“I’m sorry I mentioned her car to you freaks; geez, get a grip.”
“Selfish ass, you just want it all to yourself. You’re gonna let us test it, right Lisa.” Steve looked around Cody to bat his lashes at me and got an elbow to the gut for his efforts.
“Stop flirting with my woman before I break your legs.”
My woman! Who knew I was into the caveman mentality? Even if I wasn’t before, I am now, as the butterflies in my tummy attested to. I felt giddy at the realization that we’d only just begun that this thing between us was still so new, and there was so much more we both had to learn about each other, and I can’t wait to experience it all with him. If only I could just keep that one little pesky fly out of the ointment of my life, that is.
While the guys fooled around, buffeting each other like the overgrown louts they are, I kept an eye on the two girls without being too obvious while I tried to figure out this new angle. Cody didn’t seem to notice my distraction, and I kept a smile on my face when he said goodbye at the door of my class, where it seemed like everyone inside was watching. It had become fodder for the masses, and almost everyone has been whispering about the way he walks me to and from class, which I’m sure has gotten back to Susie, and maybe that’s why we’re seeing so much of her these days.
SUSIE
I could barely see straight enough to make it back to class. I was so mad. The blood that had rushed to my head when I saw Cody with that twit had yet to go back to its place, and I was this close to destroying the room as my anger refused to go away. This was getting out of hand, and although no one dared in my presence, I’m sure people were laughing at me because of her.
I’d heard the rumors about those two, the whispers around every corner while I was in hiding. I hadn’t been too sure how much Cody remembered from that night at the bar or if he’d put two and two together and realized what I’d done. Once days had passed and there was no word about the incident floating around, I’d found it safe to reappear, but by the time I did, that little idiot was on the scene.
My first look at her had reassured me that I had nothing to worry about. Short, with ugly black hair, not a smidge of makeup in sight as if she’d been raised by farm animals, and those frumpy clothes that made her look old and washed out, she was no competition for me, but everyone else seemed to think that Cody was smitten.
No one had the nerve to come right out and say it in my presence, of course, but I could tell they wanted to, even my so-called friends. It’s no secret that Cody is mine and has been since the first day we met. I’ve lost count of how many others I’d sent packing who came sniffing around him, and had I not been laying low until the dust settled, she’d never have got the chance to get close to him.
With the threat of being found out behind me, I was ready to continue my campaign to win Cody, but each time I turned around, she was there. I thought the picture I’d arranged would’ve been enough to put an end to the two of them; it’s worked before, well, not a picture exactly, but I’ve used other means of subterfuge to dissuade others who got too close to him. Though in those instances, it was his own disinterest that had done the job.
I watched as my friend Belinda entered the classroom and made her way over to sit beside me. “What did she say?”
“They’ll be there.” She smiled as she took her seat, and I breathed easier. The picture hadn’t worked; in fact, I hadn’t heard a peep about it, which is both good and bad.
Good that they haven’t caught on to the fact that it was me who sent it, and bad because she’s still in the picture, lurking around Cody like a bad scent. “Have you guys still not found out anything about her yet?” What kind of teenager doesn’t have social media? I’ve searched and searched, but there is nothing with her name anywhere, and no one seems to know who she is or where she came from.
Our school is a mixed bag of the elite and those dregs who happen to win a scholarship from some bleeding-heart organization that believes in giving the less fortunate a leg up. I’m not sure why they would think that that’s a good idea; as far as I’m concerned, the two shouldn’t mix. I choose to overlook the fact that Cody is part of that class because he’s different; even my dad thinks so.