Ex-Factor (Diamond Girls) (6 page)

“About what?” Her question was too vague. My mind was racing, filled to bursting with a hundred different things. I’d taken a huge leap tonight, stepping foot onto a blue mat again. Would I be able to do it—train and tumble for two hours a day, three days a week—without breaking down, freaking out? There was still so much I needed to overcome, so much I had to live down.

My chest constricted. Would I survive my life at Grant High? Would I make real friends this time? Friends who wouldn’t suck me into a vortex of shame and regret?

An exasperated groan carried across the room. “You’re killing me, Nev. Tonight. What do you think about tonight? About the gym?”

“Well, I joined, didn’t I? What does that tell you?” I was being evasive. I knew it. My mind and body were so tired. I couldn’t drum up the energy to weed through all the thoughts and emotions coursing through me.

“That tells me nothing. Jeez, Nev. Throw me a bone here.”

“Sorry,” I said, exhaling. “I’m just super tired.” I rolled onto my side and sucked in a quick breath. The light from the alarm clock on Livvie’s nightstand cast a light blue glow over the darkened room, allowing me to just make out the set of eyes staring at me. “I’m not gonna lie to you. Tonight was hard for me.”

“Hard how?”

I drew my knees up toward my chest and shoved a hand beneath my pillow in an effort to get comfortable. “I don’t know. It was just hard. Being in the gym. Feeling the rush, the adrenaline. I kinda felt guilty for, you know, being happy while I tumbled.”

“Nev…” More rustling filled the darkened space and I watched as Livvie pushed up onto her elbow. “I can’t say I’ll ever understand what you’re going through as I haven’t lost anyone close to me. My dad walked out on my mom when I was a baby, and I don’t remember him. I don’t know him. I don’t miss him.” She paused for a moment and sighed. “But, what I do know is that you are an amazing person. A person who deserves to be happy. Accept the good when it comes your way and quit beating yourself up over it.”

Silent tears trickled down my cheeks, staining my pillow, and though I’d never been a fan of the dark, I was thankful for its presence in the room. With a sigh, Livvie sank back down, and I rolled onto my other side and drew the covers up over my head. My cousin meant well. And what she said made sense. Thing was, she didn’t know everything. If she did, she’d be singing a different tune. She’d hate me as much as I hated myself.

Chapter Five

Status update:
No time for a Strbux run. Dying…

Coffee. I needed coffee. An intravenous drip of caffeinated goodness to help get me through the day. It had taken an inordinate amount of persuasion to pull me from the warm cocoon of my bed this morning. Tired, both mentally and physically, I’d curled up in a ball, refusing to move until my aunt Trish finally resorted to yanking the covers off and forcibly moving me from my safe haven.

Begrudgingly, and with a great deal of protest, I dressed in a pair of dark blue denim capris and a flowing peach top that would have looked one hundred times better if only I’d had a tan. I’d stumbled into the bathroom, horror stricken by the frizzy state of my air-dried hair, and spent a good forty-five minutes straightening the long, layered locks into submission. There were few things in my life I could control, my appearance being one of them. I might have been messed up and falling apart on the inside, but by God, I’d look good while I withered.

My excessive primping resulted in a manic Aunt Trish, an aggravated Livvie, and a breakfast that consisted of a single piece of dry toast as we fled the house fifteen minutes before the late bell rang. We lived across town and hit every red light possible. The universe, it seemed, was out to get me once again.

Fate, or maybe my father—God, I missed him—had been looking down on me, and I skidded into first period mere seconds before the bell sounded, much to Keltar’s chagrin. The old man eyed me with contempt and the thought crossed my mind that a part of him wanted me to be late so he could chastise me in front of the class again. From what I could tell, Keltar was one of those people who derived pleasure from other people’s pain.
Jerk!

Erin smiled at me from our table at the back of the room and motioned for me to hurry.

I grimaced, the two aspirin I’d taken doing little to alleviate my discomfort. I’d get to my chair when I got there, and not a minute before.

Bodie sat quietly in his seat, swarthy, beautiful, and angry, the grim expression I’d come to expect from him both present and accounted for. A twinge of disappointment struck me as I avoided his heated glare. It bothered me that he didn’t like me, and I wasn’t sure what to do with that. I’d never been so preoccupied over a guy before. Especially one I didn’t like.

Where Bodie regarded me with disgust, Eli eyed me like a starving kid eager to dive into a snack cake. The flirtation I’d read as playful yesterday seemed different today, more intense.  He raised a brow and mouthed a silent “looking good” as I slid into my seat beside Erin. I ignored his lusty stare and flirty wink, and wondered again how Erin didn’t notice his inappropriate behavior. Maybe that old cliché about love being blind held some truth.

Eli leaned over and whispered something to Tommy just as the bell rang. I wouldn’t have thought anything of it except for the fact that they both glanced at me and laughed. Heat burned beneath my skin, and I made a show of stashing my bag under my seat to hide my irritation. I knew they were talking about me, but I wasn’t going to let them know it bothered me.

Erin stopped fiddling with her cell phone, shoved it into her bag, and leaned in close. “So how did it go? How are you feeling today?” Her shiny blond hair fell in gentle waves down her back and arms. Her deep red halter-top accentuated her ivory skin and looked lovely paired with a pair of jet black Miss Me jeans.

“Sore,” I whispered. “But good. I—”

“Quiet in the back, please!” Keltar’s voice resembled a sonic boom, the volume and tone deafening as it carried across the small room. “Today’s culinary experience involves the very tasty and versatile potato.” He paused, as if he were waiting for the class to break out into applause. When that didn’t happen, he continued with a frown. “There will be no lecture. Today’s lesson is practical. Please head to your stations and begin scrubbing your spuds. Twice baked potatoes are simple enough to make, but take a bit of finessing.”

I held back and waited for the rest of my table to reach the station first, not wanting to make the same mistake I had yesterday. Until I knew where everything was, I’d hang back and let everyone else lead.

Meg, who hadn’t said two words or acknowledged anyone’s presence, pulled the aprons from the cupboard and tossed one to each of us, while Tommy retrieved a small sack of potatoes from the pantry at the front of the room. Impatient, he tore the plastic bag open instead of untying the metal twisty at the top, sending a waterfall of brown, dirt-crusted spuds bouncing across the floor.

Laughing, we all dove for the wayward potatoes, and crowded around the small sink waiting our respective turn to wash our produce.

Hot breath warmed my ear, Eli’s deep, masculine voice tickling my senses. “Wanna scrub my spud for me?” There was nothing playful or flirty about his suggestion, and I whipped around and faced him, frowning.

“What? What did you just say?” I was no idiot. Jerk Face had been referring to something else altogether.

He cast me an impish grin, then addressed the group as a whole, juggling the pair of potatoes in his hands. “I asked if one of you could wash my potatoes for me. You girls are crowded around the sink and the rest of us can’t get close enough to do it ourselves.”

Erin rolled her eyes. “Oh my God. Give me your potatoes, you baby.” She held out her hands, pure, undiluted attraction and adoration wafting out from behind her bright blue eyes.

A fat heaping of disgust rolled through me as I thought back to our text conversation the night before. Erin believed Eli was looking for something more than a booty call and just didn’t know it yet. She was going to tame the beast, turn the player into a settled man. I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake some sense into her. Tell her, “Your guy is looking for one thing: tail, and he’ll try to get it anywhere he can.”

I kept my mouth shut and saved my admonishments for another day. I really liked Erin, and I had a feeling if I were to share anything negative about her crush, she’d take it badly. At the moment, her friendship meant more to me than outing Eli.

Eli moved in behind Erin and gave her side a playful squeeze. “That’s right, woman. Clean my dirty potatoes. Clean ‘em real good.” He threw his head back and moaned a low, throaty sound. “Oh, yeah. Just… just like that. You scrub
soooo
good.”

Erin’s cheeks turned a vivid shade of crimson, and she angled her body around and splashed Eli before whacking him on the chest out of embarrassment. The entire table laughed at Eli’s little production. Well, except for me and Bodie. I wasn’t impressed with Eli’s mock porn show, or him. He was sneaky and had flirted with me while Erin was just feet away. Lover Boy thought he was sly, but I wasn’t taking his bait.

I chanced a look at Bodie, who stood glaring at Eli from the opposite end of the counter while he not-so-carefully ripped jagged sheets of aluminum foil to wrap the spuds in. Each silver rectangle came off the roll a mangled mess, and I frowned, wondering how any of us would wrap anything with the train wreck he made.

Dark eyes burned a hole into my forehead, and I looked up from the silver pile of mishmash on the counter to see him casting me an irritated glare. He quickly closed the lid to the thin rectangular box and chucked it my way. “If you think you can do a better job, Doll Face, then by all means.”

I dropped one of my potatoes as I caught the tin foil, the brown blob rolling beneath the counter and out of reach.

Doll Face?

Chapter Six

Status update:
Let’s do work!

The bright blue sky and gorgeous seventy-five degree weather had prompted most of the students at Grant to eat outside—myself, Erin, and her friends included. We didn’t have any classes together besides Foods, so she’d given me directions to her locker and instructed me to meet her for lunch.

“Nev,” She swept a hand toward a pair of unfamiliar faces and smiled. “This is Claire and Tayla. They cheer at X-Factor too.”

I waved a hand in front of my body and let out a nervous giggle. “Hey.”

Claire was pretty, petite, and at five-foot-two and ninety pounds, a pint-sized powerhouse. Her sleek raven hair was styled into an A-line bob and her flawless ivory skin accentuated with just the right amount of makeup. From what Erin had told me, Claire was super outgoing, and insanely flexible, two qualities that earned her the center flyer spot on the Diamond team. The girl I’d replaced had been her longtime base, and I hoped I could pick the skill up quickly.

Tayla was the exact opposite of Claire in virtually every way. A ginger with ivory skin spattered with freckles, she had the loveliest set of green eyes and corkscrew curls. She towered over the rest of us at a whopping five-foot-ten and was a back spot on X-Factor’s Senior Two Amethyst team.

Tayla and Claire had grown up in the gym right along with Livvie, and welcomed Erin in with open arms when she’d moved here last year from Los Angeles.

We sat down at a table toward the back of the quad and made small chitchat while we ate. We’d been outside all of five minutes when my cell phone vibrated. I took a bite of pizza, then ran a finger over the touch screen expecting to see a text from Livvie. Surprise coursed through me when I saw it was a message from an unknown contact. Frowning, I swallowed the bite of pizza and opened up the message, wondering who had texted me. The only people who had my cell number were Aunt Trish, Livvie, and after class yesterday, Erin.

Hey, beautiful! Heard you showed those Diamond girls how to tumble last night. Congrats on making the team. I’ll take you out this weekend and we’ll celebrate. E.

The bite of pizza I’d just taken sat in my stomach like a lead weight. My heart raced, and not in an “oh, my God, the hot guy from first period just asked me out, I’m going to die of happiness” way, but with panic, and dread. How had Eli managed to score my cell number? And seriously? What was he thinking? Why would he pursue me if he was dating Erin, unofficially, or otherwise? He seemed underhanded and shady, and had me wondering more and more what my new friend saw in him.

I swallowed down the thick lump that had formed in my throat. There was no way in hell I’d go out with him, for any reason, ever.

“You okay, Nev?” Erin asked. She gazed at me quizzically, no doubt curious about what had me so rattled.

“Huh?” I looked up and slid my phone into my bag, out of sight. “Oh, yeah. I’m good. I’m just not used to such greasy food.” I gestured toward my lunch. I hated lying to her, but I didn’t know what else to do. My friendship with Erin was in its infancy, and not only did I not want to blow it with her, I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. Showing her Eli’s text would only serve to do both. My only choice, it seemed, was to play the whole thing off.

I stared down at the largely uneaten, greasy piece of pizza on my plate and grimaced. The lunch selection at Grant High ranged from pitiful to downright disgusting, and had me yearning for my previous alma mater where I’d been allowed to leave during lunch. Grant High’s campus was closed, not just to lowerclassmen, but all grades. This was a travesty of epic proportions. America’s favorite fast food joint stood directly across the street from the school, its giant golden arches a flaming yellow reminder of the tasty food none of us would be enjoying.

I shoved my plate away and took a sip of my soda. Why didn’t a school as affluent as Grant High have a healthier and all around better variety of foods to offer?

Erin took a bite of her sandwich and held up a finger, signaling me to wait while she chewed. “I’m surprised Livvie didn’t tell you to bring your own lunch. The school’s food tastes like ass.” I nodded in agreement and shrugged, thankful she’d bought into my little ruse. As far as Livvie went, well, I really couldn’t fault her for forgetting to mention the school’s nasty fare. I’d invaded her home, taken over her bedroom, and pretty much wormed my way into every aspect of her life. That’s a lot for a person to take in, and something as trivial as lunch didn’t seem worth getting aggravated over. I owed Livvie—big time.