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  “Hey, Kathleen, are you ok?” She cajoles, while placing her hand on my back. Blair knew me, and she could read my body language most times, so when she called me by my full name, I knew she felt my pain, no matter how I tried to hide it.

  “I’m fine, let’s just get some food. I need a distraction.” I gave her a tight smile, and looked to see that we had three people in front of us before we could pick up our lunch trays. I just needed to forget about him, he was no one to me. I would go off to college and find another crush, and forget all about Johnathan Asshole Pierce. Yes, I would.

  “Oh, I think you’re going to get a much needed distraction today, and I don’t think it’s going to be food.” I glanced over at her, and she was grinning from ear to ear.

  “I’m hungry and I want food.” I stated. I moved forward, as the person in front of me moved from the lunch line.

  “I think someone wants to talk to you.” Blair muttered close to me, while grabbing my arm. But it was too late. I was in a foul mood, and there was nothing or no one, who could break me out of it.

  “Yeah, but I don’t want to talk to anyone, but you.” I stated proudly.

  “Well, I hope I can be an exception.” A voice startled me, and I jumped and turned around to see him standing there. He was now standing in front of me, up close and personal, yet again. Johnathan Pierce was here, standing next to us while staring at me. Me.

  “Kathleen?” Blair nudged my side. I looked at her, and she was biting her bottom lip, moving her eyes towards him, desperately trying to break me out of my brain freeze.

  “Yes, Blair?” I muttered.

  “I think someone wants to talk to you. I’ll get you something to eat for later, okay?” She smiled.

  “Of course, sure.” I muttered, and turned back to see that he was smirking at me. I reached out my hand to introduce myself. “Hi, I’m Kathleen. Kathleen Toth-Chamberlin,” I stated, he took my hand, stepping closer to me, and shook it while squeezing it softly.

  “Hello, Kathleen Toth-Chamberlin, I’m Johnathan Pierce, but I assume you knew that already.” He smiled.

  “You shouldn’t assume Johnathan, it can turn into a very bad habit.” I released his hand, and glanced over at the table of tramps, to see them all staring at us.

  “Care to join me?” He asked.

  “Join you? Your fan club over there looks as though they may be lost without you. Are you sure you want me joining you?” I smiled sweetly at him, as Blair started to giggle.

  “Oh, I’m sure I want you… joining me, that is.” He stated quickly, adding that last part just in time, but I caught it. He wanted me? He grabbed my hand and started walking towards the exit door. I followed him, or for use of a better word, I was being pulled by him. We exited the double doors, all the while I’m chanting in my head: Don’t believe anything he says… he has many options compared to your one... he is nothing to you… don’t let him make a fool out of you. I wondered where he was taking me, and I hoped it was behind the bleachers. Oh no, wait… no I don’t.

  “Johnathan, where are we going?” I breathed. He kept quiet and pulled me along. The halls were empty because everyone was at lunch or class. We turned a corner and came to a stairwell, and he opened the door. He led me down the stairwell, all the way to the bottom, near an old radiator or generator. It looked like a huge motor, and it was fenced in for protection, but the sound while it ran was as loud as a motor cycle running. No one would see us, and no one would definitely be able to hear us. How did he even know about this place, when I didn’t? He just got here today, and I’ve been going here for the last four years.

  I turned back to him, and he was staring at me, his eyes darkened, and his tongue slowly licking his lips. I watched his tongue slowly curve to cover his thicker bottom lip, while his eyes devoured my body, and I began panting. I gasped as he pulled my hand roughly towards him, the hand he was still holding. My body smashed into his, and I instinctively raised my hand to push back from his chest, but he wrapped his arm around my waist to keep me in place. We were face to face, our breaths mingling. He smelled so good, and I knew in that moment that I wanted him to kiss me. I had never felt like this and now I knew what it felt like to actually want someone. I mean really want them. “Kathleen?” He whispered, close to my mouth, and I shuddered in his arms, not being able to control my body’s reaction to him.

  “Yes?” I uttered, feeling as though the breath was being taken away from me. I closed my eyes for a moment, and opened them to see his filled with desire.

  “I want to kiss you, taste you, and claim you as mine.” He muttered, close to my mouth. I gasped, as his words took my breath away, and in that sudden movement, my breasts rubbed against his chest. I could feel the friction, of my now hardened nipples, making me feel sensations all over my body, causing a soft moan to escape me. I balled my hands that laid on his chest, into fistful of his shirt, silently showing him how much I wanted him right here and now.

  “Oh Johnathan...” I breathed his name, and it sounded almost like a moan. I never heard this tone of my voice before, I could tell that it was laced with yearning.

  “Shhh…” He uttered. Our lips were so close to connecting, I could feel the warmth of his breath. I could feel the hardness of what was between his legs, as well as the moisture of my panties. I needed this, I wanted this kiss. It would be a first for me, and I wanted it to be from him, right now.

  “Hey!” A strong masculine voice yelled, making me jump. “What are you kids doing down here? You’re not allowed to be down here!” He stated, as we both stared at him in silence. He just glared at us, waiting for us to leave or begin explaining ourselves, I didn’t really know which. I was never one to be caught like this before, I was scared and embarrassed. I could feel the embarrassment filling up my cheeks, and I knew I looked guilty. I tuned back to look at Johnathan, who looked as cool as a cucumber, he smirked while releasing his arm from around me. He stepped back as I lowered my hands from his chest, turned, and began to walk back up the stairs.

  “Come on,” he murmured to me, and I started to walk up the stairs behind him. We exited the door, and I exhaled. He stopped in front of me, looked into my eyes and smiled, then the bell rang. As kid’s started to fill the halls, he then turned and left, not saying another word. While I, on the other hand felt hot, confused, and dazed from the whole thing.

  I didn’t understand Johnathan all too well yet, but I hoped that after today, things would change between us. For the better.

  Chapter 3

  IT’S BEEN THREE days since my time in the stair well with Johnathan, and his words still haunted me morning, noon, and night. ‘I want to kiss you, taste you, and claim you as mine.’ I was in awe, and still in shock, but I had to push those thoughts to the side for now. I was in homeroom, so he would be here soon, and I was determined to ignore him. Since that day in the stair well, Johnathan hadn’t said one single word to me. It was as if we shared a moment, a very brief moment, and then I fell off the face of the earth or something. I’d see him in school, and he would glance at me, then away. It bothered me a little on the first day, and the second. But now it was the third day, and I was pissed. I wasn’t a person who got angry a lot, so I wasn’t sure how to handle this situation. How could he say those words to me, and then act like I didn’t exist? It had me emotionally confused. I didn’t know what to do about it, and I didn’t want to pressure him, so I wrote a note. I wasn’t sure about giving it to him. Maybe I could tell him how I felt, and see if he really meant what he said about claiming me. I wanted him to claim me. I wanted to be his, and feel his lips touch mine. Johnathan had managed to claim my thoughts and dreams already, and it’d just been three days.

  I didn’t want anyone to know how obsessed I had become with him, not even Blair. She was so eager to know what had happened between us, when we left the lunch room three days ago. But instead of telling her what happened in the stair well, I’d told her that we just walked to my locker, and I showed him around the sc
hool. I wasn’t sure she believed me, but it didn’t really matter because I told her not to mention him to me again. I pretended to no longer be interested in him, but she knew I still cared about what he did to a good extent. That's why she sent me a text this morning, telling me that she had something to tell me about him, she had obviously been doing a little digging around. Which sounded, just like Blair. She was always one to make sure I had all the information, even if I didn’t want it. She said she would come over today after school, so we could talk about it all, and I looked forward to that. But as of now, I sat in homeroom awaiting Johnathan Asshole Pierce’s arrival. I felt like my world was crashing, and it was all his fault. How could he make me feel the way he did, and it meant absolutely nothing to him? How is that even possible? He walked in the classroom as the bell rang, with a girl on his arm, and not just any girl, one of those tramps from before. As the shock covered me, I nearly burst into tears as she clung onto his arm, that same arm that was around my waist three days ago. I looked at him so hard, hoping that I had wizard-like powers, to make him evaporate into mid-air. But he never looked my way.

  This was bad… this was very bad. I had been rejected, and now replaced by a… tramp? OMG. All I could do was lower my head, and focus on the tablet that was on my desk. I stared at the words of the note I’d written to him, as the tears started to fall from my eyes. Drip…. Drop… They fell, smearing the ink on the page, destroying the feelings I had for him. I felt it all burning up... the day he arrived, the day he touched my hand, and the day he said those words to me. I packed up my bag, and left the homeroom class as quickly as I could, and went to the bathroom and cried. I'd never had someone deliberately hurt my feelings before, and now I had. I sat on the toilet seat, fully clothed, and submerged myself into my thoughts. How could it hurt so badly, when it’s still so fresh? What did I do wrong? How did it get to this? Did I imagine the whole thing? I sat and thought about it over and over again, the bell rang, and then some time later it rang again. I was missing class after class, but I didn’t care, I didn’t want to see him or anybody else.

  The bathroom doors opened and closed, students came and left, as I sat quietly in the last stall, way down on the left, crying. I needed a plan of action. There was no way I would let him get the best of me like this. I opened the stall and walked to the sink, I splashed some water on my face, and smiled to myself before I left the bathroom. I didn’t know what period it was, so I headed to my locker, and a few minutes later the bell rang. I checked my phone, and saw a message from Blair.

  “Hey, are you in school today? Didn’t see you in history. Is everything alright?” –B

  Before I could type a response, she appeared at my locker, looking her normally bubbly self. “Hey, where were you?”

  “In the bathroom. I wasn’t feeling well.” I lied, but was it really a lie?

  “I can see. You look flushed, and your eyes are red. Are your allergies acting up?”

  “Yep, and also my period.” “Oh, do you have tampons?”

  “Yeah, I knew it was coming. So, let’s go to lunch.”

  “Let’s go.” She murmured.

  ***

  After school, Blair came to my house as planned. We entered the townhouse, and I immediately knew that it was too quiet. I knew we’d beat everyone home today. My mom and dad always came home later from work. My siblings came after the bus dropped them off, and with their school being a little further than mine, I was home first most of the time. But there were times when they were home early too. Just then my father stepped from around the corner, halting my assumption and victory for some peace and quiet from my family members. “Hey girls, how was school?” He smiled at me warmly.

  “Hey dad, school was good.” I muttered.

  “Hello, Mr. Toth, how are you?” Blair asked.

  “Fine Blair, just fine.” He murmured, as he came to give me a hug and a kiss, and grabbed a bottle of water. I could tell by his clothes that he was working on the car today. He had oil and car grease all over his blue denim overalls. He headed back out of the kitchen, and I pulled a bag of popcorn from the cabinet, which was our routine when Blair would come over. We’d eat popcorn and do homework, gossip, or watch re-runs of “My So Called Life” on DVD. But today was different. I felt as if I had my heart broken, and no one knew it, but myself, not even Johnathan Pierce knew… yet. As soon as the popcorn started to pop, Blair leaned over the bar grinning at me, and I smiled back. “What?” I asked, while pouring us some juice.

  “Do you still want to know the dirt I dug up on your crush?” The mention of him made my eyes immediately water, but I knew I had to suck it up, before she figured out that there was more going on here than I had led on.

  “Sure, what did you find out?” I murmured, with as much excitement as I could muster up.

  “You look so gloomy, your cramps must be really bad right now.” She scrunched her eyes at me.

  “Yeah they are, so go on… tell me.”

  “Well, he is not from this area, and he is an only child. Both his parents are dead... something about some accident a long time ago. He lives with his aunt and uncle, who live here, but before, he lived with his grandmother. Oh, and guess what??” She shrieked.

  “What?” I huffed. I was over this conversation, I didn’t want to hear anything else about him. I was done with him, and Blair needed to know it.

  “He is loaded. He has a huge trust fund.” She yelped.

  “Oh, good for him.” I smugly replied.

  “This means he will have money, and can travel and do whatever he wants. That is the kind of man I want in my life, one who is financially free.” She sighed, as I scoffed. I would never understand why people let money change them. I saw it all the time. Money became a religion for some, it controlled their lives, but I never understood such idiocy. Especially when there were so many in need, so many that are poor worldwide. I really didn’t understand why Blair was so interested in Johnathan's trust fund. It was his for goodness sake. Furthermore, she had one of her own, unlike me who didn’t have one. I had money for my college tuition, but I didn’t have a trust outside of that. But I was humbled and very grateful to have what I did have, even though I wasn’t a trust fund baby like Johnathan. Blair was a trust fund baby, too, but hers would be tied up until she finished at least five years of college. Her parents were lawyers, so her future was pretty much already in her DNA.

  She would become a lawyer, and that was her only option if she wanted that trust fund. I dumped the popcorn in the bowl, and we headed up stairs. We made a right, and I opened my room door to see my queen sized bed, my TV, dresser, and my laptop on my small desk. I loved the color purple, and preferred it when I had a choice in colors, so I had a purple theme going on in my life. “There is more to life than money Blair, what about love and respect?” I asked, tossing my book bag on my bed, as she jumped on my bed alongside it, tossing her book bag in front of her.

  “I understand that too, Kat, but there’s nothing wrong with living on the wild side once and a while. For goodness sake, we are almost eighteen, we should live a little. Do you have any idea how hard college will be for us?”

  “Well, Johnathan seems like he would be perfect for you then, if that’s what you’re looking for. I don’t want anything to do with him, he is not my type anymore. So, feel free to try and get his attention, right along with all the other gals.”

  “Seriously, you don’t want him?” She asked, bemused, as if I had said the most irrational thing she’d ever heard. I was not going to be one of them, those girls that are so head over heels for a guy who mostly look at them as just a quick lay. Or even worse, just to be popular and wanted by so many, and not be really interested in them at all. I knew in that instance what I needed to do regarding him, and it would be for the best.

  “No, Blair, I don’t want him. He is forgotten, and I don’t want to focus anymore time or energy on him than I already have. I think he’s a player, but I don’t really know him.” The
words stung as I spoke them because I didn’t really know him, and here I was, crying over him and lying to my best friend on his behalf. I would ignore him, and go on about my life, while all the other girls continued to swarm him. I would not let him turn me into someone I didn’t want to be, I would avoid him at all cost. I knew who I was, and if that wasn’t good enough for Mr. Johnathan Asshole Pierce, then so be it. My life would go on, with or without him, or so I thought.

  Chapter 4

  Three months later…

  TWO MORE HOURS left and spring break would officially start, and I was thrilled. This was a time when everyone was happy to be at school today, because we all knew we would have a week and half off right after. I loved seeing my classmates happily walking down the hall, laughing, joking, and making plans to see each other. I knew I would have a boring spring break, I had no plans so far, but that was fine. Blair would be out of town, and I would be here alone with my family, but I had much to be happy about myself. I had already received my early acceptance letter from both of my top two schools, and in that alone, I intended to celebrate during my spring break in some way. A smile had been plastered on my face since I’d received those letters a few days ago, nothing, I mean nothing, could break the trance that I was in. I went to my locker and twirled the lock, realizing that this lock would soon be useless to me. Soon I would be out of here, and on my way to the school of my choice, and that made me start to giggle to myself. “What’s so funny?” I turned towards the sound of the voice to my right, and my smiled slowly turned into a deep frown. It happened so slowly, and so in-depth, that he actually looked affronted by the time I registered who was speaking to me.