Page 42 of He Hate Me

I look up at his eyes and if I believed in telepathy, I’d say we were both imagining him leaping on top of me and shoving that fat cock into my mouth. I’m suddenly short of breath, and a bright red flush climbs from his chest up towards his eyebrows at breakneck speed.

He clears his throat and stands up, his gaze so hot I want to leap to my feet and rub myself against him like a cat.

“I, ah, better go before one of your parents comes by to…do something.”

“Yeah,” I agree, swallowing with difficulty. “And for the record, Jayden and I are just friends.”

We avoid each other until it’s 3:00 pm and Mackenzie picks me up for the drive to Melodie Yang’s house. We spend the next few hours doing girl pampering shit. Shelby, Lorelei, Mackenzie, Melodie and I get our faces beat by a makeup artist Melodie’s parents hired. Her house is bigger than mine. Like Perry she lives in a true mansion. They not only have six bedrooms and a three-car garage, but their yard is so huge you have to call it “the grounds.” A lot of kids at Briarwood live in houses like this.

Melodie is a sweetheart—basically the opposite of a spoiled, rich brat. She’s on the shorter side, a little round in an attractive way, and she’s really kind. The makeup artist sets up in one of the ground-floor rooms and we take turns in her chair. I bring my own supplies since I know she isn’t likely to have my shades and it turns out to be a good call. We gossip and joke around throughout the whole process.

Once we’re ready, we get our phones out and snap a bunch of pictures for the ‘Gram. I do the classic black girl pose—back to the camera, then twist and look over one shoulder. Do it right and all your assets get captured and flattered—face, hair, boobs, waist and ass. We start posting to our social media and the responses are pretty positive.

Melodie’s parents are really the best. Sure, I know they’re kind of showing off, but it’s still nice that they take us all to dinner. The food is amazing, noticeably better than any Japanese food I’ve ever had. The rest of the girls look equally impressed.

We’re among the first to arrive at the dance. Melodie’s date is waiting by the door, holding a yellow corsage that matches his boutonniere. Melodie blushes pink, a huge grin on her face. Her cute but pimply date smiles back. Now that I’m getting a good look at him, he was in one of my AP classes. I see Melodie wave at someone behind me and I turn around to see Jayden walking up looking like a frickin model.

The last time I saw him he had cornrows, but he’s changed his hair since then. He now has a frohawk with the dark-blond hair on the sides cut in a high fade. His long legs eat up the distance between us, that loose-limbed swagger that was always Jayden bringing to mind a jungle cat. He shoots a peace sign at Dr. Yang, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say my friend’s middle-aged mother preened.

Jayden’s hands are empty, but he’s not shy about pulling me into a hug.

“No corsage?” I tease.

“Aren’t we past that?” he says cockily. His green eyes are bright in his golden-brown face. Jayden is light skin, but a shade darker than you’d expect with those eyes and that hair. He has the coloring of a blonde surfer at the end of summer.

“You’re looking pretty fucking sexy,” he says, licking his full lips suggestively. “Did you get hotter since the last time I saw you?”

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?” I quip. He grins wolfishly, folding his hands over his crotch.

“Yeah, my heart.”

He greets the rest of the girls and asks how they’ve been. We all used to hang out last year, so they know him well. I think he knows Melodie the least, but he talks to her too and coaxes her date into the conversation. The date’s name is Henry and he’s a junior. We decide to wait out front until everyone’s dates arrive, but Gio takes forever to get there.

After half an hour, we’ve just about convinced Shelby to come inside with us when Gio shows up. He’s wearing a white tuxedo jacket, black pants and a bowtie. He walks up to us from the direction of the student parking lot, a whole lot of swagger in his step until he sees my hand clutching Jayden’s arm. He does an honest-to-god stutter step.

“That’s him,” I whisper to my date. Jayden wraps his arm around my waist possessively. I ease out of his arms, taking a more casual pose. I know he's doing it to annoy Gio, but if Brandon sees another guy touching me like that there'll be hell to pay.

“Hey, baby,” Gio says to Shelby when he walks up, kissing her on the cheek. He opens up a clear plastic box and offers her a corsage. It’s pale pink and white, and I have to admit he did good—it really suits Shelby. Shelby introduces Gio to Jayden and Henry. Gio tries a dap with Jayden, but Jayden just ignores it and asks me if I’m ready to go inside.

“I’ve been ready,” I say pointedly, looking at Gio. He gives me a sour look but doesn’t respond.

Inside we all cluster together, except for Gio and Shelby, who run off to the dance floor. The place is filling up, with more and more kids still arriving. The dance is being held in the auditorium. There’s a DJ on the right of the stage and two “thrones” side by side in the middle. The homecoming committee did well. The space is festooned with green and white balloons. There’s a photo booth in one corner and a refreshments table that’s passing out bottled water and popcorn. I clock the chaperones around the room, mostly chatting with each other or looking at their phones.

After getting a drink, I squeeze onto the dance floor with Jayden in tow, swaying my hips to the music. When I stop, he presses right up into my back, grinding against my butt. It draws no attention because that’s pretty much what everyone else is doing. If prom has class, then Homecoming has ass. There isn’t a girl in the place who’s white enough not to twerk or do a hip roll. The heavy hip-hop beat of the music adds to the funky, heavy feel on the dance floor. The nearly overwhelming odor of Axe body spray, floral perfumes and sweat hangs over the crowd. I loop my arms loosely around Jayden’s neck. He moves his hips against me, the very picture of a sexy young man.

As I watch his face, his eyes move over the crowd behind me. This was always the problem with Jayden. He’s fun and cool, but he’s never completely focused on you. I can’t be sure he’s checking out other girls without looking, but based on experience, that’s exactly what he’s doing. Even when we were dating, he would do this.

But I really can’t get mad this time. As he’s checking out girls, I’m subtly searching the crowd for Brandon. I know he’s here because he got the same curfew extension I did, and I know he has a date because I saw a corsage in the fridge this morning. I didn’t want to be caught asking about him, but keeping my ears open I haven’t heard who his date is. Probably a freshman or sophomore. Definitely not a cheerleader.

Why do I even care, though? Our chemistry is fire, but I don't see how we could work as a couple. I list in my head all the reasons why “us” is a bad idea: 1. He’s an asshole. 2. He's probably a sexual sadist. 3. I don’t even like him; we have nothing in common. 4. He looks at me like I'm raw meat and he's a wolf.

“Earth to Deja,” Jayden says.

“What?”

“They’re calling you up.”

Homecoming court is being called up on stage. It’s no surprise that Christian Dubrov and I are crowned King and Queen. They put on our sashes, and we sit on our thrones. A photographer flitters around taking pictures. The vice-principal, Mrs. Godwin, gives a little speech about each of us. She says I’m in the National Honor Society, captain of the cheerleading squad, a member of a bunch of clubs, etc. It makes me sound like some kind of super participator, which I guess I am. I smile and wave like a classy queen, then we sit on the thrones while she drones on about Homecoming and other school stuff.