Cold as Ice

I slept well that night. Granted, not long, due to the fact that I stayed up until three in the morning with a stomach ache and worrying about the following day, but well. On top of what I thought was food poisoning from the Chinese food, I had been arguing with myself about whether or not making a fool out of Cayden Nicols was really all right. I lay in bed with a cold cloth over my forehead, staring up at the ceiling and going back and forth inside my head. But in the end, I came to the conclusion that Cayden was a jerk and for once I should live a little. And then I threw up, which made my stomach ache go away. After a long shower, I crawled back into bed and curled up into a ball, and had fallen asleep in minutes.

In the morning, my alarm didn't wake me. Instead, someone was brushing the hair back from my face and telling me softly that it was time to get up. I looked at the figure above me in blurry-eyed confusion, and recognized it to be Jen. Sitting up slowly, I gave her a sleepy smile. "Hey, Jen."

"Good morning, pretty girl." She said. "Ash told me you were sick last night. Are you all right now?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "What time is it?"

"Seven thirty. We let you sleep an extra hour, is that okay?"

"Thanks." I hugged her before standing up and stretching. She made my bed for me as I pulled on a pair of loose fitting jeans and a plain black pullover hoodie. Due to the fact that I'd slept on my hair, it had its natural wave, which surprisingly looked okay. I ran a brush through it and hairsprayed my bangs out of my face, quickly put on some mascara and went downstairs. When I reached the bottom of the staircase, I saw Johnny lazing on my couch, watching cartoons.

"Well hello," I said.

"Hi there." He said, and looked at me. "Tell me, did it hurt when you fell?"

I rolled my eyes. "From Heaven? Really, Johnny?"

"No," he said, snickering, "from the Ugly Tree." He burst into laughter. Johnny liked to use those nasty pick-up lines on me to get me going. He'd say things like, I'd tap that... over the head with a shovel; or, Sure, you're a solid ten. Out of a hundred - just so I'd snip something back at him. He was always looking for an excuse to fight me.

Sighing, I put my hands in my back pockets. "Johnny, I'm in no mood to deal with you right now."

"I know, I know." He stood up and strolled cockily toward me. "I just want to get my digs at you before tonight; because if we want to make Cayden think we're there together, we have to at least pretend to like each other."

"That's going to be difficult." I told him. I looked to the side, but Jen was nowhere to be found. She had probably gone out to wait in the car. If only I had been smart enough to run away before Hurricane Johnny sucked me up into its madness.

"Hey, now." He cupped the side of my face in his hand. Johnny's hands were massive; big enough that if he spread his fingers wide, he could grip a basketball and turn it over without losing his grip, or cover my whole face. I looked up at him and blinked. "I'll be nice if you'll be nice. Besides, this isn't about us. It's about that snobby-assed rich boy."

"True enough." I shrugged, and raised my hand, sticking up my baby finger. "Pinky swear you won't pull out of this last minute and embarrass me."

Johnny grinned. "I haven't made a proper pinky swear since I was three." He stuck up his baby finger, which was the size of my index finger, and interlocked it with mine. I tried to take my pinky back, but he shook his head and squeezed it in place. "You have to lock it," he said, and stuck up his index finger. I did as he said, and we locked index fingers, then he raised his thumb. "...and bite your thumb."

"Oh my God, Johnny." Smiling, I rolled my eyes and bit my thumb. "Happy?" I asked. He nodded.

"Uh, guys... I hate to break up your... er... whatever you're doing, but we have to leave." Ash's voice came from behind us, making me whirl around with my hand still intricately locked with Johnny's. My half-spin yanked Johnny forward, and as I turned it wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "What exactly are you guys doing?"

"Nothing!" I exclaimed, my cheeks burning.

Johnny just laughed and wrapped his other arm around me, pulling me back against his warm, muscular body. "We're practicing being nice to each other."

"I see." Ash raised an eyebrow, his hand resting on Jen's back, as he led her to the front door. "We'll just go wait in the car, okay?"

I nodded, my face frozen in embarrassment, my hands holding onto Johnny's forearms. "Mm-hm."

Jen smiled at me as she left, closing the door behind her.

"Johnathan?" I looked up.

"That's my name." He looked down at me, his hair forming a curtain around my face. "What would you like?"

"Please let go of me."

His smile was slow and confident. "Why don't you let go of me?"

"I'm not holding onto you. I can't untangle myself out of this finger-lock if you don't let go of me first." I said.

"And what if I don't want to?"

"Johnny, we're going to be late. Just let go, okay?"

He chuckled. "Sorry, I just wanted to know what you were going to try and threaten me with."

We managed to get out of the knot and get our coats on. We went outside, and Johnny opened the car door for me. I got in the passenger seat, and looked back to see Ash gently cleaning Jen's glasses. Jen was staring at his face, her small, heart-shaped lips parted slightly as she watched him clean the lenses with the end of his sleeve. He handed them back to her, smiling awkwardly as their fingertips brushed. Jen quickly put them on and looked out the window.

I looked at Johnny, who had a you've got to be kidding me look on his face. He slightly tilted his head toward the two, and I smiled, shrugging one shoulder. He crinkled his nose, and we drove off to school.

Bailey met Jen and I at the front doors. She didn't look all that impressed with me. "You didn't tell me what happened. I am upset."

"I see that." I said, with a laugh. "I'll tell you later tonight. Are you guys coming to my place to get ready?"

"Yeah," Jen said, dreamily.

"What's up with her?" Bailey pointed to her.

"Well..." Jen looked at me, and I smiled. "Ash asked me to formal."

Both mine and Bailey's jaws dropped. We looked at her, and she shrugged. "It's not like it's a date or anything. People who aren't dating go to dances together all the time."

I shook my head. "No, Jen, they don't."

"Are you mad?" She pouted slightly. "I can say no---"

"No!" Bailey and I shouted. "Don't you dare." I said. "I knew you guys were crushing on each other."

"Duh," Bailey said. "That's obviously why when all three of us have sleepovers, it's either at my house or Jen's. Not yours."

"Hmm," I said. "I always thought it was because Johnny's always at my house."

Jen and Bailey shared a look, then looked at me. "That, too."

Bailey's eyes trailed off in the distance, and narrowed. "Here comes trouble."

I snuck a glance over at where Bailey was focusing, and saw Cayden. My heart did a little flip. What was I supposed to do? Was I supposed to act normal? Pissed off? I looked to my best friends for answers. "Guys..."

"Just act normal." Bailey said.

"Yeah." Jen said. "That way he'll expect that everything's fine."

I nodded, and tensed as I felt Cayden's arms wrap around my shoulders. I liked the feeling more when it had been Johnny's arms.

"What did you just say?" Cayden asked.

Bailey held her laughter. Had I seriously just said that out loud? "Uh, nothing. I was just grumbling to myself about Johnny."

"Okay." He said, but didn't sound convinced. He leaned down and kissed my cheek. "Let's go."

On the way to class, we passed Johnny, who ran his tongue along his lower lip and gave me a wink, then smiled all too charismatically at Cayden. Cayden puffed out his chest.

The day went by so slowly it was almost painful. I had to hang out with Cayden and his stupid friends at lunch, and honestly the whole time I wished somebody would come and steal me away from them. It seemed as though they could only talk about sports. I'm not a sporty person. Sure, I'll occasionally play a rough game of football or rugby, but I won't play professionally, nor will I watch one on television. Their conversation didn't interest me in the slightest.

After study block, Johnny walked Bailey, Jen, Ash and I outside, sticking close to my side. As we walked by Cayden, Johnny "accidentally" elbowed him in the back. I pretended like I didn't notice, and made sure I smiled widely at Johnny as he opened his car door for the me to get inside.

The guys hung around in the basement while us girls got ready up in my room. Bailey had brought a whole tote bag full of makeup and other beauty supplies - she was an aspiring makeup artist, and Jen, who was brilliant with photography, brought her camera. We lounged around for a bit, reading magazines and talking. Formal wasn't until eight thirty, and it was only four. I lay on my bed sideways, letting my head hang off of the side with a magazine in my hands. Bailey was sitting on the floor, trying to decide what the best colours for Jen's porcelain skin tone were by taking Jen's hand and mixing up different colour combinations on the back of it.

"Guys," I said. They both looked at me. "Why are guys so confusing?"

"If I tried to figure it out, my head would implode." said Jen.

"They're not so bad once you spend a lot of time around them." said Bailey. "Or at least, Kyle's not."

"That's because you've got him completely whipped." I rolled over onto my stomach and rested my head on my crossed arms, the magazine I'd been holding falling onto my black carpet floor.

"I do not." She argued, but smiled, knowing it was true.

"Hey," Jen said, leaning forward to grab the magazine. "Bad boys explained," she read, "I wonder if this will decode Johnny."

I snatched the magazine and scanned the article. It described Johnny's personality perfectly: the arrogance, the sex appeal, and a very deeply buried soft spot. I made a face and flipped the page. "It didn't tell me anything I don't already know."

Bailey grabbed it and turned back to the article. Her catlike green eyes read it through, and she placed her finger on a spot on the page. "It says what we've been telling you all along. That they only torment because they want your reaction, they like to get you upset. I bet that if you stopped fighting with him, he'd calm down and maybe be nice to you."

"I've tried that." I said. "I've tried everything, but Johnny's only nice to me when he wants to be."

"Of course he is." said Jen, as she painted over her white nails with silver glitter. "At least he can be nice to you."

"I guess so."

"Anyway, though," Bailey squirmed. "What do you think it'll be like to see the look on Asshole's face when you blow him off?"

"Especially when it's Johnny you're blowing him off for," Jen giggled.

"What?" Bailey hadn't been told this. Ash had probably told Jen, but I'd forgotten to tell Bailey. And I'd also forgotten to tell them the whole story about Cayden.

"I'm going to dance with Johnny." I told her. Her lips parted in shock. "Before you have a fit, I have to tell you guys the whole story."

They turned to listen, their legs crossed under them, like they were kindergarten kids and it was story time. I filled them in on the whole Rohypnol thing, and Bailey jumped up furiously.

"I'm going to kill him! That's sick! It's horrible! That's it!" She jumped angrily, clenching her hands into fists. "I can't believe it! I'm so mad right now. I am ready to spit nails. Jen!" She exclaimed at Jen. "Why aren't you freaking out?!"

"I... I can't even..." Jen's lips were puckered in confusion, her eyebrows moving together, her eyes blinking slowly. "I don't get it. It's so..."

"Unbelievable? I'm thinking so!" Bailey collapsed on the floor, lying on her back. "This is ridiculous. You definitely have to knock him flat on his ass."

I laughed. "I will, don't worry. I'm sure Johnny is just as excited about it as I am."

"I'm taking pictures of you guys, just so you're aware." said Jen, causing Bailey to sit bolt upright.

"I don't have a problem with that. It's Johnny that will have a problem with it - having his picture taken while both dressed up, and in public with me. He's going to cry." I laughed.

We were finally all dressed up and ready. Bailey's hair was in a very classy updo, but somehow she managed to make it look punky and badass, even despite the silver tiara. Her dress was gold, and clung to her small curves, flaring out and ending just above her knees. A starburst of rhinestones started from her hip and spread out along the whole dress.

Jen was wearing a strapless, tiered black dress with a big white bow tied around the middle. Her thick, dark hair flowed in volumous waves over her shoulders. Her grey eyes were glammed up with a dark smoky effect.

I honestly felt ugly next to them. Sighing, I wrapped my arms around both of them and pulled them close. We all smelled good, like hairspray, lipgloss and just a tiny bit of perfume. "Girls, you're beautiful."

"So are you!" They both said. Bailey squeezed me. "You know Cayden's going to be completely jealous, right?" Jen nodded in agreement.

I smiled. "Let's go downstairs, guys."

Kyle had shown up, and all three of the guys were standing near the front door, laughing. I heard Johnny say shut up, you bunch of prudes and then laugh guiltily. Bailey ran down the stairs and threw herself into Kyle's arms, kissing him happily. Jen came down behind her, and waved awkwardly at Ash. He smiled at her, and gave her a gentle hug, whispering something in her ear that made her blush. I was last, reaching the bottom of the staircase, and looking up at Johnny. He extended a hand, and I moved to take it, but realized there was a tie in it. I tilted my head. "Your tie?"

"I don't know how to tie it." He admitted.

I smiled and took the tie, stepping forward and putting it around the collar of his black button-up shirt. The tie was the exact colour of my dress. "How did you manage to get this colour?"

"I searched for a long time." He said, lifting the corner of his mouth, and exposing a dimple.

I wrinkled my nose, and looked back down at the tie, tying it carefully. I'd done it many times for my dad, because he never learned how - and Mom had always done it for him. I remember him going to the funeral with an untied tie, and asking me to do it for him. I wondered if he was using clip-on ties for his business meetings, wherever he was right now. I tightened Johnny's tie, flipped the collar back down, and smoothed his shirt.

"Thanks." He said, and put his hands on top of my hands, curling his fingers around them. "You look good."

"Thanks." I smiled. "You're not so bad yourself."

"Oh, stop it." He waved his hand dismissively. "Let's go, people."

As we got out of his car, Johnny offered me his arm. "Are you ready?"

I looped mine through, and held on tightly. I felt his hard muscle tighten. "I'm so ready." We walked toward the front doors, where some people were smoking cigarettes, and some were guzzling bottles of "water" which, in reality, was most likely vodka. Bailey, Kyle, Ash, and Jen walked in ahead of us, and were going to meet us on the dancefloor.

"You're shaking like mad," Johnny said, as he held the door open for me.

"I'm nervous." I told him. Butterflies wracked my stomach, and shivers skittered along every bit of my body. Though I was hardly cold, my teeth chattered like it was a thousand degrees below zero. We walked into the school and people stared at us. Everyone knew we hated each other. There had been many public incidents of bitterness and humiliation between he and I. And everyone knew Cayden and I were going to formal together. So, I guessed that people were both shocked and intrigued.

The decorations were actually pretty. There were white pillars everywhere covered in sparkly fabric, and over by the lounge a photographer was set up to take pictures of couples. There were white and blue balloons and fake snow scattered around.

Some dateless guys hanging around in the lounge whistled at me, and Johnny very nonchalantly flipped them off. He handed our tickets and his jacket to the teacher standing at a table, and we passed through.

I looked around, but didn't see Cayden. "I don't know if he's here or not."

"I can't believe he didn't offer to drive you. Did he buy your ticket for you?" Johnny asked, as he walked at my side.

"No. I bought it myself." I sighed, and crossed my arms. "He might be on the dancefloor."

"Nope, he's right over there." He said as he pointed to my right. "Talking to Gonorrhea-Pants,"

I looked over and saw Cayden, surrounded by people, leaning against a wall, smiling at the blonde girl I recognized as Claire Diamond. She was as rich as her last name suggested, and had a model body and all-natural, long, wavy, Goldilocks hair. She looked at Johnny and I, and pointed. Cayden also looked over, and puffed out his chest. I could see his temper rising. I looked at Johnny. He smiled at me and winked. "Go get 'em, tiger."

"Where will I find you?" I asked, clinging to his arm.

"Don't be scared, Kiddo. I'll be right over there," He pointed to some tables that were set up with ice blue table cloths and paper snowflakes scattered around them. "You can do it."

"What do I say to him?"

"You'll know when you get there." With that, he slipped away and strode over to an empty table.

I clenched my fists and tried to make myself look not as nervous. Setting my shoulders, I walked toward him and crossed my arms. He exploded at me. "What the hell are you doing here with him?! Is there something I should know about, Avery?"

"Yeah, there actually is." I dropped my arms. "I want to tell you that you're an asshole. You may be gorgeous and athletic, but you are the biggest skeeze I've ever had the displeasure of meeting. I know what you were planning to do tonight. And I know what happened between you and Alexa. You should be glad that you're still alive - because he could have killed you if he wanted to. So, to put it in the simplest terms, you're an asshole, I hate you, and," I pointed at Claire, "I hope she gives you Gonorrhea."

He clenched his jaw. I saw his fist begin to raise, and automatically tensed my arms. "You little bitch. You and Frost are a perfect couple, an ugly bitch and a cocky bastard. I'll bet he put you up to this, huh? Probably. You can tell him that he can kiss my ass, and that he can keep you. Because the only good thing about you is your body - and it's going to get old someday."

I smiled at him, nodding my head. "I'll tell him that for you, Two-Pump." I looked around Cayden to make eye contact with Claire. "Have fun tonight."

With that, I turned, and saw Johnny standing up and clapping his hands together. He put his fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly, then threw his arms open wide. I ran into them and he scooped me up, spinning me around in circles. A bunch of people started laughing and clapping, and a few other people whistled. My heart rate was way high, and my smile was a mile wide. That had felt extremely good.

Johnny's smooth voice suddenly in my ear made me ignore the rest of the world. "I'm proud of you, dumb bitch."

I wrapped my arms around his neck. "Couldn't have done it without you, cocky bastard."

He set me down on the ground, grinning widely. "Let's go find everybody." He took my hand, lacing our fingers together and we ran to the dancefloor. A loud, obnoxious club song pulsed through the speakers. We danced our way through the crowd, and finally found them. "Hey guys!" I shouted.

"Hey!" Bailey waved to me as she danced against Kyle.

"I heard a commotion out there! What happened?" said Jen. She and Ash kept their distance from each other, but I could tell they wanted to dance together.

"Judging by the grins on your faces, it went well!" Ash said.

Johnny looked down at me, and nodded toward Jen and Ash. I gave him a nod and he pushed Ash into her. They continued to dance happily, together.

The song ended, and the upbeat tempo died, and a slower song began. The grindpits and slamming bodies all stopped, and people started pairing up. Bailey draped her arms around Kyle's neck and attached her lips to his. Ash gently wrapped his arms around Jen's waist, and with a bashful smile, she put her arms around him, drawing their foreheads together.

I looked up at Johnny, made a face, and raised my hands. "Looks like we have to dance, huh?"

He crinkled his nose. "Oh, I'm going to get your gross cooties."

"Come here." I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he took me into his arms. Johnny wasn't the awkward-junior-high-swaying kind of guy. He actually knew how to dance. We glided around the outside of the mass of people awkwardly swaying. A lot of people stopped dancing and looked at us. I was giggling like a little girl, as Johnny spun me around, pulled me close, dipped me back, and then brought me back up against his chest.

"I didn't know you could dance." I whispered in his ear.

His laugh tickled my skin. "There's a lot you don't know about me, Kid."

A bunch of people had stopped dancing and were watching Johnny and I just as the song began to end. Included in that bunch were Cayden and Claire, and they both didn't look very impressed. I grinned up at Johnny, who chuckled. "We have an audience." I looked behind my shoulder and laughed at them.

He hugged me as the soft song faded into a booming bass track. I pulled away and tugged on his hand. "Let's go, I love this song!"

"All right, all right," He laughed and followed me back to where our friends were.

Bailey gripped Johnny's arms. "That was amazing! I didn't know you could dance so well, Johnny!"

"And I didn't know it was possible for you to look classy." He replied with a wink.

She smacked his chest, and returned to Kyle.

I looked at Johnny. "That wasn't very nice,"

"I was kidding." He said, and pulled me close to him. "Dance with me?"

"Don't grope me." I warned.

He ran his eyes over my body and bit his lower lip. "No promises."

Near the end, I'd started to get a terrible headache. I felt dizzy, like I was a ragdoll held up by tiny threads that were just seconds away from snapping and allowing me to crumple to the floor in a heap. Johnny's hands rested on my hipbones as our bodies moved in sync. I had my hands on his forearms, and squeezed them to get his attention. He leaned his head down for me to speak. "Johnny, I have a headache."

"Do you want to leave?" He murmured in my ear.

"Yeah." I rubbed my eye.

Johnny turned to Ash and tapped his shoulder. He told him that we were leaving, and to call when they needed a drive home. Ash nodded and gave me a sympathetic smile. "Bye, Ave." He said.

I smiled at him, then at Jen. "Later, guys." Turning to leave, I stumbled over my own foot. Johnny caught me and eased me back up. I looked up at him and saw his eyes were full of concern.

"Do you want me to carry you?"

I nodded. "Please."

He scooped me up and brought me away from the loud music, got his jacket and let me put it on, and took me out to his car. When he got inside, he looked at me.

"What?" I asked.

Johnny shook his head. "You look pretty pitiful."

"Thanks." I blinked at him.

"No problem." He winked and drove to my house. He got out, and carried me inside. "Can you stand?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine." I kicked off my heels, hanging onto the banister of my staircase. "You can sit on the couch if you want to." I told him. He sat down and folded his hands. "I'm just going to put some PJ's on, I'll be right back."

I ran upstairs and changed into some flannel shorts and a v-neck tee. I ran back down and flopped down on the couch beside Johnny. He smiled at me. "Did you have fun tonight, Kid?"

"I did. Did you?"

He chuckled. "I think tonight was the highlight of my life."

"Aww," I punched his shoulder. "How sweet of you."

"Not because of you, exactly." He poked the tip of my nose. "But what we did to Cayden. The look on his face was awesome. I'll remember it forever."

I smiled. "Yeah, I will too. But you realize, you might get some hell from this, right?"

He made a pfft noise and flipped his hand. "I can take Cayden's shit. But I'm worried about you," he said, and brushed a piece of hair away from my face, "if anyone tries to hurt you or anything, you call me, okay? I don't care if it's three in the morning. I'll come and bust their ass, whether they're a boy or a girl."

"Thanks, Johnny." I said. "I'm glad we can get along like this."

"Yeah." He sighed, and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Too bad it's only when nobody's around."

"What is it with us?" I ran my fingers through a small knot in Johnny's hair. It was slightly damp with his sweat, and very soft. "It's not like we've ever really done anything terrible to each other... right?"

"I don't know. I think it's just because we have an odd relationship. We're technically close. But, at the same time..." He turned his head and looked at me. "But at the same time, we're not." There was a different sort of look in his eyes that I'd never seen before. He was struggling with something. I shifted my position, leaning into his side, keeping my eyes on his. "Hey, Kid?" He asked, after a few heartbeats passed in silence.

"Yeah?"

"What would you do if I kissed you right now?"