Shamelessy Bad

6. Rumor Has It

About a week goes by and as it goes by, Carl and I establish a routine. We walk to school every morning, go to our classes, (Well, I go to mine. I don't know what he's doing during his and I don't care to.) and then we walk home together. Sometimes he stays for dinner, other times we part ways at my house and I won't see him until the next morning. I haven't met any of his family, yet. I've seen Debbie around when we walk to school and around the halls, but we've never spoken or anything.

Today starts as any other day, but something seems off. I can't quite put my finger on it. Carl seems fidgety. He refuses to look me in the eye and says little to nothing when I try to spark up conversation as we walk. At first, I don't think anything of it until I'm walking from one class to the next and a tall guy stops me. He seems friendly at first, he's smiling and cheery when he speaks to me.

"Hi, are you Cassie?" He asks. We walk over to the side of the hall and stand by the wall.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" I can't help but smile back. His smile is contagious.

"I thought so. Dang, you're as beautiful as he said."

He pushes my hair behind my left ear and slowly moves his hand down to my shoulder, to my arm, and then around the small of my back. I try to take a step back. Suddenly, the friendly glimmer that was once in his eyes is now a hungry gleam. His sweet smile, now a nasty smirk.

"Must not take much if you gave him a shot. How 'bout I get a ride?"

He pulls me into him, something brushing my leg. I tell myself not to panic but to remain calm. I give him a sweet smile right before grabbing his wrist and twisting it behind his back. It causes him to face plant into the wall. I lean in real close to his ear.

"Now, either you tell me who told you that insane rumor, or so help me, your arm won't be the only thing that gets twisted into unfathomable positions." Beads of sweat begin to appear on his forehead as panic sets in. He begs me to let go of his arm as I'm hurting him. He promises to confess his source.

"Carl Gallagher told me you slept with him. I thought that if you were willing to screw him, then it wouldn't take anything to get you in bed with me. My mistake." He says rubbing his wrist where I was holding onto it.

"Where can I find him?" I ask, smoothing out my skirt and then my hair.

He points to a group of kids outside, one of them being Carl. I thank him, grab my bag back up, and then make my way to him. He greets me with a smile as usual. I throw on a faux happy face as I pull him to the side.

"I've been thinking, and I'm ready. Is anyone going to be home today after school?" I give him doe eyes as I look up at him and bite my lip. His eyes grow wide as does his smile.

"Yeah, I-I mean no. The house'll be empty. Are you sure? What's changed? You were such a prude this morning." I step in closer.

"I realized that I just can't stay away from you any longer. I want you now." I whisper to him.

I see his knees begin to quiver. I'm pretty sure if he could, he would throw me over his shoulder and run home to throw me on his bed. I turn around and start to walk off when there's a sudden stinging sensation on the right side of my rear. I look back at Carl to see a playful smirk on his face. My first instinct is to smack the taste out of his mouth, but I snap myself back into character.

"Save that for later," I say giving him a wink before disappearing back into the corridors and into my last class of the day.

I'm so focused on my class and making sure my notes are perfect that I almost forget my plan for after school. I would have completely forgotten if it weren't for Carl giving me suggestive hand signals throughout the class. It's revolting, actually. As soon as the bell rings for us to go home, Carl glues himself to my side. His pace is rushed and eager, but he sticks with me the whole way. I know he wants to go faster, but I purposely walk slow. By the time we've gotten inside, he's lost his patience and thrown me over his shoulder. He races upstairs and throws me on the bed. He at first goes for his belt buckle but then stops.

"How do you wanna do this?" He asks with his hands out and palms facing up.

I stand up and in front of him, putting my arms around his neck. He rests his hands on my lower back.

"Why don't you let me take control?" I ask as we turn slowly.

His back is now towards the bed instead of away from it. I bring my hands down to his chest, never breaking eye contact. That sweet smirk doesn't leave his face. I can see the excitement in his eyes and almost feel bad until I remember the reason I'm doing this. I forcefully push on his chest, sending him onto the bed. Then I straddle his waist and grab both wrists and pinning them to the mattress. I do my best to ignore any developing 'movement' from him. I lean in towards his ear and speak in a low whisper.

" There's just one thing." I make sure to make it almost a moan.

"Anything you want." He groans in a breathy manner.

His hands are on my butt, making my skin crawl. I lift up on his wrists and then slam them back down on the bed.

"Why did you tell people that we did things? What on Earth made you think that you could lie like that?" I scream, looking him dead in the eye. His eyes go from lust to fright.

"Wait, wait. I can explain." He says.

"You have a minute. Talk fast." I tell him. There's a fire in my chest that burns hotter than the sun from my fury.

"I did it to protect you." He yells. I sit up, releasing his wrists and stay straddling him.

"What do you mean you were protecting me? How is that protecting me? All you did was ruin my name. Now everyone's going to think I'm some kind of Jezebel." I ramble. He rests himself on his elbows and forearms on the bed.

"Some guys were talking in the locker room. They were saying really nasty things about you. Like things they wanted to do to you. It was disgusting and that's coming from me." He explains. "So I told them I had already slept with you so they'd back off. Here, if a dude's already got a girl and he makes it obvious, then the others will back off. I didn't want you to get hurt. They would've pumped and dumped you." He lowers his head. "I'm sorry."