Lingering Touch - A Story of Young Love (5 page)

He blushed and looked away, snatching a random book off the ground and pretending to read it. "I wasn't looking at you."

I rolled my eyes, even though I know he couldn't see me. Now I actually could concentrate on reading, but I still occasionally saw him glance at me out of the corner of my eye. Man, this kid was freaking weird.

Math was getting super boring. Usually I didn't mind it so much, but now I couldn't get images of the depressed woman in the other room out of my mind, or what the man who had been Trevor's father would look like. I imagined him with black hair like Trevor's, because he obviously didn't get his hair from his mother. I imagined him with broad shoulders and the same depressed eyes she had. I couldn't help but think of Sarah, and her thick, curly black hair. Unwanted images of her and Trevor cuddling invaded my mind, and it was bizarre thinking of him with another girl, it twisted my stomach weirdly.

"Well, I should probably go now…" I said, because I really need to not be around him right now and this was just getting awkward. He looked up from his book, startled.

"You don't have to, I mean, you could stay for dinner or something, if you want," he stuttered, looking adorably nervous. It's tempting, and I really didn't want to go home, but I knew I couldn't stay.

At the store that night I found myself looking at coconut flavored shampoo.

Chapter 4 - Top Dog

Trevor and I started actually talking during school, and he ate lunch with us sometimes. More and more people started talking to him, and realizing that he's not just some weird kid from New York, that he's actually a cool weird kid from New York.

We met up every Wednesday and Friday to do "math," but most of the time we just hung out instead. Yet somehow his grade in math went up anyway.

One Saturday I invited him to a party I was throwing at my place when my dad had a business meeting in Washington that would last a few days. He came, and all the girls flirted with him. But I noticed that he, like me, didn't drink at all, preferring to sit on the sidelines and watch people make fools of themselves.

Collin broke up with me. He kept freaking out about me spending my Fridays with Trevor when I
should
have been spending them with him, and if there is one thing I hate in a guy more than being a sleazy pig, (which Collin also is) it's if he is overprotective and possessive. So I told him he couldn't control me, and then I said some other stuff I don't care to repeat, and he broke up with me. Just like that. Trevor let me whine to him about it, and he's a lot more compassionate than I ever gave him credit for, he's a great listener. No, I didn't bawl all over the place and make a huge fool out of myself, but tears
were
shed, because I actually did like Collin sometimes. Like when he looked at me with his deep puppy dog eyes, or when he brought me flowers randomly and even though it's totally cliché, it's also really adorable, or when he dressed up and pretended to be my father so he could check me out of school if I was having a bad day. Well now none of that would be happening again.

Well that was just fine, because I still had Trevor! After I was done crying to him, we watched some lame chick flick and took turns doing something weird every time somebody said the word "love". Sometimes we would do strange dance moves, or chug a whole soda within a specified time limit, or act out an overly dramatic scene from Romeo and Juliet. Silly things like that.

One day while we were eating lunch, (well I was tanning on the table as usual but you know what I mean,) Carly Sanders slithered up to our table. Carly Sanders is the biggest bitch I've ever met. She's tall and skinny and looks like she could be a model. She also likes to act like she's a model. Strutting all over the school and wearing totally skimpy clothes that should only be seen in a magazine, and sometimes not even then. She
thought
she was more popular than me, but all the guys only liked her because she was easy. Everyone liked me because, well, I'm fantastic.

"Hey, Trevor." She flashed him a perfect smile and touched his arm in what seemed to be a casual gesture, but to the trained eye it had
slut
written all over it.

"Sup?" He said, not even looking up from his sandwich. Good for him!

"Well my friends and I were just wondering if you were free this Friday?" Trevor glanced up from his food, slightly confused. "They all have dates to go to the movies, but I'm afraid I don't…" She trailed off suggestively, leaning toward him so that her major cleavage was dangerously close to his face.

He glanced at me, his eyes wide, then looked back at her. "Uh, sorry but do I know you?" I tried not to laugh out loud.

She bristled at my smirk, but covered it up quickly with another dazzling smile. "I'm Carly Sanders, I'm sure you've heard of me." she shook his hand with perfectly manicured nails and grinned devilishly.
Gag.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Carly, but I'm busy on Friday. Sorry." He shrugged and went back to his lunch without another glance.

"That's okay, we can change the date, I'm flexible like that." Okay, I was really getting sick of all of her suggestive innuendos. I mean, seriously, who hasn't heard that line already? Not to mention that it's disgusting. "Unless you have a girlfriend…" She glared pointedly at me, her eyes narrowed.

Trevor was starting to look really annoyed. "What?! No, I do
not
have a girlfriend. Ok, sure, we can, um, hang out sometime, alright?"

She smiled brighter and stroked his arm. "Great!" She flipped her hair and walked away, hips swaying like she was on a catwalk.

"You really don't have a girlfriend?" I asked when she's out of earshot.

"You say that like it surprises you," he laughed easily and brushed it off.

"Well, yeah. I mean, there was no one special back home, or anything?" I pressed, wondering about Sarah.

"Nope. I'm totally single. Why? Are you interested?" He waggled his eyebrows in that way he does when he makes fun of me for 'hitting on him' which I totally wasn't. But his eyes were tight, as if he were thinking of something that pained him.

"Very funny. But I have a boyfriend, remember?" I had started going out with a new guy, Justin, since I broke up with Collin. He wasn't actually my boyfriend, and I already knew he wouldn't last because he was boring as mud. I hadn't even talked to him for over a week, and honestly, I didn't plan to anytime soon.

"And I have a math test tomorrow, but that doesn't mean we can't both cheat," he winked. Seriously? He's resorting to lame lines like Carly? Puh-lease!

I was about to insult him for being so lame, but then I got an idea. I grinned evilly.

"Do you know why I'm kind of famous at this school, Trevor?" I didn't think I'd ever actually directly addressed him by his name, and it sent a weird feeling down my spine. He shook his head, looking at me curiously.

Amber and Alyssa looked up at Trevor and me and giggled, already knowing what was coming.

"Well I sorta do this thing where I get two people, usually a boy and a girl, and I kinda put them together…" I hinted, enjoying the bemused expression on his face. Then suddenly his face lit up with realization and simultaneously darkened as he realized what I was saying.

"No."

"Oh, come on! It's not all bad, and it's just one date. I'll find someone good, I
promise
. Please?" I sat up and looked at him with puppy dog eyes. One of the reasons I love people with brown eyes is because they can pull it off, but my green eyes don't exactly work with the big, innocent look. I've practiced, however, and I know I'm getting close to the same effect. I can tell it's starting to work when his face started softening and he looked unsure. I pounced.

"Pretty,
pretty
please? I'll do anything you want!" I even pouted my lip for effect. Lyssa actually gasped because I never did things like this, but something about Trevor made me want to act like a kid.

"Anything?" He did the eyebrow thing again. I punched his shoulder, and he yelped. "Okay, okay, fine! But only if you stop hitting me. Sheesh!" He rubbed his shoulder playfully and winked at me.

"Yay!" I clapped my hands together, sounding dangerously like Alyssa. Time to get to work. Who would Trevor like? I hardly needed to ask myself who liked Trevor, because by now all the girls at school practically attacked him as soon as he walked in the school.
And I thought only high school boys were idiots.
Well, from what I read about Sarah, he liked girls that knew how to party and have fun.
That narrows it down a ton,
I thought sarcastically to myself.

I spent the rest of the day pondering who would be a good match with Trevor. I didn't usually spend this long deciding who to pair with whom, but since Trevor was my friend, I found it fitting to spend a little extra time for him. And seeing as the last relationship he was in apparently didn't end well, though I had no idea how that turned out, I thought he deserved somebody extra cool. But who?

Once it got out that my next victim was Trevor, every girl I knew started being really nice to me, abnormally nice. Even Summer who was still happily with Brandon started cozying up to me. Huh. I thought she really liked him. Brandon caught on, I guess, because he started giving me dirty looks, almost daring me to take Summer away. In fact, a lot of guys who had girlfriends started giving me weird warning looks. Apparently word spreads fast at Thatcher High School. But usually not this fast.

The only other time people spread gossip this fast was when Erika James and Jimmy Parker broke up last year, but they had been together since the 2nd grade and were deemed Thatcher's cutest couple, plus they were more popular than me. Which could only mean one thing:

Trevor might be more popular than me.

What the heck? He just got here a few weeks ago, and when he first arrived he was just 'that weird new kid from New York'. And now he's cooler than me? That was not right. He may as well have been Thatcher's most eligible bachelor, for all the swooning looks he got and all the girls giving me knowing looks, like they knew I'd pick them or something.

Who did he think he was, being more popular than me? This was my kingdom, and I made him! But now my people liked him more than me? No, this could
not
be happening. Call me shallow, but this was a big freaking deal to me. I wasn't shallow enough to hate Trevor because of it, of course. He couldn't help that he was charming and handsome and smart and funny and has gorgeous eyes and–Wait, what? Whatever, this was not about him being great, this was about him stealing my popularity.

I needed to do something about this, something to ensure that I could be on top once again. But how was I supposed make him un-popular without acting like a psycho bitch? I wouldn't tell him any of this, just to be safe. Though I was sure if he knew that this was my territory and I needed to be top dog again he would understand. Right?
Right.

My thoughts turned from getting him a girlfriend (that can wait) to how I'll drop his status in a minute. Then it hit me. Of course! It was mean though, and I wasn't usually this vicious, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and people never remember these kinds of things anyway, so I wouldn't actually be doing that much harm. It's only high school, after all. I ripped out a sheet of paper and started writing furiously on it.

This is for his own good. This is for his own good. This is for his own good.
I repeated it to myself as I walked to the newspaper room after school, clutching the paper to my chest. I'd stayed long enough after school that there were hardly any people around to see me. My heart pounded erratically in my throat. I took deep breaths, trying not to look suspicious as I casually pushed the paper under the door, checking twice to make certain nobody was watching me.

Chapter 5 - First Date

Guilt gnawed at my stomach all day, and I refused to look at the school newspaper stubbornly. It was possible they didn't feature it, because you can almost never believe an anonymous note. But then again, you can almost never believe the school newspaper anyway. I clenched my fists and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to get the image I created of Trevor seeing the paper and just bursting out in tears out of my mind. I knew that would never happen, because it's Trevor we're talking about here, but still. I almost couldn't believe I had actually done it, I was such a terrible person!

But no, sometimes a girl has to do what a girl has to do, and I had to do it.

I hadn't seen Trevor yet, which wasn't unusual because we don't usually meet until lunch, but still. It was freaking me out. He wouldn't have left, would he? Maybe it was just a normal day, maybe he hasn't even seen the paper yet. Or maybe I dreamed it all, and he's still the weird kid from New York and I never slipped that anonymous note under the door. Yeah, that's it, it never even happened.

When lunch rolled around I had completely convinced myself it was just a dream, until I recognized Trevor sitting alone under a tree in the farthest corner of the field. He was hunched over scribbling in that notebook – his autobiography, no doubt – writing about what he must have read in the paper. It was hard to imagine his beautiful, swirling writing when his face is set in a permanent scowl and his pen was racing over the paper furiously.

"OMG, did you hear about Trevor? That's so like, totally sad! No wonder he always looks so sad! Do you think he would, too?" Alyssa attacked me as soon as she saw me. I gave her my best confused face, trying not to look guilty. "Haven't you read the paper? You have to read this!" She shoved the paper in my face and I held it up, hiding my cherry red-face.

Trevor Rushton – Troubled Teen or Simply Following in His Father's Footsteps?

Trevor Rushton, 17, is new this year and bringing a fresh view on life. We all know he moved here from New York and he's great to be around, but how much do we really know about him? Is Trevor just overwhelmed by the move and the changes that accompany teenager-hood, or is he hiding something else? An inside source tells us that Trevor's life has not been a piece of cake at all, as his charming, easy-going demeanor might suggest.