Rebellion Project (11 page)

“Yeah, yeah you do. Don’t worry, it won’t happen again.”

“Good. Don’t ever touch my girl again—in fact, don’t even look at her. If I see you so much as glancing at her with the intent you just had I will punch you square in the jaw and break it,” he growled before turning back to me. When he looked at me, his face lightened and he took a deep breath to calm down. “Let’s get out of here, Lauren. I think I’ve had enough socializing for a while.” Kayden took my hand in his and led me out, passing by his friends without a word to any of them.

I glanced at each person as Kayden and I walked past. Some girls flashed a sympathetic glance, because the word no hadn’t been enough to stop him and it could have been worse if Kayden hadn’t stepped in. Others glared at me with disdain and spite, but I ignored them as best as I could because there was something on my mind. There was one thing I couldn’t get out of my mind; the tingle on my lips. It had been there ever since his lips landed on mine, and didn’t seem to be leaving anytime soon.

Chapter 19

Party Pooper

As promised, Kayden didn’t waste any time getting out of there when we decided it was time to leave. He shuffled us out of the party, and completely ignored anyone who tried to talk to him on our way out. He didn’t even talk to me until after I was safely in the car. I would have thought he was being kind, gentlemanly, but as Kayden watched everyone who exited the house like a hawk, I knew he was trying to protect me.

I waited until he shut the door before I started crying. Everything had happened so fast I hadn’t had time to react. The shots, Mac’s advances, his strong grip on my arm that I thought would leave a bruise, and then Kayden’s rescue. That was the only good thing that had come of this party. He called me his lady, not woman or girlfriend as a boyfriend would typically do, but he said it on instinct. He wasn’t in the role of our charade and that made it special, but it didn’t stop the realization of what could have happened.

Kayden tensed momentarily when he saw me crying, but he eventually got in and sped off. He took a much safer approach to driving since I was already upset. I guess he thought pushing his luck and playing around now would only make things worse. While he drove his hand rested on my knee and he whispered to me that he would be here for me and it was all going to be okay.

“Just relax, Lauren. We’ll be back home soon and you can take as much time as you need to calm down.” He rubbed my leg lightly in an attempt to comfort me. Normally when he did that to a girl it would have different underlying reasons, but with his eyes switching between the road and my tear-stained face, I knew he wasn’t doing it to win any sexual favors. If I didn’t know him better, I’d say he actually cared about me.

I was about to speak when another flash of Mac’s advances popped into my mind. The crying continued as he drove and the entire time I knew he was worried about me. He had dragged me to that party and for what? He knew what could have happened, and even though Mac never got far enough to try anything else, I think that worried Kayden. He had promised it was going to be a good time, and I ended up in tears. Though his anger had faded instantly after confronting Mac, and his full attention went to me, he felt bad, but honestly he shouldn’t. It wasn’t anyone’s fault except Mac’s.

I took a few breaths to calm down before I tried speaking again. I placed my hand on Kayden’s to get his attention, and when his eyes met mine I could see the pain and guilt written across his face. “I can’t go home like this,” was all I managed to say before I started to cry again.

Kayden nodded quickly. “We can go to my house. It’s not a problem, and you can stay as long as you want.” Before I could respond Kayden turned around to head for his house. He didn’t say anything else as he drove, but he didn’t let go of my hand. I tried to move it away to wipe the tears off my face, but he held onto it tightly and refused to let go.

I smiled as I wiped the tears away with my other hand, and he relaxed. The gesture probably meant little to him, but it meant the world to me. Just like his kiss, which I could still feel on my lips. I’m still surprised he had done it, especially when he looked so livid when he stood in front of me. I was thankful his anger had been directed at Mac instead of me, but the kiss still confused me. Now just wasn’t the time to bring it up. I could barely make a whole sentence before I started to bawl again; it would just have to wait until later.

We pulled up to his house a few moments later, and once the car was off he turned his full attention to me again. The sigh that escaped his lips told me he was just as upset as I was that tonight had been ruined. I thought he would start talking about it right then and there, but instead he took a different route.

“Let’s get you inside. I’ll grab you some water and some sweats to change into and we can relax for a while. I want you to be calm before you go home,” he said as he reached his hand up to caress my face. His fingers touched first before he relaxed his hand to cup around the features of my face. His thumb lightly rubbed my cheek, removing some of the tears as it moved.

A sigh escaped my lips as I relaxed into his touch, the tears slowly stopping. In that moment, I felt as though Kayden and I were the only two people in the world. He was taking care of me, and he didn’t have anything else on his mind except me. The comfort he brought me was amazing, it even rivaled his ability to support me wholeheartedly. I closed my eyes and took in the moment, I never wanted it to pass by, but inevitably it would and soon the Kayden I knew and loathed would return. Though I had to admit, the more time I spent with Kayden the more I realized Parker had been right. He had grown on me, I had let him in and he had wormed his way into my life as something other than a tormentor. He was becoming more than a partner in crime, and that scared me.

Before I could stop myself the moment took hold of my mouth and I blurted out something I should have kept to myself. “I wish you could have met my mom. She would have adored you,” I said, letting a soft smile take over my face. I opened my eyes to see Kayden offer a smile, but there was a sadness in his eyes that told me I had ruined the moment. I had meant it as a sweet sentiment because he was a great guy, no matter how well he hid it before.

“I would have liked to meet her too,” he replied before he pulled away and got out of the car.

When he left my heart ached, I couldn’t believe I had ruined the moment we had been sharing. Why was I such a screw up when it came to guys? Oh, right. It’s because I hadn’t been allowed to date them, and never had any as friends. Poor Kayden, he’d been my first guy friend, and boyfriend; even if it was fake. He made it seem real, especially at the party. I just hoped that I wasn’t imagining things, and that he felt how I did too.

A few seconds later my car door opened to reveal Kayden offering me a hand. “Did you think I was going to leave you in the car?” he questioned with a soft, but genuine smile. “Let’s get you inside.”

I got out with his help, and he wrapped an arm around me to protect me from the cold night air. We quickly raced to the door and he opened it to let me inside first before closing the door behind him. I looked around for his mom, but the house seemed completely deserted. The lights were off except for the few stray lamps in the living room and bedrooms upstairs, judging from the soft glow of light that emanated from the floor above.

“Here,” Kayden said as he handed me a sweatshirt to put on. “I figured it would help you get more comfortable. You can take off the heels anywhere, and we can rest on the couch. My mom is at a work party. She thought I would be gone all night with you, and so did I, but I kind of like having a little alone time with you.” He smiled, causing a familiar heat to resonate on my cheeks. “Come on, I have some explaining to do, and you definitely deserve it after tonight.”

“What do you have to explain? It’s not your fault, Kayden. It’s Mac’s, and no one else’s,” I said as he led me to the couch and we took a seat. I sat down first and he sat down a safe distance away from me, I guess after the last time we were on his couch together he knew I liked my space, but to be honest I wanted to be closer to him. So I moved, and let our legs touch as we rested on the couch.

Kayden smiled as he reached for my hand and squeezed it. “It’s actually not Mac’s fault either. That’s why I have to explain it to you.”

“How isn’t it his fault?” I questioned, completely confused since he committed the actions and Kayden had freaked out on him. “And don’t blame it on the alcohol.”

He laughed lightly, causing my heart to flutter at the sound, and smiled down at me. “Well, the alcohol is partly to blame, but that’s because he had too much. He’ll take responsibility for his actions when he sobers up and remembers what I said to him. While I was mad at him, I was upset because he wasn’t listening to you. Normally he would have backed off, especially with a girl who’s taken.” His hand lightly rubbed my cheek before he sighed and started to speak again. “Those two girls you saw―”

“Alexis and Jamie,” I interrupted. “Yeah, I know them. They’ve hated me for years since I told a teacher where you guys were going off to have sex.”

Kayden let out a booming laugh that resonated around the room. He was practically in tears over the memory, and when he finally came out of it he smiled at me as if he was proud of what I had done, even though I knew at the time he was pissed off. “I completely forgot about that! You’re the reason they haven’t left me alone since then.” He spoke as if he had just had an epiphany. “I never did anything with them because we were caught before it started, and they’ve been after me ever since. That explains it.”

“Explains what?” I questioned, still very confused.

“Jamie and Alexis still have feelings for me,” he said. “I gave up on the idea a long time ago, but I guess they still hold out hope, so every time they hear I have anything close to a girlfriend they try to make her leave.” He rolled his eyes and shook his head in disapproval before he continued. “Though, normally they don’t do it with me in the same room or with other guys. They enjoy scaring the girls away themselves for some reason, but I guess they thought it would be easier to make you leave if a guy, one of my close friends, tried to take advantage of you.”

I gulped at the thought. While things hadn’t escalated quite that high, I always knew it was a possibility at a party where the attendees were drunk out of their minds.

“They got Mac drunk before we even got there, and then convinced him to kiss you.”

“How do you know that? Did they tell you?” I asked curiously. It seemed odd he was able to put that together and know that Alexis and Jamie had manipulated Mac for their own goals. It seemed wrong. Didn’t they have a moral compass or was I the only person left with one?

“It’s happened before,” Kayden said with a shoulder shrug. “They did it thinking I wouldn’t care or would dump you on the spot for cheating. It took me a little while to catch on to their game, but even if I hadn’t I normally would have broken up with those other girls eventually.”

“But not me?” I asked curiously.

Kayden paused, his expression was inscrutable, but I could tell he was trying to find a response. A few moments later he smiled and gave me a quick kiss on the forehead. “Not you,” he said sweetly before he continued. “That would ruin our plan.”

I smiled back at him and simply nodded as he turned the television on and started flipping through the channels. No matter what he said, I knew it was more than just our charade. He wouldn’t have needed to kiss me for it because no one else was here to see it. Clearly Kayden shared my feelings that there was more to this than just an agreement.

Chapter 20

School House Blues

“Don’t worry, Lauren. We can make this work, but you have to relax or you’ll have a mental breakdown from the anxiety attack you’ll give yourself. Everyone already believes that we’re dating, especially since word spread of what happened at Mac’s party. Now, mostly due to my outburst, no one will mess with you because they don’t want to make me angry. I can’t do everything though, you have to prove to them that you’ve changed. That’s the only way it’s going to stick. You have to want this. Just do your best and we will make it through this without another problem.”

I took a deep breath as Kayden’s words echoed in my mind. I tried to use them as encouragement as I entered the double doors of the school’s main entrance. It was only the second day after coming back from winter break, but I could tell that things were starting to change. Everyone stopped to look at me, a few boys even got slapped by their girlfriends for gawking too long. Maybe it was the sky blue hair that now framed my face, the new clothes, or maybe they were staring because Kayden was publicly holding my hand, ending whatever rumor could be going around that we weren’t actually together. Little did they know that we weren’t and soon we’d fake break up and move on. The more I thought about that day, the more I prayed it never came.

As we walked more people said hello to me than ever before. They chatted with Kayden and me when Kayden stopped to ask a few questions to their friends. No one called me GG, no one commented on the clothes I wore, or the latest rumor about my family. The rude comments about my virginity, moral compass, and dreams were no longer running rampant, and those who had tormented me now acted as though we were friends. I wasn’t sure if it was because I had changed, or if because word of what Kayden had said at the party had spread, but either way the teasing and bullying had stopped. I could now walk through the halls in peace and sit in the front of class without being chastised for it.

Even when I walked alone I’d hear whispers as I walked by, everyone asking who the new girl was. Then their friend would lean over and tell them who I was. There would always be a confused and very shocked “Lauren Scott?” soon to follow.

It was shocking how differently people treated you if they thought you were dating someone popular. I started to think it was all Kayden’s doing that people were staring at me now, but the longer I thought about it I think what got to them the most was my hair color. I would see everyone staring at it, or maybe it was the fake lip piercing I had clipped onto my bottom lip. I wasn’t sure how to take all the attention, but I felt more self-conscious. Normally, people looked over me, ran into me or got annoyed with me as if I was a freshman who was in their way.

Although, while people asked about why I changed, they never asked if I changed for Kayden. Not that I had, but I thought it was strange that no one asked since I changed and Kayden started dating me around the same time. I highly believed that no girl should have to change for a guy, but to most people if they were seeing me for the first time, would assume I changed so I could date Kayden. So why hadn’t anyone asked? It just seemed odd to me.

Maybe it was my curiosity when I saw people I didn’t think would end up together start dating. I always wanted to know what happened that made them consider dating, and why it suddenly happened. Though no one had asked me things like that, not even Parker, but she knew what was going on. I just thought if they weren’t going to ask me, they would immediately turn to her to get the information. She hadn’t texted me to say someone was bombarding her with questions about our relationship, which was a relief and a let-down.

Everyone in school was talking to me, and very pleasant to be around, except for a few stray individuals who weren’t pleased to see my new relationship with Kayden…Jamie and Alexis to name a few. But even they didn’t say anything to me. If I had to guess they were saving their bad mouthing for when they had Kayden alone. So far he brushed it all off, and walked away before he lost his cool. He was trying to refrain from exploding on someone else as he had done to Mac. He felt bad for telling off his friend, but he didn’t feel bad for doing it. It had saved him a lot of trouble when it came to explaining the new relationship, and no one bothered him about us again.

I walked through the hallways, passing a few people who had suddenly become fast friends with me. I was hesitant to accept them because not even a month ago they were making my life a living hell alongside Kayden. I guess because Kayden had stopped, and would defend me now, everyone else stopped and welcomed me back. I received numerous compliments and requests to have lunch with people I had never seen before.

“Hey Lauren,” Emily Davis said with a smile. She had been one of the ones who had tormented me since school started again in September. She was one of the many reasons I was praying the school year went by quickly. I was over the drama, the bullying, and even coming to school just to be ridiculed. Now because I was Kayden’s girlfriend she wanted to make amends. She didn’t want me to remember the wrongs she had done, and only remember the good. Too bad for her there was too many wrongs to forget.

“Hello Emily,” I said politely. I was just going to walk on by, and continue toward my locker so I could meet with Parker, but she held her hand up to ask me to stop. Well, she didn’t ask, she kind of demanded it.

“I can’t believe you and Kayden are dating now. I never would have guessed it,” she said with a smile, but I could read between the lines. She wanted to know the story behind it. She wanted to know why Kayden had suddenly decided to date me. She was exactly how I would be, but I wasn’t going to tell her any details.

It was cheap payback, but it was payback to me nonetheless.

“I wouldn’t have either,” I said simply. “I guess life just has a way of making it work out.” There was a pause between us, a silence fell over us. I could see in her eyes she wanted more details, but I wasn’t going to give them up. Kayden and I had created a story in case people asked us why and how we got together, but Emily wasn’t worth the time nor the breath it would take to explain it, so instead I said, “I think he liked the blue hair. He said it was hot when he saw it. I think that sealed the deal because honestly the whole teasing and picking on me thing seemed like middle school. He needed to suck it up and just ask, which finally he did.” I smiled and waved goodbye, not wanting to give her anything else.

Her face dropped when I turned away, upset I hadn’t given her what she wanted. She didn’t deserve it in my opinion, but when Kayden and I started to tell people she’d learn about it. I just wouldn’t give her the credit of getting the information first. I was still a little jaded from her previous treatment, and I didn’t care if she knew it. She should have treated me how she wanted to be treated, but then again she had no way of knowing I’d move past her on the popularity scale. So why would she have wasted her time on me?

I continued toward my locker, knowing Parker she was impatiently waiting for me and would be waiting to ask what had taken me so long. Typically she would just wait around for me, using me as an excuse to be late to class rather than just going. I knew she skipped most of the time anyway, especially her art class that she considered a waste of her time. If I could only go to one class, it would be art. While there was work, there wasn’t a lot and it was easy if you tried. I enjoyed classes like that just for the sole purpose to relax and reduce my stress levels from other classes.

Taking a deep breath to prepare myself for the rest of the school year, I rounded the corner to see Parker waiting at my locker as usual, but also noticed Kayden standing with her. He was leaning against the lockers, specifically my locker, while Parker was standing off to the side slightly so she could talk to him. Kayden was busy gesturing with his hands while he talked, and while he accidentally hit Parker a few times, whatever he said had her smiling wildly.

I couldn’t help but wonder what they were talking about, or
who.
I hoped he was telling her about us, and what we had been through lately. I hadn’t seen her to tell her about the kiss he gave me at the party or the moment we shared at his house. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it though, and whenever my mind drifted back to the kiss my lips would tingle as if they remembered the feeling of his lips on mine. My stomach knotted, and my heart started to palpate rapidly. I was curious where it would go from there, but I had a feeling it had started and ended in that moment.

I pushed those thoughts away as I proceeded toward my locker. It didn’t take long for Kayden to notice me, and when he did he pushed off the lockers and approached me. He instantly wrapped his arms around me in a hug, and without thinking I nuzzled into his chest and let my head rest on his chest. For a few moments I was able to hear Kayden’s heartbeat, which picked up the longer we held each other. To my dismay, he let go too soon.

“I didn’t know you could show affection other than making out with a girl in the middle of the hallway,” I teased as he placed his arm around my shoulder and led me toward Parker.

“What can I say, I want to start off the new year strong, and what better way than to make sure everyone knows I care for you,” he joked lightly, adding a smile that made my heart flutter again.

“He really does,” Parker said, handing me the books I needed for my next class. “He got the books out, and said he’d take you home.” She leaned in before whispering, “I think he’s a keeper.”

We laughed at Kayden’s expense. He had to hate that he needed to control his urges for other girls while we kept our plan going. He didn’t seem to mind right now, but in a few weeks when he had girls making passes at him I knew he would start to struggle, and I couldn’t blame him really. He wasn’t getting anything out of our relationship currently, and he had been busy with girls since middle school. Old habits really do die hard, I just hoped he didn’t slip up or the whole thing would be ruined.

I was talking to Kayden to see if he wanted to come over after school because I had something I’d always wanted to try, but I was distracted while he answered. We passed by Jamie and Alexis with a few other people from the party. Most of them I had seen Kayden with before, which explained why they all looked furious. Kayden had ditched them to be with me, and once again he was with me instead of them, even when his friends passed by to invite him to go outside for smoking, judging from the gestures of one guy pressing two fingers to his lips and then pretending to blow out smoke.

“I think I’m going to stay with Lauren. I have to make sure she gets to class on time, but thanks,” was all he said before pushing us back on track.

I noticed his friend’s glare as we walked away, once again with Kayden’s arm around my shoulder. I didn’t care that they were mad. Instead I felt pride in knowing that he was staying with me. I had silently hoped he wouldn’t walk off with them, and he had answered my prayers by letting them down. I was glad to know he was here for me even when I didn’t
need
his support at the time, at least until our deal is over. Then it was a question of what would happen, if anything.