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“Here I thought you would
have been excited.” Jett said. I started walking slowly, trying to
make the blood circulate again, because my brain wasn't really
working. He followed alongside me.

“It just seems weird you
asking me out.” I said. He laughed again. I stopped and had to
smile at him. He had a smile that shined, and when he smiled, I had
to smile.

“I need a date for Friday,
dinner and a movie.” I stopped in front of my classroom, thought
about it a second, then shrugged and said “sure” and walked into my
classroom and sat at my desk.

“Hey,” Jett said leaning on
desk, startling me. “I'll, ah, pick you up at six
o'clock.”

I looked up at him and said
“K”. I watched him walk out.

I had a smile on my face,
ear to ear. I didn't care why he asked but as I sat through class I
realized I should have gotten more details out of him. I looked
over at Storm, my face still warm, with a shit eaten grin spread
across it, and he just snarled at me again. I didn't
care.

Since Jett didn’t wrestle
last night, I was anxious to get a glimpse of him today if I could
get one, I wonder if that's being stalker like. Sure enough I came
down a different stairwell to go to Algebra and I noticed Jett
leaning against his locker in his 'locker pose'. Knee up, hands in
pockets and a sexy smile on his face. He had his work boots on
again, untied, just my thing.

I glanced at him then turned
pretending not to notice him. I heard his friend say “Hey,
isn't that your little freshman friend?” all snarky-like.
I was walking slow, trying not to run away but not too slow to make
it look obvious either. Jett caught up to me and tapped me on the
shoulder. I turned around smoothly, right in the middle of traffic
- across from the elevator where it always gets jammed up and
immediately people were crabbin’ at us to move, so we moved toward
the windows. I think I said it pretty coolly “Oh, hey Jett, what's
up?”

He cleared his throat “I
wanted to confirm our date for Friday night.” He continued and
said we were going out in a big group, my jaw must have dropped
because he laughed and asked me if that was
okay. 

“Who is
the group?”
I
asked. He rattled a bunch of names off including the name Lisa; I
didn't know any of them.

“Lisa, isn't that your
ex-girlfriend? Why would we go out with her?” I asked and swallowed
hard. It felt like an apple went down. I just looked at
him weird and focused on his face, yet not looking him in
the eye. I couldn't think Lisa's name was ringing in my ears. I
heard she wasn't even nice. My heart began racing, its thump so
loud, I could hardly make out what he was saying. I swallowed hard
again. What was he saying? “Sure, that’s fine” I said with
regret.

He said “Great, I’ll
pick you up at six.” 

I was so excited yesterday and since I hadn't
thought to give him my number the first time, I thought I would do
it now, with short instructions on how to get to my house. I had
written them down on a piece of paper in class as I daydreamed
about him. I handed it to him.
My hand was
trembling, so as soon as he grabbed it, I put my hand in my pocket
and kept the other tightly on my books. “I guess I'll see you
Friday” he said.

“I'll guess you'll see me
tonight.” I replied.

“What?” he jerked his head
up.

“We'll that's if you'll be
at wrestling.”

“Oh yeah” he said softly and
smiled out of the corner of his mouth.

I walked away slowly. I wish
I could say I was having déjàvu and had had a dream about this, but
that wasn't the case. I just had a bad feeling. This wasn't a good
sign. Why was our first date with a big group of people? I could
see a double date, but with a big group and his ex, ick. I bumped
into someone and almost dropped my books, my concentration was
gone. I finally got to class with no other thoughts in my
head.

I took a deep breath and
figured it didn't matter why. The important thing was he had asked
me over a thousand other girls he could have asked. Plus, it was
Wednesday so he was planning ahead and giving me details which were
good to know, I felt a little better, but underneath I had a
harrowing feeling I was being ambushed. Me and my tingly
senses; I wish they weren’t working today so I could just
enjoy the thought of going out on a date with Jett, instead I was
all worked up about it all day.

By Thursday, I was so worked
up I needed to blow off some steam so I went to wrestling after
school, helped Nic clean the mats and went down to the pool to do
some laps. There was no swim team practice on Thursdays, just some
swimming lessons with a couple of lap lanes open, so I was actually
looking forward to it. When I got there the pool was
empty.

Water and swimming were
second nature to me, it relaxed me.
I
stretched a little before getting on the starter block, and then
got in place with both feet on the edge, toes wrapped. I placed my
hands to the side of block, placed my right foot back, leaned
forward and held tight pretending to wait to hear the pop of the
cap gun go off, and dove in.

It felt good to hit the cool
soft water; I raced down to the end and back in freestyle. Then two
laps of breast stroke, backstroke and then butterfly. It felt good
to swim. I started doing all my favorite drills from practice; I
had the pool to myself for the moment. It felt like I was cutting
through that water like there was no tomorrow.

As I turned back doing fly,
I noticed someone standing at the shallow end of the pool. My eyes
were blood shot from the chlorine and I couldn't tell who it was.
When I got to the end, they were gone. I headed back for another
lap of breast stroke and someone was standing at the deep end now.
I slowed coming to the edge and before I reached it they pushed me
under, I got loose from their grip but they dunked me again as I
came up for air. When I broke the surface again I thought I was in
the middle of the pool so he couldn’t reach me but he did and this
time I took in water, making my nose and throat burn awfully. I
grabbed his hand on my head pulled him in the pool with me we were
a tangle of arms and legs as I was trying to break free. I was
trying to come up for air but he was fighting to keep me down. We
both finally came up for air and I gasped for air loudly but didn’t
hear a thing from him. I swung, hitting him in the nose. He dunked
me again and this time I couldn't get loose, I felt like I was
under water for quite a while. I was on the verge of hysterics but
instead I told myself I am not afraid of the water, let some air
out through my nose and tried to relax. He loosened his grip and I
kicked him in the stomach and swam to the bottom of the pool, let
out my last bit of air
and held my breath. W
hen I came to the surface he was running into the guy’s locker
room.

A swim class was entering
the pool area, so at least I wasn’t alone anymore. I stood at the
end of the shallow end and just shivered trying to figure out what
to do. I had lost all reason to a rational thought. I couldn’t
concentrate. I heaved myself up out of the pool, my arms burning
and my legs felt like jello; I grabbed my towel and noticed someone
staring down at me from the top of the bleachers. He was in sweats
and a hoodie that hid his face, how brazen of him come back. I
couldn’t get myself to move to do anything about him, a few more
girls entered the pool area, I was focused on them, no words passed
my lips, I pointed to the bleachers however, when I looked up my
ominous figure was gone.

Unfortunately, I was
proven right to be worried about my date with
Jett.
 
Nic
came up to me before first period Friday morning, she was with
Declan, they both looked somber “What? What's
wrong?” I asked mystified. She and Declan explained to me
that he overheard Jett and the guys talking in the locker room
last night and Jett said he'd show Lisa he could get
a girl anytime he wanted and that he could get laid Friday or any
other night! And then someone else added “Especially since Addie is
easy, she dated Winters.” So Storm was right, everyone thinks I’m a
slut because I dated Cale even though nothing ever
happened.

“I thought you and Jett were
best friends, why are you telling me all this?” I asked Declan
pointedly. He explained that I was his friend too, and that he
didn’t want me to hear it from anyone else and that Jett is a
standup guy and it was all just locker room talk,

“I knew
it, I knew something was up.” I
replied. Nic asked if I was going to
cancel. I said “no” but it wasn't a convincing
no. “I don't know what I'll do but.... he sure isn't
getting lucky with me. If we’re going out in a big group it
shouldn't be hard to keep my distance. Maybe I'll sabotage the date
myself.”

“Don’t worry Addie, Rae and
I are going so you’ll at least know two other people in the
group.”

“Rae?

“Yes Addie, my girlfriend,
try and keep up would ya.” Declan and Nic started an in depth
conversation about it when I noticed Topher at a locker just a few
down from mine, which was strange, because his and Cale's were on
the first floor near the gym. I walked up to him and leaned on the
locker next to his. “So Topher, whose locker are you breaking
into?” I said with levity.

I startled him, he looked a
little ragged to me, he had dark circles under his eyes, he gave me
a labored smile. “I uh, actually changed lockers.....mine... uh...
wasn't working, they couldn't get the uh....lock fixed.”

“Mmm, I see. Are you sure
you just aren't stalking me?”

“What?” he replied
surprisingly, with shock in his voice. I touched his arm, he
flinched, “I’m just teasing Topher. You okay?”

“Oh” he said with a little
laugh, more of like a sigh of relief. He started fiddling with some
books in his locker. “I am glad to see you’re ok.” What does he
mean, about our break up?

“My locker's right over
there,” and I pointed back over my shoulder. “As a matter of fact
Nic's is near mine too.” I turned a little “Right where she and
Declan are standing.” There was a little bit of a pause, I detected
some sadness in him. “I'm going on an awful date tonight. Do you
want to come so you can laugh at me?” He didn't respond. He closed
his locker and we started walking together “Why are you going on a
date if you know it's going to be awful?”

“Well, I’m not sure it’s
going to be awful, but the rumor is that Jett's just going out with
me to get his ex-jealous and he thinks he can get lucky.” I said
with air quotes.

“You know, it could just be
classic trash talk guys do in the locker room, they all do it, or
it’s a rumor that started differently and grew. Just be real honest
with him, don't play games like other girls do, it makes them
petty.”

“You know, you're a pretty
nice guy. Thanks for saying that.” I felt a little less
apprehensive.

As we walked I said “You and
Nic should go out again. I thought you guys got along really well.”
He turned and nudged me with his elbow, and said “You know we did,
maybe I will.”

After school Tori actually
sat next to me on the bus. She asked me what was wrong and
why I wasn't more excited about my date. I told
her the whole story and she listened, this was a new experience for
her and me. She asked if I was going to cancel and I told her
no. “I'm not afraid of him and if he lies to his friends about
what happens I'll call him out on it, in front of his friends.” I
told her.

Tori backed me up, “I cannot
believe he’s such a jerk. I thought he was nicer than that, he
seemed like a decent guy.”

I think I was still trying
to be an optimist “You know, it may just be rumors and I plan on
asking him before we go to dinner.”

“You're so brave” Tori
explained, “he could still be hung up on his ex-girlfriend and mad
that she broke up with him. If that's the case be careful.... I'll
help you get ready for your date if you want.” I gazed at her for
minute “That would be great.”

When we got home she asked
our mom to pluck my eyebrows. My mom was excited about the
endeavor; she's been asking me to let her do it since seventh
grade. It took her a good 45 minutes to finish, because every time
she pulled one out I had to rub my eyebrow, it hurt
and itched! When she was done with me, my eyebrows were so red
and puffy I had to ice them. I thought they looked worse. I gave
Tori one evil eye because I had an ice pack on the
other.

“Don't worry,” she said,
“The swelling will go down and the red will go away.”

“By tonight!” I exclaimed.
Tori rubbed fresh aloe on my brow, it felt cool, soothing,
better.

She chuckled, amused by my
discomfort. “You'll get used to plucking them, it won't bother you
so much after a week or so.” I gave her an even dirtier look, like
I was going to do this again.

She had me do her “getting
ready ritual” she does before going out, starting with a shower.
She instructed me on the shampoo and conditioner to use and she
made me shave my legs even though I protested because I was going
to be wearing jeans.

When I got out she put stuff
on my face and in my hair. Then she blew it dry part way and put my
make-up on before she did hers. Then we both curled our hair. I
looked pretty good and I didn't look like Herman Munster anymore.
My eyebrows were nice, not too thin, but shaped, it made me look
different. Mom said it elongated my face and gave it more shape.
“Hmmm” was my only comment because I kind of agreed with
her.