THE BAD BOY AND THE CHEERLEADER

THE BAD BOY AND THE CHEERLEADER - CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 6:

CALEB'S POV:

I spend the next hour at the party observing Gianna in what I now like to call her 'natural habitat'. I can't believe the power I have over her now. Now, I just have to figure out what to do with it.

I notice that Jared takes every opportunity possible to touch Gianna in some way, or he finds ways for her to touch him. Maybe he means it only as a friend, but either way, it bothers me. I'm starting to think of Gianna as mine. Not in a relationship sort of way, of course, because I don't do relationships. I just feel protective of her. It's completely natural, given our relationship of step-siblings.

It amazes me that up at home, she does exactly what everyone expects her do. It's almost as if she isn't a real person at home. But here, I watch her and she seems to be a whole other person. It's like Gianna and Gigi are two different people. Which one is the real Gianna? I'm guessing it's Gigi. Why is Gianna the way she is at home? Why doesn't this Gigi exist at home and school? I would definitely like to find out.

Dante is still hitting it off with Nina, but I've lost interest in Kara. I weave through the crowd of people until I find Taye. I ask him to do me a favor and take Kara off my hands for me. He seems more than happy to oblige.

I find Cece and ask her if I can talk to her for a minute. She nods her head and I follow her to what must be her bedroom.

"What's up?" she asks me.

I have to figure out the best way to play this out. I start with saying, "I'm worried about Gianna."

She immediately gets a worried look and I don't even have to say anything else, because DAMN! does this girl like to talk, "I know exactly what you mean. We all worry about her. Especially me and Jared. She's like a sister to us. I first met her when we started ballet together when we were little. She was always really quiet. You should have seen her mother, though, she was so overbearing. Wanted everything to be perfect, always talking about how beautiful Gianna is. When we got to junior high, her mom started letting her spend the night on Saturday nights. That's when Jared was really getting into breaking and stuff. We used to sit and watch him and his friends and eventually we learned the moves and became part of the crew a few years ago."

She's not done yet, and I still don't have to say another word, "When she started hanging out with the crew, she really started to come out of her shell. I feel so bad for her, though, being so gorgeous. You know she hates it, don't you? She knows that most girls only want to be around her because she attracts guys attention. And of course, you know why guys want to be around her. In eighth grade, she heard all the other popular girls at school, that pretend to be her friend, talking shit about her in the bathroom. She tried making friends with some non-popular kids, but they acted weirded out and nervous around her. I really hope she stays broken up with Josh, though. He is so obsessive when it comes to Gigi. She told me once that she wishes she could come live with us, but she knows her mom would never let her go. Sometimes I tell her to say 'fuck off' to everyone at home, but she won't. She is always worried about pleasing everyone else around her, especially her mom, and in the process she makes herself miserable. So, what exactly were you worried about?"

Like I said, this girl likes to talk. I tell her, "Basically the same thing."

She gives me a hug and says, "I'm so glad there is someone up in the suburbs looking out for Gigi too." This makes me feel guilty, for about two seconds.

"Don't worry," I tell her. "I'm going to make sure that things are different for Gianna at home and school from now on."

GIANNA'S POV:

I haven't seen Caleb for awhile. Maybe he went home, one can only dream. My life sucked enough already, what did I do wrong to deserve an evil, delinquint stepbrother like him?

While I'm sulking and feeling sorry for myself, I see Caleb and Cece come out of her room down the hallway. What the hell? He is such a man-whore. He brought some girl named Kara to the party and now he is hooking up with Cece. And what is wrong with Cece? Your best friend is not supposed to hook up with your stepbrother. And why do I even care?

When Caleb walks over to me, I do my best to ignore him, but he puts his arm around my shoulder and says, "Miss me?"

"Fuck. No." I tell him.

"Gigi, watch your mouth! Am I going to have to tell mom?" he mocks me.

I say through clenched teeth, "She is NOT your mom and it's Gianna to you"

"You know Gigi, I was thinking that you need to have more fun, and I think I am just the person to help you out with that," he says.

"Unlikely," I tell him.

He ignores me and continues, "Tomorrow, when I'm in charge, we are going to start on this new goal of ours."

"I didn't know you knew what the word 'goal' meant. Unless you count that your only goal in life is not to have any goals at all," I tell him.

"You know, that may be true in the past, but now I have two goals, and you having more fun is one of them." He looks at his wrist at a non-existent watch and says, "Hey, it's past midnight! Technically, it's Sunday and you are supposed to do whatever I say."

Before he can say anything else, Jared comes up to us and asks to talk to me privately. I quickly walk way from Caleb, with Jared following and when I look over my shoulder at Caleb, I see that he is looking annoyed. Good.

Jared and I sit on the front porch and I ask him, "What's up?"

He says, "I'm glad you broke up with Josh."

"Well, I don't know if we have technically broken up. I mean, the words haven't been said. I've been ignoring his calls and texts all day, but I haven't actually broken up with him. I do plan to break up with him, though, I'm just not looking forward to dealing with him" I tell Jared.

Jared looks thoughtful for a moment and then says, "Good enough for me," then, before I know what's happening, his lips are on mine. This is the second time this has happened to me tonight. I hope it isn't a new trend.