Chapter 21

Sunday was quiet and I was happy. I told Sandra and Lola about Grayson and our kiss and I prayed that Grayson didn’t tell his friends; they’d make things awkward between us- especially Carson and Shane. I even told Sebastian, who congratulated me on the amount of progress I made. I doubt he has a crush on me because I know if I was in his shoes, hearing about how Grayson and Natalie kissed- I wouldn’t be congratulating anybody. I wasn’t excited about going to school Monday, though, because I’d have to face Grayson in Pre-Calculus, lunch, and Home Economics. That means I’d have to talk to him and I can’t smile like an idiot while doing so- or at any time of the day because then he'd make fun of me. He'd probably say something stupid about my crush on him, which I'm almost positive he knows about, or he'd insult me about my terrible kissing skills.

I entered the Pre-Calculus class as soon as the bell rang and sat down. Samantha smiled at me, nodding towards Grayson’s seat, which was empty. “I heard about what happened.”

I bit my lip and nodded. Sebastian had asked if he could tell her. “Yeah.”

She snorted, shaking her head. “So my plan kind of worked, huh?”

I let out a shaky breath, laughing lightly. “Yeah, it did.”

The moment the late bell rang, Grayson slipped into the classroom, earning a set of narrowed eyes in his direction from Mrs. G. He held up his hands as if claiming innocence and she pointed to his seat, where Natalie was eagerly waiting for his arrival. He glanced back at me and smirked while I struggled to hold back a squeal that was threatening to exit my mouth.

During the class, I occasionally glanced up and saw Natalie glaring at me. I furrowed my eyebrows, smirking slightly. Somebody’s jealous. When the bell rang, I gingerly stood up and placed my items into my bag at a slow pace and exited the classroom. Grayson was long gone but Natalie decided to stick around, surprisingly.

“Did you two kiss or something?” she snapped.

I furrowed my eyebrows, tilting my head to the side. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I told you to stay away from him.” She glared at me before walking in the opposite direction. I snorted and made my way to Creative Writing, a class where she’s supposed to be. As I sat down, the bell rang, and then the late bell rang; I realized that she wasn’t coming to class.

~~~

When the bell that officially ended third period rang, I quickly stood up and exited AP US Government and Politics and headed in the direction of my locker. I realized about a week ago that the walk from AP US Gov. and Politics to my locker allows me to pass by Grayson’s third period class. I can usually watch as he walks to lunch; that’s if I’m quick to get out of my class and down the long hall.

Today I was lucky, he was running late. He exited the classroom the minute I was passing by and I pretended not to see him. “Darling!”

I turned around, surprised that he called me by my nickname in such a public area. A few people looked at us with furrowed eyebrows but most of them were keen on getting to lunch. “Yeah?”

“W-where are you going?” he asked stupidly before realizing what he said. It was lunch time; I’m going to fight the dragons in the janitor’s closet, Grayson.

“I’m actually going to my locker,” I told him as I stopped in front of my yellow locker. As I was unlocking it and shuffling through it, Grayson waited beside me and I was grateful.

“Hey! Audrey!” My head snapped in the direction of the annoying voice.

“Oh gosh,” I muttered as I turned and looked at her, my eyebrows furrowing. “What?”

“You know, I don’t like you," she told me, placing her hands on her hips. After exchanging my books, I offered a glance at her.

I shrugged. “And I care why?” I retorted, closing my locker as she stood beside me, opposite to Grayson.

As I turned to look at her, she surprised me by extending her hand and slapping me across the face. I gaped at her as she smiled in satisfaction. Everyone stopped and stared at us. Grayson gaped, like me, and she smirked even wider. Grayson looked as if he was going to step in, giving me an extremely apologetic look but I felt my fists clench. She looked from Grayson to me when she saw my fist raising. Before I could even control myself, I swung my fist forward and it collided with her face, causing a sickening smack to resonate throughout the hallway. Losing her balance, she fell to the ground, clutching her face.

Grayson looked even more shocked than me. I glanced from my fist to her and then back again before I let out a loud, stomach splitting laugh. “That’s what you get!”

High fiving myself, I turned to Grayson who was holding back a laugh. His facial expression suddenly changed as he looked past all of the people, towards something behind them. Entwining his fingers with my own, he yanked me towards the opposite end of the hallway.

“What?” I asked as we ran. He was a lot faster than me and I was lagging behind.

“The principal was there,” he told me as we ran around the hallway and towards the elevator. He rapidly pressed the button as he looked over my shoulder nervously.

Once the doors opened, he flung us inside, untangling our hands. I felt my face burn red as I realized that the last time we were in an enclosed space together, we kissed. I didn’t even want to look at Grayson. I bit the inside of my mouth to hold back from grinning. We ran through the second floor hallway towards the opposite end of the hall, towards the second stairwell.

We slowly walked down the steps. “What was the point of this?”

He shrugged. “We weren’t in the area when Natalie started to cry because she probably would have gone at you again, and we would’ve had a catfight on our hands.”

Once we reached the first floor stairwell, we heard a nasty kissing sound. Being forced to come close to the exit of the stairwell, we saw Shane and a random girl kissing. Shane opened his eyes as he was kissing the girl and Grayson and I wrinkled our noses. He pulled away from the girl who was breathing heavily.

“Hey buddies!” he told us, smiling with swollen lips.

Shivering in disgust, I shook my head. “You’re gross.”

When we exited the stairwell, Grayson looked at me. “Still your second option?”

I shrugged. “Well, he must be a pretty good kisser so yeah; he’s still my second option.”

“Well, then I must be your first option because I know for a fact that you enjoyed our kiss.” Surprised at the fact that he even brought it up, I gaped at him. He nodded. “Yeah, don’t think I didn’t see you grinning all day.”

He imitated a full on grin, causing his eyes to close, earning a laugh from me. I reached out and punched him as he laughed, too. “Still don’t have a crush on me?”

I narrowed my eyes at him as I shook my head. “Nope.”

He slung his arms over my shoulder. “It’s okay to admit it, Darling; everyone has a crush on me at one point- you’re no different.” After a moment of thinking, he wrinkled his nose. “I take that back, you are different.”

We entered the lunch room and I was urging to ask him to explain what he meant. I decided not to because I’d come off as desperate, and I'm pretty sure he gets enough of that from Natalie. Our friends were at their usual table, aside from Shane, who we’d just saw. I sat down at the table, not even bothering to get lunch; my stomach was already filled to the brim with fluttering butterflies. Everyone turned and looked at me. I wished Grayson hadn’t decided to get lunch because he’d be here to face the attention with me.

“Is it true?” Sandra asked. “Did you punch Natalie?”

Awkwardly laughing, I nodded, shaking the fist used to send her flying to the ground. “Look at your face!”

I turned to Lola with furrowed eyebrows. “Lola, that’s impossible. I need a mirror.”

“No, you have a hand mark on the side of your face,” Kyle explained and I shrugged.

“That’s nothing compared to what I gave her,” I proudly replied, clenching and unclenching my fists. This caused Carson to snort and shake his head. I took out my phone and glanced at the time before placing it down on the lunch table.

Carson decided to change the subject, and it was to something that I didn’t want to talk about. “Tell me, Audrey; how good of a kisser is Grayson?”

I stared at him, shocked. “How did you know?” I sent glares at my two best friends and they gave me innocent looks.

“What? You don’t think guys gossip, too?” Kyle asked as he smirked at me.

“Obviously not!” I snapped.

Carson smirked. “You never answered my question.”

I looked back to see Grayson making his way over to the table. “I’m not going to! Stop, he’s coming!” I snapped.

“If you think that’ll stop me from asking, you’re mistaken,” he responded the moment Grayson sat down. “So, Audrey, are you going to answer my question?”

“What question?” Grayson asked casually.

Not even blinking, Carson replied. “So, Audrey, how good of a kisser is Grayson?”

Grayson’s eyebrows shot up as he turned to look at me, a smirk on his lips. The overhead resonated throughout the cafeteria. “Audrey Peters report to the principal’s office immediately.”

I offered another awkward laugh as I stood up. “Would you look at the time?”

I stole Grayson’s apple off of his plate as I started walking away from the table. “I licked that!” Grayson told me. Amazing. 

“She doesn’t care,” Carson responded and I looked over my shoulder and glared at him. He just winked in response. I bit into the apple and managed to finish it on my way to the principal’s office. And I'm pretty sure Grayson didn't even touch the thing with his mouth.

I let out a shaky breath as I opened the door to his office, where the secretary directed me. She gave me a disgusted look and I tried not to glare. She doesn’t even know me! How can she pass judgment on someone who has only been to the principal’s office once in four years?

“Glad you can join us Ms. Peters, take a seat,” the principal told me. He was acting as if he gave me a choice on whether or not I’d like to attend this small gathering. I glanced at Natalie; it was obvious that she had been crying.

Sitting down, I looked at the principal. “Would you like to explain your side of the story?”

I nodded, placing my hands on my lap. “I was in the hallway going to my locker when Natalie approached me. She began harassing me and as I closed my locker, she slapped me across the face, as you can see.” I showed him my face. “And without thought, I punched her in the face. I know it was not the right thing to do but I wasn’t thinking, and it was self-defense.”

I felt like I was in a court room as the principal looked between the two of us. “Is this true Natalie?”

Natalie just shrugged as she glared out of the window, her tear stained face facing away from the principal and I. “Well then, I guess I’ll have to punish the two of you.”

Trying hard not to shout at him, I sat back in the seat, gripping the arm rests. Turning to Natalie, he placed his hands on the desk in front of him. “You have two weeks’ worth of detention for approaching and harassing Ms. Peters, and for hitting her. You are dismissed.”

Surprisingly, Natalie didn’t shoot back a slick remark or even hit my chair childishly on her way out. Instead, she grabbed her bag and exited the principal’s office. “As for you, Ms. Peters, seeing as your record is clean- you only have a weeks’ worth of detention. But I will be calling your parents. You are now dismissed.”

Knowing that detention ended at 3:30 PM and it’s a half hour drive from the school to the library, I sat up quickly. “But sir, I have work.” It only takes twenty minutes to get home from work, but the drive there is a bit too longer because the school is further away.

He looked at me and pursed his lips. “Well, then you have lunch detention for a week,” he told me and I nodded. “And you know what happens if you don’t show up, right?”

I nodded again and he gave me the go-ahead to exit the office and I did so, quickly hurrying to Home Economics. Once I arrived, Ms. Cora let me in and I rushed to my seat. Grayson raised an eyebrow at me and stood up, walking over to me; he handed me my cell phone before going back to his desk. I stared at the phone in my hands. Where did I leave this? I looked over at him and he mouthed the word ‘lunch.’ I awkwardly looked away from his lips, glancing down at my phone.

I glanced up to see the teachers writing something on the board about the steps you take to buy a house. I quickly texted my friends the consequences that I’ll have to face thanks to my wild punches. I received a text not a minute later and instead of the usual vibration that my phone gives off, the song ‘Milkshake’ by Kelis began playing loudly. People started turning to look at me while I struggled to turn down the volume. This is the most embarrassing thing ever.

I looked up at Ms. Cora to see her giving me an annoyed look. It’s understandable; I come late to class and my phone goes off during a lesson. “Please turn it off and put it on my desk.”

I managed to shut the phone up, allowing the sound of Grayson’s laughter to enter my ears. I glared at him as I began walking up to her desk. I unlocked my phone and read Grayson’s text. ‘This is what you get for not answering the question.’

~~~

When home economics ended, I quickly rushed to the front of the class, intent on using my wild fists on Grayson’s face. “Ms. Cora, can I have my phone back now?”

She looked at me. “What happened to you today, Audrey? You came late to class and your phone went off. This isn’t your usual behavior.”

“I know and I’m sorry. The phone was a prank by my friends and I apologize, it won’t happen again,” I told her. I was growing impatient. She's acting like I threw a stink bomb in her face. I just want to leave; I probably already missed Grayson; I’d have to hit him once I get to work. That’d be a lot safer anyway.

“Well, Audrey, next time- don’t let it happen again," she told me, handing me my phone. I quickly took it, shoving it into my pocket before running outside of the classroom. I sighed as I noticed the empty hallway and began making my way towards the stairwell.

“Looking for me?’ Grayson exited a small cubby that led to whatever classroom was beside it. He was smirking confidently as he had one strap of his backpack over his shoulder.

I nodded, placing my hands on my hips. “Yeah, I am.”

His smirk deepened as he began walking backwards as if he was in a movie. “Well, you’re going to have to catch me.”

He began running down the hallway, taking off and disappearing around the corner that led to the stairs, I stared at the area where he just was. I frowned; how am I supposed to catch him now? I ran down the hallway, turning around the corner and looking between the elevator and the stairs. Feeling a bit lazy, I pressed the button on the elevator and a few seconds later, it opened.

I clicked the first floor button and waited until I arrived before searching the area for the familiar blue eyed boy. Once I couldn’t find him, I sighed and exited the school. He was probably already home, or on his way there. Walking outside and going to the spot I parked my car in this morning, I came to a halt when I saw Grayson lying on the hood of my car, looking upwards towards the sky. His breath came out as a misty fog and his eyes were closed, allowing his eyelashes to rest on his cheeks. The leather jacket that I'd grown used to seeing him in was opened, revealing his uniform shirt. His breathing was study. His hands were resting behind his head; his fingers were curled in his hair.

Suddenly, he sat up and I began storming in his direction, remembering my anger at the infuriating boy. He turned and smirked at me. “Finally, slow poke.”

I glared at him and narrowed my eyes. “Thanks a lot for that; I just got scolded at by Ms. Cora and now, whatever reputation I had as a good student is ruined! How’d you even find out my password?”

He smirked. “Pizza-rolls isn’t really a secure password,” he rolled his eyes. “Plus, your hint was microwavable goodness. If that’s not a dead giveaway, then I don’t know what is.”

I glared at him as I got into my car but he followed me and got into the passenger’s seat. I groaned and rested my head against the steering wheel. Last time we were in my car, we kissed. “Go away.”

“I would if I could but I can’t, so I shan't,” he explained, resting back in the seat.

“What about your car? You’re just going to leave it here overnight?” I asked him.

“I carpooled to school with Carson and Kyle. Now if you would, start the car and drive.” This earned a glare from me but I did as told, finally being affected by the cold air.

I felt a finger press into my cheek and I winced. “Ouch! That hurt. I did get slapped earlier, you know.”

He shrugged. “I know; I thought it’d cause you pain.”

I scoffed and punched his arm as hard as I could but he wasn’t as hurt as I wished he’d been. I drove us back to our street with Panic! At The Disco playing loudly. I stopped in front of my house and shut off the car. “Are you not going to drop me off at my house?”

I looked over at him and scoffed. “Your house is practically five houses over! I can look out of my bedroom window and stare at your house if I wanted to!”

I began reaching in the back of the car and grabbing at my bag when I heard Grayson snort. “Yeah, just like when you’d watch me mow the lawn shirtless in the summer.”

Okay, let me explain- it was one time and it was last summer. He was mowing the lawn and I happened to open my curtains to let some sunshine in when I noticed he was standing there, mowing the lawn, and he just so happened to be shirtless. So, like any teenage girl would, I stared at him for a few minutes and he looked in the direction of my window and he started guffawing like an idiot when he caught me staring. Of course he didn’t know for sure if I was staring at him because of the distance but he put two and two together when I blushed furiously whenever I saw him for the rest of the summer.

“I did not stare at you!” I told him, scowling once I grabbed my bag. He snorted.

“You had binoculars!” he laughed and I loudly exhaled, opening my car door and shutting it, watching as he climbed out of the car. As I began storming up the steps to my house, I heard his laughter die slightly. “What? No goodbye kiss?”

I turned and glared at him, my face probably as red as his uniform shirt. Instead of answering him with a verbal reply, I raised my middle finger and waved it around before storming into my house and slamming the door. “How ladylike!” his voice was muffled but I heard it loud and clear.

He should know that I’m anything but ladylike. I turned and saw my mother and father standing there watching me and I raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

“Your school called today,” my mother started, taking a step forward and examining my bruised face. “They said you were involved in a physical fight.”

“They said you punched her,” my father announced, grinning wildly. “Did she fall?”

I nodded and my father reached out to give me a high five but my mother sent him a disapproving look so his hand slowly dropped to his side. “Audrey, what happened?”

“Well, she approached me and started harassing me. She told me that she didn’t like me and I told her that I didn’t care and she smacked me, so- in self-defense, I punched her in the face.” My dad fist pumped behind my mother and I held back a smile.

“You’re grounded for a week," my mother announced with finality in her voice.

“What? That isn’t fair! I told you what happened! It’s the truth! What was I supposed to do? Let her slap me and watch her walk away?” I exclaimed. My mother turned around, her eyebrow raised.

“Watch your tone with me. You know that we do not approve of violence no matter what kind it is. There is a difference between self-defense and just being violent. Self-defense is when someone is attacking you and you have to hit them in order to make them stop,” my mother replied.

“She was attacking me, both verbally and physically! Dad, back me up on this one!” I turned towards my father who was scratching his chin indecisively.

“Honey, it was self-defense. I mean, the girl put her hands on Audrey first," my father replied weakly and my mother crossed her arms.

“I don’t care. We do not promote violence. A week, Audrey.” My mother turned and stormed off to her study. I raised my arms at my dad who just gave me an apologetic look before walking towards his own study.

~~~

After doing my hair to cover my bruised cheek the best I could, I decided to go to work early because it was the only place where my mother would actually let me go. Upon my entrance, Ms. Janie smiled. “You’re early.”

I nodded and walked over towards the main room where I spotted Grayson. He was doing homework, something I planned on doing. I sighed and walked over towards the table he was at and flopped down across from him. He looked up at me. “What are you doing here?”

I shrugged. “I’m grounded and there’s nowhere else for me to go. Why are you here?”

“My father was rocking out to his eighties music and I couldn’t concentrate,” he explained and I nodded. “How long are you grounded?”

I sighed. “One whole week,” I muttered as I lifted my binder out of my backpack.

“That stinks," he replied before shrugging. “Oh well, not my problem.”

“Actually it is! If you never would have brought Natalie around, we wouldn’t have fought!” I blamed and he smirked, resting his head on his hands.

“Playing the blame game, are we, Audrey? Well, it won’t help the fact that you’re grounded and jealous,” he bothered, earning a scoff from me.

“I’m not jealous at all,” I told him but he was ignoring me.

“Hey, Audrey, that time when you stormed out of the lunch room- that was jealousy, wasn’t it?” he asked as he pursed his lips. I began mocking him while he laughed. “It was jealousy!”

I kicked him underneath the table and pointed to his work. He began to talk again but I raised my hand in an attempt to hit him. He raised both of his hands, grabbing mine and lightly resting them on the table. “It’s not about that.”

I exhaled and rested my chin on my hand, waving my other hand around as if telling him to speak. “About Saturday…”

I shook my head, immediately turning my eyes down towards my textbook. “We don’t need to talk about it.” Oh look, now I’m the one being hostile.

He sighed as I stared down at my open text book, trying to tune him out. “We’re going to have to talk about it sometime.”

“No we won’t, I get it; it didn’t mean anything. Now do your homework,” I told him and he sighed before getting back to his reading. I really don't need to be rejected twice.