Breaking up with Brock was a good thing, I gave my reflection a pep-talk one more time before leaving the locker room. You made the right choice. Life is better without him.
I drew in a deep breath, trying to calm my first day of school jitters. My blonde hair looked okay after being in a ponytail for this morning's 6:30 am drill team practice. My blue eyes were maybe a little tired looking, but that was to be expected since I'd slept terribly last night. At least my new outfit rocked—an awesome floral printed blouse with dark skinny jeans. It had felt like Christmas when I'd found the last shirt in my size at Chic Girl Boutique. Being a tall girl made it hard to find clothes that fit just right.
I inspected myself one last time before pulling my bag over my shoulder and leaving the deserted locker room. All the other drill team girls had left five minutes ago, excited to see everyone again after summer break.
I made it to the top of the stairs that led away from the gym and scanned the hall. There were different clusters of students standing around, but no Brock.
Good. I breathed a sigh of relief. He'd always waited for me in the mornings last year, and it was nice that he had decided to change his routine as well. If I was lucky I might be able to avoid seeing him all morning. Junior's and Seniors didn't usually have many classes together so if I could figure out a way to avoid him at lunch I might not have to see him at all.
I was just walking into the main hall when I saw a poster that made my stomach drop.
Not again!
I rushed forward in and ripped the paper from the wall. There was only one person in this school who would do something like this.
I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill Luke Davenport.
I stared at the flyer in my hand, reading over the advertisement with a hand-drawn picture that I assumed was supposed to look like me. It looked like a kid had drawn it.
BOYFRIEND WANTED
For: Ashlyn Brooks
Junior. 5'7"ish. Dancer. Blonde hair. Blue or Green Eyes. (I think).
He was starting this up again? I shook my head and read over the headline once more. He didn't even do his research before posting the ridiculous thing. I was five foot eight and my eyes were most definitely blue. No, I didn't have one green eye and one blue eye like this hideous portrait suggested—something he might notice if he ever took the time to actually look at me instead of pulling these annoying pranks.
But he'd been pulling pranks like this since last spring. It all started with him slipping extra baking soda in my cake during Foods class. One prank led to another and before long we were in a war. I thought he'd forget about our rivalry over the summer, but apparently, he still had nothing better to do with his time. We'd always kept our pranks fairly harmless, but this...this was going too far. How long had these fliers been up? And how many people had seen them? Had Brock seen them and thought I had posted them. I was going to throw up.
I read the rest of the flyer.
Seeking guys with the following qualifications:
Happy to commit. (Good 'ol ball and chain.)
Loves to pamper his girl.
Tall, dark, and handsome preferred, but short and squatty are OK.
Must love shopping for hours at Chic Girl Boutique.
Must be fine with watching chick flicks over football.
If interested call Ashlyn at 315-555-7892
Or wait for me by my black Mercedes after school for your interview.
My jaw dropped. He actually put my real number on there. I crumpled the flyer in a ball and looked down the hall that was bustling with students. There were identical ads taped on lockers all along the row. I rushed down the tiled floor, knowing I only had a couple minutes before the bell rang and I had to go to my first class. I ripped down sign after sign, going down the main hall as fast as I could in my wedges.
The warning bell rang.
No!
I made a dash at one last flyer and barely ripped it down before the hall was completely full of students rushing to their first period classes. I threw the offending flyers in the trash and headed to my locker to grab my History notebook.
My friend and next-door neighbor, Eliana, saw me as soon as I turned the corner.
"Did you see them?" Eliana asked in a hushed tone, her blue eyes searching mine for signs of a freak out.
I nodded. "Just barely. I took down as many as I could on my way here."
"Me too. Your brother and I started yanking them down as soon as we got here, but we could only get the ones in this hall."
I opened my locker, resisting the urge to punch it. "Why does Luke keep doing this? Doesn't he have anyone else he can annoy?"
Eliana leaned her barely five-foot frame against her locker, her notebooks hugged to her chest. "I have no idea, but we definitely need to get him back good this time."
"For real." He'd taken these pranks to a new level of public humiliation. He needed some public humiliation himself.
My brother Jess walked up behind us then. "Do you want me to take care of Luke this time?" he asked in his protective, older brother voice.
"No. You don't need to get involved. Though I am open to suggestions for revenge."
Jess checked his watch. "The late bell is gonna ring in a minute, but we'll talk more about this after school." He looked at Eliana. "See you at Math Club."
She nodded and then Jess left us.
"You guys have Math Club on the first day of school?"
Eliana shrugged. "Not officially. But since Jess and I are in charge this year he figured we should go over some stuff with Miss Maloney today if we could."
I couldn't keep a grin from spreading across my cheeks. "You guys are such nerds."
"And proud of it!" she grinned back. "Anyway, I better get to class. But I'll grab any flyers that I see on my way. Sorry about this. Luke went overboard this time."
I was almost to my history classroom when I spotted Luke. He was leaning against the wall as if he'd been waiting for me to walk by. It wouldn't surprise me if he'd stolen my class schedule from the office. When our eyes met, a smirk lifted his lips. He pushed himself off the wall and his long legs fell into step next to mine.
"How's your first day going?" he asked.
"Fabulously," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "Pretty much a dream. I've always wanted to see a cartoon version of my face plastered all over the school. Did you draw that picture yourself?"
He grinned. "No, actually my neighbor girl was selling her art on the sidewalk last weekend and her picture reminded me so much of you that I had to buy it."
I wanted to smack that smug look off his face. How could a guy who looked so cute and innocent be so devious? It wasn't fair. Guys should come with a warning label. I mean, I could've saved myself a lot of trouble last year if Brock's, cover had matched his inside.
"It was great to see you again as always, Luke," I said when we reached my destination. "Oh, and my eyes are blue, for future reference."
He stopped and peered into my eyes for a moment, his own brown ones catching me by surprise. Had they always had that much gold mixed in with them?
"Ah, yes, blue," he said, his warm minty breath tickling my face. "I'll have to tell my neighbor girl so she can get it right next time. You wouldn't happen to know what your blood type is, would you?"
My stomach lurched. "My blood type?"
The smirk was back on his lips. "Totally joking there."
I slugged him in the arm—a very well-defined arm. No wonder he was the football captain this year, he probably worked out in all of his free time to get so sculpted. He definitely hadn't been so big last spring. He seemed taller as well. He had to be at least six-one or six-two.
I shook my head, hoping he hadn't noticed my lingering gaze. He was still rubbing his arm where I'd hit him. That made me smile. Who says dancers aren't tough? "You better hurry to your class before the bell rings. I'll look forward to planning our next meeting."
He raised an eyebrow. "By meeting you mean your next form of revenge?"
"Of course."
His grin spread wider. For some reason, one that I couldn't understand, it seemed like Luke was actually looking forward to me joining in the pranking game again.
Deciding I'd have to figure him out later, I turned on my heel to find my seat in my US History classroom.
My phone buzzed in my pocket as I sat at my desk. I pulled it out only to see I had about a dozen missed text messages and five missed calls, all from numbers I didn't recognize.
315-555-2934: UR hot. I'll be your boyfriend.
315-555-2345: I'll dump my girlfriend 4 you.
315-555-9723: meet me in the maintenance closet @ lunch 4 a good time.
The rest of the texts were along the same lines. Who in their right mind would think I'd be interested in any of those things? Oh yeah, guys who thought the ad was actually real.
I'm going to kill Luke Davenport.
I was barely able to concentrate on my classes the rest of the morning because I kept getting texts. Most of them were from total idiots, but there was a handful that seemed sincere. Had every guy at school seen the ads? There couldn't be that many guys actually interested in dating me. It's not like I was that popular. Maybe Luke put all his friends up to texting me as well. I wouldn't put it past him. I mean, no guy in their right mind would actually be interested in filling the "boyfriend wanted" spot, given those ridiculous requirements on the flyer.
If my phone was this popular during class, what the heck was I supposed to do during lunch? Jess and Eliana's meeting would probably take forever. And without them I didn't have anyone else to hang out with since I'd always sat with Brock in the past. If I sat at a table by myself I could almost guarantee more of Luke's buddies would try "helping" his plan along even further.
The bell rang and I walked out the door, fully planning to join Jess and Eliana in their meeting today. I could pretend to be a mathlete. At it might be kind of nice to have built-in tutors everywhere.
I took my time packing up my things from Ceramics. If I waited in here for a few minutes I'd almost be guaranteed to not have to run into Brock during lunch either.
But it seemed that Brock must have had the same idea too, because when I stepped out into the hall I came face to face with my ex for the first time since our break up. My breath caught in my throat as I took him in. He looked even better than he had when we were dating. And not seeing him in two months hadn't changed anything about my body's reaction to him. He still had the same dark brown eyes and dark hair with a slight curl in it.
He seemed to take in my appearance as well, and I couldn't help but wonder what he thought about seeing me again.
"I saw your boyfriend wanted posters this morning," he said in his deep, gravely voice. "Having a hard time getting along without me?"
I flushed, my brain scrambling for a response. "I didn't put those flyers up."
He crossed his arms and chuckled, "Yeah well, if any guys try to fill the ad, I'll tell them not to waste their time."
My eyes instantly burned with tears at his words and the memories they evoked. I had put up with so much while we dated, and now I was a waste of time?
I pinched my eyes shut and sucked in a quick breath, willing the tears to stay inside. I couldn't let Brock know that his words had any effect on me. He didn't deserve to have that kind of power over me anymore.
"Goodbye, Brock." I whirled around and walked away, knowing I wouldn't be able to keep the tears at bay for much longer.
"See ya, skank."
While Luke Davenport was mostly annoying, Brock Madison was a monster.