Vanished: A Bad Boy Second Chance Romance (3 page)

              “Okay, so….what should I do?” I ask him, biting my lip, hoping he says what I think he wants to say.

              “Go out with me.”

              He said it. I feel a smile creep over my face and realize how much I really do like him and how silly I’ve been not to notice until now. What if he hadn’t had the guts to come over here tonight? What would have happened? But now, here he is, on my front porch, putting it all out there for me.

              “You want me to be your girlfriend?”

              Without hesitation, “Yes.”

              Somehow this feels like the most honest moment in my life up until now.

              “Okay,” I say. Plain and simple. Just like that. I know he’ll understand. A smile, that smile, creeps across his face, and he steps close to me. I look up at him, his smell filling my nostrils, his warmth radiating out against my body. I feel his hands strong against my hips as he pulls me toward him.

              “I’d like to kiss you now,” he says, inches from my face.

              “Okay,” I whisper. Our eyes meet, and he leans in and kisses me. Our lips meet, and it’s like a shock sent straight through me.

              My first kiss!

              I feel like I’m carrying the world’s most precious secret as my mom drops me off outside of school the next morning. Somehow Joey has given me a confidence I never had, a confidence to be more of myself than I have been. Somehow the day to day gossip and social status stuff seems so much less important, and the thought of having ever wanted to go out with Brad has actually become repulsive.

             
How could I ever have thought that would be a good idea?

              I know the girls won’t totally understand right away, but that’s okay.

              “You
what?!”
Cassidy just about screams when I tell her the news. We’re standing out by the bus drop off, and a crowd of freshman boys look over at her like she’s insane.

              “Would you stop yelling?” I say.

              “Wait,” she says, pausing like she still has to comprehend what I’ve just told her. “You…and Joey…”

              “Yes, Cassidy.”

              “What happened to you and Brad?” Merrell asks beside me.

              “Seriously! I mean—you and stalker mode?”

              “Shut up, Cassidy!” I say, suddenly very protective. “He came to my house last night.”

              “To what, watch you sleep?”

              I slap her on the arm. “Stop that! It was very sweet.
He
is very sweet.”

              “Okay, geez,” she says, rubbing her arm. “I’m just saying. How’s Brad gonna feel about this? Has he texted you yet?”

              “Actually no,” I realize.

              “He’s just doing that game guys do where they wait all week to text you,” Merrell says.

              I realize I haven’t even thought about Brad since he asked me for my number. He was just another piece of my well-constructed social life that I know I don’t need anymore. Now that I’m with Joey, everything feels different. It’s like this big weight of social responsibility has been lifted off my shoulders, like I don’t have to pretend to be someone I’m not anymore.

              I reach into my pocket and pull out the Eiffel Tower statue he gave me. Maybe I’m being stupid, but my dream of getting there, of getting out of Stonehill, seems so much closer now.

              “He gave me this,” I say, showing them, knowing they won’t fully understand why it means so much to me.

              “Great,” Cassidy says sarcastically. “A little statue.”

              “Would you stop it?” I say. “Be supportive!”

              She sighs and pretends to pout, but she knows I’m right. She’ll come around.              

              “I still can’t believe this,” Merrell says.

              “I mean, are you sure, Mia?” Cassidy says over my shoulder. “I thought you couldn’t stand him.”

              “So did I,” I admit. “I was being stupid. But it’s like he…he just
knows
me, ya know?”

              “No. No, I don’t know,” Cassidy says with a smile. “Tell me.”

              I lean against the wall, my eyes scanning over all the students mingling around before class, feeling less and less a part of their world.

              “I can’t explain it, but it’s like we’ve known each other forever, or he knows me or something. All I know is it feels right.”

              Cassidy looks at me like she thinks I’m insane, but she knows me well enough to know when I’m serious about something. After a minute she smiles and shakes her head.

              “Well, okay,” she says. “Stalker boy it is. But what are you gonna tell Brad?”

              I hadn’t even thought of that. “The truth, I guess.”

              “Can’t wait to see how that goes over,” Merrell says sarcastically.

              “Hey, Mia,” I hear Joey’s voice behind me and my heart jumps into my throat. I turn around and see his smiling face. I know I’m only sixteen years old, but when I look at him, I can’t help but picture us going through life together, doing all the things couples do, getting older. I’m probably being overly romantic. I mean, after all, we only started going out yesterday, but something about him just feels so right. I feel myself blush as he looks at me.

              “Hey,” I say back.

              “How’s it going, Cass? Merrell?”

              The girls sort of half-smile half-nod at him.

              “Hey, Joey,” Cassidy finally says. It will take a while, but I know they’ll come around to him, just like I have, if for no reason other than he’s now my boyfriend. But I know that once they get to know him, they’ll realize how great a guy he is.

              Joey eyes them up, and just to make sure everyone knows the deal, steps up beside me and slides one arm around my shoulder. He’s just the right height that we fit together like two puzzle pieces. I lean against him as he smirks at my friends.

              “Uh oh,” Merrell says, looking over my shoulder. “Uno problemo.”

              I know before I even turn around. It’s Brad. He’s walking toward us with an angry, puzzled look on his face. I take a deep breath and brace myself for whatever’s about to happen.

              I look up at Joey, moving slightly away from him, “Maybe we should—“
              “No,” he says quickly. “We’re not gonna hide from him.”

              He pulls me closer to him as Brad steps up.

              “That’s my girl, bro.”

              “Nah, I don’t think so,” Joey says quickly.

              “Excuse me?” Brad takes another step forward. I feel Cassidy and Merrell’s eyes on me.

              “She’s. Not. Your. Girl,” Joey replies, putting emphasis on each word. “She’s mine. We’re together. Just so you know.”

              I feel myself tense up as Brad gets angry. His face starts to get red and he takes another step forward. He’s dangerously close to Joey now. This is bad.

              “You got a smart mouth for a sophomore,” he says with a growl. “You know who I am?”

              “Yeah. You’re the dumb jock that thinks every girl wants to marry him. Sorry to burst your bubble, but it’s not true.”

              Before I even realize what’s happened, Joey is on the ground and Brad is on top of him, raining down with his fists. Joey does his best to fend him off, but Brad is just so much bigger. I scream and lunge forward, grabbing Brad by the shoulder and pulling hard.

              “Stop! Get off him!”

              But Brad is in a rage, and he’s way too strong for me to do anything. He pulls his arm back to swing at Joey, and I trip and fall backwards onto the curb. Things seem to slow down as I watch Brad’s fist streak through the air and hit Joey just under the left eye.

              I leap up and jump on Brad, throwing all my weight onto him. It’s not enough to do anything but give Joey time to get out from under him. He scrambles to his feet and jumps back a few feet, putting some distance between him and Brad.

              Brad tries to rush past me, but I step in front of him. His eyes, filled with rage, look down at me.

              “Brad! Stop! Just stop!”

              I can tell he wants to say something, but he’s not going to do anything to me. He stands there, eyes flicking from me to Joey and back again. I look over my shoulder to see Joey wipe blood from his cheek. He looks pretty scraped up. My heart sinks when I realize what I’ve done. I brought this onto him. If I hadn’t been so stupid and gotten involved with Brad, none of this would have happened. If only I hadn’t been so stupid and had seen how Joey felt about me; if I’d understood my own feelings, this whole situation could have been avoided. Now Joey is hurt, and it is all because of me.

              “Get the hell out of here, asshole,” Brad says, pointing a finger over me at Joey. “I see you around here again, I’m gonna lay you out!”

              I close my eyes, wishing that when I open them, this will all be just a bad dream, but when I look back I see Brad’s face, filled with rage at being humiliated. He lowers his arms, and I turn to see Joey standing there, his face already starting to bruise up. I try to catch his eye, but he can’t even look at me. He’s too embarrassed. I check to make sure Brad isn’t about to lunge past me, and take a step toward Joey.

              He looks up at me briefly, then turns around and runs.

              “Joey!” I call after him, but he’s already across the parking lot and almost to the road. I turn back to Brad, feeling all the anger inside me rise to the surface. I stride right up to him and slap him across the face. I’ve never slapped anyone before, and I hear my friends gasp. Even Brad looks shocked.

              “What is your problem?! You think I’m going to go out with you now?”

              I can tell by his face that he hadn’t thought of that. All he cared about then was making sure another guy wasn’t going to show him up, but he never even considered how I would feel about the whole thing. If there was ever any doubt in my mind that I’d made the wrong decision, it was completely gone now.

              “Get the hell out of here!” I scream at him, ready to hit him again if he doesn’t go. He looks at me, then at Cassidy and Merrell, and tries to save face. He scoffs and backs up, fixing his collar.

              “Whatever,” he laughs. “Sophomore bitches. Have fun with your
boyfriend
.”

              And with a roll of his eyes, he turns around and heads back to school.

              “Jesus Christ,” Cassidy says, letting out a deep sigh of relief.

              “That was intense,” Merrell says.

              I let out a scream of frustration that causes everyone standing outside to look at me, but I don’t care. I look back in Joey’s direction, but he’s already gone.

              “What an
asshole!
” I yell, not caring who hears. I start off in Joey’s direction, but Cassidy grabs me by the arm.

              “Where are you going?”
              “I’ve got to see Joey!”

              “Don’t be stupid,” she whispers in my ear. “Mr. Curtis will kill you if you leave school grounds! Just go see him after school! It’s not like he’s gonna run away from home or something. Come on.”

              She’s right. Our school has a really strict policy against students leaving school grounds before classes are over.

              “Let’s just go to class,” Merrell says quietly. “You’ll see him later. You can go over and give him some chicken soup.”

              “Chicken soup is for when you’re sick, Merrell,” Cassidy scolds her. “Not when you got your ass kicked.”

              The rest of the day seems to drag on and on like it will never end. I want to text Joey or call him, but I don’t even have his number yet. I keep replaying the last few weeks in my head, thinking of all the things I should have done, all the signs I should have seen and how all of this could have been avoided. I sit in class just staring at the clock, watching the hands go by, waiting for two thirty so I can get out of here.

              When the bell rings, I’m out of my chair and sprinting for the front doors. I can hear the girls yell after me to wait, but there’s no stopping me. I race through the parking lot and out to the street. Joey lives in the “bad part” of Stonehill, so I take a left and head down past the quarry, past the rail road tracks and down into his neighborhood.

              I remember where he lives from when we used to ride the bus, and I see it from across the road when my phone rings. It’s my mom. I answer.

              “Hey, Mom.”

              “Hey, honey, where are you?”