I Spun the Bottle

I Spun the Bottle: Chapter Twenty-Four

Song for this chapter: “Fall” by Ed Sheeran

For the next couple of days, I felt like poop.

Not only did I feel like poop, but I kept thinking about missing school and the consequences it would bring. Missing a day meant missing class. Missing a class meant missing homework. Missing homework meant doing more homework when I got back. So, missing three days of homework meant a homework pile equivalent to height of the Empire State Building.

I just couldn’t wait to get back to school. Not.

After a long, somewhat-convincing speech to my parents (and Landon), I had finally persuaded them to let me go back to school the next day. It really was hard work to convince them though, seeing that I looked like a herd of elephants had trampled all over me. The little, hand-marked souvenir that Taylor left on my face a few days earlier seemed to blend in well with my sickly rosy cheeks at least. So my parents didn’t seem to notice too much. A few times though, I did catch my dad staring at my cheek, exactly where the welt was left. He acted as if he wanted to comment on it, but eventually decided against it.

In some ways, having the flu wasn’t completely bad. It gave me time to think. That’s what I needed. I needed to know what I was going to do. David’s offer was very tempting, but making him go against his girlfriend—even if she wasn’t the nicest person in the world— wasn’t right. If I let him help me, I’d feel selfish and guilty. Oh and what if Taylor ended up catching us? What would happen then?

I grimaced. Nothing good, that’s for sure.

I stared hopelessly out of the passenger’s window. My forehead was pressed against the cool glass, helping me calm down a little.

“How’re you feeling?” Landon asked, breaking the silence.

I looked up at him. “For about the millionth time, Landon, I’m fine.”

He gave me a slight eye roll and replied, “I still don’t think you’re ready for school. Why can’t you just stay home one more day?”

“I’m seriously fine, okay? I hate missing school. You know that. And why’re you so over protective?”

“I’m your brother. It’s my duty. And with you being so reckless recently, someone has to watch over you.”

His comment pricked a nerve. “I’m not being reckless!” I retorted, defensively.

For a moment, he took his eyes off the road and looked at me. He looked almost shocked. “Are you serious? When you got home from that party a few weeks ago, with a sprained ankle, and not to mention you came home with a guy so early in the morning, I let that slide because I thought you were just trying something new.” He breathed to level his voice, realizing that it was increasing in volume. “But what are you getting into? You don’t talk to me anymore. You hardly say anything to our parents. And then you come home with a fucking welt on your cheek. And you expect me to just act cool with it?”

I glared at my brother. He was starting to treat me like a kid, and I didn’t need that right now. Without a second thought, I opened my mouth. “J-Just shut up! Don’t treat me like a baby because I’m not! You spent your high school life partying, so why can’t I live a little? I’m fine! I don’t need you breathing down my neck every time I get home. You aren’t mom. So just leave me the hell alone!”

Once the words started, I couldn’t stop it. The words flowed like rapids, slicing and drowning everything in its path. My voice trembled with rage. I already had enough on my plate. I didn’t need a nosy brother in the equation too.

Never before had I actually yelled at my brother like that. Yes, we’ve had arguments here and then, but I’ve never talked to him like that. If I wasn’t so pissed at that moment, I knew I would’ve felt very guilty and ashamed. The car became silent after that. I kept my eyes leveled with objects outside of the car, and Landon kept his on the road.

After a few minutes, my school appeared. A multitude of cars were coming in and out of the parking entrances, creating a lot of traffic. It appeared to be just a normal school day.

When Landon dropped me off, I heard him mumble something to me, but I was too irritated to listen. So instead, I did the alternative. In a childlike manner, I hopped out of the car with my belongings, and slammed the door behind me, not bothering to look back at him. He deserved it. He treated me more and more like a kid every single day. And I wasn’t going to let him do it any longer.

I knew that in about a couple of hours I’d regret my actions, but for now, I was too pissed off and crabby to even think about apologizing to him.

I stomped to the entrance doors, pretty much pushing passed anyone in my way. This was the start of another terrible day. I could already feel the ominous forces pulsing through my veins. Once I entered the school, I kept my eyes forward. A grim expression shadowed my features as I continued towards my locker.

There was only one way this morning could get any worse, and of course, it had to happen.

“Ah, there’s my favorite nerd!” An obnoxious, high pitched voice echoed through my eardrums.

I closed my eyes as soon as I heard Taylor’s voice. I realized that I froze in the middle of the hallway, and quickly tried to recover from my reaction. Slowly, I started moving again, hoping that she thought I couldn’t hear her.

Not even ten steps later, Taylor called out to me—this time by name.

“Lyn, don’t even try to ignore me,” she accused. Taylor sounded closer than before—not to mention sassier.

Without thinking, I turned on the heel of my foot to face her. She was with Stacy, the girl that went shopping with us, well technically only Taylor, a couple of weeks ago. Stacy was examining me. The corner of her lip curled up viciously in disgust.

I drew my eyes away from Stacy to look up Taylor. She was only a few inches taller than me, but looking up at her made me feel significantly shorter. “What do you want Taylor?” I asked through gritted teeth. “If you’re here to embarrass again, then let me tell you that I’m not in the mood,” I said bitterly.

I knew what I was saying was risky. I was pretty much asking her to publish my picture in the school’s paper.

Taylor smirked at me, and dark amusement sparkled within her catlike eyes. “Someone’s a little cranky this morning.”

You wouldn’t know.

“Taylor,” Stacy whined, interrupting our conversation—or argument, whatever it was. “First period is starting in like ten minutes, and I don’t to waste my time on this nerd.” She flicked her eyes towards me momentarily before looking back at Taylor.

“Then leave. No one’s keeping you here,” I muttered.

Stacy either didn’t hear me, or she chose to purposely ignore me because she looked at Taylor without sparing me another look.

Taylor batted her lashes, and glanced at Stacy. “Give me a minute.”

Stacy heaved a sigh in response, but did not object.

Looking around us, I realized that we were sort of creating a block in the middle of the hallway, and the rest of the students were beginning to look at us strangely. My anger began to dissolve. At first, my rage faltered by just the tiniest amount, but before I knew it, the feeling dissipated almost completely. I didn’t want to start a scene, and to avoid that I needed to calm down.

“You see, nerd,” Taylor focused back at me. “I kind of find you interesting.”

I furrowed my brows at her, not sure where this was leading.

In response to my face, Taylor laughed. The sound was short and fake. “I find your reactions and negative outlook on things amusing, and I like that I can control you with the flick of my wrist. You’re just so fun to mess with.”

My eyes narrowed, and my blood began to simmer again. “This is what you wanted to talk to me about?” I said through clenched teeth.

Her twisted lips curved into another smile. “No, of course not. I just thought I’d let you know.”

“Awesome,” I replied sarcastically. “Seriously, what do you want?”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Cheerleading try outs are starting today after school, for the team next year.”

“Are you asking me to try out or something? Cause the answer’s gonna be—“

“I wasn’t done talking,” Taylor interrupted. Her expression reminded me of an annoyed cat. She cleared her throat before continuing her spiel. “Since I’m captain, I’m going to be training and judging them, so I need you to do my essay that’s due in English on Monday.”

“Seriously?” I sputtered. I stared at Taylor unbelievably. She seriously wanted me to do an essay for her?

“Uh yeah. Why else did you think I’d talk to you publicly at school?” She smirked. “Did you think I was going to give you a big hug and call us besties?”

Stacy sniggered, and my eyes darted towards her. I wanted to slap her so badly.

After staring down Stacy, my eyes found its way back to Taylor. She appeared to be delighted by her not-so-funny comment.

I wanted to tell Taylor no. I wanted to sneer at her and say make me. I wanted to- to do anything but say yes! She didn’t deserve getting my help. She didn’t deserve an essay written by me! I was so sick of her, but because she held in her hands something dear to me, I had to say yes. Well at least for now.

In that moment, I decided I would take David up on his offer. I didn’t care at this point. Taylor deserved what she got. And honestly, she brought it all on herself.

“Fine,” I replied. I strung my wild emotions up into a tight ball and held them back. If I gave her any emotion reflecting what I was thinking, it would lead her to suspicion.

“No argument?”

“Nope. Can I go now?”

“Yeah, leave. Oh, and by the way…don’t even think about making the essay half assed, ‘kay?”

I nodded once before turning around and continuing in the direction of my locker. As I suspected, a group of kids had clustered around Taylor, Stacy, and I. They were curious to see why the three of us had stopped in the middle of the hallway, but after I had left the crowd happened to dissipate almost as quickly as it had appeared.

Now that I was free to go, I had two goals in mind. Number one: put my crap in my locker. Number two: find David without getting caught.

Just as I finished the first objective, I turned and happened to see David turn a corner. For some reason, I suddenly felt like I had the power of a ninja. After taking a cursory glance both ways, I clutched my notebook against my chest and cautiously followed after him.

Within a couple of seconds, David was in my sights. He wore dark denim jeans and a brownish, plaid button up shirt. Even from behind, I could see the confidence in his long strides. I still haven’t figured out whether or not that confidence was good or bad.

About a dozen people separated David from me. For some odd reason, David didn’t have anyone around him. Normally, he’d be surrounded by Cam or Jace or by Taylor and her little group of prissy, cheerleading pretzels.

With steadfast determination, I moved through the students in front of me until I was directly behind him. Now, I needed a plan. Grabbing on to him would be the worst choice, but how else could I get his attention without gaining any of the bystanders’ attention too?

I checked my surroundings looking for Taylor and her group. Even though I wasn’t technically talking to David (yet), I was sure being about three feet behind him with a mischievous expression plastered on my face wouldn’t be something I wanted to explain.

And then, almost as if someone had thrown an idea at me, a light bulb went off in my mind. I half expected to hear a little ding as the idea struck me. The old driver’s education classroom was coming up, and since she retired last year, her room was empty. But for some reason her room was never locked after she left. I remembered going into that room to put some extra supplies in for my Physics teacher at the beginning of the year.

Mentally, I crossed my fingers and hoped that it would still be open. Before I could chicken out, I lunged for David’s arm.

“What th—“ David nearly yelped at the feeling of my forceful hand pulling him with me.

“Shush,” I said urgently, cutting off his sentence. As quick as I possibly could, I twisted the handle of the dark blue door and pushed.

Thank goodness it opened. If it didn’t, I wasn’t sure what I would have done.

Once the door was open enough for David and me to fit in, I scurried into the dark room with him on my tail. I closed the door as soon as we were both in.

The door had a small rectangle window, where some of the light from the hallway flooded in. There was just enough light to see his outlining features and his grey eyes. At that moment, his eyes were adjusting to the darkness of the room, and they appeared to be shocked.

“Lyn? Is that you?” he asked. He was beginning to reach out his hand toward me, almost as if he were checking whether or not I was really there.

“Yeah, it’s me,” I replied, barely stepping out of his hand’s reach. “Sorry, I didn’t know how else I could talk to you without her finding out.”

“Damn.” He snapped his fingers. “And I thought we were playing Seven Minutes in Heaven.”

I frowned, but I wasn’t sure if he could see it. “That’s not funny.”

David’s mocking grey eyes seemed to soften just a bit, and his voice suddenly sounded sincere. “How’re you feeling?”

Taken aback by his unusual sincerity, I felt my cheeks fluster. “I’m okay. Better at least.”

He grunted, in which I assumed to be a sound of agreement. “So what did you need?”

“I’m taking you up on your offer,” I said, bringing my eyes leveled with his. “I want my picture back.”

Even in the dim lighting, I could see David’s eyebrow rise in amusement. “I thought you didn’t want my help. You said that it wasn’t right to backstab Taylor.”

“I know what I said, but she’s gone too far,” I explained. My hands clenched into tight fists as I saw her fake, preppy face pop into mind.

“What’d she do?”

“S-She—“ I stopped abruptly, feeling my hatred for her growing as the seconds ticked. “She wants me to write an essay for her!”

For a moment, there was complete silence, and then David started chuckling. The chuckles eventually turned to barks of laughter, and the longer he laughed, the more I got confused. I did not understand what was so funny about this situation. It was terrible. And so mean!

I waited for what seemed like forever until finally I couldn’t take it any longer. “Would you stop laughing at me?” I whispered harshly, fearing that if I spoke too loud then I would attract attention from outside the door.

David’s fit of laughter settled down within the next couple of seconds. He must have noticed my not so amused facial expression because he cleared his throat and tried composing himself.

“Seriously, Lyn?” he inquired. The light from outside reflected from his eyes, and they showed me that he was entertained by me. “Taylor slapped you, but you didn’t want me to help you. But because she wants you to write an essay for her, you suddenly change your mind?”

“Well, yeah! I mean making me write an essay for her is ridiculous!”

“I just don’t get you.”

I stared at him with a grim expression. “I don’t need you to get me. I need you to help me.p”

I could see him grinning. “I’ll help…under one condition.”

“Condition? What condition? A few days ago you said you would help me. Now there’s this condition!” I sputtered in shock.

David’s grin grew ever wider, making his teeth gleam in the darkened room. “That was then. Now is now. You want my help or not?”

I puffed my cheeks out in a childish manner. This guy keeps changing his freaking mind!