Kiss with Cherry Flavor (Grover Beach #4) (3 page)

My heart lurched to my throat as I read his message several times. It was so…intimate. Biting my bottom lip, I smiled to myself. I never would have dared to believe he’d come up with something this personal. Especially when he kept blocking me from
personal stuff
.

___________________________

From:
Samantha Summers

To:
Anthony J. Mitchell

Date:
Sun, 11 Nov 2013  22:40

Subject:
Did you go to bed? Using your iPhone now?

You didn’t answer my question.

And I could tell you liked me at eye level. So much so that you bit my lip.

___________________________

From:
Anthony J. Mitchell

To:
Samantha Summers

Date:
Sun, 11 Nov 2013  22:44

Subject:
Playing video games with Frederickson

I did answer. See subject of last email.

And I didn’t bite your lip. I nibbled.
A little.

You taste good.

SENT FROM MY iPHONE

___________________________

From:
Samantha Summers

To:
Anthony J. Mitchell

Date:
Sun, 11 Nov 2013 22:47

Subject:
CAN HE SEE WHAT YOU’RE WRITING??

Why are we talking about kissing now?

That was not a real answer. You dodged the question.

___________________________

From:
Anthony J. Mitchell

To:
Samantha Summers

Date:
Sun, 11 Nov 2013 22:51

Subject:
Unlock your caps

No, he can’t see what I’m writing. Obviously.

We’re talking about kissing now because Frederickson made me talk about it. Apparently
, he heard it from Hunter, who got it from Liz.

Did you talk to Susan?

SENT FROM MY iPHONE

Shit. I hadn’t realized the news would make the rounds this quickly. But then, we never said we’d keep it a secret. Was that a problem? Well, it could become one at school. Maybe he didn’t like Lisa knowing that he’d kissed me. If he was still working on a chance to steal her back from Ryan, this information could mean his downfall. But in his email, he didn’t sound angry, exactly. I might be safe.

___________________________

From:
Samantha Summers

To:
Anthony J. Mitchell

Date:
Sun, 11 Nov 2013  23:01

Subject:
Yes. Is that a problem?

If so…sorry. But that’s what girls do. They tell each other shit from their life.

Tell Nick I said hi.

___________________________

From:
Anthony J. Mitchell

To:
Samantha Summers

Date:
Sun, 11 Nov 2013  23:03

Subject:
Not for me

SHIT? FROM YOUR LIFE? Are you referring to me kissing you??

Nick
just left. He wanted to give us some privacy.

SENT FROM MY iPHONE

___________________________

From:
Samantha Summers

To:
Anthony J. Mitchell

Date:
Sun, 11 Nov 2013  23:04

Subject:
Re: Unlock your caps

Do we need privacy?

___________________________

From:
Anthony J. Mitchell

To:
Samantha Summers

Date:
Sun, 11 Nov 2013  23:08

Subject:
It’s a school night

I don’t think we do, but it’s nice to get some anyway.

Shouldn’t little
(
note I said
little
and not
tiny
) girls like you be in bed at this time of the night, Bungee?

SENT FROM MY iPHONE

___________________________

From:
Samantha Summers

To:
Anthony J. Mitchell

Date:
Sun, 11 Nov 2013  23:10

Subject:
Your fault

I won’t be able to sleep until you tell me why you call me that.

___________________________

From:
Anthony J. Mitchell

To:
Samantha Summers

Date:
Sun, 11 Nov 2013  23:16

Subject:
c u @ lunch

All right. But only because I don’t want to be the reason for your sleepless night.

It’s just a nickname I gave you when I was talking to Hunter the other day. You and the girls were practicing while we were playing soccer. I saw you stretching against a tree.

You’re flexible like a freaking bungee
cord…

Now sleep tight,
Sammy
. ;-)

Here’s a lullaby for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a30tg02JwDc

SENT FROM MY iPHONE

It took a couple of seconds for the information to sink in. But then my heart skipped a beat. He’d watched me cheerleading. He’d talked to Ryan about me. And he’d
given me a nickname. All while he was still supposed to hate me. What did that mean?

I clicked the link and couldn’t believe what came up on YouTube.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. “Heigh-Ho.” Laughing out loud, I shut down my laptop and went to sleep.

WHEN I WOKE on Monday morning, it felt like I hadn’t slept at all. I
’d relived the kiss in my thoughts time and again, trying to recall every little detail. How he’d smelled, how his hands felt when they locked with mine, how his wet hair had dripped on my face. Only one week ago, I’d have thought it impossible that I could ever swoon over Anthony Mitchell. Way too crazy.

I pinched some color into my pale cheeks, slipped into my baggy jeans and boots, and headed to school. Susan and Li
sa caught me at the entrance, and a couple seconds later, Allie joined us.

“
You guys waiting for someone?” I asked as innocently as possible.

Susan grabbed my arm and pulled me along. “You didn’t call me back last night. I was dying to hear more.”

“Yeah, and in the meantime you told Lisa, who told Ryan, and I got told off by Tony because Nick fished for information.”

“He called you?” she demanded.

“Emails.”

Lisa
pursed her lips. “Is he mad because you told us?”

“Nah, he doesn’t actually care. But I think he doesn’t
really like to talk about it.” I sighed, stopping in front of my science class. “Anyway, it’s no big deal. Seems like we’re friends now. That’s it. So, could you just not question him about it or talk to your guys?”

Although they obviously didn’t buy the “no big deal”
part, the girls totally understood the rest and promised to keep this between us.

Nick Frederickson turned the corner a moment later, and his lips stretched into a stunning, wide smile when he saw me. He grabbed me by the sleeve of my shirt and pulled me into the classroom
, ignoring that I was having a meaningful conversation with my friends. “Come on,
Sammy
.”

I moaned and followed, waving at
the others.

“What did
Tony tell you?” I mumbled when we sat down at the back of the room. I couldn’t make myself look at him. Why was I suddenly so embarrassed?

“Nothing, really.
Only that he was texting you last night.” He paused and next I could hear a smile sneaking into his voice. “And that he enjoyed kissing you.”

This made me look up. “He said that?”

Nick pressed his lips together and nodded. “Did
you
enjoy it?”

Shrugging one shoulder, I answered, “It was nice.
But definitely a one-time thing. He’s not my type.”

“
Is that so?” Nick tilted his head, calling me out on the lie. “Tony said something different.”

I suddenly felt very uncomfortable. “And what
did
Tony say?”

“He thinks you’re falling in love with him.”

I gulped, my cheeks turning hot from the inside. “Excuse me?”

“That’s what he said. Apparently, you were waiting for him to kiss you all
day. Were you, Sam?”

I hated how he
was mocking me with that silly mischief in his eyes, and I clenched my teeth. “No, I was not!” Only for about an hour. “Anyway,” I muttered, focusing on the pen in my hand, which I had started to play with. “
He
kissed
me
, not the other way around. He didn’t have to do it, if it was such a huge effort.”

“Nobody said it was. But he thinks he’s hurting your feelings now, because he doesn’t want a relationship.”

Why the heck had Tony told Nick all this? He couldn’t even be sure how I felt about him. Then again, he was dead on.
Shit
.

From the corner of my eye I saw Nick leaning a little closer. “I’m not going to tell Tony, but I think he’s right. You’re falling for him, aren’t you?”

Something about this boy confused me more than even Tony could—the fact that we’d gotten nearly as close as I had with the girls in the short time I’d known them all. I heaved a sigh, not wanting to lie to him, but I couldn’t tell him the truth either. “I’d rather not talk about Tony right now.”

“Okay,” Nick said after a couple of seconds. “But if you ask me, I say he
’d kiss you again in an instant. Just thought you’d like to know.” He leaned back as the bell rang and Mrs. Hallshaw came into class.

Was he serious?
The thought of kissing Tony sped up my heart again. Damn, I really needed to get that under control.

“I don’t think he would,” I whispered back to Nick when the teacher turned her back to us and
went into detail about the life of coral.

“Why not?”

“Obviously, I’m not his type.”

“Oh, come on, Sam,” he said a little too loudly, and Mrs. Hallshaw cast him a silencing look over her shoulder. His voice dropped lower once more. “
Last Friday we officially learned he thinks you’re
pretty
, and the way you two cuddled up on Lisa’s couch at her sleepover was more than just what friends do.”

“I fell asleep on his shoulder,” I corrected Nick dryly.

“Yeah. Whatever.” He rolled his eyes and the conversation was over.

*

The morning stretched endlessly, and the closer it got to noon, the queasier my stomach became. After journalism, I walked into the cafeteria with my friends, immediately scanning our usual table for Tony.

He
was sitting there with Ryan and the guys, his back turned to us. Within a second, my appetite changed from wanting a burger to wanting to be kissed again. Damn. I swallowed hard.

When Susan nudged me in the back because I’d got
ten lost in staring, I quickly grabbed a plate of French fries and a lollipop.

As we joined the boys, it felt like all of them
were looking at me, but that was probably just my imagination. I lowered my gaze, set my plate down, and sank into the chair next to Nick, as always. When I looked up, I found Tony staring at me from across the table. His expression blank, he mouthed the word
Hey
.

“Hi,” I said back.

That was all we said to each other during the entire hour of our lunch break. Great. He avoided my gaze, and whenever one of his friends talked to me, he found something else to talk about with someone else, never wanting to be dragged into a conversation with me.

His mixed signals
were driving me crazy, so I was glad when Simone asked me to come outside to her car because she needed to grab her sports clothes before PE. I returned my tray and said goodbye to the boys.

“Is it just me or is he acting a little weird today?” Simone
said as we strolled out to the parking lot.

“Who?”

“Tony.”

Right, who else? “I don’t know. He’s ignoring me. Guess it’s no different t
han last week.”

“Ignoring you? Are you blind? He couldn’t take his eyes off you the entire time. Not for a minute.”

Sorry, what?
“He didn’t look at me even once,” I protested, truly confused now.

“Sam, Sam, Sam…” Simone swung her long blond
locks over her shoulder. “I don’t know what’s currently going on in Anthony Mitchell’s mind, but you’re definitely taking up a lot of space in there.”

Was I? Right now
, making sense of Tony was like trying to build a house of cards. As soon as I thought I could start with the second story, the entire thing came tumbling down. The kiss. Telling me he didn’t want more. Sending me sweet emails. Avoiding my gaze. Apparently, looking at me when I didn’t notice. What the hell was that all about?

“Argh!”
I raked my hands through my hair, pulling at the ends. “Why is he acting so…
weird
?”

Simone lifted her brows and shrugged.
“Because he’s a guy.”

And that was my answer for the day. I had to live with it.

After playing badminton in PE, I quickly dressed and hurried to AVE, intent on ignoring Tony the way he had done to me. If a damn kiss shoved us back to square one—not speaking to each other—so be it.

I slid into my chair, knowing that Tony was already sitting in the back, and got my portfolio out, ready to hand it in to Mrs. Jackson. When she came in and I gave her all the drawings I had caught up with, she offered me a very personal smile, like she was really proud of me and happy with what I had
accomplished. “I knew it was a good idea to team you up with my nephew,” she whispered, cutting a glance to the back of the room.

I didn’t know if Tony saw it or not, because I refused to look
his way, and returned to my seat instead.

As Mrs. Jackson
stood up from her desk then, she told us she had planned a special task for us. “I want you guys to work in pairs today. One boy, one girl. Each of you has twenty minutes to portray the other while your partner poses for you.”

The room was silent as all
the students made big eyes at her.

“Don’t look
at me like I’m trying to team you up with sheep,” she whined. “It’s just for this lesson. And since I know how hard it is at your age to pick random partners of the opposite sex, I’ll make this easy for you. Girls, please write your name on a piece of paper and put it in this bowl.” She fetched a plastic one from the top shelf at the back of the room and placed it on the corner of Deborah Westley’s desk. “Boys, you’ll each pick one name and then work in those pairs.”

Sounded like a nice idea to me, even though I knew that drawing faces was one of my less-developed skills. Then I remembered what Tony had sent me last night
. All at once, I wondered if there had been a reason for it. Had he known we’d be doing this today? I shook the thought off and ripped a little piece of paper from my notepad, scribbling my name on it. After every girl had tossed hers into the bowl, Mrs. Jackson handed it around so the boys could pick out a name.

Jeremy Reece was the first to go and he read out loud, “Stacey.”

Christopher, I didn’t remember his last name, went next. “Andrea.”

“Melissa.”

“Alice.”

“Jordan.”

Tony was next. My name hadn’t been drawn yet. What if he picked it?

And what if he didn’t?

Funnily enough, I found myself desperately hoping that he’d find the paper with my name on it. I wanted to draw him—have a reason to look at him closely, study his face. Spend time with him again.

As if he could clearly hear all my thoughts, Tony looked at me, a piece of paper already
between his fingers. He only had to open it and read out the damn name, but before he did, his expression turned soft, the corners of his lips twitching with a smile.

Oh my God,
was he hoping he’d picked my name, too?

His gaze dropped to the sheet in his hand, then returned to my eyes once more. I held my breath.

“Ivy,” he read out.

My shoulders sank
—and so did my heart.

Two names after Ivy, mine was drawn. Robert, a tall brunet with blue streaks in his hair, was going to be my partner. He smiled and briefly waggled his brows at me.

I gathered the things I needed and rose from my seat with everybody else, ready to head over to Robert and sit through this drawing lesson. But someone grabbed my wrist and spun me around.

“Where are you going?”

“I—” Stunned, I gazed at Tony’s face. Then I frowned. “Over to my partner.”

“I think Rob changed his mind. He’s teaming up with Ivy now.”

“What?” I glanced, disbelieving, over at Robert and the strawberry blonde who’d just taken a seat next to him, and then back at Tony. “You traded partners with Robert?”

Tony shrugged.
“Yep.”

Crazy butterflies tried to escape from my stomach
, just like yesterday. I wanted to ask him why—and when—he’d done it, but in the end, I didn’t press for details because he smirked at me, swept his arm in the direction of his desk at the back, and said, “After you, Summers.”

I sat down in the seat next to Tony, which William Banes usually occupied, and placed my sketchpad blank side up on the desk. “You want to go first?”

“No, you start.” Tony leaned back in his chair, laced his fingers behind his head, and rocked on two legs. “Let’s see if you can break your dimple addiction.” He winked and then one corner of his mouth tilted up, producing that adorable pit in his cheek.

I propped myself on my elbows, leaning toward him, and lifted my brows. “I can’t draw you without a dimple if you smile like that.”

Tony looked slightly confused, but his friendly expression remained. “I’m not smiling.”

“Maybe not intentionally, but you are.” I started outlining the features of his face, trying to remember some advice from the information he’d sent me last night.

He cleared his throat, and when I looked up next, the dimples were gone, together with his smile. In fact, he looked a little sullen, and I wondered if he was biting the inside of his cheek to keep a sober expression.