Kiss List (Book I of the List Series)

Chapter 32 - Outsmarted

I needed a break from the kiss list after Ryan. I wanted some time to recover from the emotional strain caused by boys like Nate, Aaron, Ryan, and even Doug. I needed some girl time. I also wanted Alyssa's plan to come to fruition before I was forced to kiss any other boy. As the weeks passed, however, Aaron made no move on me. He seemed more distracted than usual and even though he would smile and say hi in the hallway his mind seemed elsewhere.

Finally, Payton ran out of patience. "You need to move on," she said one day at the lunch table, "and so do I. It's time to cross Jamal's name off the list."

"I've never understood why you added him in the first place," I said. "Out of all of us, you are by far the most direct. If you like him then why don't you just go and kiss him yourself?"

Payton rolled her eyes. "Just because I'm cooler and less of a girly-girl than you biotches doesn't mean I can simply walk up to and kiss my secret crush. You're going to do that for me so I can see how well it works first."

I sighed. "Alright. What's the plan of attack on this one?"

"I was very serious," Payton said. "I think you should just walk up to him, plant a kiss on his gorgeous lips, and see what happens."

Olivia started laughing. Sure, it was easy for her to laugh; she had already landed her boy. Knowing about Ryan's vulnerable and sensitive side seemed to have given her the confidence she needed to ask him out. They were now dating. She could afford to sit back and enjoy my discomfort.

"Never gonna happen," I said. I couldn't just walk up to a boy and kiss him without any sort of ice breaker. Maybe some girls could pull that off but I didn't have that sort of courage when it came to boys.

"Listen," Payton said. "Jamal is direct and he's also a ladies' man. If you combine directness with a girl he's bound to love it. Just walk up to him, kiss him, snap a photo, and leave. If it works, I'll know how to handle him in the future. If it doesn't, I'll come up with a new strategy."

I groaned. This kiss was going to be a painful one to collect. Why couldn't the girls just line the boys up for me so I could kiss them all at once and be done with it? Chasing boys was taking a toll on my mental health.

Jamal was friends with Graham which meant he hung around the guys in Graham's football posse. I couldn't stand the thought of making another run at a guy in that group with everyone else watching me so I decided to wait for a moment when I could get Jamal alone. Each morning I would wander through the school commons before school, finding different people to talk to, all the while keeping an eye on Jamal and looking for an opening. I felt like a hunter in the jungle waiting for an animal to stray from the pack so I could take him down. It wasn't easy. Jamal was popular and constantly had guys and quite a few girls around him.

The upshot of my stalking tactic was that I got a chance to observe Jamal up close. An African American with beautiful dark skin, Jamal was just over six feet tall and had a lean athletic build that had helped him become a football and track star. He had short hair and was a good dresser, favoring a preppy look. He had a diamond stud earring in his left ear. He showed off a brilliant smile when he was joking around with his friends that could instantly transform to a sly smile when he was talking to girls. He definitely seemed like Payton's type – smooth, cool, and athletic – but he intimidated me. It was always easy to talk to a boy once I had seen his sensitive side, like I had with Ryan. It was much harder when the boy seemed so confident and perfect.

As the days wore on, though, Payton's patience began to wear thin. I started to worry that she would devise another plan like pushing me over in the hallway as she had with Sam. I didn't envy the idea of being shoved into Jamal so I started following him around as best I could during the rest of the day. Finally, I got an opening.