Page 40 of Spite

Chapter Sixteen

Jessie was no longer sitting at Christian’s table at lunch. Since I’d returned to River High, his table had lost two of its members. I didn’t feel sorry for him, although I did feel bad about Jessie. For her part, she was still super nice to me, and the day after the basketball game, she told me that she’d never tell anyone about what I told her. I trusted her, and I paid no attention to the rumors flying around about why Christian and Jessie had broken up.

And yet, try as I might, I heard them anyway—everyone thought Christian broke up with Jessie, and they thought he’d broken up with her because of me. Jessie assured me she and her friends knew the truth, or most of it: that she’d been the one to do the breaking up and not him, and that was all that mattered. The rumor mill could go jump into a ditch and stay there.

I talked to Leah every night as I dodged Diane’s attempts at hanging out. Hanging out was the last thing I wanted to do with the woman who’d married my dad, who was the young and pretty replacement for my mom.

Leah thought I had Xander and Alec wrapped around my finger already. The only thing left for me to do was get them to verbally agree to help me take down Christian. Of course, that would involve them working together, seeing each other, being amiable to each other. Leah told me I should reintroduce them to each other, be the common ground between them.

I wanted them to get along, sure. More than that, though, I was curious as to how far they’d gotten with each other in the past. Some people might think it’s nasty, but I was…let’s just say, I was curious, and a little turned on by thinking about it. Who knew I had such a kinky side?

My new friend Georgia was impressed. I’d told her the gist of what happened at the basketball game, and she took it all in. She did advise me to be careful of Christian, to not let his lips sway me—as if. No number of kisses, whether they were earth-shattering or not, would sway me from my goal of breaking that boy.

Because that’s all he was. A boy. He might be tall, he might be strong, he might have a voice that fell on you like honey and a face to match, but he was nothing but a boy. A boy who’d grown too big for his britches. If anyone needed to be knocked down a peg or two—or ten thousand—it was Christian.

It was that Friday during lunch when Georgia and I were talking that I suddenly had an idea. Everything would come together soon enough; I couldn’t rush it. But in order for it all to work, I needed some backup. I needed both Alec and Xander on my side, and for that to happen, they needed to get together and forgive each other of their past.

When Alec sat down to my left, Georgia and I both looked at him. His green eyes moved between us. “Uh, what?” he asked. “Do I have something on my face?” He grinned. Alec had been in a much better mood since he’d asked Mr. Burns to switch lab partners in chemistry; it was something Mr. Burns allowed once during the year.

Georgia elbowed me. “Do you want to tell him, or should I?” Ever since bringing the Snowball dance up, she’d gotten more and more into it, until she was literally begging me to go dress shopping with her. Almost like, I shudder to think it, a real high school girl who enjoyed things. Slowly but surely, I was cracking Georgia’s shell.

“I’ll do it,” I offered, grinning at Alec, who was still as clueless and adorable as ever. “Tomorrow. You got any plans?”

“Why do I have the feeling I’m about to?” Alec’s eyes squinted at me, his tone teasing.

“We’re going dress shopping,” Georgia said, unable to resist. She practically smiled from ear to ear, her excitement over something she once ridiculed almost funny. “And you’re going to be our ride.”

Looking at me, Alec said, “Now, I know I offered to be your chauffeur, but…”

I elbowed him. “Oh, come on. It’ll be fun.”

“Right. Watching you two try on dresses for hours,” Alec spoke dryly, “that sounds like my idea of fun. Might have to write about it in my journal tonight.” His words were laced with sarcasm, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

Shrugging, I said, “I figured it’d be good for you to know what color my dress is, unless you have another date to the dance in mind?” Beside me, Georgia’s face reddened, almost like she was embarrassed for me. She shouldn’t be. I needed Alec at my side at this dance, just like I needed Xander there. He was my next step.

First, I had to make sure Alec knew he was going with me.

Tiny dimples appeared on Alec’s face. “Are you—are you asking me to the dance, El?” At the use of his nickname for me, Georgia practically swooned. She adored his nickname for me, thought it was obscenely cute.

I nodded, reaching into my pocket and pulling out a chocolate bar. As I opened it, I said, “I suppose I am, as long as you say yes. If you say no, then I’m not.”

“Cushioning yourself in case of rejection,” Alec went on, taking a square of chocolate from me. “Smart. It’s what I would do.” Well, we both knew what he’d do, but that was neither here nor there. “All right. I’ll go with you, as long as I get to dance with you and not just stand around and look pretty.”

I knew Alec would agree to go with me. It was the other boy in this equation that I knew would be harder to convert, more difficult to sway. Xander did not look like the type of person who enjoyed any sort of school function, whether it was a dance, an assembly, or even class. I had fifty minutes in photography to convince him otherwise.

When the lunch bell rang and everyone got up, I asked Alec if he could pick me up after photography. I had something up my sleeves, you see, a plan that needed to be set in motion soon. The sooner the better, really.

As I walked into chemistry and sat down beside Jessie and Sarah, I felt a pair of irate, blue eyes on me. I met Christian’s stare across the room, refusing to be the first one to look away, the first one to blink. I could give a death glare no problem, too. Wasn’t that hard.

Sarah noticed what was going on and muttered, “You know, I could go to Mr. Smith. Tell him that Christian is—”

Damn it. I was the one who looked away first. To Sarah, I said, “No. Don’t. I’m strong enough to take it. Let him glare. That’s about all he can do to me.”

I shouldn’t have been so confident, because as soon as Mr. Burns walked in from the small back room, where all the class’s extra experimental items were stored, Christian got up and talked to him, having a hushed conversation in the back of the room.

Mr. Burns and Christian walked to our table, and my eyes were slow to meet the teacher’s. “Christian here has asked for you to become his new lab partner. He says he needs a bit of help, and judging from your past test scores, I think it’s a good idea.”

Beside me, Jessie whispered under her breath, “You can say no.” Right. Refusal was my right. Mr. Burns wouldn’t force me to pair up with someone who I hated. And where would that leave the kid who was currently Christian’s partner? Would he take my place with Sarah and Jessie?

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