Chapter 12
Is this a scene from a chick flick?
At lunchtime everyone is talking about the whole Josh dumping Ali situation. No one mentions me anymore but I can tell they are all thinking about it. But apparently their silence towards hating Ali has been broken and everyone is discussing how awful she really is. I'm glad no one thinks she was a good match for Josh. But at least this time he gets a girlfriend she won't have to be so divine.
I walk out into the stadium with Ash and Flick the sun beaming dully on our backs. Winter is finally starting to arrive and my legs are really not enjoying it. We choose a bench to sit down on and turn to watch some guys from our class play basketball. I don't know any of the guys who are playing but by the looks on Ash and Flick's faces they don't really like these guys at all. My guess is they are the hot shot sports guys at our school and they probably act like they own the place. Although I can't see what their problem is, Josh is one of them.
I look up at Ash and find that she is smiling like there is some kind of joke being played out right in front of us. "Want to tell me why you are so happy?"
Ash looks at me surprised to find she's given herself away but then she smiles sweetly at me, "Nathan and his girlfriend have pretty much broken up. She said she needed time away from him." I can see how that can make her feel so cheerful.
"Yeah that's life. Poor Nathan though he seems to care about her deeply." I smile at her calmly.
"You're right about that, it's killing him." Ash looks suddenly glum but then she recovers her previous smile.
Just as I'm about to start talking about Nathan again, I see him, Josh, Sam and Mike walking towards us. Sam is the only one who looks happy the others look kind of well, gloomy. I can understand Nathan and Josh being gloomy but Mike is usually the happiest person in our group. When the boys finally manage to drag their sorry selves up to our bench I burst out laughing, "I'm sorry but you guys look so pathetic."
They stare at me grumpily then Ash laughs as well. "You know she's right, you are a sorry excuse for a bunch of skaters."
"Ok let's start with Mike. Why are you so blue?" I ask tentatively putting my best rendition on of a psychologist.
"I asked Kaitlyn out, she said no." I stare at him blankly.
I recover in time to say something along the lines of, "Don't worry about it. You're way out of her league." Josh looks at me laughingly.
"I think it's supposed to be the other way around Kaila." Josh just shakes his head at Mike as if to say, what did you expect?
"You're grumpy because you dumped your girlfriend. And Nathan is grumpy because his girlfriend wants some space; whatever that means. You all have lady troubles." I say mock cheerfully. Sam laughs whole heartedly at them.
"Be careful KJ we have P.E. next and I'm not going to stop the balls hurtling towards your face again!" Josh says mock seriously.
"As if I needed help you were just trying to look good in front of the girls in our class." Everyone looks at Josh and starts laughing at the truth in my words.
Nathan points at Josh and laughingly says, "You know that is just so true."
"Tell me about it." Mike laughs.
I share a long look with Josh and that tells me all I need to know. He was just looking out for me, which is even funnier than anything else.
We spend the rest of lunch discussing whether Josh is just chivalrous or if he's doing it to get in the girls pants. We dub him the modern day knight.
Josh and I walk back to our lockers together in silence. I can't help thinking about the look he gave me at lunch. I grab my uniform out of my bag and carry it to the gym still walking with him in silence. We don't even utter a word to each other until I'm standing in front of the girl's locker room. "Well see you in there in a moment…"
"Yeah…" talk about awkward moment. I got so freaked out by the atmosphere around us that I barged into the locker room really quickly. Everyone in the room looked up at me shocked then went back to getting changed. They started up their conversations again. As I'm getting changed in the girls locker room in the gym, I get little snip it's of gossip and some pretty dirty looks.
"See that girl, she's dating Josh….I know he's so hot!"
"Apparently they've been a thing for a while…at least before she came to this school!"
"Do you think they've got it on?"
"I heard he is her ninth boyfriend…each time she dumps them for no reason!"
"I heard Ali say she caused their break up."
"I don't doubt that, they looked pretty cosy today!"
"Her brother said he hardly knows Josh!"
I hate being talked about, gossip kills. Or at least it hurts a lot.
I walk out of the locker room into the gym. I'm the first girl there but there are some guys. Ms Power makes us sit on the steps until everyone is out of the change rooms. I walk past all the guys and seat myself in the back row. And suddenly all the guys are staring at me it's really unnerving and then Josh comes and sits next to me. I lean my back against his shoulder and put my legs up on the step. Ms Power comes out of the office and starts calling the roll, the girls are still giving me those strange looks as she goes down the list of names. I want to yell what the hell is your problem! But I don't want to draw any more attention to myself.
Ms Power tells us that we're playing basketball today. She has already chosen our teams. She puts me on a team with mainly guys. Nearly every guy looks at me when it's time to get up to devise strategies, but lucky for me Josh is on my team. He drags me to my feet and thrusts a basketball into my hands.
I'm not a hopeless basketball player, quite the opposite I play on a team outside of school and we're basically undefeated. I have the height and speed to play well. Josh is brilliant to play on a team with he sets me up a lot to shoot. He really is very athletic. I am definitely enjoying the view that comes along with playing sports with him. His body is really muscular and in shorts it just makes him look even hotter.
The girls on the other team sneer at me trying to make me feel bad about being around Josh, one of the girls charge at me and purposely tries to trip me over. It really hurts! I think I might have a bruise on my bottom tomorrow.
"Are you ok Kaila?" Josh asks me, he looks really concerned for me. He holds out his hand and pulls me up. His hand feels so strong pulling me up off the ground. The girl on the other team is laughing at me for falling over and right now I really want to sock her in the jaw!
"Yeah fine Josh thanks for asking!" I stare across the court at that laughing hyena for a girl, now it’s payback; I'm going to beat her into the ground, I'm going to cream her over, I'm going to squash her into the court like a defenceless little ant! I play hard and by the end of class no one is talking about Josh and me.
The girls' locker room is absolutely silent as we change back into our uniforms. I can't help feeling like it is my fault but they were the ones who were talking about me to begin with so it's technically their own fault. I walk out of the change rooms and sit on the steps waiting for Josh to come out.
When he finally does come out I feel like a great weight has been lifted off my chest. It's sad for me to think of Josh as my hero in shining armour but I can't help it, he saves me too regularly.
"Kaila what's the matter?" I can hear the concern in his voice without having to look up I know he's looking at me like he would kill someone to make sure I'm ok.
"The girls were saying a lot of mean things about me that weren't true." I feel like crying and grabbing hold of Josh all at the same time.
"Tell me what they said, please. Kaila I want to help you it's my fault they're saying nasty things about you." Josh sounds really upset I sneak a glance at him to decipher what he's thinking. Josh is glaring at the wall behind me like his eyes alone could burn holes in it.
"I think I'm ok now. They said I was the reason why you dumped Ali and in nice terms they called me a home wrecking slut."
Josh just pulls me into his body and quietly strokes my h
air. If I wasn't so upset I would certainly think that he was putting the moves on me. I bury my face in his chest. I can't believe it I'm crying for no real reason. Here I am bawling my eyes out and Josh is just holding on to me, stroking my hair and saying calm things when I quieten down. His hands have this compelling feeling like they are both soft and hard at the same time. His jumper rubs against my cheek each time Josh moves his arms. I start to calm down slowly my breathing begins to return back to normal. I feel his arm move from around my waist I feel his warm rough hand under my chin, tilting my face up towards him. My heart frantically skips a beat. I want to bury my face back in his chest but his hand won't let me.
"Are you ok now? Do you know who started the rumours?" He looks at me uncomfortably like he has never had to deal with crying girls before although I'm sure he has had experience because Nat is a huge bawler, she cries at the drop of a hat.
"Yeah I'm good now. Jeez dramatic much, I never cry at school believe me." Wow I feel so pathetic I was just crying in front of the guy I like he must think I'm a cry-baby now.
"It's alright Kaila I believe you, there has to be at least one out of you and Nat, who isn't a chronic cry-baby." Josh looks at my expression and laughs.
"That's a bit mean Josh. Shouldn't you be nicer about your sister, because you are talking to her best friend?" I shake my head mockingly but Josh just laughs at me.
Josh looks at me speculatively then sighs, "I guess I should be nicer about my sister but I can't help it. Are you done with the crying? We have to go to maths now."
"Yeah I'm finished. I really don't want to have to go do maths now, but I really don't have a choice." I sigh dramatically and then start to walk towards the main building.
Josh keeps in step with me as we make our way to our lockers. He really is a nice guy, maybe he's a jerk sometimes but isn't everyone? It just makes me feel better that he stayed throughout the whole water works.
I wonder what he's thinking about right now. It can't be about me. He's probably thinking about how he stuffed it up with Ali and how he wants to be back together with her. Compared to Ali I'm…well I'm no Ali. We collect our books from our lockers and walk to class together still in silence, everyone is in the corridors walking towards their next class, so much noise and there we are walking a long quietly, scarcely looking at each other.
We reach the classroom and sit down in our seats. Mr Smith walks in and the girls in my class instantly release a collective sigh. It's almost like a rock star has walked into our maths class and the girls are unsure whether to faint, sigh with wonder or hail the ground he walks on. The guys in my class just act like he is their best friend apparently he went on their camp last year and was the coolest camp leader ever. I have to hand it to him though he actually makes learning maths passable as a good subject. Mr Smith's class has a tendency to pass really quickly without boring patches of information.
The bell goes meaning it is time to go home, we all walk out of the class in a hurry to our lockers. I open my locker and start chucking all the work I need into my bag I just want out of here. Too many things have happened today and it is totally freaking me out.
"Kaila slow down, you're going to drop something. I want to give you a lift home, we need to talk." Wow whenever someone says that you run for your life because it never bodes well. I turn around and have a good look at Josh. He doesn't look like he's going to say a bad thing.
"Uh sure I'll go with you. It's on your way home anyway." I nod and start putting books in my bag again. Now I don't have to limit how much I take home.
"Great." Somehow Josh manages to make that one word into two syllables. I close my locker door triumphantly and flash a smile in Josh's direction. "Awesome let's go then."
We walk down the stairs to the parking lot and Climb into his beautiful car. I think Mitch would approve of Josh just because he has such a fantastic car. Josh drives his WRX like it's made out of wool. He drives almost like an old person making sure he protects his car.
We stop at a set of traffic lights waiting for the red light to turn green. That's when Josh launches into what he wanted to talk about. "Kaila I know this is a tad soon but I want you to know I really like you and I want to go out with you. I know you might not want to go out with me because of what happened with Ali but I can assure you that I don't want anyone else." He smiles at me and ironically enough the light turns green. That's when I realise I like him back.
"Josh whatever possessed you to think I don't like you?"
Josh glances at me uncertainly, "Well the fact that you pushed me away when we were kissing in my room." I stare at him and then I crack up laughing.
"I pushed you away because you were already going out with someone else. I'm not one for cheating." I pat his thigh and flash another ecstatic smile at him.
"Well I'm glad to hear that, so does that mean we're a couple finally?" Josh raises an eyebrow at me questioningly. Damn he's cute.
"Yeah I guess it does Josh, just promise me you won't kiss any girls other than me." I feel apprehensive if he refuses to make that promise I'll have to have a rethink about us.
"Sure I promise to love no one but Kayley Daniela Jenson." I hadn't expected him to say that. "Do you promise Kaila to love only me?" Hang on this is starting to sound like wedding bells, does anyone else hear it?
I look at him happily of course I wouldn't love anyone else. "I promise there will be no one else for me save Joshua Charlie Jamieson." We smile warmly at each other.
"In that case I better meet your dad properly this time, or we could go to your room?" Josh winks at me cheekily.
"Isn't it a bit early for that Josh?" I ask tentatively. I swear my voice was doing this weird squeaking thing.
Josh just smiles at me cheekily, "I just wanted to see your room because you have seen mine, why what were you thinking I meant?" I can see his smile growing wider. "Oh well we could do that as well. But I didn't think you would be that into it."
"Into what exactly Josh, I thought it was too early for you to meet my dad. But you can go ahead and snoop in my room if you want. Doesn't bother me Romeo but don't get any ideas I am not letting you touch my computer!" I sigh dramatically like it's the only thing he's not allowed to touch.
Josh just grins at me, "Well it's not the computer I'm interested in Kaila." I just laugh at him, like I didn't know that already?
I don't know what to expect from my dad, he's unpredictable sometimes, just like his cooking! I'm never sure what I'm going to receive in his 'special creations' or as most families would call it, dinner. I don't know why I feel so anxious it's not like my dad is going to start yelling at him for taking his little girl away.
Josh pulls his car into the drive way behind my dad's car. He turns off the car and turns to look at me. "You ready for this?"
That cracks the dread that was starting to pile up in my stomach. "You make this sound like I'm getting ready for a boxing match."
Josh just looks at me mock seriously, "Well it could become one."
"Well try not to get hit. I like your nose in its current position." Josh looks at me slyly.
"So how long have you been checking me out for?" He smiles at me gamely, "It's just for future reference."
"Like hell it is." I mutter, "That's for me to know and you to find out buster."
"Hey that's not fair." Josh says indignantly, "If you asked me that, I would tell you the truth."
"Yeah well I know when you started checking me out." I smile nonchalantly at him although I feel anything but. I pull my keys out of my pocket and unlock the front door, please god if you're listening please make sure he isn't passed out in the kitchen again.
I walk inside followed by Josh; he's like my shadow although a lot larger. "Dad, where are you?"
"I'm in the kitchen Kayley, oh, and your mother is here as well…" I can hear my dad's frown in his voice.
"Ah I have a friend with me, he wants to meet you dad." I can't say the word boyfriend, when my mother is in the ho
use as well.
I hear a muffled conversation taking place. Just as Josh and I step through the kitchen door I hear my mother say. "Another boy, lovely this will be fun." And the hatred for my own mother wells up in my stomach.
I stand there staring at my mother, sitting there in a mini business skirt with a huge slit up the side, along with a cleavage boosting top and as per usual blood red fake nails. At the moment her hair is a light brown but that changes a lot, I'm not even sure what her natural hair colour is.
"Kayley, honey, so glad I get to see you. How do you feel about moving back in with mummy?" I just stare at her, her over excited tone is totally creeping me out. Plus she said MUMMY!
I blink twice before clearing my throat. "What?" Go Kaila; go with a very intelligent answer…not!
My mum looks at me for a second before sighing, "Kayley, I'm taking you and your brother off your fathers' hands isn't it going to be fun, we can have manicures and parties all the time!" Ok she totally sounds like one of those ditzy mothers off those really lame American soap operas or worse!
I just keep staring at her, unable to comprehend what she's telling me. "Honey, darling, are you alright?"
"Listen mum, I like living with dad. Besides aren't you a little, you know, too old to be throwing parties all the time?" I look at her calculating face before I launch back into it. "Besides at the moment you're not really mother material anyway. Oh and Mitch told me to tell you that he refuses to live with you as well. So what happened to your toy boy? Did he dump you, for a younger woman I presume?"
She stands up indignantly almost knocking over the table with her sudden movement, "You brat, after all I've done for you and you treat me like this. You're like a stranger to me."
"Yeah well that makes two of us; you've been a stranger since you walked out that door for him. Nothing is going to change, you're just going to go back out there and find another man that is younger than you and for what? Your own vanity, you had two children you now have neither. Look at yourself mother, you're trying to look like an eighteen year old but it isn't working because you are in your forties. I will never move in with you unless you become a suitable parent." I glance at my dad smiling brightly, "Hey dad. Has this cow been annoying for long?"
He just looks at me surprise written all over his face, "No…well yes but Katie was just leaving anyway. I expect you to drop your case because the kids obviously don't want to live with you."
Mum just looks at dad angrily, "I wouldn't expect such a thing John, you know as well as I do that I always get what I want."
She walks past me stiffly, I find my voice again when she gets to the kitchen door, "Oh I forgot mother, but I won't be staying with you this weekend I have some stuff on, so you can go find a new boy to date, make sure he looks like your nephew now." I say all too sweetly. My dad frowns at me but she just walks out the door grumpily the lawyer trailing at her ankles like a good puppy.
"Now Kayley that was a bit mean of you to say those things to your mother." I can hear the disapproval in his voice.
"As if I was going to let her traipse in here like it's her home and then walk all over you. She deserves what she gets from me." I sigh inwardly; ok so I do feel bad about what I said but who cares she totally deserves it! "Oh, yeah this is Josh by the way."
"Hey Mr J how's it going, a little trouble in the ex-department I know how that feels." Ok I love Josh for trying to make a joke out of our predicament.
"You could call it that." Dad looks at Josh closely, "Isn't this the young fellow that took you to the movies Kaila?" Yes my dad is very observant when he's sober.
"Yeah it is dad, don't freak out but Josh wants to date me and I kind of said yes." I look at my dad expectantly this would be the moment where he freaks out and says hell no!
"That's great KJ, I've been waiting for you to get a boyfriend, and I thought this day would never come. Then again your mother always ends up stealing your boyfriends so I can understand the hesitation." Josh and I just look at each other exchanging thoughts in a glance. Did my dad just say that?
Staring at my dad I ask, "Hey dad, what medication are you taking? Do you feel alright? How old am I? How old are you?" I think my dad has taken a turn for the worse.
My dad looks at me tiredly, "Kaila, I'm not sick, I have taken no medication, you are seventeen and I'm old enough."
Josh grins down at me, "I think that answers all your questions Kaila."
"Ha-ha very funny Josh." I look at my dad worriedly, "So you're cool with me dating Josh?"
"Kaila I do believe this young fellow is Nat's brother and therefore is going to get in more trouble with Nat than he's ever going to get from me."
I look at my dad with astonishment, "Cool, ok. See you around dad, Josh and me are going to hang in my room."
Dad looks at us bemusedly, "Just as long as I don't end up with grandchildren anytime soon I think we're ok."
Both Josh and I stare at my dad shock clearly written over both of our faces.
"Don't think there is a problem there Mr Jenson, I was only going to talk with KJ nothing more." Josh looks like he's having kittens. I take Josh's hand and drag him back to my room.
I open my door and realise that there are bras and undies scattered all around my room and that there are some rather embarrassing posters of Jesse McCartney hanging on the walls. Josh takes one step into my room, looks around and starts laughing.
"Quit laughing, it isn't funny you!" I grumble at Josh.
He sobers up a bit but mockingly says, "How many bras does a girl need, really?"
I just glare at him. I pick up all my clothes and dump them in my wardrobe to be sorted out later. "Shut up, you know Nat has more than me."
Josh looks around expressively, "Yeah well hers aren't on display. But I do know now that you are rather into dark blue bras."
"This would be the moment where I say pervert!" Laughingly I throw a pillow in Josh's direction he catches it with one hand.
"Yeah well, you were flirting with my brother so you deserve it!" Josh says throwing the pillow back at me.
"Come on you already got me for that, remember you kissed me an awful lot for doing that." I say cheekily.
A sudden look comes over Josh's face, "Well seeing that the point hasn't come across maybe I should kiss you some more."
I look at Josh seriously, "Maybe you should…"
"Maybe I will…" And with that Josh is already crowding me with his body. His face comes closer to mine. His lips nuzzle at my lips willing me to open my mouth for him. He looks me in the eye for what feels like forever and then his arms wrap around my waist pulling me closer to his body. Josh's lips brush back and forth across mine and then his lips come down hard on my lips. I fall into ecstasy in his arms. I can feel Josh's emotions through his body, he keeps pulling me closer and closer to his body, and if he keeps holding me like this we're going to become one person.
I pull back for second to grab some air, the way Josh kisses is just way too intense, pleasurably intense like there is no one in the world but us. Josh looks down at me a lazy grin spreading slowly across his face. "So that's what it's like when you actually want to kiss me." His face says it all for both of us; wow!
I sit down on the floor pulling a magazine from out under my bed. Josh sits next to me pulling a pillow off the bed.
"So what did you want to talk about the first time you came to my house?"
"Well I was going to apologise for trying to kiss you in the cinema, I'm totally not apologising now! You seriously held out on me, all those times I kissed you and you kind of kissed me back are nothing compared to you just now. Wow!" Josh smiles down at me reassuringly.
"That was all? Wow I thought it would be something important, I was wrong!" I smile at him cheekily.
"Hey you… That was important I wanted to say also that I didn't want to kiss you just so that I could claim it or that I could just get you out of my head. I wanted to be your boyfriend right from the start. Ali and I had bee
n on a break for nearly two months before you showed up. Ash thinks I was angry at her when she told me about the way Ali behaved I just felt annoyed that I hadn't seen it sooner. Then you showed up and I was like I want to date her! I couldn't get you out of my head, and I wanted to finally break up with Ali I just didn't know how to say it." Josh looks at me seriously, "I only ever wanted you this badly Kayley, and you are my girl."
I look up at Josh. Aw he is just so cute! "I feel the same way about you. But you kissed while you still had a girlfriend and I didn't want to get between the two of you. But I'm glad you finally decided you wanted to be with me."
"So am I…so am I!" Josh looks down at me thoughtfully, "Hey Ash's sleep over is this weekend, so I get to see you in your pyjamas!"
I shake my head disgustedly, "Boys! Is that all you can think about? What I look like with pyjamas on!" I pick up a pillow and start hitting him with it.
"Come on Kaila I was just kidding!" Josh smiles at me warmly.
"I'm sure you were!"