Chapter 15
2221 Words
"Damn," Bambi rolled beside me as she sat up, holding her head. I struggled to open my eyes as I sat up too.
"My head hurts terribly... f**k," I said, trying to shake my head.
"How did we get here?" Bambi asked and I looked around. We were in my room.
"How did we get here?" I echoed.
"f**k," Bambi closed her eyes, still holding her head.
"We need an Advil," I said as we got off the bed and walked to the kitchen.
I grabbed two glasses and filled them up with cold water. I passed one to Bambi and together, we threw the pills into our mouths. I wiped the water off my mouth and Bambi sighed.
"What's on your mind?" I asked her.
"I almost kissed Jesse yesterday." She said, closing her eyes.
"What?" My eyes widened.
"Yes. It happened so fast. I mean, I was too drunk, I was staggering like an i***t and then, Jesse came to me. I honestly thought he wanted to kiss me, but instead, he just wrapped his arms around me and led me to the couch. We stayed there for some time and I wondered what was taking him so long and I decided to go for it... But he stopped me."
"He stopped you?" I looked at her, surprised.
"Yes.. how embarrassing! He pushed me away. But if it was for him to kiss other girls, he'd have done it without thinking. Why me?" She put her hands up in the air.
"No, Bambi! That's not it.."
"Not what?"
"He stopped you. Usually, Jesse would go ahead to kiss any girl because he has no real feelings for them... But he didn't want to kiss you because he didn't want to take advantage of your drunken state!" I smiled.
"What?" She squinted, "What's the summary of all that?"
"He probably likes you!"
"Never. That can't happen."
"Yes, it can."
Just then, Bambi's phone rang andshe took it. "Hey Ry... Yeah, fine... We're okay. It was you!" She let out a chuckle, "Thank you, Ry, but how did you do it? .. Yeah, right.. Bye." As soon as she hung up, she looked at me as she said, "Ryan brought us here."
"How could he have carried us?" I asked.
"That's what I asked him.. says he got superpowers."
I rolled my eyes, chuckling a little.
"So, tell me, what happened to you when we decided to go our separate ways?" Bambi looked at me.
"We didn't decide to go separate ways, I asked you to wait for me while I went to grab a donut and by the time I got back, you were no longer there!"
Bambi rolled her eyes, "What happened, Kenzi?"
I huffed as I said, "I got myself in trouble."
..................
Monday
I rushed to the kitchen to have breakfast. This was probably going to be the first time Bambi would meet me dressed.
I checked the dining table. No cereal
I checked the refrigerator. No milk. I had a lot of toasts and had taken them all, last week Friday. In short, I had no breakfast. Damn. I put it at the back of my mind to get to the store after school and get some milk and cereal with the money Bambi had given me. I also decided to visit mom. It was quite bad of me to not have visited her since when she got there. Just then, I heard Bambi's car pull up and I ran out the door.
"Is something going on today?" Bambi asked me.
"What do you mean?"
"Like, I didn't have to even horn before you came out," she said.
I chuckled, "This is probably the only time it's gonna happen... I was up all night dreading today, so I got up early."
"Tell me something I don't know, Jesse would probably embarrass me today."
"And Tanner would kill me today. Damn, alcohol boosts confidence."
Bambi let out a small laugh.
................
Bambi and I walked to our lockers. We were silent, but I could bet we were thinking the same thing. We were praying we didn't meet Tanner or Jesse in the hallway.
"Hey," Bambi and I jumped. Then, we looked back and saw Ryan shoot us a weird look.
"What?" Ryan asked.
"Nothing..." Bambi breathed.
"What's up?" He looked from Bambi to me.
"We're just scared, okay? Some really awkward things happened to us at the party with Jesse and Tanner... I'm dead meat," I told Ryan.
"Look girls, in life, things you expect to happen, don't happen. That's what you should know," he said.
Bambi looked around, "Hey. What did mother nature do to my friends today? Kenzi was so damn early and Ryan has turned into some motivational speaker."
Ryan and I laughed, shaking our heads and immediately, the bell rang.
"Gotta go guys! See you during English," Bambi said, running off.
.................
I was seated already, waiting for Mrs Martinez to come in. I yawned, but the yawn was immediately replaced by a sneeze. Tanner had just sat down. I practically froze. Through the side of my eye, I saw him open his mouth to say something, but instead, he closed it and moved uncomfortably in his seat.
"Hey Mackenzie." I heard Jesse's voice and realized he stood in front of me, smiling.
"Hi Jesse!" I smiled back at him.
"I just wanted to thank you for coming for the party."
"Aw it's okay."
"Did you enjoy the party?"
"Of course, I did!.. So many things to enjoy." I could see Tanner's face when I said that and so I laughed.
"Well, I made a promise.. so, I did get you a box of chocolates," Jesse said.
"What? No. I really didn't come because of the chocolates.. don't worry about it," I said.
"C'mon, I know. But then, you also love chocolates, so you really should take it", he said, then handed two large boxes of chocolates to me.
"Here, take it." He put them on my table and again, I could see Tanner staring at us intently.
"Uh..Two?" I looked at the boxes.
"Well, I was just wondering if you could.. Uh, give the other one to Bambi," he said, not making eye contact.
"Why can't you give it to her?" I looked at him.
"Uh.. I, no.. nothing," he said nervously .
I smiled to myself. Jesse was a bad boy. He had no problem talking to ANY girl at all, so, why was he so nervous to give Bambi himself?
"Right. Thanks, Jesse," I smiled at him.
"No, thank you," he playfully winked and walked to his seat as Mrs Martinez walked into the class, apologizing for how late she was.
.................
As soon as the bell rang, I got up and made my way to Mrs Martinez. I was going to tell her about tutoring Tanner. I was going to tell her I couldn't do it again. Just as I got to her, a guy I didn't recognize grabbed my arm and took me out of the class. He probably joined the school this year because I'd never seen him before I left for Spain.
"Excuse me?" I looked at him, "I was trying to talk to Mrs Martinez, and damn, you weren't trying to hurt me, were you?" I rubbed my arm.
"I'm sorry for that. I just really need a moment to talk to you, please."
"What's so important? It definitely can wait."
"No it can't.. I just need a little help with what we did today. I'm usually busy after school."
I sighed, "Right. I hope it isn't so much because I really need to talk to Mrs Martinez."
"No. It isn't. I'm so sorry, it's just that I need to understand, I have to tutor somebody after school."
"Oh... Okay." I nodded.
I watched him flip the pages, he flipped it continuously and I was getting impatient.
"Hello? Are you gonna find the page or what?" I rolled my eyes.
"I just realized I don't have the small notebook with me.. I'm sorry, but..." His voice trailed off
It took everything in me not to slap his face. He wasted my f*****g time!
"Retard." I said as I walked away from him and hurried back to class, hoping Mrs Martinez got delayed and was still in. I sighed in anger when I saw the class was empty.
I slowly walked to English, and by the time I got in, Mrs Finn was already in, but I slipped into the class without her seeing me. I'd have you know, I, Mackenzie has her ways.
..............
Before I left for Spain, I enjoyed English class. Bambi, Ryan, Edward, Jesse and I would sit beside each other, cause a little trouble in class and at the end of the day, we'd all be in detention together. English class these days seemed uninteresting. Thankfully, Tanner wasn't my seatmate in English, but sometimes, I could feel his eyes on me.
Edward kept calling my name and I kept ignoring him. Didn't he get that I didn't want to speak to him? As I looked at my note to write down a point, I was hit by a folded piece of paper on my arm, which fell to the floor. I got the paper, opened it and read.
I can explain.
I rolled my eyes in annoyance as I squeezed the paper and threw it away.
Honestly, I'd never been in a b***h fight before and I really didn't want to be involved in one. Especially not with Lenore.
After what seemed like forever, the bell rang and I got up from my seat. Mr Finn asked Bambi to see him, so she told me she'd meet me at lunch. I walked out of the class when Edward stopped me.
"What's so hard to understand in leave me alone! Honestly, it's disturbing!" Then, I saw Lenore approach us, thankfully, she was talking to a friend and she couldn't see me, so I walked away from Edward as fast as I could.
How could things have gotten so bad in the space of two years? And then, I mentally kicked myself.
Two years, not two days.
..................
After school was my best time ever. Like, who wouldn't like to leave this cage? I walked down the hallway, planning my movement from the store to the hospital. Should I get to the store, grab some things for mom too, then go home to drop my stuff, and finally go to the hospital?-
I was cut short when a hand shot out of the janitor's closet and pulled me inside. I was going to scream. Why did I feel like I was getting kidnapped of late? I opened my mouth to scream.
"Don't make noise," I heard the all too familiar voice. It was Tanner. Oh God, behold, my last day on Earth!
"Step. Aside. Get out," I said, trying to sound bold.
"Would you just calm down and listen to me?" He said a little calmly.
"I don't regret anything I said to you Friday night. If it wasn't for some retarded guy who pulled me outta class to waste my f*****g time when I wanted to talk to Mrs Martinez, I'd no longer be called your tutor at this moment. You probably didn't hear what I said on Friday because you were so drunk, but I don't mind sounding it in your ears a million times that-"
"If I kiss you right now, would you stop rambling?!" He shouted and my eyes widened in surprise.
"What?" I sounded like I was being choked. To my surprise, Tanner took a step closer to me, leaving only very little or no space at all between us. He looked down at me as his gaze dropped to my lips, breathing against my cheek. He looked too f*****g sexy right now, and all I could do was breathe hard. It was so damn crazy, but I liked the feeling. I liked the way he looked at my lips. I was literally melting at the moment. His eyes held a particular desire, but this was too much for me. Way too much, so I pushed him away.
He smirked, looking at me. "Right. I'm sorry. I never knew you felt that way." He took a breath, "I was the one who asked that guy to distract you-"
"Why?" I glared at him
"Because I didn't want you to tell Mrs Martinez, Dammit," he closed his eyes
My eyes widened,"So, what you're trying to say is you want me to tutor you."
"Uh.. not really, but y'know..." He shrugged.
"You want it, but your pride won't let you admit it."
"Fine! I do," he said.
I smiled triumphantly,"Gotcha!"
"Once again, I'm sorry."
I nodded, smiling. He smiled back as he said, "Thanks." And then he left.
I remained there, smiling like a total i***t. I didn't know is if it was because Tanner McCann apologized sincerely to me or it was because that was the friendliest conversation we just had or it was because he wanted me to be his tutor.... Or maybe, just maybe, it was because I saw his beautiful eyes light up in his smile at me.
- Writer
