How to Date Alexis Brighten

I lacked focus in Spanish. Maybe it was because I was sitting alone at the back of the room and everybody kept throwing me sidelong glances. Maybe it was because my back still hurt from Lacey’s push. Or maybe it was because I couldn’t stop thinking about the list that had started the whole mess.

Something Lacey had said had got to me. Her words echoed repeatedly in my head.

What gives you the right to judge me?

What if Lacey had written the list? It was possible. Lacey had openly admitted that she was jealous of me before. But why would she take the time to write a list about me? Someone who was supposedly her ‘best friend?’ It didn’t make sense at all, but I couldn’t think of anybody else who would take the time to do such a thing. I knew that Lacey could get extremely jealous at the drop of a hat, but what list-writing really her style?

I decided to start a list of my own. Possible suspects in my own personal case. I was going to get to the bottom of things if it was the last thing I did. I opened my notebook and wrote Lacey’s name on the first line. So, I had one suspect, but what would her motives be? What would she get from writing the list? I couldn’t think of any advantages for Lacey and angrily scribbled out her name in the notebook. She didn’t have a motive, and I was back at square one.

“Modern art?”

I looked up at Daniel and rolled my eyes. He gazed at the scribbled mess in my notebook with a look of satisfaction.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I snapped, shutting the notebook. Daniel leant against my desk and lazily reached for my notebook. I swatted his hand away just as Mr. Varner entered the classroom. Everybody else had already taken their seats and Mr. Varner bored his eyes into the back of Daniel’s head.

“Daniel, for God’s sake, sit down,” he ordered in a sharp tone. Daniel winked at me before sitting beside me. I wrinkled my nose and edged away from him, causing a laugh to escape his lips.

“The act isn’t working,” he said in a low tone.

“What are you talking about?”

“I know you want me,” he said in a seductive tone.

“I wouldn’t touch you if you were the last one on Earth,” I said, but what I’d intended as a harsh statement, came out sounding like a question. Daniel laughed and leant back in his chair, stretching his arms. I moved away from him and copied down what Mr. Varner was writing on the board, trying to ignore Daniel’s intrusive manner. The boy just didn’t understand the meaning of personal space.

Spanish was the one subject I wasn’t any good at. I could pass, if I tried, but even that took a lot of time and effort. I despised the naturals, like Daniel, who could get top marks without even trying at all. Daniel never paid attention in class, but still, Mr. Varner seemed to worship the ground he walked on. I hated him for it.

“You look tense,” Daniel whispered, placing his hand on top of mine. I swatted his hand away and glared at him.

“Oh, I love it when you spank me,” he said in a low tone, waggling his eyebrows. I scowled at him and raised my hand.

“What is it, Alexis?” Mr. Varner said lazily. Everybody turned their heads in my direction and openly stared. I saw Daniel’s mouth rise up in a smile out of the corner of my eye.

“May I be assigned a different seat?” I asked politely.

“If I’m not mistaken, you chose your own seat,” Mr. Varner said. I huffed and put my hand back down. There was no changing Mr. Varner’s mind. I knew this from experience. No matter how hard I tried at the end of every semester, Mr. Varner always refused to change my grade.

“Nice try,” Daniel whispered.

“Shut up,” I snapped at him. I glanced at the clock on the wall and groaned when I saw that we still had fifteen minutes left of class. I continued with the set work but found it hard to concentrate, especially with the strong scent of chlorine forever invading my nostrils. I’d angled my seat away from Daniel, once again, but this seemed to give him some sort of personal satisfaction. The smile didn’t leave his face all lesson.

When the bell went, signalling the end of class, I watched Daniel leave first. He got out of his chair slowly and swaggered out of the classroom at his own pace, stopping at the open doorway to glance at me over his shoulder. He winked at me before entering the busy hallway that was quickly filling up with students.

I shook my head and tried to clear my mind. I hated how flustered Daniel always made me feel. Even though he’d already left, the familiar scent of chlorine still hung in the air. I glanced over at the chair where he had been sitting and noticed that he’d left his swim team sweatshirt behind. It was navy blue with the school crest featured on the front and the words ‘VARISTY SWIM TEAM’ written on the back in white.

I sighed and grabbed the sweatshirt on my way out of class. I’d have to return it to him later. I walked to my locker and put Daniel’s sweatshirt inside on a hanger. Whether he’d left it behind intentionally, I didn’t know, but it wouldn’t exactly surprise me, either.

I closed my locker and saw Justin approaching. His friends followed behind him and started hollering and wolf-whistling when they saw me. I was confused as to why they were behaving this way and leant against my locker as Justin reached me.

“Hey babe,” he said in a low tone. His friends stood behind him and all had huge smiles plastered on their faces. Some of them winked at me and made thrusting gestures.

“What’s going on?” I asked Justin. He raised his eyebrows and looked around at his friends who all starting laughing.

“I heard about what went down with you and Lacey,” Justin said. “She can get pretty jealous.”

Everything fell into place, then. Justin’s behaviour and the way Daniel had been acting in Spanish.

“What did you tell them?” I hissed, grabbing a fistful of Justin’s shirt. He gasped as I slammed him against the locker.

“Don’t deny it, babe! You and Justin got it on!” one of Justin’s friends said.

“You jerk! Nothing happened between us yesterday! You drove me home and that’s it! What gives you the right to lie about me?!” I yelled in his face.

Justin flinched away from me and looked utterly pathetic. I had complete control over him.

“Alexis, I’m sorry,” he whimpered.

I slapped him across the face. Hard.

I tilted my head down to whisper in his ear.

“You tell everyone the truth or else,” I warned him. Justin gulped and nodded. I released him and watched him scurry down the hall, followed closely by his friends. I had no doubt that Justin would ignore everything I’d said, but the rumour would disappear soon enough. Something new would happen to overshadow what had supposedly gone down between Justin and I.

Justin obviously had no regard for me. The only thing he was concerned with was getting into my pants. I shuddered at the thought.

As if!

Could Justin have written the list? I’d seen the way he acted around his friends. I was sure that they’d all get a kick out of writing those things down about me. But the Pros list had been so carefully thought out. If Justin and his friends had written the list, I was sure they would have included many grotesque remarks about my body.

So it couldn’t have been Justin. But if nor he or Lacey had written the list, who did?