Pivotal Moments (In Time #1) (20 page)

“Thanks, I’ll be down in a few,” I called as I closed my bathroom door. I took a deep breath to calm myself. It was going to be okay; I just needed to relax.

Chapter 16

Relaxing was apparently not meant to be a part of my life. I skidded to a halt as soon as I entered the locker hall. I couldn’t have moved if there had been a tractor trailer bearing down on me. The sight that greeted me was still not something I was used to. Brody Holden was waiting for me.

He looked as gorgeous as always. With his dark hair, blue eyes, and football player physique, he never looked less than amazing. A couple of his football buddies stood there with him, but it was the two girls there who made me frown. Suspicion swept over me, but I forced myself to move forward.

Brody turned, smiling, to watch me approach. His smile fell when I didn’t return it with one of my own. I felt a little bad for treating Brody like this; he’d never been anything but nice to me. But he had been closely associated with Tracey for a long time. Old habits die hard.

“Hey, Ash.” He shoved his hands in his pockets as I came to a stop in front of him. He shifted his weight from foot to foot and bit his lip.

I raised an eyebrow. “Brody, what are you doing here?” I winced at how rude I sounded, but he’d caught me off guard. I wasn’t prepared.

He frowned, but shrugged. “I just wanted to see if you and Penny wanted to have lunch with us today.”

I blinked. Out of everything he could have told me, that was the last thing I expected. I stood there, openmouthed, but then remembered Tracey. I scowled. There had to be more to this than just lunch. But I decided to just play it cool. “Yeah, I don’t think so. Not today, okay?” I replied and glanced around at the group of students who had circled around us.

Brody’s groupies began whispering, staring at me. I fidgeted, and when Brody cocked his head to the side and watched me, I folded my arms over my stomach. What the hell was so interesting?

“What’s your problem, Ash?”

I wasn’t about to admit fear of retaliation from the Queen Bitch. High school kids were like wild animals; if they sensed weakness, they’d attack. It was usually swift, brutal, and soul-sucking, and since I happened to like my soul right where it was, I shrugged and moved to step around Brody to get to my locker.

Instead of moving aside for me, he blocked my way. I glared at him, hoping he’d take the hint. His eyes hardened, and he said, “I just want to hang out, you know?”

“I don’t think so, Brody. But thanks for asking,” I declined, trying to be friendly.

If Brody had frowned any harder, his face would have looked like a pug dog’s butt. With narrowed eyes, he glanced over at one of his friends. The poor kid just held out his hands innocently. They both turned to look at me, their perplexed expressions identical.

One of Tracey’s inner-group-girls sighed loudly. “God, ya’ll, don’t you get it? She doesn’t want to deal with it when the bitch loses her shit.” She rolled eyes. “I can’t blame her, really. I wouldn’t want to, either.”

Brody regarded me for a moment, and then he pursed his lips, shaking his head. “Is that it? You’re worried about that?”

I hung my head and stared at the tiled floor, and for the first time, I noticed just how disgusting they were; there was dirt permanently ground into the grouting. Realizing I was allowing myself to go down a rabbit trail of thoughts, I turned my attention back to Brody. He watched me, curious and waiting for an answer.

I huffed and decided to just get it over with. “Yes, okay?” I snapped. I stomped around him and spun the dial to open my locker. I heard it click and started to pull the door open, but it suddenly slammed shut. I whipped around, scowling at Brody. He held his palm firmly against my locker. “Excuse me?” I was not in the mood for his crap.

“This is ridiculous,” he exclaimed. “You’re seriously going to let her dictate who your friends are?”

Worded like that, it sounded kind of pathetic. I bit my lip, not sure what to do. The choice was taken from me when the girl who had just spoken stepped forward. She planted her hands on her hips and stared at me, a challenge in her eyes.

“You never used to back down, Aislinn! You wouldn’t take crap from anyone. You punched her, for God’s sake.” She shook her head. “I doubt you couldn’t handle a few weeks of nasty looks and empty threats.”

I choked out a laugh. “What makes you think they’re empty?”

“Because you beat her ass,” she said with a smug smile. “For the record, the bitch had it coming. Especially after the gym incident.”

Brody took my elbow, drawing my gaze to his. “There’s no catch here, okay? I’ve always thought you were cool. I just want to hang out, that’s it.”

I searched his eyes and found no hint of anything but honesty. My resolve started to weaken. It broke entirely when he smiled at me and squeezed my arm. He took a step back, saying, “I just want to be friends. She’s not going to tell us what to do anymore, all right?”

I nodded, dazed.

“So, meet me here at lunch,” he ordered. “We’re going off-grounds to eat.” He started walking off, but only made it a few feet before spinning around. “Oh, and Ash?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re going to be late to homeroom,” he teased, then turned back around and jogged toward his class. Just as he and his friends disappeared into the classroom, the bell rang.

Well, hell.

***

I made it to third period without incident. Given that I had made it through homeroom without getting in trouble, I counted myself fortunate. Of course, it helped that the teacher showed up even later than I did.

I breathed a sigh of relief and settled into my desk. This semester, I had English. I had no clue who was in the class with me, since I’d never been popular in any sense of the word. All that did was remind me I no longer had Penny to hang out with. I was isolated; I had no real friends and zero social life. Teagan and I were so different. He’d been popular in high school, while I was anything but. I shrugged it off as a case of opposites attract, rather than dwelling on how it could end in utter disaster.

I leaned down to pull my notebook from my bag when it happened. Long, tan legs under a short skirt stopped at my desk. She wore high heels that I’d break my neck if I tried to wear them, and she began to tap her foot. Past the short denim skirt, her hands were planted on slim hips, and above the flat stomach and tight shirt showing off the assets was a deep scowl, pasted on the perfectly made-up face. If looks could kill, I’d have been six feet under. I sighed. It was time to deal with Tracey Banco.

“Can I help you, Tracey?” I asked, in an attempt to be polite.

“Yeah,” she snarled. “You can stay the fuck away from Brody.”

I had not been expecting that one. “I—what?” I stammered.

“You heard me. Stay away from Brody. You’re only embarrassing yourself, anyway.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder, sneering down at me. “He is totally not in your league.”

I frowned, trying not to let it hurt but failing. “What’s that mean?”

“Exactly what I said. You don’t stand a chance.” Her tone had turned prissy, pitying.

I narrowed my eyes at her. I wasn’t interested in Brody like that, anyway. But that was so not the point at the moment. “If Brody wants to be friends with me, I won’t say no, Tracey,” I said.

Judging by the shocked look on her face, she was a little too used to me backing down. I needed to change that.

Tracey’s face turned bright red. “Stay away from him, bitch,” she growled. “He’s mine.”

My lips twitched as I fought back a grin. So that’s what this was about. “You have nothing to worry about there. I have a boyfriend.”

“I wonder how long that’ll last,” she said, smirking. “Whoever is with you must be desperate.”

I started to tell her at least I hadn’t been dumped in front of a party, when someone cleared their throat. I snapped my attention to the front; Ms. Adams was standing there, watching us with a scowl. I flushed and turned to examine my notebook. Twice in one day, things had tried to cause me trouble. I risked a glance up; Tracey hadn’t moved except to cross her arms over her chest. She was still glaring at me.

“Miss Banco? Do we have a problem?” Ms. Adams demanded.

Tracey pointed at me. “We’re not done here. Not by a long shot.” She turned and stormed over to the desk she’d claimed. The whole class was staring; they had witnessed the whole confrontation. My cheeks burned.

As soon as the bell rang, I leapt from the desk and raced out before anyone else could stand. I refused to get into another discussion with Tracey. I was sure my ego couldn’t take another round.

My phone rang, and I stumbled to a halt to begin digging through my purse. Worried it was Mom, I dropped my backpack and used both hands to tear through the mess within. My fingers brushed the smooth plastic case, and I snagged it in triumph. I ripped it out and almost squealed. It was Teagan.

“Hello?” I all but shouted, ignoring the glances shot my way.

“Wow, baby, that’s enthusiastic,” he said with a laugh.

I blushed when a girl flashed me an amused grin. I made a face and turned to go outside, where I could hear him better. “I’m glad you called me. It’s been a weird day,” I muttered.

“I was going to wait until after you got home, but I missed you.” I smiled at his confession. “What’s been going on?”

“Just usual high school crap,” I said. “You know how it is.” I sighed. “You remember that guy who broke up with Tracey at the lake?”

“Yeah. Brody, right? Why?”

“Well, he was waiting at my locker with some friends of his this morning.”

“What? Why?” The concern in his voice made me smile again.

“I don’t really know.” I paused and braced myself. “All I know is he asked me to go to lunch with him and his friends, though.”

There was a moment of silence. Had he hung up on me? But then he said, “What’d you tell him?”

I swallowed hard and pressed on. “Teagan, I said I’d go with him and his friends. But that was only after he assured me he just wanted to be friends.”

He snorted. “Aislinn, baby, no guy who asks a girl out wants to be just friends.”

“I—” I floundered for something to say. “Do you not want me to go?” If he said no, then there’d be lunch in the cafeteria, no questions asked.

“Baby, I’m not going to do that with you. I trust you not to put yourself in a questionable situation.” He sighed and then said, “I trust you, Aislinn. So go to lunch, okay? But be careful. I’m a guy. I know the moves a little better than you.”

He was right, but I had said I’d go. I couldn’t just cancel for no reason. I hated how I had put myself in this situation. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I should have thought about it some. But I really don’t think it’s like that. I mean, it’s Brody Holden.”

“Now, what’s that supposed to mean?” I could hear that raised eyebrow and head tilt in his tone.

“He’s really popular, Teagan. All the girls want him, he can have his pick. I’m pretty sure he’s not going to waste his time on someone who is happily taken.” Teagan chuckled, and I demanded, “What?”

“That, sweetheart, was the perfect answer.” I could hear his smile.

I grinned to myself. “Well, it’s the truth. I couldn’t ask for a better boyfriend.”

“Now you’re feeding my ego,” he teased. “Keep it up and I just might have to come a week earlier than planned.”

That time I did squeal. “Really? You could do that?”

“Yeah, I’ll try and get this project done, then see if I can switch some hours around at work. I’ll let you know by tomorrow.”

I was all but bouncing. Even though he had just left, I missed him terribly. The only consolation was he seemed no better off. Two weeks would be bad enough; three would be torture.

“All right, you need to go and eat, and I need to get to work on this project.” He sighed. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

Brody and some of his friends were walking toward me, so I lifted my hand in a half wave, getting a wide smile in return. I bit my lip. Teagan was right; I’d have to be on guard. I didn’t want Teagan to feel like he had anything to worry about.

“Call me tonight after you get done with your study group?” I said, and then grimaced. I’d sworn I wouldn’t be one of those clingy girlfriends, yet I couldn’t go more than a few hours without talking to him. I forced myself to add, “If you want to, that is.”

Teagan laughed. “You know that’s a given. I’ll call you tonight,” he replied, then hung up.

I sighed and gazed down at the phone. I smiled at his contact photo—a picture of me and him. Mom had taken it the evening we got back from the hike—we both looked horrendous, dirty, and bedraggled, but we also looked incredibly happy. I had been mortified when she first snapped it, but now found myself grateful. It was a reminder of an amazing day.

“You ready, Ash?” I jumped. Brody was standing right next to me, and by the expression on his face, he had been there for a bit. I nodded and stuffed my phone back into my purse.

“What was that?” he asked, gesturing toward my purse.