Kiss List (Book I of the List Series)

Chapter 24 - Shattered Heart

I called Payton as soon as we got back to the car."Do the words 'high tower' mean anything to you?" I asked her urgently. "Maybe a really tall guy or something?"

"Enough," Payton said. "Girl, I can tell that you're in trouble. Fess up. What's going on?"

I sighed and then told her that Missy had kidnapped Sam and David. "But we can't contact the school or the authorities or anything," I finished. "Missy has blackmail material on Sam and me."

There was silence on the other end of the line. Then Payton said, "High Tower is what people from Churchill call one of their parks. It's by a tall water tower. I know about it because one time the cheer girls defaced it by spray painting 'sucks' after the word 'Churchill.' Missy was there at the time."

"Great, thanks Payton," I said. "I'm heading there now."

"No you're not," Payton said in a stern voice. I had never heard her sound so serious before.

"Excuse me?"

"You are not going to bring Sam with you to see whatever embarrassing thing the Churchill jerk wrestlers did to David. David's been humiliated enough. I'm going to go to the park now to make sure David's okay. You drop Sam off at his house and then you can come and meet me."

I drove Sam home and continued on to the park as fast as I could, hoping that Officer Coleman and his colleagues were not out patrolling the streets. Still, it was nearly 9 PM by the time I reached High Tower Park.

I saw Payton's car in the parking lot and parked beside it. I ran out towards the playground, not sure where I might find David. Then I thought I heard something. I froze and took slow breaths to try to quiet my breathing so I could figure out where the sound was coming from.

Someone was talking. I could hear it distinctly now. I rushed towards the sound of the voice. It was coming from the other side of the playground. I ran up a long wooden ramp on the playground. Bad idea. I sound found myself weaving around all sorts of corners and obstacles.

I lost track of where the sound was coming from. I stopped again and listened. Now I could distinctly make out two people talking. I walked over the playground quietly so I wouldn't lose the sound of their voices. Why were they speaking so softly?

Then I had them. I could see the dark shapes of two bodies outlined behind the slats of wood of one of the playground walls. I was about to call out to them when I heard my name.

"Do you like Sadie?" Payton asked in a low voice.

"I did," David replied morosely. "I mean, she's like the perfect girl. She's smart, beautiful, athletic, and funny. I figured, what's not to like? I never thought she'd go for a guy like me. I'm not good with girls at all. I'm just too shy and stupid around them. When she seemed to like me I felt like the luckiest guy alive, you know? I thought that maybe this is how it happened; love just fell into place like that. But then she told me about the stupid kiss list and I realized she didn't really like me at all. She just needed to check me off the list. I was only a stupid dare. And you know what the worst part is? There was a moment in the gym when I forgot about it and just remembered how much I liked her. Now look what happened to me. I swear every time I get near that girl something terrible hits me. So no, I guess I don't like her anymore."

My heart felt like it was breaking. I could hear the pain in David's voice and realized that I had caused it. The air seemed to have been sucked from my lungs. My eyes stung and watered.

"You can't put that all on her," Payton said. "We put your name on the kiss list. That was our fault. But she really does like you. She's told us all, she thinks you are really cute and a great guy. I'm serious."

"That's nice of you to say," David said sadly, "but even if it were true, what difference would it make? She's dating Dylan and if she wasn't I wouldn't be interested. She keeps getting me hurt. I don't think I could survive spending much more time around her. I don't know how some guys do it. They just seem so smooth and confident with girls. Maybe I'm doomed to spend the rest of my life alone."

"Are you kidding?" Payton asked. "David, you're only 17 and you're one of the hottest guys in our school. You just need to believe that and get some confidence. Hell, a lot of girls are way more intimidated by you than you are of them. Do you know how scared a girl can feel when she's around a great guy like you? Trust me, a lot of girls in this school are dying for you to make a move on them."

"Really?" David said doubtfully. "And if they saw me now would they still be wishing that? I'm handcuffed to a pole and covered in obscene writing. Thanks to my friends from Churchill, I got to enjoy a two-hour wedgie before you got here. Do you know how embarrassing that is? They even put duct tape across my mouth so I couldn't call for help. How many girls do you know are dying to go out with me now? After those pictures come out, what girl is going consider me boyfriend material?"

I retreated several steps and quietly walked to a bench on the playground. I suddenly wasn't ready to face David and Payton. David's words hurt me deeply. I had screwed up. Badly. And now people like David had suffered enough and didn't want anything to do with me.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I took it out and looked at the screen. It was a text from Dylan.

"Missy sent me pics. We're done. I dont even want to talk about it. Im moving on."

The fragile pieces of what was left of my heart disintegrated into nothingness. So Missy had betrayed me. Of course. I wasn't surprised. The girl was rotten to her core. I couldn't even blame her. I was the one who had messed up over and over and over again. Perhaps she had even done me a favor. I wanted the best for Dylan and he was better off without me.

Tears rolled down my cheeks. It was the first time all day that I had stopped to think. Perhaps I had been running from my own conscience up until this moment. It suddenly seemed like too much to deal with. I had always thought of myself as a nice girl with a bright future. Somehow I had let that get all screwed up. I kept on hurting people like David and Dylan. Why? Because I had thrown myself into the world of boys. Other girls like Missy had become jealous and acted out against me. That, in turn, had caused me to retaliate against them. I had gotten locked into a downward spiral of anger and revenge. So what was left for me? More retaliation against Missy? What would that accomplish?

I didn't have answers to my own questions. All I knew was that I couldn't go back. It was impossible to rewind history. I could, however, try to fix my mistakes going forward. That meant starting with David. If he was feeling emasculated, well, at least I knew a cure for that. The dark path I had unwittingly been walking down had taught me a few useful things.

I steeled myself and marched around the playground to where David and Payton were. David had all sorts of drawings on his body. His singlet was still rolled down to his waist. Payton was standing in front of him trying to wipe off the writing with a towel.

When they saw me David's jaw tightened. Payton sighed in relief. "Thank goodness you are here," she said. "Now we can get him free. The Churchill wrestlers had another key and they handcuffed him to this pole. There was no way I could... hey, what are you doing with..."

As Payton spoke I grabbed a discarded piece of duct tape. I walked right up to David and put it across his mouth. He stared at me in shock.

"What are you doing?" Payton screeched in horror. "You're putting the duct tape back on? Have you gone insane?"

David's eyes were bulging out of his head. He certainly believed I had.

"Just relax," I said, trying to sounds upbeat and confident despite that fact that it felt like my life was falling apart. "We'll let him go eventually. I've got a little plan we need to set into motion first. Payton, we're inviting the soccer girls over to have a bit of fun."