Unlovable (11 page)

“
I’ve decided to call
it
Maggie’s Kiss
,”
Seth proclaimed proudly. All the color drained from my face as Mrs.
Gianchi glanced at me and smiled.

“
My, my dear, you must be
quite the little kisser, this dish is wonderful. Full marks for
both of you.” Moving toward the front of the room, she again shook
her head in amazement.

“
I can’t believe you. Do you
have any idea how embarrassing that was?”

“
I wasn’t trying to
embarrass you, Maggie.” He was actually puzzled by my reaction.
Boys are so dense!

“
It's okay, forget it.” It
was pointless to argue. “Let’s clean up this mess before the bell
rings.” I had to admit the name was kind of sweet, at least no one
else heard him.

Mrs. Gianchi called the class together
from her stool as we finished. “You’ve done well today. I’m proud
of your creativity. Some of you should consider cooking as a
career, and some of you should continue working hard at your other
studies,” she smiled. “The winners in today’s contest are Seth and
Maggie for their creation entitled—.”

No! Please don’t say it
aloud, please, oh please
!

“
Maggie’s Kiss.” Ugh!
Several of the guys belted out catcalls as Seth grinned. A few even
slapped him on the back as if to congratulate him.

Will this day ever
end
?

“
I’ve set out some plastic
forks and paper plates on the counter. On your way out the door,
please take a small sample of Maggie’s Kiss—Steve, I heard that! If
you even try you’ll have detention for a week.” His freckle covered
face went bright pink.

Most of the guys crowded around the
dish for a taste. When Steve walked over, Seth positioned himself
between us, but it didn’t stop Steve from playfully winking at
me.

Seth put the last of it onto a plate
and handed it to me as the bell rang. “Sorry if I embarrassed you,
Maggie. I didn’t think she’d announce it to the entire class.” His
devilish smile didn’t look very repentant to me. My thoughts went
to Hillary as I took the plate and left. If she heard about this,
I’d be dead.

I used my alternate route home again
to avoid Seth. If he did try to find me, I never saw
him.

Since we could no longer afford a
phone, I went straight to our weird neighbor’s trailer, Mr.
Hoffman, to use his. It took him forever to answer the door, and as
I was about to give up when it flew open.

“
Can I use your phone?” He
stood in the doorway wiping his nose on his dirty green shirtsleeve
and raking his eyes over me.

“
Sure thing, hot stuff.” He
scratched himself before reaching into his pocket for his cell
phone. He laid it in my hand, keeping contact with my skin much
longer than necessary. “Who ya calling? Maybe I can help?” He
winked a watery yellow eye.

Repulsive! “I need to call
the police,” I said,
after
punching in 9-1-1. He backed off and went into the
kitchen, the last thing Hoffman wanted was the police nosing around
our neighborhood. More than once, I’d seen him selling weed in
Applegate Park. He was probably afraid they’d raid his
trailer.

After a brief conversation, the
operator informed me an officer was on the way. Setting the phone
down on the porch railing, I quickly thanked Hoffman and
left.

I changed into my sweats and began
pacing nervously up and down the living room waiting. The thought
to move my inebriated mom into her room was interrupted by a light
tap on the door. I opened it to the sight of a handsome police
officer with the letters MET embroidered across his black
jacket.

“
Hello, I’m here to speak
with Maggie Brown.”

“
That’s me,” I dribbled out
stupidly, still ogling him. He was incredibly good looking, with
his dark wavy brown hair and deep brown eyes. His shoulders were
broad, leaving me with the impression that this guy was serious
about his workouts. He wasn’t quite as tall as Seth, though still
quite tall. He was probably the only human on the planet who could
give Seth some competition in the gorgeous department. Well,
almost. He flashed me a heart-stealing grin, and I noted the
dimples on either side of his smile that could only be described
as,
WOW
!

“
May I come in?”

“
Sorry, yes. Please
do.”
Snap out of it, Maggie.
“Have a seat,” I said, pointing to the one free
piece of furniture in the room. He glanced over at my mom who was
snoring softly on the couch.

“
No, please, I don’t mind
standing,” he said, gesturing for me to sit down.

“
I’ll get a chair from the
kitchen.” I reined in my hormones and dashed the two feet into the
kitchen to grab the least rickety chair we had.

With pen in hand, he started asking
questions about the man from the park to which I answered each to
the best of my memory.

Then the questioning took a strange
twist. “You were in the park with Mr. Prescott between 11:30 and
midnight, correct?”

 “
How did you know
that?”

“
I came here directly from
speaking with Mr. Prescott. He said the two of you were in the park
when you saw the man in question.” I nodded soberly. “Midnight is a
bit late for you to be out, seeing it was a school night and all.
You’re how old, 17?” He looked back over at my mother
disapprovingly. Great, now the hottie cop thinks he’s my father.
“What were you doing out so late?”

Not wanting to go into the whole
argument with my mother, I simply said, “I was with Seth,” sort of,
“he’s 18.” There was no need calling in Social Services this late
into the game. In a few months I’d be 18, and I had no intention of
ending up in a foster home until then. It was why I didn’t get free
lunch at school, fearing if I filled out the forms, government
people might come snooping around my house. Not a good
idea!

“
Seth does seem like a
responsible young man. You have good taste in boyfriends, Miss
Brown.” He smiled and reached into his pocket for a small
card.

“
He’s not my boyfriend,” I
said, a little too fiercely. “He’s just a friend.”

“
Really? Huh.” He handed me
his business card and asked me to call him if I remembered anything
else. He thanked me for my help as he slid his pen into a breast
pocket and gave another sideways glance at my mother.

“
When do you turn
18?”

“
April.” I opened the door
and found the dog from this morning sitting on the porch. I knew I
had to think fast. A stray dog without tags meant only one thing,
the animal shelter.

“
There you are. I’ve been
searching for you everywhere, you naughty boy.” I scooped up the
dog, and he began licking my face. The hottie cop
chuckled.

“
Friendly little guy, isn’t
he?” He reached over and began rubbing the dog on the head. “What
kind of a dog is he?” I shrugged. “Probably just a mutt of some
kind.” The dog then snapped at the officer. “And that’s exactly why
I prefer cats,” he added, laughing.

“
Does he have a license?
It’s a law in this county that all dogs must be licensed. Is he
yours?” He continued to rub the dog’s head, though clearly he
didn’t like it.

“
No, but I’ll let the owners
know when I see them.” That wasn’t a lie, if I found out who owned
him, I’d tell them.

“
I could take him to the
shelter if you’d like. We’ll make sure his shots are up to date,
and even have him neutered. It’s a free service offered by the
local shelter.” The dog snapped once more at him as if he
understood what he was saying.

Smart doggy. Now
s
top it, or he’ll haul
you away!

“
That won’t be necessary,” I
said. He nodded and left. I looked down at the business card in my
hand and wondered why Officer Hottie thought Seth and I were
dating. Correction. The hottie was a
captain
, Captain Booker Gatto, to be
precise.

I shook my head. I didn’t need to be
thinking about boys, or men right now. I had a ton of homework to
do and dwelling on the male species, no matter how good looking,
wasn’t going to help me finish.

I went to the refrigerator, took out
the leftover Maggie’s Kiss, and divided it up between two plates
for my mom and me. I put some of mine onto a paper plate for the
dog. He stuck his nose up at the food, probably still full from all
the garbage cans he’d raided earlier, and instead curled up by my
feet for a nap. I scratched him behind his ears for a few minutes
trying to think of a name for him. “How about Brutus?” The dog
cocked his head. “No? Maybe Prince. What do you think, you little
ball of fluff. You like the name Prince?” The dog dropped his
fluffy head down onto his paws. “That’s it! Fluffy. It’s perfect.
Do you like it?” He barked loudly. “Since I don’t speak dog, I’m
guessing you do. “ I have to do some homework, Fluffy, you’ll have
to entertain yourself for a while.”

I steeled my brain for another battle
with numbers, but only after making sure all the doors and windows
in the house were locked.

6

“
What is that noise?” I
lifted my head up from off the table. As my mind cleared, I
realized it was my alarm clock screaming at me from the bedroom. It
was 7:13 A.M., and I’d spent the entire night sitting, or rather
sleeping, at the kitchen table. The last thing I remembered was
letting the dog out when he scratched on the door around eleven
P.M.

I stood up slowly, stretching the
kinks out of my back and vigorously rubbed at the red mark on my
forearm from where my head had been resting. I could hear my
mother’s snores as I passed her bedroom to switch off the
alarm.

“
Thanks for letting me sleep
at the table all night, mother,” I said to the door, wondering for
the umpteenth time if she cared about me at all. I took a quick
shower and dressed for school. Racing out the door 20 minutes
later, I ran smack into Seth.

“
Good morning, beautiful.”
Forcing my eyes from his heart-stopping green eyes, I straightened
my sweater and headed down the street.

“
Thank you. What are you
doing here?” I asked, marching past his Lexus.

“
I brought you some
breakfast.” He held out a
Bagel
Heaven
sack, the contents of which caused
the small brown bag to bulge.

“
I’ve already eaten,”
sort of
. “Thanks,
anyway.” It smelled delicious.
Bagel
Heaven
was the hot spot for most of the
student body, and even though I’d never eaten there before, I’d
heard about it.

“
You can eat it later,” he
said, stuffing the sack into my book bag. “It’s freezing today,
wait here, I’ll get my car.” Before I could refuse, he was gone,
pulling up alongside me with the passenger door ajar a few seconds
later. I decided accepting the ride was better than freezing to
death and climbed in.

“
You should eat the bagel
while it’s still warm. The cream cheese practically melts in your
mouth.”

“
I’ve already eaten,
remember?” I stole a whiff of the warm bagel. Heaven itself
couldn’t possibly smell this good.

“
Thin as you are, it won’t
hurt to eat a second breakfast. Hobbits eat second breakfasts.” I
bit my lip to keep from laughing at his analogy. “You know,
Hobbits? J.R.R. Tolkien? Lord of the Rings?”

“
Yes, I’m familiar with the
story.” Everyone on the planet was familiar with the
story.

“
Never mind.” He grumbled
something under his breath about a great joke and looked back over
at me. “Why do I make you nervous?”

“
You don’t. Why do you keep
asking me that?”

He leaned over and tugged softly on my
fingers. I was twisting my hair again! “Because it seems every time
I talk to you, you start doing this. Not that I mind, it’s kind of
cute.”

“
It’s kind of cute I twist
my hair, or it’s kind of cute you make me nervous?

“
Both.”

“
I twist my hair mostly out
of boredom, sorry to disappoint you.” I smoothed out the tangled
mess and mentally slapped myself.
Get it
in control, girl
.

I was relieved the foul tempered
Hillary was nowhere to be seen as we pulled into the parking lot. I
thanked him for the ride and the bagel, vowing silently to never
again twirl my hair. I took off running for the bathroom to devour
the bagel, I couldn’t very well eat it during our class after
making such a big stink about not being hungry. I chided myself
again for my foolish pride, but not before stuffing a huge piece of
the delicious bagel into my mouth.

“
Slow it down, girl. You’re
chowin’ on that as if you haven’t eaten in a week!”
Oh! Not Melody
! Within
seconds I had the low-down on the two new transfer students while
she dragged me down the hall to Mythology. I nodded, shoveling
pieces of the bagel into my mouth as she continued her babble. We
stepped into the room as the bell rang. Melody ran to the front row
and dropped into the desk next to Hillary. As
my
luck would have it, Seth was
sitting next to the only empty spot left in the room. I dropped my
books down on the desk and sank into my seat.