Page 37 of Dangerous

At least that’s what I hoped.

Monday morning dawnedbright and early. I took extra care when getting ready for school, needing the added armour since my period arrived, making me a little touchy and full of self-doubt.

“You look pretty, sweetie. It’s not picture day or something that I forgot about, is it?” Mom handed me a cup of coffee since she’d beaten me down to the kitchen.

After taking a sip, letting the caffeine do its magic, I answered as I grabbed out the ingredients for breakfast. “It’s not. It’s just the first day that Ethan and I will be official.”

Mom stared at me as if I had two heads, reminding me that I hadn’t told her about our plan. And from the excited way she was looking at me, I didn’t know if I should. Maybe letting her think our relationship was real would get her off my back as well. It’s not like she was trying to fix me up or anything, often telling me she was glad I wasn’t boy crazy like the other girls, but at the same time, she’d tried to push me towards Mason, wanting me to date people and not spend so much time with the guys. It was as if she was suspicious of us being together although she’d toned down on some of it once she realized that Peter and Jarrod were really a couple. And when Jasonwas officially added to the mix, she’d relaxed even more.

“Ethan asked me to be his girlfriend after the dance.”

“Oh, sweetie. That’s awesome. I’m so happy for you.” She pulled me into a hug. “Ahh, young love. There’s no other feeling like it.” She pushed me away but held me by my shoulders. “But don’t get carried away. I don’t want your grades dropping. Good thing you’re on birth control because I’m too young to be a grandma.”

“Mom!”

“Relax, dear. I know you kids are sleeping around. Well, maybe not you, but certainly a lot of your classmates are.” She placed her hand against my cheek. “Just take your time and don’t jump into because you feel like you have to. Promise me.”

“I promise mom.”

“Good. Now let’s make some breakfast. You’ll need the fuel for school if you’re going to be telling people.”

Crap. Just what was I getting myself into if mom thought I needed to fuel up? While I was happy that mom took the news so well, I also felt sad, wondering how she would have reacted if I’dsaid I was with Jason, Jarrod, and Peter. Would she have been as happy or proud looking? Or would she have locked me up before calling the police on Peter? Not knowing bothered me. Mom had always been someone I looked up to, someone I’d admired and wanted to make happy. If she’d reacted badly when I told her who I really loved, I’m not sure how I would have taken it.

Before I was ready to face school, Ethan knocked on my door, so he could drive me to school. As I walked out the door—after giving him a kiss on the cheek for mom’s benefit—I glanced towards their house and nearly died on the spot when I noticed Jarrod watching me. He gave me a soft smile and waved in greeting, alleviating some of my fear, but still I worried. How had he felt watching me kiss Ethan? Had it hurt him to see me with someone else? Someone who wasn’t Peter or Jason.

“What’s wrong?” Ethan asked as he parked in the school lot. Crap. I’d been so lost in thought that I hadn’t even realized we’d arrived.

“Nothing,” I told him, but I knew he didn’t believe me because he took my hand in his and rubbed his thumb over my knuckles.

“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. Or we could take some more time.”

“No, it’s okay. I just probably freaked myself out because I’d never had a boyfriend before. Not a real one. Not that this is real, but you know what I mean.” When he started to laugh, I pushed his chest. “Fine, laugh at me. I’m being silly, I know.”

“You are. And it’s so cute.” I thought he was done, but then he got a mischievous look in his eye that worried me. “I’m hurt. You made it sound like people wouldn’t believe that I was a real boyfriend.”

I rolled my eyes. “Not you, you idiot. It’s me people won’t believe. I mean, no one has ever asked me out before, but somehow, I managed to land you, the man who all the girl’swant.” When I saw his chest puffing out, I decided I needed to take a little wind out of his sails. “I mean you and every other guy, because these girls are boy crazy. Even mom talks about how they are.”

“Sure, say something nice about me and then take it away.”

I laughed. “Come on, boyfriend. Let’s get this over with because I have classes to attend.”

“You just want to avoid listening to them all talk about you again.” He opened his door and motioned for me to stay put. After sliding his bag over his shoulder and shutting his door, he raced around his car to open mine. “But I don’t blame you at all. I’d want to hide to after what they put you through already.”

I took the hand he offered, lacing our fingers together.Might as well start of strong.I pressed another kiss to his cheek, thanking him when he held my bag in his other hand.

27

Katy/Katherine

“Katy.” Sasha stopped in front of me, her gaze locked onto our joined hands before she yanked it up to face us with a large smile on her face. “I’m guessing your ride home from the dance was fruitful. Very, very fruitful.

Was there a maximum number of times that you could roll your eyes in a day, because if there was, I had a feeling I was going to hit that number today. Fruitful? I mean, who uses that outside of that weird Christian sect where the women gave birth to lots of children.

Not knowing what to say, I was grateful when Ethan jumped in. “I guess my dance moves were incredible because after the dance, I was finally able to talk her into making things official.”

“So, it’s true, you’ve been dating each other since before school started, but were keeping it on the down low.”

Where was I living and what year was this? First fruitful and now down low. What was happening? Had me getting a boyfriend—a fake one at that—broken the time-spacecontinuum? It was the only explanation for how weird Sasha was acting.

---