Sweet Harmony (6 page)

Wait a second. Am I…enjoying this?
To her horror, she discovered she did enjoy it. The taste of his mouth on hers, the way his fingers curled in her shoulder-length hair, his body's heat—she liked all of it. Holy crap.

She opened her eyes and
screamed as she sat up. Her breathing was heavy as she looked around the dorm room. Where was she? Was everything okay? There was nothing there.

It was just a nightmare, she realized.
She pressed her hand to her chest and discovered her heart was thundering like in her dream. She'd had nightmares where she was being eaten alive by zombies or being hacked apart by mad axmen, but she'd never had a dream as horrifying as this one. She rolled over onto her right side and wrinkled her nose. This was all Daniel's fault. She didn't know why it was, but blaming him made her feel the teensy-tiniest bit better.

Chapter Six

The next morning, Annamarie was grumpy. To help ease her crankiness, she seized a pack of powdered sugar donuts she'd bought the evening before and shoved one into her mouth. The white powder dusted her blazer, but she didn't care. She left her dorm room with her book bag hanging over her shoulder as she munched on another treat. When she walked down the hall, she passed by the same two girls who'd glared at her on the first day.

"Hey,
Annamarie," one of the girls said.

The other
girl just waved at her.

"Ugh, hi," she said. Was this a sign of the apocalypse?

She shook off her worries and headed down the flight of stairs. When she stepped outside, Owen almost tackled her.

"Morning, Owen." She shoved another donut into her mouth. "Isn't the weather lousy?"

It was sunny outside. Too sunny. Stupid sun.

"Don't
you have something you need to tell me?" Owen asked.

"Ugh." She raised an eyebrow. "Not really."

Another couple of girls walked past and waved at her like they'd known her for forever. Another girl just stared in awe.

"What the heck is with everyone today?" She
looked over her shoulder in paranoia. "Is something going to happen to me?"

Owen
groaned. "Isn't it obvious? The girls are nice to you because you're close to Daniel. Half the student body wants to kill you and the other half wants to suck up to you because of your relationship with him."

"Relationship?" What kind of relationship did she and Daniel have? Mortal enemies, maybe? "I'm afraid I'm not following the logic here. Why would anybody be jealous of the relati
onship I have with Daniel? We loathe each other."

"Are you still going with that cover story?" Owen looked about ready to shake her.

"Cover story?" Okay, this was just getting weirder and weirder. She pinched herself to make sure she was awake. She was.

"
A rumor has been going around school like wildfire that you and Daniel are dating." Owen stared. "Last night, you and Daniel were caught rounding second base in the middle of the science hall."

The words were worse than a punch to the throat. She sucked in air and started to cough.
Her and Daniel in a relationship? No freaking way. She'd rather date a toad. And how did the school know about Mrs. Carmichael's misunderstanding last night anyway? Was the woman a gossip hound? She was going to puke up her donuts.

"Are you okay?" Owen asked. "You're pale."

"Let's get one thing straight here." She had to clear up this misunderstanding fast. "Daniel and I weren't making out in the science hall. Somebody saw us wrestling."

"Wrestling?" Owen looked skeptical.

"He found me with his violin," she muttered. "He grabbed me and pinned me against the wall. I put him in a head lock to retaliate. Long story short, what was seen as us making out was actually the two of us trying to kill each other."

"Oh." Owen let out a relieved laugh. "That makes so much more sense. I thought you were keeping secrets from me."

"Why would I?" she asked. "I just can't believe the whole school thinks I was sucking lips with that slime ball."

Owen nodded. "It's not the greatest
rumor. Daniel has some hardcore fans. You could have some girls seeking vengeance."

"I'm more worried about my dignity than heartbroken girls." She dusted the powder sugar from her blazer. "Let's just head to class, okay?
All of this talk about me kissing Daniel is making me sick."

"Gotcha." Owen nodded. "I'll walk you, just in case
something happens."

"Thanks." She grinned, glad she had such a good friend in the face of such a horrible situation.

****

Annamarie
headed out of the school and walked down the steps. She'd decided to be healthy for once and carried a turkey sandwich on wheat bread. As she took a bite of her food, she searched the grounds for Jaiden and found the guy standing by the oak tree. When they made eye contact, he waved and grinned. She walked over to him, grateful that there were at least a couple people in school who didn't treat her like a) she was an oozing monster or b) that she was deserving of awe-inspired gawking. She sunk to her butt and Jaiden plopped down beside her.

"How are things with Daniel going?" Jaiden asked, his expression mock serious. "I heard the two of you made progress
in your relationship last night. Congrats."

She punched him and he winced.

"Ouch. You do hit hard." He smirked even as he said the words.

"You have to know what Daniel and I were really doing." She leaned back against the trunk. "I've been asked about that stupid story all day. I don't know why nobody believes me when I tell them that there is nothing between me and Daniel be
sides sheer hatred."

"Ah, just let
the story burn out," Jaiden said. "Another rumor will pop up soon enough and everybody will forget about you."

"
It just sucks," she muttered. "If it was any other guy that people thought was my boyfriend, I would be fine. I just hate anybody thinking that Daniel is dating me."

"Then there's your answer," Jaiden said. "Why don't you
really date somebody else? That will make the rumor go away faster."

Date somebody? She'd never t
hought of that. The problem was she had zero experience dating guys. She wasn't sure she was girlfriend material anyway.

"What's wrong?" Jaiden asked. "
Don't like the idea?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "I've never dated somebody. I'm not sure I'm even likeable. I mean, look at me. I have a bad temper, I'm messy, and
I'm not girly at all. Plus, I don't have curves anywhere. I'm like a walking stick."

"Are you kidding?" Jaiden elbowed her. "I think you're spunky and intelligent. Plus, unlike every other girl at this school, you have
a strong personality and won't change it for anyone. I think that deserves a lot of respect."

"Really?" Her cheeks went hot. "Thanks, Jaiden. Why are you being so nice to me, anyway?"

He stared at her. "I just find you endearing."

"Ah, thanks." She really did have some super friends.

His face fell. She had no idea why.

"Maybe you're right about dating somebody." She frowned. "Or maybe I could just
fake
date somebody."

"I suppose…" He nodded, the smile returning.

"I think I know the perfect somebody." She reached out and seized Jaiden's hands.

"Yeah?" His grin widen
ed. "Do you think he'd go for it?"

"I don't know." She paused. "I'll have to ask him."

"I think he'll say yes." Jaiden smirked. "In fact, I know for a fact he'll definitely say yes."

"I don't know." She frowned. "Owen might like somebody, though. I don't want to screw it up by
making him fake a relationship with me."

"Owen?" Jaiden's eyes narrowed. "What?"

She released Jaiden's hands. "You know, the kid who Daniel was picking on that I saved. His name's Owen. We're good friends now. He might fake date me."

Groaning, Jaiden leaned forward and buried his face in his hands.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"
I thought you were talking about me." Jaiden sighed, then shook his head. "Don't do anything with Owen."

"O-okay." She
frowned, concerned.

Guys
at this school sure were funky. She took a bite of her sandwich and tried to figure out why Jaiden looked like she'd just whacked him in the groin with her flute.

****

Annamarie finished cleaning the last toilet and went to report her progress to Raphael. He wasn't in the bathroom. When she went into the hall, she saw him taking a vacuum out of the closet. Just as she opened her mouth to announce that she was done, she heard footsteps heading down the hall behind her. She whirled around and saw her worst nightmare approaching. It was Daniel. He was being followed by Jaiden and Gavin. When Jaiden saw her, he gave a friendly wave while Gavin stared at him with shock on his face. Daniel, like always, looked ready to kill.
How the heck did he find me down here?
she thought, wondering how she'd gotten stuck with such bum luck.

"So you really are scrubbing toilets
during detention." Daniel grinned at her rubber gloves.

She took off one of the gloves and threw it at him. He yelped and ducked. As Daniel straightened up, furious, Jaiden
went red in the face from trying not to laugh.

"Do you know how many germs
are on that glove?" Daniel scowled at her. "You could have given me a disease."

"Since you're pretty
much a germ already, I doubt you're at risk of contamination."

The two of them shot daggers at one another.

"You sure don't treat your boyfriend very nice, toilet girl," Raphael said.

The color drained from her face. Worst. Timing. Ever.

"Toilet girl." Daniel grinned at her like Christmas had come early. "Your nickname is
toilet girl
?"

"Shut up!"

"Don't be so mad." Daniel sniggered. "The nickname suits you."

She
tore off her other rubber glove and hurled it at him. This one smacked him right in the middle of the face because he was too busy laughing to dodge. As he seized the glove, his smile was replaced with a sneer. She was glad to see his skin was red from the blow.

"You're going to regret that," he said.

"Really?" she asked. "What's the worst you could do? Dye my shirt pink?"

"
I could do a lot worse than that." He glared at her. "You're just lucky I'm a nice person."

"Nice person? Ha!" She threw up her hands. "Only if nice
is synonyms with conniving weasel. Why does everyone have to think that I'm your girlfriend? That's the worst."

"You should consider yourself lucky." Daniel snarled.

"Lucky?" she asked. "I would rather get malaria and drop dead than date you."

"That's it." He growled. "I don't care if you're a girl."

When Daniel stepped forward—probably just to get in her face to yell a little more because he'd never actually hit her—Jaiden darted in front of her.

"That's enough," Jaiden said. "Leave her alone."

"What are you doing?" Daniel froze, looking more stunned than when she'd smacked him with the glove. "Are you actually taking her side?"

The anger was gone
from Daniel's face. It could have been her imagination, but she thought she saw a smidgeon of hurt in his eyes.

"
I'm not taking her side." Jaiden groaned. "It's just that when you get like this, it annoys me. You have to have control over everyone."

"I annoy you?
" Daniel glared at him.

"That wasn't what I said." Jaiden sighed, exasperated.

The atmosphere was more sinister now than ever before. Worse yet, she had no idea why Daniel and Jaiden were staring each other down.
Is this a guy thing?
She scratched the back of her head.
Is a fight about to start between two best friends?
She didn't care too much about Daniel, but she liked Jaiden too much to let that happen.

"Now, now." She placed her hand on Jaiden's shoulder. "I got this. I don't need a guard. Daniel is too wimpy for me to worry about anyway."

The tension between the pair broke. Oddly enough, she was happy when Daniel yelled, "What was that?"

"You heard me." She winked at him mockingly.

"That's it. I'm leaving. I'm not taking any more abuse." Daniel whirled around and stomped down the hall.

Gavin
appeared confused before following after him. Jaiden lingered and looked at her with concern in his eyes.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" She'd had worse fights with her deaf aunt Tilly.

"Well, you did just have a yelling match." Jaiden hesitated
before placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Ah, come off it.
" She punched Jaiden playfully on the arm. "I can take care of myself, remember? I'm a tough girl."

Jaiden didn't say anything and just stared at her. Her stomach squished, but she had no idea why.