. He's not unattractive, he's pretty handsome. His jet-black hair contrasts sharply with his hazel eyes, the slopes of his cheekbones are high and his mouth is full. He catches me staring at his mouth and he chuckles. "People are watching, you might as well give them what they want." I chuckle at him.

"If you don't move out of my way, Illane, I swear to God that I will knee you in the balls." I smile sweetly at him, and he tosses his head back laughing. He slides away from the door and I open it and throw my backpack onto the passenger seat. He doesn't walk far away though, he parked his motorcycle only feet from my car. Jason pulls the helmet from the handle of his bike and settles onto the leather seat.

"Shit," I breathe, in awe of his motorcycle. I walk over to the sleek black bike, I run my hands along the length of it as my eyes widen with wonder. "This is the Augusta F4CC, right?" Jason nods at me arrogantly.

"You know your stuff, princess." He straddles the seat of his bike and leans against the handle bars.

"I may have picked up a thing or two listening to my dad talk about his work." I smirk, and he smiles brightly at me. God, that is a killer smile. What have I gotten myself into?

"Intuitive." He nods at me in acknowledgement, and in one swift motion he pulls me by the wrist and onto his lap. "Care for a ride?" My hand was on his chest to steady myself as I teetered to keep my balance. His voice was full of mirth and I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks, but no thanks." I sigh, and get off of his lap. Jason's hand grabs mine as I pull away His eyes dart to the side quickly and out of the corner of my eye I see Marcus and Lucy standing side by side. Marcus looked annoyed as Lucy clung to him like a child would to their mother. Seeing how dependent she was on him made me sick: whoever she was, she wasn't the girl who used to be my best friend. I turn back to Jason, and I smile at him.

"Well since they're bothering to stare." I say, and move closer to Jason until there is little space between our noses. I look him in the eyes and smirk before I kiss him. This wasn't like the kiss at the party, it was smooth and soft and sweet; but it was also empty. I felt nothing when I kissed him except for the thrill that came from kissing someone. I pull away from him to see him looking just as satisfied as I was. I turn on my heel and walk back to my car, waving at Jason over my shoulder and smirking at Marcus.