The Play Book

It was strange how easily I could forget about the book. I should have been as pissed as the other girls were. It was disgusting and degrading. But at the same time, there was a part of me that understood, I guess. I used guys to distract me a lot. I often took them to the locker room or found myself in their bed. Never did I want anything more than a good make-out or casual sex. Relationships were too tricky, just ask Tatum.

I felt bad for my friend. I wanted to hit Harry. The fact that her relationship might be based around a stupid book made me angry. More so than I was with Louis trying to use me. Tatum was a good girl, she was faithful and her head was full of such good thoughts. If Harry was using her and if he had no good intentions with her, I would be the reason he never played soccer again.

I had met with Tatum before class, I was able to leave early enough, calling in my grandmother to take care of my sick brothers. Dallas was worse off than Darren and at this point, they couldn’t be alone and I couldn’t miss school. Tatum was very quiet, more than usual. I had asked what was wrong and she kind of just shrugged. “Is it that stupid book?” She shrugged again, “You didn’t let Harry….”

“No. No.” She smiled slightly. “I almost did. But my dad came home.”

I laughed, already imagining the scene to play after that. “How much trouble did you get in?”

“None. I made him….” The next few words came out as a mumble. I shot her a questioning glance. “I made him jump out the window.” I had hoped he broke his leg doing so, but she added on, “He managed to grab the tree and run away. I got lucky, I guess.” It was a nice thought for a while.

I lost it, laughing hysterically as Harry walked up, Louis trailing behind reluctantly. “How’s it hanging?” I wiggled my eyebrows at Harry. He sighed and shot a look at Tatum. “It’s okay, Stud. It happens.” I bit my lips to suppress my smile. “Hi, Tomlinson. You look a little cold.” It was hard not to mock them.

I was having too much fun with this. “Only as cold as your heart, Babe.” He shot back without hesitation. But he added a smile at the end, it was an obvious mix of “fuck you” and “I’m going to have you.”

“Good one.” I replied. It bothered me, I wanted him so badly. He was gorgeous and he could put up with my humor. That was really all I needed to want to rip his pants off. But I had the pact to think about. If I let him win, not only would Tatum be upset with me, I would be upset with myself. I may have been easy, but I wasn’t that easy.

Tatum and Harry were talking quietly as I turned to Louis. We didn’t really say much, he went back to having that pissed look. He also had a concerned look on his face. And he should be worried. I imagined the look on his face when he realized his “precious” book was gone. I could just see him tearing his bag, his bedroom and the school apart.

The bell had rung not long later, making us all part ways. I quickly turned my cocky attitude off and focused on the notes we were taking. Every quiz I took was either a step closer or a step further away from my plane out of here. As much as I loved my family and my best friend, I didn’t want to be my mother.

She never really went anywhere, and when she was gone on business trips, to bullshit towns, she never really did anything but work. She was either always angry or sad and my father had gotten fed up with it and left.

Sure, I was all about the hook-ups right now, but I didn’t want to end up like my mother, raising three kids alone. Sleeping in a cold bed and wishing there was someone to hold me.

Later that day, Louis found me at lunch; he placed his tray on the spot next to me and smiled. “Dahlia.”

“Tomlinson?”

“Sorry about the locker room. I was a dick.” He folded his slice of pizza and took a large bite from it, practically swallowing it whole. “Did you find anything after I left? I lost my math notebook and without it, I’ll suck even more at this fucking course.”

I was tempted to say something, to let him know I’d found the book, but I shook my head. “Nope, I was too busy laughing to find anything.” He nodded and took another bite of his pizza. “I can help you look for it, what’s it look like?”

“No, don’t worry about it.” He put a smile on his face and looked at me, “If I promise to be good, will you hang out with me after practice?”

As much as I wanted to accept the offer, I couldn’t. Not only did I have the pact, but I had my brothers. My grandmother would only be able to handle so much before she would want to rip the boys in half. “Can’t, my brothers are sick and my mother is away on a business trip, won’t be back until Friday night. I’m booked.”

“Can’t they stay with your dad?” I had to give him credit for trying.

“He’s not in the state.” I answered. “Listen, I need to study.” I took my tray of half eaten food and stood. “Talk to you later, good luck with your search.” I said as I picked up my bag, the book tucked away in it.

“Thanks.” I watched as he pushed away his tray and let his head fall into his hands.

There was no getting around the fact that I did feel bad. Louis was in control of the book, at least at this point in time. I didn’t know how it worked, was it passed around? But he had the book when it went missing and I could assume that he didn’t tell the others about it going missing, none of them seemed suspicious.