Rival Hearts (Rival Love #2) (2 page)

“Brother?”

I cringe. “No! That’s definitely
not
my brother. The only sibling I have was in your lap about, I don’t know, five minutes ago.”

“Ah. Gotcha. So, wanna have lunch with me tomorrow?”

I shake my head. “No thanks.” I’ve been eating lunch in odd places like the library or stairway, because it’s easier. I’m not here to make friends. I’m here because I had nowhere else to go. Right now, I’d give anything to be back home with my mom, but that’s not going to happen.

He keeps inspecting my room and says, “Well, looks like I’m going to have to find another way to fit into your schedule.”

“Uh … I don’t have any slots for you. Sorry.” I fold my arms but it makes me wonder. If a girl suggested the same thing to Caleb, would he take them out? Does he think we’re still a couple? Would he move on? Could I move on? No. I’m pretty certain I’ll never get over Caleb. I’m not sure this whole long-distance relationship thing is a great idea but maybe I should try. I need to call him. He’s probably so pissed at me for ignoring him. I know I’d be pissed.

Malcom moves to the door. “Until next time, babycakes.” He winks, and walks out of my room.

I sneer at his nickname. “Uck.” I walk over to my door and close it, then flip the lock. I wish Caleb were here. And my depression starts up all over again.

Chapter 3

Caleb

Inside Trix Music Center, I take my seat near the corner and wait for Jenna, my guitar instructor. I signed up for lessons the day after Sky left me and her favorite guitar behind while she went to go live with her dad. This is going to sound lame, but every time I swipe the pick across the strings I feel closer to her.

A couple days ago, I bought a notebook and jotted down some words in it hoping to make a song. This is the plan: have a song for Sky when I see her in New York and play it for her. Everything I write down, though, sounds stupid, girly, or just wrong on all levels. To put it mildly, I suck at writing music.

A girl with a small frame and short blond hair walks into the room. She looks over at me and collapses into a seat. “Hi,” she says.

“Hi. Um … are you in the right room?”

“I think so. I’m Penny; I’m here for lessons.”

“Oh. I thought these were private.” Because I don’t want other people to hear how bad I am. My instructor is one thing, but this person I’ve never seen before? Absolutely not.

She shrugs her shoulders. “Not today, it seems.”

I nod. She eyes me up and blushes slightly. The old me would have hit on her right then, but I belong to Skylar. Even if the girl never returns my calls or texts, I’m hers until she tells me otherwise. And as if by magic my instructor walks into the room.

Jenna straps on her guitar and says, “Hey, everyone. Did we do intros?”

“I told him my name; I didn’t catch his,” Penny says with fluttery eyelashes.

Jenna turns to me and smiles. “Caleb, Penny. Penny, Caleb. Okay, we’re all introduced; let’s jam.” Jenna went through a few minor chords we were going to work on.

About an hour later, when I’m heading to my car, I check my cell. No missed calls, but a text from Sky appears.

Hey, sry 4 avoidin u. I think we need 2 talk soon.

“Talk soon” is never a good sign. Shit. She’s going to break up with me. Four more days. I need to postpone this breakup call for four more days. I shake my head. Man, I’m sounding completely warped. Like a half-crazed chick.

I’m about to slide into my car when I hear, “Hey! Hey, um, Caleb!”

“Yeah?” I say to Penny.

“Hey, I know we don’t know each other.” She tucks some hair behind her ear and rocks back on her heels. “But I was wondering if you could give me a lift.”

I raise my hands. “Uh … I have to be home early. Sorry.” It’s a lie, but I can’t have her in the car with me. Not with her eyes staring at me like she’s ripping off all my clothes right this second. I know what her plans really are. She has a ride either on its way or about to be here, but she wants to hook up. But again, I don’t want her. The girl I need is miles away, and probably ready to break up with me.

I’ve got to get the hell outta here. I turn my attention back to my car door, ready to open it, when the girl clings to my arm. “Please! I’ll do anything.”

Normally, I’d cave. But I’m not this time. I simply shake my head and continue to open up my driver’s side door. “Sorry. I gotta go.” I slide into my seat.

Penny lowers herself to my door, showing off a massive amount of cleavage. I notice myself staring and turn away. “All right. Maybe next time.”

There won’t be a next time. In a few more days, I’m going to be with Skylar, and I’ll convince her to come home with me. Hopefully she will, and then people like Penny will get the picture. I have a girl and no one compares to her.

Before I start my car, I skim the contacts in my phone but then stop myself. No, I will not call Sky. No matter how much I want to. Not yet.

Dropping my phone on the passenger seat, I crank the car’s engine and head home.

***

School has turned crazy. Students have been boycotting class in order to get some of the cut programs back. Like wrestling. Since they’ve missed about four scheduled meets so far, they’re quite ticked. Especially Derrick. He’s acting as if he’s got roid rage, slamming shit down on the table at lunch and snapping at anyone even reading the sports section of the paper. And I don’t blame him. I’d be so pissed off if the school cut any of my teams.

Girls’ basketball has been cut too. They got clever, and stole all the basketballs in retaliation for eliminating their program. So now the boys haven’t been able to practice. And their season is totally going down the tubes because of it. It’s kind of funny, because someone brings a ball to school every day in order to have practice, but I swear, it magically disappears the middle of the day.

You’d figure those new cameras would catch them, but it turns out the cameras are only in the lunchroom and all four entrances to the school.

Kayla sits down beside me in English. “Wanna be partners?”

“What?”

“Partners? Sky isn’t here and you’re always sitting back here so I figured I’d ask.”

I nod. “Yeah. Sure.”

“Cool. We’ve got to create a poetic story.”

Oh, this is real awesome. Kayla will probably regret being partners real quick. I can’t even write a song for Skylar, how the hell am I supposed to come up with a poetic story? I frown as soon as I see the dumb project is worth half our end-of-the-year exam grade.

“So what kind of theme do you want to do? Romantic? Tragic? Ooo, we can do a comedy.”

I shrug. “Comedy is fine. Maybe tragic isn’t so bad either. I mean, the whole school is going to shit and the person who can easily fix it is a thousand miles away.” I don’t mention that that same person has also made me completely insane, too. I swear I heard her whispering my name in my ear this morning. As soon as I opened my eyes, though, reality stepped in, ’cause the only person in my room was me.

“Sky still hasn’t called?”

I shake my head. I’m not about to tell Kayla about the text. She sighs. “I’m sorry. I know how much this must suck for you.” She shrugs. “I mean, you guys are so cute together. And then the whole incident happened. And now the whole long-distance thing. Maybe it got to be too much for her. Maybe she wants to see how or where everything fits while her life changes all over again.”

“I know.” I’ve been trying not to think about it. If she decides to stay in New York, where will that leave us? Will she end this?

Kayla smiles. “I’m sure everything will work out, though. She told me she has a few pictures of you guys on her phone and on her nightstand that she looks at. But other than that she hasn’t really said much about why she’s not talking to you. She did say school is fifty times harder than here and she feels like a retard. She also swears her grade point average is going to go into the toilet if she doesn’t get a tutor. Then she laughed and said, ‘Me, with a tutor. I never thought those words would come out of my mouth.’”

I know I should say something, but instead I nod.

What more can I say? The girl I love is slowly killing me.

Chapter 4

Skylar

Obviously, I don’t pay a lot of attention when it comes to things happening around me. For instance, Malcom is in all of my classes. Yeah. Every. Single. One. It gets better, too. He’s a macdab genius. Which makes me super jealous.

I catch a glimpse of Mr. Annoying’s last test and have to hold back a scream. Another A+. Before the move to New York, the only thing I got was A+’s. My eyes dart down to my own paper and I frown at the C- before me. In my last class I got a B and I thought that was the end of the world. This … this is like the end of the universe.

My life has officially hit rock-freaking-bottom. I need a tutor fast, before I can kiss even my partial scholarship to Duke goodbye. The bell rings and I already have my stuff in my hand, heading out the door, when I hear, “Oh, hey! Babycakes, have you finally started stalking me?”

I turn my glare to Malcom. “Why do you keep calling me that? And no, I’m not stalking you.”

“To answer your question, you wrinkle your nose every time I say it, and I find it cute.” He nudges my side. “But seriously, I must ask, what’s up with the frown? No peanuts for your parade?”

“Huh?” Who says that? And what the hell does that even mean?

He laughs and shrugs. “Sorry, my dad has all these dumbass sayings and they rub off.” He smiles. “So, what’s up? You don’t usually look so depressed. Guy troubles? Lacking some attention in the downstairs department?” He nudges me.

“No. Jeez. What’s wrong with you?” What a pervert. But as his words sort of play around in my head, I stop and ask, “And how would you know how I usually look?”

“Damn, the gig is up. Well, I’ve known you were in all my classes since day one. Fun is a good thing, you know. You should try it.” We leave the school and head down the busy sidewalk.

“You know what else is a good thing? Mace.”

He chuckles and turns a corner, and I follow. No longer on the right path to my new house. Malcom glances over at me with a cheesy grin. “You seem to be following me now, though.”

I sigh. “Can I see your tests from today?” I don’t know why I’m asking. I got a peek at them in class.

He hands them over and I can’t help but become green with envy as I see the two, big A+’s on them.

“Happy?” He starts to pull the tests back into his own possession.

I narrow my eyes and shove them back at him. “Would you be up for catching me up? Apparently I’m not as prepared as I thought.”

He smirks while his eyebrow pops up. “Well … I might be willing to. What’s in it for me?”

I don’t like what he’s insinuating. Flinching a little, I say, “I don’t know. What did you have in mind? Money?”

“A date. With me.”

“No. I’m … ” What am I, in a relationship? I’m not even sure that’s correct anymore. I’ve avoided Caleb’s calls and texts for almost a week. I’m pretty sure he’s about fed up with me. Anyone else would be. I swallow and finish, “ … in love with someone.” That’s not a lie. I am in love with Caleb, I just don’t want to put him through a long-distance relationship. He’s got too much other crap to worry about. I’ll be a distraction, holding him back.

Malcom nods. “Fair enough. How about a friendly breakfast? You can pay for your own meal and I’ll pay for mine. We’ll talk about non-romantic things like the weather, disasters, and whatever else might come up. Sound like a deal?”

I nod. “Okay.” I stick my hand out but quickly drop it when he doesn’t shake it.

He just laughs and says, “Come on. My place is a few blocks this way.”

***

After entering Malcom’s room, I officially claim him as the dorky version of me. Well, that’s if, of course, my dorky side was into comic books and collected action figures instead of playing sports. His room is OCD spotless, and all his comics are in protective coverings and set in volume order as well as alphabetical. But it also goes by brands, too, like Marvel, DC comics, Dark Horse, and the list goes on. This isn’t the only thing I noticed we have in common; two guitars rest in the far corner.

“You play?”

His eyes leave whatever object he’s looking at and find mine. “I told you that.”

I shrug. “I didn’t think you were serious.”

“I’m always serious, babycakes.”

“You need to stop calling me that,” I groan.

He rolls his shoulders and laughs. “Not making any promises.” He winks and I’m regretting my decision to ask him for help. With a sigh, I plop down in the chair at his desk. He shakes his head and tsks. “Uh, how are we to study if you’re all the way over there? This isn’t a lecture hall, Skylar.”

“Oh, so you can say my name,” I tease and move the chair closer to where he sits on his bed.

He smiles and starts laying out his books. “What subject would you like to start with?”

“Let’s go with physics.” Since it’s the class I got a C- in. I’m not letting him know this, though. I already feel slow enough coming here and asking for his help.

He nods and pulls out his physics book. We start working through our homework together, and everything is fine, until it isn’t. It feels wrong, and familiar all at the same time. My mind flicks back to memories of a boy laughing, with a smile that makes my insides feel like Jell-O. But when I shake myself from my thoughts, that boy isn’t in this room with me, it’s Malcom. I stand as sweat forms and sticks to the nape of my neck. Panic surges through me, and without a word, I grab my things and bolt out of the room.

I’m two blocks away from my dad’s house when my phone rings. I dig it out of my back pocket and answer it without checking the screen.

“Hello?”

“Hey. You answered.”