The Way to Game the Walk of Shame(14)

I squeezed my eyes closed, determined to shake the images away. Why couldn’t I get Evan out of my head? He wasn’t my type. T-shirts and holey jeans were his uniform.

Although … I bet Evan would look smoking hot in a pair of dark-wash jeans and a casual pinstripe vest. Maybe paired with a dark-gray button-down shirt with rolled-up sleeves that perfectly match his stormy eyes and—thwack! I smacked my forehead with the palm of my hand. Why the hell was I dressing up Evan in my mind like he was my own personal Ken doll? Most girls would be doing the opposite.

A hand snapped in front of my face, breaking my train of thought. Brian stared at me with a worried expression. I didn’t blame him. I didn’t know what was up with me today.

I slumped down on top of the long table in the aisle, which usually held the projector. “You of all people should know not to believe rumors.”

Both his eyebrows rose so high, they disappeared beneath the dark hair that fell across his forehead. “Yeah, everyone was really disappointed when I told them I didn’t know karate when I first transferred here. And that I wasn’t related to Jackie Chan. Still, somebody had to break that stereotype.” Something flashed across his face as he turned his head away. He was suddenly distant and a little cold. “So it really is just a rumor? You and Evan didn’t…”

“No, we didn’t.”

He let out a loud sigh of relief. A quick half smile appeared on his face. He coughed in his hand before shoving it in his back pocket. “I didn’t think so. I mean, he’s not even your type or anything. And you’re way smarter than that. I was just worried…” Brian shook his head and laughed. “Never mind. So what are you going to do about all the rumors, then?”

I kicked at the metal legs of the desk in front of me. “I figured I’d just lie low and stay quiet until they died down.”

Brian snorted. “You? Stay quiet?” He crossed the room to perch beside me on the desk. His arm pressed against mine. “Come on, Taylor. You’re the girl who refused to admit defeat during class elections last year. Even after you won, you insisted on another election with everyone’s attendance so no one could accuse you of cheating. Even though nobody did.”

My mouth quirked into a half smile. “Yeah. No one was happy about staying after school to vote, either.”

Brian laughed and knocked his shoulder against mine. “No, we weren’t.”

We sat there in silence for a few minutes, both lost in our own thoughts. Finally, he straightened and stood in front of me, arms crossed as though he were a lecturing parent. “Look, I am just going to say it as it is. Staying quiet is a stupid idea. This isn’t like you! You need to fight back.” He bent forward until he was at eye level with me. “Seriously, show everyone out there who you are and that you deserve everything you’ve worked so hard for. Don’t let this stupid rumor ruin things for you.”

Brian was standing so close that I could see all the details on his face. The perfectly straight line of his nose, the crinkles around his eyes. He even had a small wrinkle over his left brow.

His words scared me, but I tried to laugh it off. “Aren’t you overreacting a bit? I mean, it’s just a tiny rumor, Brian.”

He rolled his eyes and scoffed. “Oh yeah? Look at what it did already. I mean, come on, Taylor. Why do you think everyone’s screwing with you out there? They’re using this ‘tiny little rumor’ to yank you off the pedestal so they can stomp on you.”

The images he painted were so vivid that I had to shake my head to get rid of them. Especially after my talk with Mr. Peters. It really did feel like everything was slipping out of my grasp. “So what do you think I should do?”

“Prove that they’re wrong. Beat someone up. I don’t know. Something.”

His words hit me like a bolt of lightning. He was right. I was tired of getting picked on. I needed to do something. My future, my life, depended on it.

But the question was, what could I do?

*

“So what do you think?” I asked Carly on the phone later that night. I balanced the phone between my ear and shoulder as I carefully slipped my report into my bag. There was no way in hell I was going to forget that again. “Short of having Evan whacked, I don’t know what could make everyone forget about this.”

“Why would you want people to forget? This is the most exciting thing to happen to you all year. Actually, your whole life.”

“But I don’t want my life to be this exciting. Tell me what to do.”

“Well, for one, I think you should have slept with him.”

I almost dropped the phone to the ground. “Can you please be serious?”

“What? I just think it’s a waste that you’re going through all this suffering and you didn’t even get any. Not even once. I mean, come on!” There was the sound of a door slamming, and I knew Carly had shut the door to get some privacy. Ironically, the door always got stuck, so when it slammed, her mom knew she was up to no good. She probably just had about a minute of talking time left before her mom popped in to “check” on her. “Seriously, if you’re not going to sleep with him, then at least date him or something. People wouldn’t care so much if the two of you were dating anyway.”

“You’re impossible.” I rolled my eyes at my reflection in the mirror across the room.