Girl Code

Chapter One

“My notebook is missing.” I sighed as I dug through my backpack. I was about to freak out, but then I remembered that Leslie was last to have my notebook. She last had it in the one class we had together. “Leslie, look in your bag. You were last to have it.”

“Oh crap,” she said with her eyes wide and apologetic. “I think I left it there, under my seat.”

I sighed with exasperation as she searched her bag despite her admission. When she began to shake her head, I knew that she had, indeed, carelessly left one of my prized possessions in the classroom where anyone could pick it up and walk away with it.

“Leslie,” I said, trying not to whine as my shoulders slumped.

“I’m sorry,” she replied. “I was distracted and I put it down and forgot. I’ll go get it.”

“I’ll get it myself.” I walked away from her before she could respond and went back into the school.

It was a late afternoon in October and we had just left a meeting for the school paper. Leslie wasn’t much of a writer, but I loved writing with a passion. Leslie was in it for the photography. We had created many scenarios for our futures, like me writing bestselling novels and Leslie designing my covers. I wasn’t really sure how serious she was about the art of picture taking, but I was as serious as a heart attack about writing, which was why it was important that I found my notebook.

Italian was our second to last class. Anything could have happened to it over the past couple of hours. I was feeling a little anxious about it, so I picked up my pace back to Mr. Laredo’s classroom. As I rounded the last corner at full speed, I collided with Leo Pesciano. The books in his hands scattered in all directions onto the floor. Although I was a full-figured girl and Leo was already a tall and solid boy at fifteen, I bounced off of him and fell on my ass. I stared up at him, stunned.

“Damn, Tacky!” Leo said, using the nickname he had given me the first time I ever met him two summers before.

Up until the beginning of the school year when he was unceremoniously dumped into the public school system, Leo was a catholic school brat. He lived a few blocks away from me, so I’d sometimes run into him—though not quite so literally. I had disliked him since I met him that summer. I thought he was obnoxious and arrogant. Most girls drooled at his feet, totally taken in by his blue-green eyes the color of a tropical sea, thick dark hair, and his dark Italian complexion. I wasn’t a prude. I had no problem admitting he was a good-looking guy, but I most definitely was not a drooler.

“Go to hell, Pesciano,” I said as I got to my feet.

“You need to watch where you’re going, Tacky,” he said and started picking up his books and pushing them into his backpack.

“And you still need to go to hell.” I purposely bumped into him as I walked by, making him lose his balance and stumble but not fall. Damn.

“If I were you, I would be a little bit nicer to me,” Leo said at my back.

Amused, I asked, “Why is that?” I looked over my shoulder and my amusement immediately fell right off of my face.

Leo stood, triumphantly holding my notebook in the air over his head.

“I found this after class,” he said as I stalked toward him. “And I was going to return it the next time I saw you, but…” He shook his head slowly as he grinned down at me.

I stood toe to toe with him, too close for my comfort, but I wanted my damn notebook back.

“Give it back, Pesciano,” I demanded and reached for it, but he stretched his arm further.

“Be nice to me,” Leo said contritely. “And I may give it back.”

“I hate you,” I seethed. Again, I reached for the notebook, but Leo took a step back. I lost my balance and staggered forward. Unthinkingly, I put my hands out on his chest to brace myself.

“Oh, dolcezza, I love it when you touch me,” Leo purred.

I snatched my hands away and was preparing to throw another insult at him when he suddenly stepped forward, very much into my personal space. Before I understood what he was doing, he had wrapped one strong arm securely around my neck, pulling me against his body. I gasped as I felt the warmth of his body envelop me. The smell of citrus and leather, and something that reminded me of the beach, made my heart skip two whole beats. Where his skin touched my skin, I felt tiny prickles of electricity. I didn’t understand it, and I didn’t want to understand it.

“Get off of me!” I tried to pry his arm off from around me, but he was strong and determined.

“Let’s read together, shall we?” Leo suggested enthusiastically. He held the notebook in the hand of the arm that was securing me and used his other hand to open the book.

“Don’t you dare,” I growled and struggled to free myself. “You piece of sh—”

“Watch your mouth,” he said and kissed the top of my head.

Ew! I wanted to scrub my head until my hair fell out to get rid of his cooties.

He began to read from somewhere in the middle of the story I had been working on, his breath warm against my ear. “He kissed her, slipping his tongue deftly into her hot mouth. Eliza groaned and pressed her body against his. A yearning churned in her belly, a yearning she had never felt as acutely as she felt in this moment. She wanted. She needed. Answering her silent plea, Ivan’s hands smoothed over her thighs and began to hike her skirt up her legs.”

I shifted uncomfortably in Leo’s arms. I was mortified beyond all that was possible. My words were not for public view, especially for Leo Pesciano, especially those particular words.

“Well, damn, Tacky,” Leo breathed in my ear, sending warmth spreading throughout that whole area of my body. “You’re a horny little thing, aren’t you?”

I’d had enough of his stupid bullying. I elbowed him hard in the side. He grunted but didn’t release me. A little breathless, he said, “Should I keep reading? This is getting good and hot.”

“Leo Pesciano, I swear, if you don’t let me go and give me back my notebook, I will scream, and if my brother finds out about this, he will kick your ass.”

“Damn, calm down, Tacky,” he said and gave me a gentle shove away from him. “I’m just playing.”

“I’m not playing,” I said, so angry that I was seeing spots. I held out my hand. “Give me back my damn notebook, dickhead.”

“Say please,” he said, pulling it close to his chest.

“Fu—” I started to say two words that began with the letter F and ended with the word “you,” but the bastard had the nerve to put his fingers on my lips.

“Watch. Your. Mouth.”

I ignored the weight of his fingers on my lips and smacked his hand away. I shoved him into the wall, punched him as hard as I could in his shoulder, and snatched my book from his hands.

“Damn it!” he cried out when I attempted to add a kick to his shin for good measure. He scrambled back and I missed several times.

“Stupid jerk face,” I snarled at him and marched back in the direction I had come from.

I had only gone a couple of yards when I heard quick footsteps behind me.

“You could have thanked me,” Leo said beside me.

“Oh, my god, can you please just go away?” I pleaded.

He muttered something in Italian as he strode beside me. I didn’t care what he said. I didn’t care one bit.

“What did you say?” I asked accusingly.

“Nothing important,” he said with a smirk.

“If you speak Italian so well, why do you take an Italian class?”

“Easy A.” He shrugged.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. At the end of the hall, Leo stepped ahead and held open the door for me. I don’t know why, but his gentleman-like move only further infuriated me. It was in direct contrast to his bullying behavior from only moments before. I had the strong desire to punch him in the gut as I stomped past him and out the door, but I didn’t want to touch him again if I could help it. There had been enough touching between us to last an eternity.

“Find your notebook?” Leslie asked me, but her eyes were on Leo. Leslie, sadly, was one of the droolers that thought Pesciano was so dreamy.

“You should be more careful with your friends’ things,” Leo said teasingly to Leslie. “It’s a good thing a good guy like me found it before anyone else.”

“Oh, please!” I objected.

“At least you got it back,” Leslie said to me admonishingly. She smiled sweetly at Leo. “Thanks, Leo.”

He winked at her, and her smile grew disgustingly wider. I scowled.

“You live near Tabby,” Leslie said, tilting her head slightly. Her blond hair shifted and framed her face. The sunlight caught her just right and she looked so pretty, and I saw that Leo could see that, too. It was as if he was just realizing it for the first time, judging by the way his mouth fell slightly open. Leslie had that effect on people, especially boys. With my boring brown hair and brown eyes and thick waist, I had no such effect on anyone, especially boys.

“Yeah, I do,” Leo confirmed with an absent nodding.

“Do you want to walk with us?” Leslie asked shyly.

I opened my mouth to protest, to violently protest if necessary, but Leo took a step back, shaking his head.

“Not this time,” he said and took another step back. “I’m already late for football practice.” He looked at me and grinned. “Your brother is already going to kill me. I better go.”

“See ya tomorrow,” Leslie said.

“See ya,” he responded to her as he backed away. Again, he looked at me. “Until next time, Tacky.”

He didn’t immediately turn to leave. He stood there, like he was waiting for me to respond.

“Tabitha,” Leslie whispered harshly and bumped my arm with hers.

I rolled my eyes and curtly said, “Goodbye.”

Dismissed, Leo’s mouth curved into a half a smile, a sly thing on his face, and then he turned and jogged away.

“He’s cute,” Leslie said conspiringly. “And single!” She grabbed my arm and breathlessly asked, “Do you think he likes me? Did you see the way he looked at me a minute ago?”

I rolled my eyes, pulled my arm from her grasp, and walked away muttering, “Drooler.”

“So, remember our little girl code?” Leslie asked a few minutes later as we walked home. We made up the girl code the summer before our freshman year. Under no circumstances were we to engage in a physical or romantic relationship with each other’s exes or love interests.

“Of course, I do,” I answered her irritably. It was going to take me all night to stop being pissed off about what happened in the hallway. I kind of felt violated.

“Well, I want to be sure that we’re clear that our vows will absolutely and unequivocally apply to Leo Pesciano.”

“Oh!” I almost gagged. “Trust me, Leslie, you won’t have to worry about me breaking my vows, especially when it comes to Leo Pesciano. I promise you, not in a million years will I ever want to date or love or have any kind of physical activity with that obnoxious excuse for a human being.”

I stopped walking and made her look at me so that she understood. I said the words crisply, boring my brown eyes into her blues.

“Leslie, I mean,
never
.”

“Why does math have to be so difficult?” I wondered aloud.

Distractedly, Leslie answered my rhetorical question. “Math is the language of the universe. You don’t expect the language of the entire universe to be easy, do you?”

“Yes, I do. What are you looking at?”

We were supposed to be studying for a big math test, but Leslie had been lurking behind the curtains for over five minutes.

“I’m expecting a third study buddy,” she said lightly.

That was news to me. Leslie had made several new friends since we started high school, but I thought she would have told me first before inviting anyone else, especially since we were at my house.

“Who’s coming?” I asked out of curiosity.

She turned away from the window, with her eyes bright and her face pulled up in a wide grin.

“He’s here!” she said excitedly and dashed for the door.

“Who’s here?” I asked, but she was already out the door and running down the stairs.