Cold as Ice

The first words that came out of Bailey's mouth were "That's Johnny's jacket."

I looked down at the smooth, worn leather and squeezed the cuffs of the sleeves. "Yes it is."

She stood up, reaching a small hand out to touch it. "And it's still warm." Her eyes flickered up to mine. "Why are you wearing Johnny's jacket?"

Shrugging innocently, I jabbed my thumb toward the front doors. "It's cold out there."

"You have your own jacket." Jen pointed out.

"Yeah." said Kyle. "What's wrong with your jacket?"

"Nothing's wrong with my jacket." I said. "I just didn't grab it - and I didn't know we were going to go outside."

"Why were you outside?" Bailey questioned, her eyes narrowed to slits. "What did he want to say to you?"

I gave her a look, pressing my lips into a line and raising one eyebrow. "I can't say it right here."

"Kyle, leave." She said, maintaining eye contact.

"That's not what I mean. I can say it in front of Kyle, but not here."

"What's the difference?" She asked.

"It's not good." I told her. Jen leaned to the side so she could see me around Bailey. "But I'll tell you that I'm definitely not going to formal with Cayden."

"Thank God," Jen breathed. "I was going to punch him out myself."

All three of us looked at her. Jen wasn't the violent type; she was quiet and reserved, and very seldom even argued. So, threatening to punch him out was quite a statement, coming from her.

Her Bambi eyes blinked between us. She raised her hands slightly, shrugging her small shoulders. "What? I've always hated him. And his voice is annoying."

I smiled. "I didn't notice the lisp until Johnny pointed it out."

"He has a lisp?" Bailey took a second to think about it, and wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Oh... he does have a lisp."

"Oh, man," Kyle screwed up his face. "Now that you pointed it out, it's going to annoy the hell out of me."

Laughing, I leaned against the wall. "That was my initial reaction."

"So," said Bailey, as she sat back down on the stairwell, "I'm wondering how you are going to dump Cayden, Miss Dawson."

"Well, Miss Taylor, I plan on doing it after school today. In person."

Jen laughed. "Bring me along. I want to see the look on his stupid face."

"No!" Bailey exclaimed, bouncing on the step. "No! No! You know what you should do?"

"What should I do?" I asked.

"You should humiliate him at the formal."

"What?" I tilted my head.

Kyle caught on to her idea and sat up straight. "Yeah! What you do is, you pretend you're going to formal with him, and then completely ditch his ass for someone else." He and Bailey hi-fived, and Bailey gleefully said, "I knew there was a reason I loved you."

"No, guys." I shook my head. "I don't think I could do that."

"Oh, come on." said Jen, joining their side. "You and I both know that it would be satisfying."

Before I could protest, Bailey chimed in with "Not to mention the fact that it would be the best way to show him that karma's a bitch."

"But--" I tried, but Kyle cut me off.

"Avery, this guy needs a reality check. I think that if you could give him a taste of his own medicine, it would knock the floor out from underneath him. He's never been rejected - and I doubt that he'd expect it from you, so it would hit him twice as hard."

Jen nodded in agreement. "If not for yourself, Ave, do it for all the other girls he's victimized. It's only fair."

Three pairs of eyes stared at me, almost expectantly, waiting for me to give them an answer. Sure, giving Cayden a well-needed slap in the face would be very satisfying, but I'd never done anything like that before. When I pictured what Bailey, Kyle and Jen were telling me to do, it looked like a scene in a movie. I would never be able to do it right. I'd probably just end up humiliating myself. And who was I supposed to ditch him for? My friends? Right. How very badass of me.

I closed my eyes and asked myself what my mother would think. I heard her smooth, intelligent voice in the back of my head. It said something along the lines of Avery Dawson, if you're anything like me, you'd march right up to that asshole and kick him in a place where a man shouldn't be kicked, and laugh. I smiled, imagining my mother telling me that. Opening my eyes, I pushed off of the wall and stood up straight. "I'm going to do it."

Bailey and Jen squealed with delight and Kyle grinned at me. "And don't you dare go easy on him."

Returning the smile, I shrugged one shoulder. "I don't plan to."

In between fourth and fifth period, I headed for the locker pit to swap books. Johnny's jacket hung over mine on the hook. I had goosebumps on my arms from a sudden chill, and contemplation briefly flitted through my mind. I wanted to wear it; not only because it was warm, but because I knew that if Cayden saw it, he'd get mad. Part of me said that was unnecessary. But the other part of me was itching to pull the jacket on and take a detour purposely so he would see me wearing it. After all, it was the least I could do to him after finding out he was planning to slip me a Roofie. With my books in my hands, I stared at the jacket. It had been through a lot in the past year or so; it was, after all, Johnny's absolute favourite thing to wear. There were scratches here and there from the many fences I'd seen Johnny leap over, or from the many times it had been thrown to the pavement as he got into a bloody brawl, and still he refused to throw it out. He said it gave the jacket character, and that it was the best thing I'd ever given to him - besides the peace and quiet when I wasn't around.

I grabbed the jacket and pulled it on, heading to class just as the bell rang. I passed a girl in the hall, and she stopped me. She had wavy brown hair and slightly resembled a Kardashian. She smiled, and lightly put a hand on my shoulder. "Is that Johnny Frost's coat?"

Smiling awkwardly, I looked down at the studded collar. "Yeah, why?"

"Lucky girl." She winked, and continued walking down the hallway. I'd never seen her before in my life, but Johnny was a well-known guy.

He had a lot of friends, but none as close as my brother. Ash had been Johnny's friend since before they were even born. Our parents had been close growing up - and when Ash was born, Liza and Victor Frost were the Godparents. When Johnny was born, my parents were his Godparents. Johnny's mother had been in the passenger seat when my mother was killed. She'd never been the same since.

Class passed quickly, and before I knew it, I was headed for study block. I rounded the corner, careful not to bump into anyone, and safely made it to the door. I walked in, and passed by Johnny. He was sitting in the front row, reading a comic book, resting his chin in his hand - which turned his lips into almost a pout. As I passed him, he looked up and raised his eyebrow at me. I raised one back at him and sat down in the empty seat beside him, copying the way he sat. He smiled, and lifted his head from his hand to stick up a middle finger at me.

"Ouch, baby," I said in a low voice. "Why you gotta be so mean to me?"

"Cute," he murmured, "I enjoy it when you recycle my sarcastic remarks to use them against me." Turning to look at me, he glanced at the jacket. "Dig the studs?"

I ran my thumbs over the hard metal studs embedded in the popped collar. "I dig them very much. Someone very awesome must have picked this out for you, huh?"

"Yeah... she's not so great."

"But she knows you better than you know yourself." I smiled. "That's how she knew you'd love this jacket."

"Or maybe it was a freak coincidence that they agreed on something for once in their lives."

Shrugging, I pulled a comic book out of my bag and opened it. "Take it however you want to. You love that jacket, and I bought it for you."

He ignored my statement, and widened his eyes. "Is that... Marvel Zombies six?"

"It might be."

"I didn't even know they made a sixth. Give it." He extended his hand. "Give it, now."

"No," I said. "I want to read it."

He pouted. "Kid, give me the comic book."

"No,"

"Don't make me come over there." He warned.

"I'm not scared of you."

"You will be if you don't give me that comic book." Johnny extended his other hand and fluttered his fingers. "Seriously, that's not fair."

I laughed. "Give me a ride home today and I'll consider letting you borrow it."

"I'm driving Ash home anyway. Done deal, Kiddo." He sat back in his seat.

I gave Johnny his coat back and walked with him to his car. It was easily the nicest car in the parking lot, even compared to the teachers' cars. With my hand resting on the door handle, I looked at Johnny and asked him what kind of Mustang it was.

"My baby's a GT Shelby Cobra." He said proudly. "Hottest car in this town, if I do say so myself."

"That's agreeable." I opened the door and got into the back seat.

Johnny sat down and started the engine, shaking the snowflakes from his hair. "So, tell me about how you dumped Cayden."

I chewed my lip. "Well..."

He looked at me through the rear view mirror. "You did dump him, didn't you?"

"Not yet," I played with my fingers. "I was kind of thinking of something else."

"You want me to do it for you." He said.

"No. Bailey told me that I should go to formal with him, but make a fool out of him in front of everybody."

Johnny snorted. "That's actually a half decent idea."

The car door opened, and my brother fell into the car, slamming the door behind him. "Hey, guys!"

"Watch that door, Sergeant Slam." warned Johnny, pointing a finger at my brother.

"Sorry."

"Tell him what Bailey told you to do, Kid." Johnny told me, making eye contact with me through the mirror again.

"What did she tell you to do?" Ash asked, turning around in his seat to look at me.

"Instead of dumping Cayden, I'm going to go to formal and give him a taste of his own medicine." I said.

"Good girl!" Ash ruffled my hair. "How are you going to do that?"

"Kyle told me I should ditch him and dance with somebody else."

"Who would want to dance with you?" Johnny asked, speeding out of the lot.

I leaned forward and batted the side of his head. "Shut your face, or I won't give you Zombies 6." He was silent. "And there are probably a bunch of guys that would dance with me. I just don't know any of them."

My brother looked at me. "Why not him?"

"Him? Him who?" I asked, confused.

"Johnny." He said.

My laugh came out in a bleat. "Johnny!" I exclaimed. "Me, dance with Johnny? That's ridiculous!"

Johnny laughed. "No, what's ridiculous is me dancing with you. That's where the absurdity lies."

"You guys are just being immature. You don't have to actually enjoy dancing together, just do it to piss Cayden off."

"But," Johnny and I said at the same time.

Ash rolled his eyes, sighed, and leaned back against the leather passenger seat. "You two really are immature."

"We're not immature, we're being logical." said Johnny.

I nodded. "Yeah. We've been sworn enemies since..."

"Since you were little, I get it." said Ash. "But at least you two can be somewhat civil. Jay," he looked at Johnny, "you and Cayden hate each other. Don't you think it's worth it to ignore your slight distaste for my little sister, if you get to severely piss him off?"

"I guess." Johnny shrugged a shoulder.

"Exactly. Sis?" Ash looked at me. "What do you say?"

I crossed my arms. "Fine. But Johnny, if you try to grope me again, I might have to rearrange your face."

"Hey! I didn't grope you." Johnny defended. I gave him a look. "I didn't."

Ash pointed a finger at him. "Your hands were about to slide onto her ass. Don't you try to tell me that you didn't grope her."

The car slowed to a stop in front of my house. Johnny jabbed a thumb toward Ash's door. "Get out of my car, traitor."

"Whatever," Ash got out of the car and held the door for me. As I moved to duck out, Johnny grabbed my hand and tugged me back in. I fell into the passenger seat.

"What do you want now?" I asked him.

"Marvel Zombies Six." He said.

Rolling my eyes, I dug around in my bag and pulled the comic out, handing it to him. "I better get it back in the very same condition."

"Thanks, Sweetheart." He plucked it from my fingers and used it to shoo me out of his car. "See you kiddies tomorrow."

"Bye, Johnathan." Ash closed the car door and Johnny sped away.

I watched the car disappear down the road. For some reason, the way it drove reminded me of the way Johnny walked - like the world around it was inferior. I wondered what it was going to be like dancing with Johnny. I also wondered what he would look like dressed up. I imagined him in all black, with a tie that matched the shade of my dress and his eyes. I thought about what the Kim Kardashian look-alike had said to me in the hallway, that I was a lucky girl. Boy, I wish I knew Johnny like other girls knew him.

I went inside behind Ash, kicking off my black and white striped boots. Ash looked down at me and half-smiled. "Well, sister, you've had a shitty week. Want to order Chinese, on me?"

I smiled widely at him. What a brother.