Hitting the reply button, he typed a response.
Hi Adrienne,
I think you sent this to the wrong “J.” Glad you had a nice day.
Jayden
Feeling as though he’d done one nice thing in his odd day, he pulled on comfortable shoes and left his closet.
Tara was standing outside his door once more. He eyed her, not understanding the inquisitive expression on her face. She wasn’t happy with him. He had no idea why, beyond his outburst at Izzy.
“You ready?” he asked.
“Yep.” She spun and strode down the hallway.
It’s going to be a long night.
Jayden followed her out of the house to the car. He drove them away from their father’s opulent housing development south.
Tara didn’t speak the entire way. It wasn’t like her at all to keep quiet.
Jayden didn’t press her. He’d managed to piss off every woman he crossed paths with today. He wasn’t going to hang himself again.
His sister’s silence disturbed him on some level. The longer it lasted, the more concerned he became. He held off on addressing it, though, until they pulled into the driveway of the house party.
“You all right?” he ventured.
“Fine.”
“Really?”
Tara glared at him.
“I’ll take that as a no,” he said. “I’m always here, if you want to talk.”
“You’re an absolute dick, Jayden.”
Startled by her words, he focused on parking before turning to her.
Tara didn’t wait for him to talk but opened the car door and got out, slamming it shut.
He winced. Maybe I don’t want to remember what I did today.
He got out of the car, intent on finding the one woman who could always brighten his day.
Jayden waded into the party. The scent of alcohol was thick in the air, and music pounded loudly. The furniture of the living room had been pushed aside to create a dance floor while other students huddled in small groups, drinking and laughing.
“Hey! Nice win last night!” someone called to him.
Jayden stopped to greet and slap hands with the members of the football team. He recalled their insane win the night before and began to relax. Someone thrust a plastic cup of beer in his hand, and he sipped as he walked.
His eyes took in the crowd, but he didn’t see the face he sought. He walked through the kitchen and grabbed a handful of pretzels then continued out back, where a bonfire blazed and more students were gathered.
At long last, he saw Kimmie. She appeared to be arguing with another member of the football team. Every time he saw her, it was like the first time. Her natural, graceful beauty and willowy body made him burn for her with inhuman need. Her scent, the feel of her soft skin … the anticipation was killing him.
He crossed the backyard to her. “Everything okay?” he asked casually, glancing at the football player named Deon.
“Awesome,” Deon snapped. “You were right to dump this bitch, Jay. She’s psycho.” He strode away, furious.
Dump? A strange emotion went through Jayden, one that made him uneasy. First Tara, now Deon.
“Hey, baby, you okay?” he asked, approaching Kimmie.
“Baby?” she echoed, hands on her hips.
“I missed you.” Jayden wrapped his arms around her and breathed in her scent deeply.
“What’re you doing, Jayden?” she demanded. She pushed him back.
“Hugging the most beautiful girl on the planet.” He grinned.
Kimmie studied him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “This has been one weird day. Don’t you go weird on me, too.”
She touched his chest. “What happened to your dog tags?”
“I think Izzy hid them. She does that sometimes,” he said with a shrug. “What? No kiss?”
A slow smile spread across Kimmie’s face. She leaned into him and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his head down to hers.
“I missed you, too,” she whispered.
“I can’t get enough of you. I want all of you. Every day. Every night.”
“I brought protection in case … you know.”
“God, yeah.” Jayden’s blood surged in response. “I need you, Kimmie.”
“I know, Jayden. I know.”
He closed his eyes and kissed her. With his Kimmie in his arms, his body relaxed and the stress of his day disappeared.
This is how it should be, he thought, content.
Chapter Nineteen
Adrienne’s Sunday passed fast and uneventfully. No more zombies showed up in her apartment, and she was able to make it through half the journal before her daddy came home. She barely slept that night, apprehensive about showing her face at school the next morning. She asked the gods and spirits to magically send her back to Atlanta without success and awoke with dread heavy in her stomach.
When she made it to campus, her heart began to pound, and her palms grew sweaty. Adrienne felt ill with worry by the time she walked through the hallway towards her first class. She hadn’t seen Jayden yet and had told Christie she needed to rest her voice after Friday’s assembly.
Christie seemed sympathetic, no doubt buying the excuse that Adrienne had a throat injury. Anyone who heard her coughing would believe it.
I hate my life! She thought, recalling the worst day of her life clearly.
“Swamp Girl!” More than one student called to her then burst into laughter or exaggerated hacking while others whispered and giggled when she passed them.
She did her best to ignore them, though the words hurt. Every part of her being wanted her to run, but she’d vowed to be strong and pretended sometimes to be Jayden, who was too easygoing to be affected by the opinions of others, and sometimes that she was Rene, who was tough enough to beat the daylights out of anyone who crossed his path.
Right now, she wished she really was Rene. She’d drag Kimmie out of class and beat her until she reversed the curse.
Adrienne was miserable by the time she reached her locker. She opened it and leaned in as far as she could, imagining she was an ostrich with her head in the sand. She sighed. Classes hadn’t even started, and she was agitated from the walk down the hall.
Assuming her scholarship would be gone before the week was over, she hadn’t even done her homework yesterday, instead concentrating on the song hidden in the journal. Adrienne pulled out the notebook she was using to write the music. She’d taken pictures of the pages she hadn’t gotten to the day before with her iPad with the intent of losing herself in the notes and musical staff during classes.
“Hey, Addy.”
She groaned internally. It wasn’t Emma voice, which meant someone was coming to personally ridicule her. Steeling herself, Adrienne pushed the locker door closed enough to see who stood beside it.
Tara was there, looking more perfect and doll-like in the school-issued uniform than Addy ever would.
“You, um, want me to walk to class with you?” Tara asked.
Adrienne shook her head. “No, thanks.”
“Omigod, don’t act like the twins. I’m walking you to class.”
She almost objected but saw the determined look on Tara’s face. Unable to determine why Tara wanted to walk with the least popular kid in school, Adrienne sighed and closed her locker. No doubt, there was something else humiliating in store for her from the horrible cheer squad.
With Tara beside her, the mockery and snickering were less frequent. Students focused on the beautiful brunette rather than Adrienne, and for once, Adrienne was glad to go unnoticed.
“So, uh, I wanted to ask you something,” Tara started, leading them down a second hallway with no lockers and few students.