Chapter Nineteen
Will, Weird, War
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Blake Amherst
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The sounds of the party were like whispering winds in the back of my mind. I was happy, really happy, for the first time in so damn long. Greg had sent me a text earlier saying he had a date. I knew his mind, knew that only one girl would be allowed to date him. I knew he’d be out of his mind with excitement. Not just that but Leah had just arrived without Ferris and she didn’t know it yet, but last night she had begun a war.
She knew about how I felt. I was kind of relieved. It meant that she wasn’t dumb and also that I no longer had to hold back. I stifled a gleeful snicker. I was excited. This was like revenge for the way she made me feel so ridiculously like a school-boy. Fun times were ahead.
I picked up my drink and dawdled over to a group of guys in my intermediate percussion class. They greeted me with enthusiasm, a lot of them were eighteen and still weren’t adept when it came to the art of drinking, having too much too early before the party even started. They’d be wasted before midnight. But that was the only way they’d learn to spread their drinks over more time. I chatted, joked and stood in a position that allowed me to watch Leah with ease.
Her hair was tied back tonight, revealing an elegant neck. Her posture was amazing but I guessed that being that short would mean that she had to look up at people a lot and would probably sit straight in order to not feel as short. It could also be a pride thing, in Leah pride came in the truckload. I’d learnt that swiftly. Her jaw was tensed at the moment as she looked around the room. Faye and Matt were beside her so I didn’t know what she was looking for her. Unless that Ferret kid was supposed to be arriving at some point.
I laughed as two of the guys acted out something that had happened to them the other night when they’d sneaked into the bathrooms on the girls’ side of the dorms and forced myself to forget about Ferret. I concentrated on Leah again, taking in her long lashes and soft-looking lips. Her smooth skin and small ears, black pearl earrings drawing my attention. She was pretty. Not beautiful, nor stunning but if the top ten most popular females in the world stood in the same room as her I would still be drawn to her and only her. How did I explain that? Her body was small, petite, and it made me want to pick her up and run. Her smile made my blood heat, her laugh made it boil, but the masochistic side of me loved it most when she was mad, her eyes like blue lightening, her cheeks flushed.
I wondered what she’d look like after I kissed her.
I chuckled to myself which made Pete, who was standing next to me, give me a funny look. I grinned at him.
“What’re you looking at, short-ass?” I said with a laugh.
“Hey.” He pointed at me accusingly. “I just heard you laugh at absolutely nothing like some kind insane piranha.”
“Piranha?” I asked, giving him a look that crossed between amused and worried.
“Oh, who the fuck knows why I made that comparison. I saw Jen today. She seemed to think that I was too bitey when we kissed so I’ve had piranhas on my mind since then.”
“Too bitey?” I laughed at him. “What did you try to do? Chew her face off?”
He grimaced and shook his head in disappointment. “Who knows, huh? There is no one who understands girls on the entire planet. I mean, if I take the teeth out of the equation she’d probably call me fish lipped! Nothing’s perfect, eh?”
I shook my head, glancing at Leah again. It was always hard to find the right way to impress girls. Pete was right, even though the words of wisdom had come out of his alcohol controlled mouth.
Leah turned and caught my eye, finally feeling that someone was staring holes through her. As she made eye contact with me, I smirked. Oh no, I’m not looking away, Leah. She scowled at me and turned to her friends. Ha, staring was not the worst thing that I was going to do to you tonight, I thought.
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Leah Fox
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“I think Blake is drunk,” I said to Matt and Faye, still feeling the heaviness of his gaze at my back. I had to stop myself from shivering. It was a little creepy.
Matt looked over my shoulder and frowned. “To be honest with you, I think that out of all the people he’s hanging with, he’s probably the most sober. But he is watching you like you’re a very interesting specimen.”
I groaned. “He got the hots for me. And, trust me, I did nothing to encourage him.”
Matt raised an eyebrow at me, knowing that part of my personality that egged people on, but Faye smiled.
“What’s wrong with Blake liking you? I mean he’s a little arrogant but super nice. He helped me out a bit in our second year with my acting.”
I stared at her with amazement while Matt shook his head despondently.
“You got that the wrong way around. Sure, he might be occasionally nice, but he oozes arrogance and there hasn’t been a time that he’s been around that I haven’t felt the need to sock him.”
Faye laughed. “Leah! I can see your personalities sparking each other off but give the guy a chance, seriously. You’ll probably end up liking him in the end.”
I couldn’t even imagine it. I grimaced and screwed up my nose. “That would involve me spending time with him. However, spending time with him would involve my fist in his face at some point.”
Faye sighed and shrugged. “Doesn’t matter anyway. You’ve got Ferris.”
“Mmm,” I answered. I didn’t want to think about Ferris at the moment. Earlier today we’d had our first argument. He hadn’t wanted me to come to the party without him for some unknown, stupid reason. He couldn’t come because he was working so what was I supposed to do? Chill in my dorm room while people were having fun not so far away? That wasn’t right. And since he wouldn’t give me a good enough reason, I’d stubbornly said I was going and walked away.
At the moment though there were bigger things to worry about. Haezel had told me about her plan of action tonight. She was going to go to the choreography session in her ugliest clothing and then confront him in the grossest, cruellest way possible at the end of the night. But I had a bad feeling. What if he saw through it all? Greg was not the dumb jock I’d pinned him to be when I’d first laid eyes on him. And he was desperate for her. In a way, I felt better about the two of them having a relationship, better than I had when I’d felt the urge to protect her. But still, I knew that Haezel’d had some problems with guys in the past. Big problems. The kind that would affect any future relationship.
“Hey, Faye! Can you come show me something in the studio?!”
I felt my shoulders twitch as Blake called out. Faye looked over to him with a smile and nodded. I clenched my teeth. Not cool. Next to me, Matt looked like he wanted to reach out and grab her. I should encourage him. But she walked over to Blake with her graceful gait and Matt and I grimaced at each other.
“Maybe he hadn’t been staring at you,” Matt said, staring in her direction as she walked to the studio with Blake.
I remembered how, when I caught his eye, he had smirked. Nuh-uh, he’d definitely been looking at me. I ground my teeth against each other.
“I really think he was but you can go chaperone her if you like. I’m going to sit over there where it’s quiet for a bit,” I said, waving my hand towards a group of armchairs in the corner.
He nodded and left in a hurry. Pah! I just wish he’d hurry up and ask her out already. It was getting ridiculous the way they were skirting around each other. I dawdled over to the chairs and sat in one facing the partiers. Mostly everyone was having fun. I swung my legs over the side of the chair and rested my head back. Maybe I shouldn’t have come, maybe it was just my stubborn side that’d had to defy Ferris. Even now I was glad that I’d come if it meant that I wasn’t doing whatever he told me.
I thought about Ferris, thought about our relationship. There wasn’t much wrong with guy, if I was being honest. He was fit, good-looking, friendly. He cared about me and… and kissing him was like kissing a best friend. Kinda nice but not right. Still, I hadn’t expected to fall in love with him and feel butterflies every time our lips touched. I’d wanted a boyfriend, he’d offered, and now I was bored with it. But I couldn’t bring myself to break up with him, despite the way I was slowly getting annoyed at him, he was nice. How the hell was I supposed to tell him that I never really had any feelings for him? And how would he react? He’s so kind, he’d probably smile and say thanks for the relationship and…
And Blake Amherst was making a beeline towards me, no Faye nor Matt to be seen. Sneaky bastard had lured them away to get me alone… Uncool. I was tempted to get up and get the hell away but then there was the question of whether he’d follow me or not. And I’d rather confront him in the midst of this party than where he could attack me with no witnesses.
He stopped at the armchair opposite me and leaned on its back. His expression was clear and he was in no way giving me the impression that he was about to do or say something I wouldn’t like. I did not trust him an ounce.
“Did you hear from Haezel?” he asked. His voice was low but despite the sounds of the party I still heard it.
Shit, he knew something I didn’t. He would’ve heard something from Greg. Dammit, what if he’d gotten the text saying, ‘woo, I scored booty!’? Ha, yeah, it wasn’t likely that Greg would do such a thing. But still, Blake knew something I didn’t.
“No,” I said shortly.
A grin spread across his face. “She’s on a date.”
A date? “Bullshit.”
He chuckled and rounded the chair before sitting down and leaning forward on his knees. “Do you want to see Greg’s text?”
I shook my head and scowled. Ah damn… How had Haezel gone from repelling Greg to dating him in one night? It must have been her decision, especially considering the frame of mind she’d been in before heading to his session. And so I was kinda happy. But if he made her unhappy in any way, shit would hit the fan, followed by his blood.
I glared at Blake. “Was that all you wanted to say?”
His crooked grin appeared. “You told me the other night that I had to grow some balls. Right?”
I sneered. “Yeah. You couldn’t even look me in the eye.”
He looked too pleased. The warning bells began ringing.
“Allow me to put something on the table. You can take it or leave it.”
Did he mean he was literally going to be putting something on the table or was he about to ask a foolish question?
“Go ahead,” I said tentatively.
“I challenge you to a dare competition. That’ll prove I’ve got the balls in this relationship.”
I narrowed my eyes sharply. “There is no relationship,” I said quickly.
He shrugged. “Your answer?”
I wanted to refuse straight up. But he got my competitive juices going and as he knew it would. “So whoever doesn’t complete a dare, or refuses one, is the loser?”
He nodded. “Got that right.” And he winked. Yeah, he knew how much I just wanted to win against him in something.
“What does the winner get?” If it was something like, ‘winner gets to ask for something from the other person and they have to do it’ I would definitely turn him down. Because then I’d know that he’d cheat somehow and then tell me I had to screw him or something. And he didn’t think I knew how his mind was working…
“The winner gets one honest answer from the other.”
I was instantly confused. “That’s it?”
He thought for a second and then shrugged. “And the pride of winning?”
I felt myself smirk. Yeah, that was a pretty big prize. “Okay, but there has to be one rule to start us off.”
“What’s that?” he asked. He was smiling fully and I had to seriously admit to myself that Blake was attractive. He had the worst personality but he was damn hot.
“There are no derogative dares.”
He frowned. “Wait. Isn’t that the point? What kind of dare doesn’t have the risk of belittling someone?”
I rolled my eyes. “You know what I mean. Nothing… sexual…”
He showed the edge of his teeth. “I figured on that one. Agreed. I prefer willing girls.”
The way he looked at me made me think that he seriously thought he could make me into one of those willing girls. Ha, think again dipshit.
“Alright then. It’s on. My dare to you first because you suggested the whole thing.”
“Fine.” He stood. “I’ll give you a day to think on it. But we should shake on it before I go anywhere. I’ve heard foxes were sly.”
I gave him a deadpan look but offered my hand. He took it and shook firmly.
“See you tomorrow.”
He let go of my hand and left the party. I folded my arms and smiled unconsciously. In my head an evil laugh sounded over and over. What could I dare Blake to do tomorrow?