Love to Hate You

Chapter Seven

I arrive home late afternoon and head into the kitchen. I haven’t eaten anything since school and I have a tiny case of the munchies. I walk over to the white fridge. Magnets hold Lexi’s drawings in place along with good grades I have brought home recently. It’s so embarrassing when my mom displays this stuff. I pull the door open and scan the shelves. Nothing. I walk over to the pantry and open the door, searching its contents. Nothing. I let out a sigh and walk back to the fridge. I lower my expectations before repeating the process.

“Don’t eat anything. Mom’s got food in the Crock Pot.” A.J.’s voice warns. I jump slightly at his voice and turn guiltily to face him. His head nods to the electric pot sitting on the counter. I make a face at it. I can smell the sickening aroma now that he’s mentioned it.

“Gross.” I say, screwing up my face in disgust.

A.J. nods and comes fully into the kitchen. He seats himself on a bar stool and looks across the counter at me.

“So, where have you been the past two hours?” he asks suspiciously while raising a thick eyebrow.

I shrug and lean against the fridge.

“Reesie.” He taunts. He only calls me that when he wants something from me.

“I was with some people.” I say, making sure to keep things vague.

He catches my eye and grins at my blush. His elbows rest on the counter top and his hands clasp in front of his face. He wiggles his eyebrows from behind his hands.

“Who was that boy?” he teases.

I feel the heat continue to rush to my face. I know I must be blushing really bad. I insisted I walk home but Justin just had to give me another stupid ride on his dumb skateboard.  Of course, I hoped no one would be spying on me when Justin dropped me off. It must look really suspicious from A.J.’s point of view, but he has no idea how torturous Justin’s presence is to me. So, why am I blushing? It must be because I know A.J.’s going to get the wrong idea.

“A creep that doesn’t leave me alone.” I answer after a few seconds.

A.J. winks at me and he drops his hands, revealing a pearly white grin.

“It’s not what you think.” I tell him as fiercely as I can.

“What do you think I think?” he asks, still grinning like an idiot, his features strangely boyish and evil.

“I think you think that I like him. Which is the exact opposite because I hate his guts.” I answer smoothly. I’m not lying and A.J. doesn’t know whether to believe me or not.

“Then why were you with him?” he asks, narrowing his eyes.

“Because…”

Crap, how am I going to explain this without telling him everything? It’s so embarrassing. He doesn’t even know I can sing. Plus, being in a band is so childish. I always thought kids in bands were some sort of attention desperate losers, now here I am, in a band. What the heck was I thinking?

“Go on.” He says with a priceless, boyish look on his face.

I take a deep breath and decide to spill everything. Well, here goes nothing.

“Okay, he’s Justin Knight, lead singer of the boy band Heartbreakers which mom forced me to go with Stephanie to watch perform. Thing is, I hate the guy. He makes me sick and he’s a player. He started bugging me when Miss Myers decided to put me next to him in literature and he’s been really annoying. So, anyway, he brought me on stage and announced the horrible nickname he gave me to the whole place. I got really mad and decided to tell him what I thought of him by singing the chorus of the song Heartbreaker to him. Thing is, it turns out I’m a really good singer and he’s been bugging me to join his dumb band ever since. Of course, I’m getting sick of him getting me into trouble and stuff so I said I would come watch but ended up singing because he got me mad again. So, I’m in their dumb band now-don’t ask- and he decided to be a nuisance and escort me home. That is why I was with him.” I tell him as fast as possible, managing to fit it all in two breaths. I take a deep breath after I finish and look at him expectantly.