Mutual Hatred - Love Game (36 page)

As Brandon got up and moved back to his seat, a piece of paper fluttered out of his pocket. Out of curiosity, Shelley picked it up and was about to give it back to Brandon, but something written on it caught her eye. The note said:

Tonight at 8:35 turn your radio station to 103.5 and just listen
.

What the hell?

It was written in
pink
highlighter. Shelley deduced that surely it was from someone else
to
Brandon. He'd never write anything in pink ink; Brandon would probably consider writing in pink would be an insult to his masculinity! And even though the writing looked too messy to be a girl's, it could possibly have been from anyone.

She didn't get it. But then again, she wasn't supposed to. The note wasn't meant for her, after all.

"Brandon!" she called after him, holding out the note. "You dropped this."

Brandon turned and took the note from her. He didn't even look at it, just shoved it in his pocket. With a bright smile-cute dimples included-he said, "Thanks."

And that was that.

AP English was quite uneventful, for once. Even Ms. Nickol must have been pleased with Brandon for winning the game; she didn't pick on him once.

- - - - -

The Sinclairs finally got around to eating dinner around 8:15 that night. Mrs. Sinclair had insisted on waiting until her husband got home to start dinner, so by the time mother and daughter finally heard the garage open, Shelley was famished. They sat down and said grace. Shelley attacked her lasagna with such fierceness that even her father seemed taken aback.

"Are you okay, dear?" he asked carefully.

Shelley put her fork down with a clatter and looked up. "Me? Oh, yeah. I'm fine, why?"

"No reason," her dad shook his head and resumed talking to her mom.

The truth was, Shelley was feeling extremely jumpy tonight. Besides being hungry, she had a feeling that something was going to happen, she could feel it. But what, and to whom, were questions that remained unanswered.

"I know what we all need to cool down!" Mrs. Sinclair said cheerfully. "A little music to lighten the mood."

Shelley recalled the last time Brandon had tried to lighten the mood on Thanksgiving with his 'joke'. That certainly hadn't gone over very well at all. She laughed silently to herself as her mother turned the stereo on.

But Mrs. Sinclair was right. Shelley couldn't pinpoint the radio station, but it was the one that always played slow, calming love songs. And they were quite the cure, until the current song ended and the deejay's voice said,

"And now we'll be taking calls for dedications. Hi, what's your name and where are you calling from?"

That weird, jumpy feeling was back again. Her stomach was literally doing flips and she could foresee the contents of her stomach going up.

"My name is Brandon and I'm calling from…my house, where else? From the privacy of my room, to be specific."

Brandon?

It couldn't be.

Shelley looked up, and as luck would have it, the clock on the wall clearly read 8:34.

"Well hi, Brandon," the deejay said, her soothing voice hinting traces of laughter, "What's your love thought for tonight?"

"I just wanted to let Shelley Sinclair-yes, that's SHELLEY SINCLAIR- know that even though…things have changed, my feelings stay the same. Despite what you may think, I'm not giving up on us."

There was no mistake. The caller's voice was most definitely Brandon Miller's.

But it couldn't be! He was dedicating a song to her?
On the radio
? Where everyone would probably hear it?

Well duh, that's kind of the point.

"That's sweet. And what song would you like us to play for you?" the deejay asked.

"Well, I know it's not really your style to play songs like these, but I was hoping you'd play "Just the Girl" by The Click Five," Brandon's voice said hopefully.

"Sure," the deejay said kindly. "Anything for people in love. We wish the both of you the best of luck in whatever you may decide to do with your relationship So Shelley, if you're listening, this is to you from Brandon, because you're 'Just the Girl' for him."

How cute!

She's cold and she's cruel
But she knows what she's doin'
She pushed me in the pool
At our last school reunion
She laughs at my dreams
But I dream about her laughter
Strange as it seems
She's the one I'm after

Cause she's bittersweet
She knocks me off of my feet
And I can't help myself
I don't want anyone else
She's a mystery
She's too much for me
But I keep comin' back for more
She's just the girl I'm lookin' for

She can't keep a secret
For more than an hour
She runs on 100 proof attitude power
And the more she ignores me
The more I adore her
What can I do?
I'd do anything for her

Cause she's bittersweet
She knocks me off of my feet
And I can't help myself
I don't want anyone else
She's a mystery
She's too much for me
But I keep comin' back for more
She's just the girl I'm lookin' for

The way she sees it's me
On her caller ID
She won't pick up the phone
She'd rather be alone
But I can't give up just yet
Cause every word she's ever said
Is still ringin' in my head
Still ringin' in my head

She's cold and she's cruel
But she knows what she's doin'
Knows just what to say
So my whole day is ruined

Cause she's bittersweet
She knocks me off of my feet
And I can't help myself
I don't want anyone else
She's a mystery
She's too much for me
But I keep comin' back for more

Cause she's bittersweet
She knocks me off of my feet
And I can't help myself
I don't want anyone else
She's a mystery
She's too much for me
But I keep comin' back for more
Oh, I keep comin' back for more
She's just the girl I'm lookin' for
Just the girl I'm lookin' for

I'm lookin' for
I'm lookin' for
I'm lookin' for
Just the girl I'm lookin' for

To sum it up, it was the perfect song to express how Brandon felt about her.

And now the rest of the world-or at least anyone who was listening-knew it.

What's a girl to do?

By the time the song ended, Shelley's mother was grinning like an idiot, but her father looked absolutely livid.

"Was that the Miller boy?" he demanded.

Shelley nodded meekly. She could feel her cheeks burning up.

"What was he saying about how things have changed? Are you sleeping with him?" his voice even louder than before. "You better not have picked up a case of STDs, young lady. And you certainly had better not be pregnant either!"

Claudia Sinclair's expression went from positively gleeful to alarm. "What? No, Sean! They're not even dating. And besides, we raised Shelley better than that. She has morals!"

"You don't have to be dating to sleep with someone, love. I hear that whole 'friends with benefits' thing is all the rage with teenagers now. Not like in our day, where if a boy got a girl pregnant, he had to marry her," growled Mr. Sinclair.

Torn between a fit of laughter and being scared, Shelley settled for looking scared but sounding light-hearted. "There's always one night stands and prostitution."

"Young lady, if you are prostituting yourself for money, you can consider yourself out of my will! But what am I talking about," he chided himself, "You don't need money. You've got enough to last you a lifetime, and more. So what the devil is going on?"

"Yes, what is going on, Shelley?" Claudia asked her daughter innocently. "Are you and Brandon an item now that football season is over?"

Good question. Where did that leave them? Shelley had always counted on football season to be there as an excuse for her to reject Brandon, and after today in English, she would have thought that Brandon was finally giving up.

But she should have known better.

She should have seen right through his plan. It was so obvious to her now! He had only asked her out because he had known she'd turn him down. He had used it as an excuse to purposely
drop
the slip of paper of out his pocket so that she would pick it up. And he probably knew that she'd notice, read it, and assume it was from someone else, thinking nothing of it. It all made sense now! She felt so damn stupid. The way he had carelessly put away the note, the way he'd smiled and said thanks…

It had all been staged!

But the question was, had her mother known about it? Claudia Sinclair had innocently suggested music to calm Shelley's nerves, but perhaps there was more to that.

"Mom," Shelley said suddenly, "I need to ask you something and I need you to answer honestly. Can you do that?"

Her mom looked slightly offended. "Would I ever lie to you?"

"Well there was the time you lied to me about getting that Barbie Dream House," said Shelley, "and about what happened to Shelby. Do you remember Shelby? My kitten that 'went on vacation'? It's okay, mom. I know now that dad accidentally ran her over."

"Humph!" Mrs. Sinclair scoffed indignantly. "Those were the only times I'd ever lie to you. I promise to answer you truthfully right now."

"Well, since I have your word for it," said Shelley slowly, "Did you know Brandon was going to dedicate a song to me tonight?"

Claudia couldn't help it. "Yes, yes I did know."

Well, then.

"Did Brandon tell you?"

"Good heavens, no! Jana told me, who heard from Morgan, who heard from Destiny or Kyle…I can't remember, but whoever it was heard it from Taryn, who heard it from Alex, who heard it from James, who heard it from Brandon. Whew," panted Mrs. Sinclair, out of breath. "I'm not sure if it was in that order, but it was something like that."

"So pretty much everyone knew he was going to do that?"

"Um, yes. Possibly. Are you mad?"

The truth was Shelley wasn't really sure how she felt. She wasn't
mad
. She was a little confused right now. It wasn't like she
liked
Brandon at all, but still. He'd publicly spoken his feelings for her. Did he know how that made a girl feel?

He had to. Otherwise, he wouldn't have done it.

She felt like the luckiest girl in the world, that's for sure. Even Alex, who claimed to be 'completely, utterly in love with Taryn', hadn't done anything like that since they'd started dating.

So yeah, Shelley was kind of elated.

But what was she supposed to do now? Did Brandon expect her to feel the same way? She knew a lot of girls listened to 103.5. Tomorrow they'd definitely gossip about it.

Well let them talk all they wanted. Shelley knew she had to decide exactly how she felt and what she was going to do. You couldn't let a guy dedicate a song to you on the radio and just leave him hanging.

She was going to meet him halfway.

Chapter 28 – And the Oscar for Best Actress Goes to...

"Chelsey! Hey, Chelsey! Wait up!"

Chelsey Smith stopped in her tracks and slowly swiveled around. Her face lit up when she saw who her pursuer was.

"Why hello, Brandon," said Chelsey, batting her eyes as if they were having a spasm. "Ready to lose everything?"

"Nah," said Brandon. "See, that's something I'm not too sure of."

Still batting her eyes, Chelsey giggled. "Oh Brandon, you're such a boy. Too bad I want a
man
."

Brandon rolled his eyes. "Too bad no man wants you."

Chelsey's face fell. Her expression turned serious, all business, as she now narrowed her eyes. "Okay, fine. What do you want?"

He smirked in return. "Just wanted to let you know all deals are off," he said casually.

Her eyes grew wide. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. I don't care. Tell the whole school. It won't change things," he said firmly. "I'll still be hot, girls will still love me, and most of all you'll still be a bitch."

Chelsey's eyes had an evil glint in them. "Are you sure you don't mind? What if, oh, say, Shelley was to find out? I'm sure that would change things."

Brandon leaned back against a locker and smiled even wider. "Go ahead. Say what you will, but it doesn't matter. I actually don't have anything to lose."