Page 4 of The 13th Daughter
"Don't who me, CJ! Your hair doesn't have a strand out of place, your makeup is perfect, and you're wearing your damn-my-ass-looks-fine skinny jeans. Spill! Who is he?"
I had taken a little extra time this morning with my appearance in hopes Mr. Melt In Your Mouth Gorgeous would be at school. I'd been scoping the halls since we got here, but no such luck.
"You didn't have to get all dressed up for me." Jeff Parker, his cornflower blue eyes sparkling with laughter, wrapped an arm around my shoulders and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek as he rolled up to us. I tried to shrug his arm off, but he held on with a death grip and a smile. The boy didn't know when to give up.
"Details, CJ, I want details." Kay wagged a finger at me.
No, she didn't. She'd die of embarrassment. I smiled wickedly at her. If I didn't love her, I'd so totally embarrass her right now after she'd ruined my shoes last night.
Her eyes widened at my smile. She knew something was up.
"So are you coming tonight?" Jeff saved me from being bombarded with more questions.
"Definitely not," I told him. Why was everyone suddenly so interested in my coming to the Hall? I got pestered a lot to come, but it had gotten worse in the last few weeks. It seemed like the entire town had asked me to come at one point or another inthe last couple of days. Why couldn't everyone just respect my beliefs the way I did theirs?
"You totally should come," Kay smoothed her ebony hair. A freshman bumped into her and she glared her best Queen Bitch stare at the kid. Face pale and eyes wide, the poor girl mumbled something like an apology and ran for the nearest exit.
"You know I don't believe in any of that nonsense, Kay." I rolled my eyes. Sometimes I wondered why she couldn't be nicer. That wasn't Kay, though. She was "The Shit" and she knew it.
"You never come," Jeff wheedled. "It'll be fun, CJ."
"You guys convince CJ to come tonight?" Billy Howe asked between bites of his Pop Tart as he came to a stop beside of us. Billy was Kay's most recent acquisition in a long and never ending line of boyfriends. His football physique and dark good looks made him drool worthy.
"Now why would I want to come? It's just another excuse for you guys to get drunk and partake in lewd and illicit acts."
"Lewd?" Jeff smirked, his curly brown hair falling into his eyes. "Have you been sneaking around spying on our little get-togethers, CJ? My bod looked totally hot, right?"
Shudder. Jeff's naked body. As if that would ever happen in this lifetime. Hell, in this universe in a thousand lifetimes.
"Seriously, CJ, you need to come. It's not what you think." Billy took Kay's books for her. Totally sweet. I glanced up at Jeff. Neighbor Boy had serious designs on becoming my boyfriend, but did he even think to offer to take my books? Uh, no. Sweet was not in his vocabulary. So very, very not fair.
"Sorry, no. I have stuff to do," I said and tried again to dislodge Jeff.
"You're not coming tonight?"
My eyes went round at the sound of that voice. It was the guy from last night. It had to be. I turned to the left and mysuspicions were confirmed. He lounged against a locker looking sexier than anyone I'd ever met. He was dressed in a black school tee-shirt and sinfully tight jeans. His hair looked like a perfect mess again, as if he'd just crawled out of bed. It made him look even more delicious.
My heart sped up at the sight of him and I felt butterflies begin to flutter in my stomach. His eyes pinned me, darkening as his gaze raked over me from head to toe and caused me to fidget. I swallowed thickly.
Kay's "OH" nearly knocked her over. I snickered. Little did she know he'd seen her covered in puke.
A smile tugged at Ethan's very kissable lips. He knew exactly why I was laughing.
"Hey." My teeth snagged my bottom lip. Jeff's fingers tightened around my arm. His expression was not at all happy. Tough. Neighbor Boy was not my boyfriend.
"Ethan," Billy greeted him. "I thought you said you wouldn't be here until tomorrow."
He looked at me and grinned. "Changed my mind."
Kay looked ready to burst at the seams. She was shooting me looks that promised death if I didn't dish.
I could feel the blush start to creep up my neck and bloom onto my cheeks as Ethan continued to stare at me. His smile widened, showing a mouthful of even white teeth.
"This is Ethan Warren," Billy introduced him. "He just moved here from Virginia. His granddad is Andrew Warren."
Huh. I didn't know Old Man Warren had any living relatives. Wait, Ethan was going tonight? He believed in all that nonsense? And did he really sound like he was disappointed I wasn't going?
"CJ never goes," Jeff said with a note of irritation in his voice. "That's cool. She doesn't have to."
