"Hey!" Josh cries out, grabbing me in the hallway.
"Hey?" I turn to face him, eyebrows raised expectantly.
"That was so much fun."
"Yeah," I duck my head as my cheeks go red, "I haven't done that before."
"What?" He cries. "Maybe we'll have to do it again sometime." He says, and his voice is seductive and inviting. I bite my lip.
"No," I reply, pushing him backwards.
"why not?" He asks, pretending to be hurt.
"Because you're a jerk." I answer simply and he smirks, snaking and arm around my shoulder.
"So, that's not going to stop us right?" He says, his face buried in my hair as he whispers quietly into my ear. Then he turns as the bell rings and jogs away, leaving me stranded outside the Science classroom. My heart's hammering and I'm frozen in place. My ear tingles where his lips brushed against it. He is a jerk. An idiotic, sleazy, obnoxious, totally hot JERK. I frown and barge into the classroom and take my usual seat. The teacher hasn't arrived yet. I hear giggling and I watch as a cluster of girls glance my way then duck their heads, as if guilty they were caught looking at me. The bravest (and most annoying), Anna-Maria drags her chair over to me.
"OMG, you lucky thing! I don't care if he's a player, he can play me anyday!" She giggles. I raise my eyebrow and then start to fiddle with my pencil case to signal that I'm busy and that she should leave me alone. "Come on, don't hide it, if I were you I'd be bragging about it to everyone."
"About what?"
"Oh don't play dumb Maya, you know what I mean. You two were playing baseball." She says the last part wierdly as if it was supposed to mean something.
"Football actually." I add before she starts chatting away again.
"You know, second base, third base, home run?" she giggles really loudly now. My blood runs cold.
"What? No we didn't." I say adamantly. She's clearly not going to believe me, her lies and misconceptions are far juicier than the truth.
"How stupid do you think I am? I heard him out there. You want to DO IT again some time?" She tries to impersonate him. I cringe. But she's not done. "I've never done that before!" She mimicks me in a high pitched voice. "I didn't know you're a virgin Maya! well, not anymore I guess!" She adds laughing hysterically.
"NO WAY! It's not true, that didn't happen!" I cry, slamming my fist on the desk.
"Oh sure." She says sarcastically. "Just look at your hair! If you didn't want anyone to know you might want to have concealed the evidence so people like me wouldn't connect the dots."
"It didn't happen." I say in a low voice. "Me, Tam and some guys from the footy team just played some FOOTBALL out on the oval. That's why my hair is all messed up and why my uniform's covered in dirt!" I cry. then I look down and it hits me. My uniform's covered in dirt! I contemplate running to the bathrooms to clean up before Dr Hathaway shows up, but know I can't risk being late. "Seriously, me and Josh Martinez are less likey to touch skin than Sebastian Jones is to hook up with Hailey Beaumont!"
"Yeahhh, okay I guess I believe you. I mean, the cover story itself is a bit flimsy, but I'm going to take your word for it because it makes sense anyway. A hot bad boy like Josh wouldn't be even the s;ightest interested in a dork like you. You're a total prude, and teacher's pet and goody two shoes. He's after a girl who's exciting, sexy, confident and fun. You're boring, polite, intelligent and nerdy. No fun at all." She says matter of factly, sounding a bit like she's thinking aloud. "Sure, you have a great figure and a pretty face but it's totally wasted, you're personality is like hanging around you like boy repellent. the only people in this school that like you are George, Tam and the teachers." She says. It hurts, because everything she's saying is true. I am polite, and sensible and boring. I try not to let it get to me, I like being this way. I remind myself that out of all the people in the school I'm the most likely to be successful in life.
