Breathless (146 page)

“Oh,” I said.

“Yeah, oh. That has to be it. I would have remembered seeing that guy before now. He’s not exactly someone you can forget.”

“So, if he went to the public school, he must be poor,” I said, sounding disappointed. There was no way I would ever be able to get to know him. My mother wouldn’t allow it.

“Do you realize how snobby you just sounded? I swear to God your mother’s voice just came out of your mouth.”

I rolled my eyes. “You know what I mean. My mom would never let me associate with someone like him.”

“Because he isn’t rich?” Lucy asked sarcastically.

“Because he isn’t rich.”

“Your mom is a bitch.”

“And so is yours. They both run in the same circles, you know.”

She sighed. “Don’t remind me. I swear our mothers run some supersecret organization of stuck-up bitches.”

I laughed even though it wasn’t really funny. While my mom was far worse than Lucy’s, they were both rather…selective of who they associated with. At least Lucy had her dad around to keep her mom straight.

We walked the rest of the way to our first class in silence, both of our minds on the new boy, Jesse. I loved that name. I found it sexy, but I knew my mother wouldn’t agree. She would think it was too common, too plain. Everything had to be the best when it came to her. While my first name was fairly common, instead of having a normal middle name like most people, she’d given me her maiden name. It was always the best for us.

When we finally arrived to our first class, trigonometry, all of the seats were taken with the exception of a few in the front. I hated sitting in the front of the classroom, but it didn’t look like I had any other options unless I wanted to sit on someone’s lap.

I sat in an empty seat next to the door, and Lucy sat down beside me. It looked like we were the last two to enter since Mr. Kester walked to the door and shut it seconds after we had taken our seats.

“Good morning, students. I hope you’re as excited as I am to start a brand new school year,” he said happily as he walked to his desk and sat down.

That was doubtful. I hadn’t made it an entire day yet, and I already missed summer vacation. Hopefully, this year would pass by quickly, or I might lose my mind. It wasn’t that I hated school. I just hated playing into the popularity games that were played here.

Sure, I was on the cheer squad and right at the center of the popular crowd, but that didn’t mean that I always liked it. It was great to have so many friends until you realized that most of them were fake and just using you for your popularity. I didn’t trust any of them with the exception of Lucy. I knew that she was my best friend because she wanted to be, not because I could get her more friends.

Lucy and I had met in elementary school, and we had bonded instantly. Since our mothers were together so much, they had often brought us along, and we’d played together constantly. I might not like my mother or the games she played with the power players in this town, but I appreciated the fact that if it weren’t for her, Lucy and I might not have ended up as best friends.

Mr. Kester was taking attendance when the door swung open, and Jesse walked in. He scanned the room before walking to the teacher’s desk and handing him a piece of paper.

“I’m Jesse Daniels.”

“So glad that you could join us, Mr. Daniels. Why don’t you take a seat over there by Emma?” Mr. Kester said pleasantly.

My eyes snapped to Lucy just as she looked at me and grinned. This class just got a whole lot more interesting.

Jesse glanced around the room. His eyes stopped on the empty seat beside me, and he smiled. I held my breath as he crossed the room and sat down beside me.

“So, we meet again,” he said as he settled into his seat.

I couldn’t hide the grin that was plastered on my face. “I guess so.”

I fidgeted for the rest of class, trying to keep my eyes glued to the board in front of me. Instead, they kept glancing over at Jesse of their own accord. He really was something else to look at, even from the side. I couldn’t help but stare as he seemed oblivious to my constant scrutiny.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts.
What am I doing?
According to Lucy, this guy was here on a scholarship, and his piece of crap car all but confirmed that he wasn’t up to my mother’s standards. He wasn’t someone who I needed to involve myself with. My mother would never allow us to be friends, and she would absolutely kill me if she knew I was crushing on someone like him.

I glanced over at him one more time, determined to push him out of my thoughts. That was a bad idea.
How the hell am I supposed to stay away from someone who looks like him?

“I think I’ve covered everything we need to today. If you want to talk among yourselves for the last fifteen minutes of class, feel free,” Mr. Kester said.

Mr. Kester was one of only two math teachers at our school. I’d had him my freshman year, so I knew that he would usually let us hang out during the last few minutes of class. For teaching one of the worst subjects, he was pretty cool.

I turned to Lucy, determined to ignore Jesse, so he wouldn’t try to talk to me.

Lucy raised an eyebrow as she noticed my obvious attempt to ignore

Jesse. “What are you doing?”

She’d whispered the words, but I tensed, afraid that Jesse had heard her. While I was ignoring him, I didn’t want him to realize that I was doing it on purpose. I didn’t want to look like a stuck-up bitch even though I knew I was being one.

“Nothing,” I whispered back.

She rolled her eyes but said nothing. We just sat there and stared at each other, both of us unable to think of anything else to say.

“Hey, Emma?” Jesse said from behind me.

I closed my eyes and mentally groaned before turning to face him. “Yes?”

“Can you tell me where Ms. Mason’s class is? It’s my next class, and the lady in the office wasn’t very good at giving directions.”

He gave me a smile, and I felt my heart speed up. “Yeah, sure. It’s actually my next class, too, so I can just show you.”

Did I really just say that?
I was supposed to be pretending that he didn’t exist, not walking him to class.

“That would be great. Thanks,” he said sincerely.

I studied him closer. This guy seemed to be exceptionally polite, and I wasn’t used to that around here. Most of the guys were raging idiots. I wasn’t sure if it was because he was nervous and a bit shy or if he was just this nice in general. Surely, this hot guy covered in tattoos couldn’t be shy. His demeanor and his physical appearance were complete opposites.

“So, what’s your story?” I asked, unable to stop myself.

He looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“I was just wondering where you were from.” I gestured to his tattoos. “You don’t fit the mold for most of the guys around here. Did you just move here or something?”

He hesitated for a split second before I saw determination fill his eyes. “Nope. I attended the public school across town all my life. I’m here on a scholarship. As for my tattoos, I like to be creative, and sometimes, I use my body to do it.”

I felt my cheeks turn red from embarrassment. I was sure he could get very creative with that body of his.

He seemed to sense my discomfort, and he laughed. “I didn’t mean for it to come out like that.”

“It’s fine. I was just embarrassed for being so nosy,” I lied.

“You weren’t being nosy, just curious. But you were right about one thing—I don’t fit in around here. My mom kind of forced me into coming here.”

That surprised me. Hamrick High School was one of the top private schools in California. I had no idea why he wouldn’t be jumping for joy at the chance to attend when so many would kill to be in his position.

“Why don’t you want to be here?” I asked.

“I thought it would be obvious. I’m not one of the rich kids, like you. My
kind
tends to be looked down on.”

“Oh,” I said, unable to think of anything else to say.

He gave me a small smile, and I noticed a dimple in his left cheek.
How did I miss that?

“You don’t have to feel awkward or anything. It’s just the facts of life. I’ve been looked down on my entire life by this entire town because my mom works as a waitress instead of being married to some rich guy.”

I added
blunt
to the list of notes I’d made about him in my head. The kid didn’t beat around the bush. He got straight to the point.

“My mom isn’t married to a rich guy.” I pretended to glare at him, but I couldn’t keep a straight face. “Well, she isn’t married to him anymore.”

He looked shocked at first, but then he realized that I was kidding, and relief flooded his face. “I thought I pissed you off there for a second.” “Nah. I was just messing with you!” I said as I giggled.

The bell rang to signal the end of class. I grabbed my trig book and threw it into my bag. Lucy waved good-bye as she left for her next class on the opposite side of the school from mine. I knew that the two of us couldn’t have every class together, but I hated the ones that she wasn’t in. School was boring without Lucy around.

I glanced over to see Jesse waiting for me to lead the way to our next class.
Maybe history won’t be so boring after all.

We walked side by side out of the classroom and down the hallway to our next class. As soon as I entered the room, I heard someone shouting my name from the back of the room. I looked up to see two of the girls on my squad, Andrea and Vanessa, waving their hands and pointing to an empty seat in front of them. I smiled and waved back as I started walking toward them.

Remembering that Jesse was still with me, I turned to look at him. “Do you want to sit back there with us?”

He seemed unsure, but he finally nodded. “Sure.”

I watched Andrea’s and Vanessa’s eyes widen as they took Jesse in. I smiled to myself. Leave it to the broke kid to make every girl at Hamrick High turn into a puddle on the floor.

Two-Jesse

This place was everything that I had expected and not in a good way. I had known coming here was a mistake, but my mother hadn’t listened to me when I told her that I wouldn’t be welcome here.

“Nonsense. You snagged that scholarship, and you have just as much right as the rest of them to be there,” she’d said this morning, standing in the kitchen of our single-wide trailer.

I had tried to make one final attempt to make her see reason, but she’d refused to listen to me. It wasn’t that I cared what those stuck-up rich kids thought of me because I didn’t. I just had no desire to attend Hamrick High and pretend to be something I wasn’t. Public school was fine by me, but my mother had all but begged me to apply for the scholarship.

I had agreed, not expecting to even be considered. When I came home from school one day last spring, I had been shocked to see my mother sitting at our kitchen table, holding an acceptance letter in her hand. Since then, I’d tried to find every excuse out there not to attend, but she’d refused to let me get out of it. She thought this was my chance to make it somewhere in life, to escape the mobile home park I’d grown up in.

I hadn’t been able to tell her that I had no desire to attend college. Art was my thing, and I’d found my calling when I picked up a tattoo gun my freshman year in high school. For someone who had no formal training, I was damn good at it, too.

I’d spent the past two years working at a local tattoo shop. I was the slave boy since I obviously wasn’t old enough to do tattoos legally, but I’d learned a lot from my boss, Rick, and his guys. I had hoped that after I turned eighteen and graduated, I could get an internship there, so I could be fully licensed. I knew now that it was never going to happen. This trailer-park kid was going to end up going to college like all the respectable kids.

I knew my mom would be disappointed if she found out all I wanted to do with my life was tattoo. She would see it as staying where I was in life, and she wanted so much more for me. My dad had left when I was only a few years old, and since then, she had worked her ass off to provide for me, so I could go out into the world and prove myself. And in her eyes, that meant going to college. I hated the idea of college, but I knew I would go just to make her happy. I’d worked hard in school, so that maybe, just maybe, I could snag a scholarship. There was no way that I would let her take out loans to put me through school.

I’d finally given up this morning, and I’d driven the twenty minutes to my new school. I was here for her and her alone.

Of course, when I pulled in, the first person I’d seen was
her.
I didn’t even know her name, but I’d remembered her just like it was yesterday when she had sat in the sandbox and told me I was trash. I should have thanked her really. She had been the first person who showed me what the world was really like.

She still looked the same, only older. Even at six, she was the prettiest girl I had ever seen. Her eyes were a deep shade of green, and her hair was a light strawberry blonde.

On that afternoon, my mom had decided to take me to the really nice park across town to celebrate the end of kindergarten. I had looked up to see her sitting by herself in the sandbox, and I had wanted to go play with her. She had looked so lonely and sad, and I had been determined to cheer her up.

Instead of being happy to have someone to play with, she had cut me with words no six-year-old would ever know to say.
I was trash. I didn’t belong there.
I’d toughened up after that. At six years old, it had become clear to me that the world was not a nice place to live in, so I should be ready for whatever it threw at me.

I pulled myself back to the present as I followed Emma down the aisle to sit with her friends. I had purposely stopped to talk to her outside this morning, hoping that she would remember me. Of course, she hadn’t, but I had been shocked at how nice she was then and again in our first period. I had expected a stuck-up bitch, but instead, she had helped me, and she’d even been friendly to me. I wasn’t sure if I liked that. I had always portrayed her as a villain in my mind, and without it there to make me see reason, I couldn’t help but notice again just how beautiful she was.