A/N:

I am determined to finish this story as soon as possible. :)

Chapter Four
The Aftermath

"So, Audrey, that was quite a scene in the caf."

I looked up and shielded my eyes from the sun. I was able to make out the face of Isabel, who was looking down at me and grinning. Isabel was the head cheerleader this year and was also one of the most gorgeous girls in Graves Academy. She seriously looked like a seventeen-year-old version of Halle Berry, and whenever she went to a public place, like the mall, she said that people would approach her at least three times to tell her that. Isabel was also a straight-A student, aspiring to become an architect one day. Isn't it funny how some people seem to have it all and some don't?

I groaned and stood up, wiping grass off my shorts. "So that really happened, huh?" I said mournfully. "I was beginning to think it was all dream."

"I don't blame you," Isabel replied. "After all, what that new guy did was so random. God, he is so weird! I seriously can't believe he did that."

"Oh I heard about that!" Maryann piped up. "Too bad I have fourth period lunch. Did he seriously try to kiss you, Audrey?"

"That obnoxious bastard does whatever he wants," I said bitterly. "He has no regard for other people's feelings."

"What's his name again?"

"James Carr."

"James Carr?" Isabel shook her head. "Too bad he's such a sleaze. I can't forgive him." She gave me a look. "I know how much you value your personal space, Audrey. You must be furious right now."

"I am. Furious and just shocked that it happened. I mean, did you see how random that was? One moment, he and Keegan were just goofing around, and then BAM! He does something like that. Seriously, who does that?" I shook his head. "I don't want to think about it anymore, or I'll go crazy. Let's just focus on cheerleading."

"Wait, wait, one last thing," Maryann said. "Is it true you've never been kissed before?"

I sighed. "Yes, it's true. Is that so hard to believe? I've never had a boyfriend. I've gone on a few dates, but that's it, and the only serious crush I've ever had was Matthew Cooley, but he only thought of me as a little sister. Do you guys remember him?" I intentionally didn't mention Keegan. The only people who knew about him were Georgia, Rina, and Erin. Technically, James also did, but he didn't count.

"Matthew Cooley!" Isabel exclaimed. "I remember him. He was in your sister's year, wasn't he? He was pretty cute. And really nice too. Hey, where is he now?"

"Alford University."

"Oh, isn't Erin there too?"

"Yeah."

"What's she taking again?"

I frowned pensively. "Can't exactly remember the name for it, but it has something to do with media. It's a long name."

"So how often does she come back home?"

"Well, we saw her a lot during the summer, but she says that she'll be working more now, and with school on top of that, I don't think we'll be able to see her as much."

"So the dates you went on never worked out?" Maryann asked me, steering the conversation back to awkwardness.

I bit back an impatient sigh. "Nope. Never felt anything for them. I only went out with them because Georgia was the one who set it up. None of them went to this school."

"Georgia?" Isabel grinned. "Of course."

"So you must have rejected a lot of guys from this school then," Maryann said.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, you're pretty and you're popular, so guys in this school must have asked you out, right?"

"A few," I said truthfully. "But I was never interested."

"Who were they?"

I smiled and shook my head. "Let's just cheer, all right? The football team's first game is next Monday, which only gives us a week to practise."

"It's okay, we're a good team," Isabel said confidently. "Hopefully we'll get some talented girls trying out this year."

I began to do my stretches. "When are we holding the tryouts again?"

"Next Thursday. I've already put up the signs for it," Isabel replied. "You'll be there, right? To help teach the routine?"

I nodded. "Yeah. For sure."

"Great!" Then she called out to everyone in the team. The different conversations stopped, and all the girls and guys—there were only three guys—fixed their attention on Isabel. "Let's do our stretches."

We lapsed into silence as we did our stretches. My thoughts began to wander as I recalled my day. All in all, I had three periods with Keegan for first semester: Biology, lunch, and English for the last period. It was hard to believe that in junior year, I didn't have a single period with him, but this year, I was going to see a lot of him. Seriously, I was in trouble. How could this be good in any way? He was taken, for God's sake. Would I really have to spend my entire senior year reminding myself not to do anything foolish?

And then there was James, the new thorn in my side. I had talked with Keegan about him before English class started, and yes, they were actually stepbrothers. Keegan's dad and James's mom had just married, but they had known each other for a long time. In fact, Keegan and James had known each other since they were little boys. I found myself smiling as I thought about a little Keegan and little James. They were probably really cute kids. James was probably the mischievous one, the one who literally ran away when he saw old ladies because he didn't want his cheeks to be pinched, while Keegan was the one who bore it all with great patience.

Keegan. James. My smile fell. Seriously, did I really need all this drama for my senior in high school? Why did Keegan have to be so near me all the time? Why did he have to be likable? Why did he have to affect me in that way? And what the hell was wrong with James? Why did he do that? Why did he have to be so obnoxious and weird?

My head started to hurt. I hated that I felt so confused. I felt like I was going crazy.

I walked out of the girl's locker room with my hair still wet from my cold shower. I had changed back into my cut-off shorts and white v-neck shirt since the gym shorts and tank top I wore for practice were full of sweat and therefore gross. I was preoccupied with putting on my thin gold hoop earrings, the bus stop in mind, when Keegan suddenly appeared beside me.

"Hey!" I said, grinning like an idiot.

He smiled at me. "Hey. What are you here for?"

"Cheerleading. But it's done now. You?"

"Student council."

"Oh, yeah. You're president this year, aren't you?"

"Yup."

"This year better be kickass."

He seemed taken aback by my statement. "I'll try," he replied seriously.

I gave him a look. "Hey," I said, laughing a little, "I was kidding. No pressure. Just do what you can, do your best, and that's enough."

He smiled at me, and it could have been my feelings doing things to my head, but I swear this smile seemed a little different. It seemed a bit brighter than usual.

Okay, yeah. It was all definitely in my head.

"Thanks, Audrey," he said sincerely.

"You're welcome. Are you heading out now, too?"

"No, I still have to stay for a bit. I have to go that way, actually." He pointed at the staircase we just passed.

"Oh. Okay then. See you tomorrow."

"Wait."

I stopped. "Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about what James did," Keegan said, looking a little uncomfortable.

"Keegan, you already apologized on his behalf in English class. You don't have to do that. You're not the one who…you know." I couldn't bring myself to actually say "tried to kiss me." Just thinking about that phrase prompted me to imagine Keegan trying to kiss me, and I wasn't repulsed by the image.

"I know," Keegan said. "But I don't want you to be mad at James. James is…well…it's hard to explain, but I swear James isn't usually like that."

"Yeah, that's what he said."

"I'll talk to him when I get home."

I shrugged. "You don't have to do that."

"No, but I want to."

I looked at Keegan curiously. "Okay…"

"Yeah." He paused. "Okay, bye."

"Bye."

I headed for the bus stop, and even though we ended up talking about that boy near the end, I still felt giddy and energized by our conversation.

When my mom got home from work, she asked me how my first day of school was.

"Oh, same old, same old," I chirped. It was far from the truth, of course, but I didn't need to bore or burden her with my current teenage problems. "How was work?"

She smiled at me. "I sold the Winters House."

"Congratulations!" I grinned and gave her a hug, forgetting about my high school worries for the moment.

My mom was shorter than I and had a small frame. I got my hair from her; we both had fine hair that was light brown to some people and dark blonde to others. However, she wore hers short while mine was layered and almost reached the middle of my back.

"Where's Katie?" Mom said, dropping her satchel on the floor as she took off her black pumps.

"Watching TV."

"Has she finished her homework?"

"Probably. You know how she is."

"Is that dinner I smell?"

"Yup. Spaghetti."

"Make sure you don't overcook the meat this time."

I bit back a sigh. My mom was anal when it came to cooking and cleaning. "It's fine, Mom."

"I'll go check on it."

I shrugged and went to the living room, joining my little sister on the couch. It should have been peaceful, but it wasn't. I kept thinking about what happened today. I kept thinking about them. Those two boys. The stepbrothers.

Keegan is probably with Hazel right now, I thought with a sigh.

I couldn't care less what the other guy was doing. Hopefully rotting in hell.

The next morning, I woke up with a zit on my cheek.

"Great," I muttered as I looked at my reflection on the bathroom mirror. It was bound to happen, of course; I was going to get my time of month soon, and my hormones usually went bonkers at this time.

I scrutinized myself in the mirror like a normal seventeen-year-old. Overall, I thought I looked pretty decent. I had an athlete's body because of cheerleading, and I was neither too short nor too tall. My teeth were straight thanks to braces, which were taken off in the summer before junior year. When I first met Keegan, I didn't have them anymore, but if he looked at yearbooks from when I was a sophomore or freshman, he would see them, gleaming since I happened to be smiling widely in my yearbook photos.

I loved my eyes, but at the same time hated them. I loved them because they were big and bright blue and hated them because they reminded me of my father. Overall, I guess I was pretty, but I wasn't stunning like Isabel or even my sister Erin. Or even Keegan and James. Hazel wasn't stunning either; in fact, I was way prettier than she.

God, I thought exasperatedly, can I be any more shallow?

I left the bathroom and threw on an outfit. Today it was a high waist cotton skirt and a light grey top. After a quick makeup routine and a quick breakfast with my mom and Katie (who told me I looked pretty, but she was nine, for crying out loud), I went to school.

As I walked up the steps of Graves Academy, I knew that people had heard of what happened yesterday. I knew because a couple of them shot me knowing grins. A few acquaintances even went up to me and asked me about it. Considering I was nearing my time of month, I was surprisingly patient with them all, but in my head I was thinking to myself, Don't these people have anything else better to talk about? Are their lives really that boring that they have to gossip about whatever shenanigans are going on in the school?

Perhaps I was being unfair to them. If I hadn't been the one who was being talked about, I probably would have found my circumstances interesting enough to discuss with close friends; however, I was the centre of attention, so from my point of view, it was embarrassing and wearisome.

I opened my locker and briefly considered hiding in it for the rest of the day. Such thoughts flew out of my head when I saw a white flower sitting on top of my books. Dazed, I took it and sniffed it as if I was in one of those cheesy romantic movies. But I didn't find it romantic at all because how the hell did they know the combination for my lock? It was the same lock I had been using since freshman year, and no one knew what the combination was except Georgia and maybe Erin, if she remembered. I could leave Georgia out of this because if the flower came from her, then that was just plain weird, and I could leave Erin out as well since she lived half an hour away.

"That's a gardenia."

I looked to my right and saw Nadine Carter, whose locker was right next to mine. "Really?"

"Yeah. My mom is really into gardening and stuff like that. Does it smell sweet?"

"Yeah."

"Definitely a gardenia. Who gave it?"

I shook my head. "No idea…"

The bell rang soon after, and everyone began to head for their first period class. However, I remained where I was, staring at the flower in deep bewilderment. I couldn't think of anyone who would give me this. Maybe they got the wrong locker? Maybe it was from a secret admirer?

Keegan?

I gasped and immediately berated myself: Why are you thinking that, Audrey? Keegan has a girlfriend. He's with Hazel Clark. SNAP OUT OF IT.

I just stood there, lost in my thoughts, allowing myself to be late for Biology, where Keegan was.

I can't do this. I can't. Seriously, why do I have to see so much of him this year? This isn't fair. How am I supposed to get over him if he's going to be around so much?

Soon I was standing in an empty hallway. Or so I thought.

"Hey."

I jumped and turned around. The shocked expression on my face turned into a glare when I realized that the person who said "hey" was my new enemy. James Carr, who happened to still look like a hobo and who happened to be standing way too close to me. I pointedly moved away and said, "James Carr. You're really creeping me out. Do you have any idea what 'personal space' is?"

He sighed and pointedly took a step back. "I'm sorry." His eyes trailed down to the gardenia in my hand. "You like it?"

I stared at the flower, then at him. "Are you telling me that this is from you?"

"Yeah. I'm saying sorry. Again."

All hopes and dreams of the gardenia coming from a knight on a white horse vanished instantly. I gazed at the flower with a new set of eyes. My lip curled.

"So how did you get this into my locker?"

"I ran into Georgia."

Oh, Georgia. I made a mental note to kill her later. "You really think that giving me this stupid flower is going to magically erase my memories of yesterday?" I said scathingly. I could feel my anger rising more quickly than usual. I shook my head, headed for a nearby garbage bin, and threw the flower in it. When I turned back to James, I saw that he wore an indifferent expression on his face, as if he didn't care that I just threw his apology in the trash.

He shrugged. "Can't say I didn't try."

He walked away, and I watched him disappear around a corner. I waited one minute, and once I was sure that I was alone again, I walked back to the trash can and fished the gardenia out. Don't misunderstand; this didn't mean that I had secretly forgiven him. I was still very angry, but I didn't think that I should take my anger out on the poor gardenia. It wasn't its fault that it had been picked by an arrogant jerk.

I stared distractedly at the flower and found myself thinking about the one gave it. I really couldn't understand that guy. He was so…so hard to read. Some people were open books. They were predictable. Keegan was one, and I liked that about him.

James wasn't.

I opened my bag and slipped the flower inside, making sure that it wouldn't be crushed by the books.

I sat at the very front for my Creative Writing class. When I walked into the room, I felt the stares, but I ignored them and sat down, chatting with the people who were with me at the front. I made sure that we went into topics that didn't involve yesterday, and the people I talked to were either too polite or too scared to bring it up. I didn't turn around once; I didn't dare because I was afraid I would accidentally catch his eye.

When the bell rang after second period, I bolted out of the room. I didn't see James in the caf throughout third period. Not that I was looking. But I really didn't see him.

For fifth period, I was in a brighter mood because I had English with Keegan. The seats in the English classroom were formed into two U-shapes for better class discussion. There was an inner U and an outer U; I sat at one of the ends of the outer U and when Keegan walked in, I could feel my heart thumping in my chest. Was he going to sit next to me?

He caught my eye and grinned. Then he proceeded to head towards me, and I swear I thought I was going to just get up and dance a jig. Keegan was a popular guy; I bet he could have sat with other people in the class, but he chose to sit next to me.

"Hey."

I tried not to smile too much. "Hi."

He sat down and took out his binder. I opened my mouth, about to start a conversation, but I ended up gaping when I saw who just entered the room.

"No way," I croaked out.

Keegan followed my gaze and grinned when he saw his stepbrother. He called James over, but when the jerk's eyes fell on me, the jerk hesitated. After more coaxing on Keegan's part, however, James decided to come to us, taking a seat next to Keegan.

Keegan had suddenly turned into the Berlin Wall.

"So…how is everybody?" Keegan kept on smiling. I could see that he wanted to break the tension between me and the other guy.

"Peachy," I mumbled.

Keegan's smile faltered. "Good…good…"

James remained silent.

Keegan tried again. "So, James, does this mean that you skipped English yesterday?"

"Yeah."

"Okay…well, it was just the first day anyway. You didn't miss anything. Wanna see the syllabus?"

"Sure."

Keegan took the syllabus out from his binder and handed it to James. Silence settled among us as James read over the teacher's plans for the year.

"Gulliver's Travels? Interesting," James murmured. "I wonder what the class will have to say about this."

"Probably nothing," I found myself saying. "They'll find it dull, maybe. Especially part three."

"You've read it then?"

"Yeah. I was in one of those 'I wanna read something that makes me feel smart' moods. I rarely get those. I prefer to read books that I can breeze by, like young adult books. I love those. And also mysteries and horrors." The whole time I was prattling, I was wondering why I was bothering to have a conversation with this guy.

"I'm glad you're honest about it."

I paused, then glared at him. "You're glad I'm honest about it? You don't have to sound so obnoxious."

"Well, I don't mean to sound obnoxious. I hate it when people turn down their noses on books that aren't classics or praised by professors. Those people who put on airs, claiming they read Cervantes or Goethe for fun and feel superior when they see someone reading, say, a vampire novel. I wasn't trying to be obnoxious; I was trying to praise you. You told me straight out what you love to read. You didn't put on an act like other girls who make sure I catch them holding a 'smart book'—girls who tell me that they love to read whichever author I'm reading at that moment, and when I try to talk to them about it, they let out a silly laugh and purposely change the topic. Now that I can't stand."

I wanted to ask him if he was aware of how self-righteous he sounded throughout that entire speech, but I didn't want to get into another argument. He probably wasn't aware of it, actually. He had an air of superiority about him that was innate and seemingly unintentional. Nevertheless, he made me want to take out the hairpin in my hair and jab it into his inflated ego.

I offered no reply to his little sermon and reached for my bag instead. I had forgotten what was written on the syllabus and wanted to see what else we were going to learn besides Gulliver's Travels.

"Hey, what's the white flower in your bag?" Keegan asked me.

I froze. From the corner of my eye, I saw James shift in his seat.

"Nothing," I muttered. "Just a flower that means absolutely nothing to me."

"Okay…" Keegan looked a little bewildered by how emphatically I spoke.

I snuck a peek at James and saw that he was fighting back a smile. For some reason, he looked really hot doing it, but I wasn't interested in his hotness.

"Hey," I said with an unattractive snarl, "don't think that I accept your apology just because I fished this out of the trash."

He released the smile. "Fine. I understand."

"I just didn't want to waste it, that's all."

"I know."

"Wait," Keegan said, frowning, "the flower was from James?"

"Yes," I mumbled. "His way of apologizing, apparently."

Keegan turned to James, disbelief on his face. "You were complaining last night about how melodramatic Audrey was and emphasizing how you didn't care about what you did, and now you give her a flower?"

James scowled. "Keegan?"

"What?"

"Shut up."

Then Mrs. Riggs called for attention, and all three of us were probably really glad and mentally congratulated her perfect timing. Well, maybe not perfect timing. Perfect timing would have been if she had called for attention before I had opened my bag; that way, Keegan would have been too preoccupied to notice the white flower.

Fifth period ended with me saying goodbye to Keegan and completely ignoring James. I didn't have to stay after school today, so I quickly headed for my locker so that I could catch the 3:10 bus.

In a world where I was lucky, that's what would have happened. But in this world, something happened during the trip to my locker.

A boy with braces popped out of nowhere and tried to kiss me. I swear, he was like a freakin' ninja, but he failed in his mission.

I gasped, pushed him (it wasn't difficult, considering how skinny he was), then slapped his cheek.

"Are you insane?" I cried out. This boy had to be younger than me; he couldn't be older than fifteen.

"Owww," he moaned, rubbing one side of his face. "Oww…"

"Hey, that's what you get for trying to pull a stunt like that," I said fiercely. "What's the matter with you?"

He stopped rubbing his face as he shot me a defiant look, then ran away.

This brief tussle with this unknown boy would turn out to be an indication of what was to come in the next few days: complete and utter hell.

A/N:

I'm really interested in what you guys think of Keegan and James, James especially. Also, I'd like to know your general opinion of this story so far: Is it too cliched? Too dull? Does it seem like nothing is happening? Thanks!