"Hey, Taryn, Patrick."
Patrick gives him a nod. "Dude."
"Hi, Ryan."
I smile at him and watch as he slides an arm around Kim's shoulder and kisses her gently on the cheek. I want to sigh, he's so romantic! Patrick never kisses me on the cheek like that. He always goes straight for my mouth with his tongue and teeth.
"Let's walk," Kim orders, and we obediently pair up and start strolling the halls.
Patrick has his heavy arm over my shoulders, and it's making it hard to walk. I wiggle a bit, hoping he'll take his arm away, but it stays firmly in place.
We walk past the band kids, who hang out together by the band room and give them a nod but, for the most part, ignore them. Bandsies are tolerated but really kept at the edge of the crowd. They're too geeky to be popular, but they aren't total losers either. Just somewhere in between.
Our crowd starts falling in behind us, the other cheerleaders and their boyfriends and the girls I play tennis with, potential prom queens and kings. Every time Patrick sees a fellow athlete, he nearly gives me whiplash, reaching over my head and giving out hi-fives and arm punches.
I finally untangle myself and try to fix my now tousled hair.
"God, Patrick! You're messing up my hair!"
He looks down at me dumbly. "Sorry. Jeez, what's the problem? You PMS'ing or something?"
I roll my eyes. "No. I'm not having my period, Patrick. You can't blame my every mood on that!"
Patrick looks relieved when I tell him it's not my time of the month. He slides his hand into the back pocket of my jeans. "You think maybe I can come over tonight?"
I know what he wants. The last time Mom and Ethan went out, I let Patrick come up to my room, and we made out on my bed. I barely got him off of me in time, and he's been pressuring me to go all the way ever since. The last thing I want is to have him back in my house.
Luckily, before I have to answer, a loud commotion comes up the hall towards us. It's Jason Williams and his obnoxious 'cooler than you' friends.
In front of us, I see Ryan tense. He says something to Kim, and she says something back, and he stomps off. Ryan and Jason used to be good friends, but then Kim dumped Jason for Ryan and their friendship fizzled pretty quickly. Now they hate the sight of each other. Kim doesn’t make it any easier by flirting with Jason in front of Ryan. I think she gets some kind of sick kick out of hurting him.
Patrick and Jason are fist-bumping and acting stupid, and then Jason drapes himself over me, nuzzling my neck.
"Hey, Taryn, long time no nuzzle." He bites my neck, and I push him away.
"Get off of me!"
Jason and I once, ages ago, made out when we were both drunk at a party, and ever since then, he likes to attack me in public, whether Patrick is standing there or not. Surprisingly, Jason's lusty attacks don't make Kim mad, she just thinks it's funny. But if I were to ever go after Jason seriously, I'd be toast!
Jason is hot, like extremely, with olive-colored tanned skin, hazel eyes, and dark blond hair that he wears in waves. But he is the biggest asshole I think I've ever met. He and Patrick are best friends, though, which means I'm often forced to spend time in his company.
Jason laughs, and Patrick scowls, pulling me back to his side possessively.
"Dude!" snaps Patrick.
The bell rings, saving me from any more Jason attacks. Kim is making eyes at him, and he smirks at her before they head their separate ways. Patrick gives me another kiss, and then I hurry to my first hour while he goes off to the gym to do whatever it is he does there.
◆◆◆
Before I can walk into English Lit, two of my best friends and fellow cheerleaders meet me at the door and pull me aside.
"Oh my God, Taryn!" Pam Steele is a pretty dark-eyed brunette, and she's bouncing on her heels and clutching at my hands.
"What? What is it?"
My first thought is that someone has died or something, but Pam's eyes are twinkling in a way that makes me realize this is good news, whatever it is.
Linda Songer, another brunette with deep-set blue eyes who reminds me of Snow White, grabs my arm and pulls my attention away from Pam. "Mrs. Carroll fell and broke her hip!"
"Oh no, that's horrible!"
Mrs. Carroll is my English Lit teacher, and she has hips the size of a Buick. If she was going to break anything falling, it would have to be that.
"And we have a sub for the remainder of the year!" Pam grabs my attention back, but Linda retrieves it.
"He's so totally hot, Taryn!" Linda gushes. "You have no idea!"
I glance at the classroom door. "Is he in there now?"
Pam and Linda both nod and pull me into the room. Trying not to be totally obvious, we walk over to our desks and subtly check out the new teacher.
Hot does not even begin to describe him. Holy shit, he's the most handsome, sexiest looking guy I have seen in my entire life! He's surrounded by girls as we sit down, and we can't take our eyes off of him.
Our new teacher has short, spiky blonde hair, kissed by the sun. His blue eyes twinkle as he laughs with the girls, and he's got an awesome all-over tan like
