01. Chasing Nikki (4 page)

I chuckled
after her.  As of this moment, Operation Chasing Nikki had begun.

The
detention on my first day of school pretty much secured my reputation.  Most of
the student body had pegged me as the coolest guy ever, and the faculty had
arrived at the conclusion I was now troublemaker number one to watch out for.

It was cool
with me.  I didn’t mind making the new friends, or being surrounded by all the
doe-eyed girls who wanted me to pay attention to them.

All the
girls but one that is—unfortunately for me, she was the one I was determined to
have.

I’d let her
stew over my previous comments for a couple days, not paying any attention to
her when she walked into class, though I found myself staring at her back a lot
during the hour.

My personal
resolve to forget about her had gone right out the window.  There was just
something about her that drew me.  I thought of her a lot the past few nights
while I was tending to the horse stalls for grandpa. 

I’d received
a stern lecture from him about my comment in class and how important it was to
respect women.  I let him say his piece, just to get it over with.  I didn’t
disrespect women.  I adored them, but I didn’t think he would approve of my
adoration either, so I held my tongue.

The bell
rang, signaling the release of class, and I watched Nikki hurry from her seat,
going through the door without looking in my direction.   I grabbed my books
and hurried after, catching up to her in the hall.

She cast one
glance out of the corner of her eye at me and started walking faster.  “Go
away,” she said.

“Go out with
me.”

“No.”

“Go out with
me.  I like you.”

“You don’t
even know me.”

“Exactly! 
That’s why you should go out with me.  How am I going to get to know you
otherwise?”

“Not going
to happen.”  She stopped at her locker and began twirling her combination
numbers.

“I’ll bring
you flowers.  What’s your favorite?”

No answer.

“What time
should I pick you up?  Is seven okay?”

“I’m not
going out with you.”

“Why? 
What’s wrong with me?  I brush my teeth, use mouthwash, and I wear oodles of
deodorant.”  I placed my hand on the locker next to hers and leaned in really
close behind her.  “My aftershave is really nice too.  Can you smell it?”

She paused
in the middle of sliding her books onto the shelf and turned to look at me.  “It
does smell good, but I’m still not going out with you.”

 “Ah ha!  A
compliment! I knew it was in there somewhere.” I smiled widely.  “I guess I’ll
cut my losses for today and run with my compliment.  But don’t worry, Nikki,” I
whispered into her ear.  “I’ll ask you out again tomorrow.”

She gave an
exasperated sigh, and I laughed as I walked away.

“You’re a
sucker for punishment, you know that right?” Brett said from where he was
standing against the wall watching me.

“Are you
saying you doubt my skills?” I asked, stopping at my own locker to drop my
books off.

“Yes,” he
said bluntly.

“Ouch.  I’m
wounded.  Guess I’ll just have to prove it to you.”

“Why do you
have to get her?  Practically every other girl in the school is throwing
herself at you, much to the dismay of the rest of us guys, I might add.”

“I don’t
want every other girl.” I smiled and glanced down the hall catching Nikki
staring at me with a perplexed look on her face.  “I want that one.”  I flashed
a wink in her direction and she quickly turned to hurry off with her friend.
“You should go for the BFF.  We could double date.”

Brett shook
his head.  “Well, you’re nothing if not persistent.”

“I’m
serious.  Her friend is cute too.  She’ll go out with me easier if you’re
dating her best friend.”

“Tana and I
are old news, buddy.  Sorry.  That was over in like sixth grade.”

“Really? How
long were you with her?” I asked.

“A while.”

“Was she any
good?  As a girlfriend, I mean.”

He looked at
me like I was crazy.  “Yeah, she was the best hand holder in the world.”

I chuckled. 
“No kissing yet, huh?”

“Nope.  I
had to save something for seventh grade.” He actually rolled his eyes at me.

“Why’d you
break up?” I asked.

“I don’t
know.  It was sixth grade.”

“I was just
worried that hanging out with you might be hurting my chances with Nikki if her
gal pal is mad at you.”

“Thanks for
your concern,” he said, dropping his head.

“Kidding,
dude.  Kidding.” I laughed, punching him in the arm.  “Let’s go get some
lunch!”

“Sounds
good.  I told Wes and Chad we’d meet them at Pizza Palace.”

“Okay.  Hey,
what are you doing tonight?  Do you have a date or anything?”

“No.  Why?”

“You should
come over and play video games or something.  It looks like I’m not going to
have a date this week either.”

He grinned. 
“You aren’t ever gonna have a date unless you start barking up a different
tree.”

“We’ll see
about that,” I replied.

Chapter Four

“What are
you doing?” Brittney asked me in a whisper as she followed my gaze.  I was
surprised to see her without Matt attached to her hip.  I’d come to discover
the guy was seriously one jealous dude.

“Shhh.  I’m
spying,” I replied, as I hid in the alcove by the water fountain, giving myself
a clear view of Nikki’s locker, but staying enough out of the way she wouldn’t
see me.  “You better get out of here before Matt sees you talking to me.  I
swear he looks like he wants to beat the crap out of me every time I look at
you.  He doesn’t like that I hang around with you and your brother.  I thought
he was going to croak when I showed up at your house last night to pick up
Brett.  He thought I was there to see you.”  I grinned at the memory.

She
shrugged.  “He’ll get over it.  I told him you were totally into Nikki.  He
says you don’t stand a chance with her.”

“Listen, I
know he’s all chummy with her ex, so he feels loyal to him, but I never back
down from something I want.”

She
laughed.  “I kind of got that after Brett told me about the little adventure
you took him on last night.”

I chuckled. 
“Brett’s a whiner.”

“Yes, he is,
but don’t tell him I said that.” She tossed her long, blonde hair over her
shoulder and smiled.  “Well, good luck with your spying.  I’ve got to get to
class.”

“See you
later,” I replied, watching her walk away for a moment.  She sure was a pretty
girl, and I liked her.  I wondered how she had ever ended up with a guy like
Matt Wilson.  She seemed too good for the likes of him.

I sighed and
turned my attention back to my current conquest.  Nikki walked up to her locker
and noticed the sticky note I left for her right away, pulling it off to read
it. 

“Roses are
red.  Violets are blue.  What will it take to go out with you?”

Her sigh was
visible as she crumpled the note up in her hand and opened her locker.  She
gasped, and I laughed when the roses and violets fell out in front of her,
showering her with flowers.  She had no idea I’d been memorizing her
combination when I stood behind her yesterday.

Perfect.  I
ducked away before she could see me and hurried to my first class of the day,
hoping I scored with this gesture.  She made it clear she thought I was a
player, and well, I really was.  I’d had girlfriends in the past, but no one I
was really committed to. I tended to notice all the girls in the general
vicinity, looking for the next one who might be ready to replace the last. 

I actually
kind of found it funny I was trying so hard to get Nikki.  True, I loved a good
challenge, thanks to my naturally competitive nature, but never had I put this
kind of effort into getting date.

The bell
rang right as I slid into my seat beside Brett in our chemistry lab.

“So, how’d
it go?” he asked.

“Caught her
completely off guard.”

“Did she
like them?”

“I don’t
know.  Didn’t stick around long enough to find out.”

“She better
like them.  Especially after I had to drive around to three different garden
centers with you last night trying to find those stupid violet plants.”

“Quit being
a crybaby.” I grinned as he rolled his eyes.  He seemed to be doing that a lot
lately.

“What are
you doing this weekend?” he asked.

“I start my
mandated community service.  It’s part of my sentence from the judge. I had to
go to a weekend class on substance abuse and pay a five hundred dollar fine before
I moved up here.  Now I have one hundred hours I have to complete.”

“Hmmm.  So I
guess you don’t want to go out partying with some of the guys from the team
then, huh?”

I slouched
in my chair.  “I’d give anything to go.  I told my mom I wasn’t addicted to
anything, but I have to admit the cravings have been pretty bad lately.  I
swear there are times I feel down right jittery.”

“Man, that
must suck.”

“Big time. 
But with my family watching me like a hawk, I don’t think it would be a wise
choice right now.  Maybe some other time.”

“Well,
here’s a little something in case you need it.”  He reached into his jacket and
flashed a joint.

I
automatically took it and discretely slipped it into my pocket, a natural
reflex I’d done a thousand times.  Ironically, the action caused me to have a
difficult time concentrating through the rest of class. All I could think about
was lighting up and spending a little time relaxing.

I hurried
into the hall after the bell rang and almost collided with Nikki as she left
her classroom.

“Hey.” I
smiled.

She glared,
and suddenly I was worried.

“Did you
enjoy the flowers?”

“I sure
did.  They fell all over the place, and I had to stop to clean them up.  That
made me late for class, and I got a detention for being tardy.  Thank you so
much for that, but please keep your gifts to yourself from now on.”

She stormed
off down the hall, leaving me gaping after her.

“Well, you
really botched things up this time,” Brett’s voice came from over my shoulder. 
“Isn’t that strike three now?  I think you’re out.”

I ignored
him and strode away in the opposite direction.

“How’d the
spying go, Rockstar?” Brittney’s voice interrupted as she fell into step beside
me.

“Not the way
I’d hoped,” I replied.  “My little prank got Nikki in trouble.”  I stopped and
glanced down the two hallways in front of me.  “Where’s the principal’s
office?  I keep getting all turned around in this confusing school.”

She pointed
me in the right direction.  “Good luck.  I can talk to her at cheer practice if
you need to me to.”

“Thanks for
the offer.  I’ll let you know.”

I headed
down the long hall until I found the office marked, Justin Woodside, Principal.
“Hey.  Can I serve detention for someone else if I’m the reason they got one?”
I asked the secretary when I burst inside.

“Um, let me
check,” she replied with a fluster and picked up the phone.

A few
minutes later, I was seated before Mr. Woodside.  I explained what had happened
with Nikki and that in my own haste to get to class, I neglected to realize my
actions would make her tardy also.  I asked if I could please serve her
detention.  He looked at me like I was a little crazy.

“How about I
just explain to her teacher what happened, and we’ll call it a misunderstanding
on everyone’s part?”

“That sounds
great.” I stood to leave.

“Wait,” he
replied, and I halted.  “In return, you will give me your word you’ll try
harder to keep your nose clean around here.  We don’t need any more trouble
makers.”

I nodded and
left the office after he had written me a note to excuse my tardy to my next
class.

As soon as
the dismissal bell rang, I jumped to my feet and hurried to look for Nikki.  I
was surprised to find her waiting by my door.

“Hey,” I
said, wondering what she was doing there.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”
I asked nonchalantly.

“For taking
care of the detention.  Mr. Woodside just called me into his office and told me
what you did.”  She shuffled her feet nervously.

“I didn’t
mean to get you in trouble.  The flowers were supposed to be a friendly
gesture.”

“They
were.”  She pulled her hand out from under her book, and I saw she was holding
one of the roses.  She sniffed it and lifted it toward me.  “This one is for
you.”

“This could
count as a gift, you know?  People will start to think you like me,” I teased
her.

She
shrugged.  “Oh well.”

“Will you go
out with me?” I asked again.

She smiled. 
“No.  You and I wouldn’t be any good together.”

“I happen to
disagree.  I think we could make fireworks happen.”  I lifted the rose and
tucked it into her hair behind her ear.

“That’s why
I can’t do it, Chase.  I’m sorry, but I played with fireworks before and got
burned.  I promised myself I would never date a guy like that again.”

I stood
staring after her as she walked away from me, not knowing what to say or
think.  I wasn’t used to rejection, and I was surprised by how badly it hurt. 
I was also surprised by how much I felt the need to find her ex and rearrange
his face.

The rest of
the day passed in a blur, and for once I couldn’t wait to get home.  I was glad
it was Fridayand I wouldn’t have to look a Nikki all weekend.  Maybe I could
finally forget about her like she obviously wanted.

There was
one more thing I needed to do first.  I found Brett in the parking lot.

“Hey, man. 
What’s up?” he asked when he saw me striding to where he was talking to Chad
and Wes.