Again: A Young Adult Romance Read online

  I’ve never felt so angry in a long time. And yes, he is enjoying it, of course. I’m not gonna stand here and take any more nonsense. I give him a scowl before I start to leave—

  “We should continue this over coffee.” Devon gets in my way, smiling impishly. “What are you doing after school today?”

  “I’m binge watching How to Get Away From Annoying People.” I walk off with a huff.

  But then, as I get to my locker, I have a moment of introspection. This is the first time that I actually feel good, considering how awful the day has begun for me. Having Devon around makes me forget my crappy nightmare, and I feel more than just good after talking to him.

  I suddenly feel…alive?

  I stop in my tracks. I have this sudden urge to look back to see if he is still around.

  What the hell?

  But, of course, I don’t listen to my stupid inner self. I shouldn’t think about him. But it’s downright scary how easily he can bring a shift in my emotions. Thus, I’m glad that I have just one class with him. But I guess others aren’t as lucky as me.

  “I thought Thomas and Young are the only threats to my quarterback dream but this Parker guy is a nightmare dressed in a football jersey,” Josh groans as we sit in the cafeteria to have lunch.

  By Young, he means Adam Young. And by lunch, I mean everything Chinese.

  “Devon’s serving detention after school today for talking back to a teacher. Does that help?” Stef offers, digging into her cup of noodles.

  “You think?” Josh sulks with his mouth full.

  “Can we please not talk about Devon?” I stir in discomfort, trying to enjoy the spring rolls.

  “Of course, E! I want to tell you guys something,” Stef beams at both Josh and me. “Adam and I are dining at the Lip Smack tonight, and I’m gonna tell him about my whole more-than-just-a-friend feelings for him. How does that sound?”

  “Sounds like Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran singing Everything Has Changed.” I smile widely at her. “I mean, finally!”

  For the record, Adam and Stef have been great friends since kindergarten. And it’s not exactly a secret that they like each other.

  “Bravo!” Josh added. “Also tell Young that he should quit football.”

  I punch him on the arm, and the three of us have a laugh. Stef rises from her seat and does a curtsy.

  “Glad you don’t leave it to the boys to make the first move, S,” says Josh, his eyes twinkling with mischief when she sits back down. “Guys have to do most of the stuff anyway, like working harder in bed too.”

  Stef narrows her eyes at him. “No girl would want to do you ever if you build so much misogyny in your pants.”

  Josh is about to counter but I quickly interrupt him, “Guys, just a gentle reminder that we’re eating. So, keep it PG.”

  “I was just saying that S let girl power down big time when she lost to me at bowling the other day.” Josh gets cheeky while relishing his dumplings.

  Stef doesn’t take the taunt lying down. Long story short, my friends have kept me very much entertained all throughout lunch.

  Oh, wait.

  Did I mention that Lip Smack is the best and the only diner in Crawford Lane that any neighborhood could ask for? Well, yeah. It’s a cool vintage diner with a cozy ambience serving the best grill menu.

  ***

  I drive home by myself after school that afternoon. Josh has football practice, and Stef needs to stay back in the campus for a group assignment. For a change, I’ve got hardly any homework. So, I can help Gran bake blueberry yogurt cookies.

  As I take a right turn at the intersection to Crawford Lane, I slow down when I see a police motorbike parked across the street. The owner, a flabby middle aged cop, is issuing a ticket to a speeding car. Something clicks in my head, and I pull over. I roll the windows down and watch the cop let the driver go. Suddenly, the frustration I felt this morning comes back to me. Everything just suddenly annoys the hell out of me. And acting upon wildly on impulse, I jump out of my car, cross over to the other side of the street, and push the motorbike down. The loud thud draws the cop’s attention to me.

  “Hey, hey, hey, what are you doin’, kid?” The startled cop hurtles over to me with a suspicious look on his round face.

  “My name is Eleanor Sanchez, I’m seventeen years old and I live in Crawford Lane,” I state point-blank. “I pushed down your bike. I think I should be arrested for doing that. Right?” It is clear that I haven’t got a clue about what I am doing.

  “That won’t be necessary.” He shakes his head. “I can let you off with a warning if you promise never to do it again.”

  “I won’t promise. You have to arrest me. I won’t guarantee you that I won’t do it again.”

  “I can’t arrest you for such a trivial matter,” the cop reasons.

  “Fine, watch me do this then.” I kick his motor bike multiple times, making him gape at me in shock. When I’m done, I speak again, “I have intentionally, and with malice, damaged your vehicle right in front of you.” When he doesn’t say anything, probably due to shock, I added, “Look, I even trespassed on a private property last night. If you don’t take me into custody now, I could be involved in some other serious crimes like damaging other properties… break windows…spray graffiti…I’m a threat to society, okay?” I explain in one breath.

  There’s a moment of silence. And then, something unexpected happens.

  “My wife absolutely loves graffiti!” The cop beams. “Look, kid, I’m getting married. We are reaffirming our wedding vows this weekend. You see, kid, I’m just happy, you know. And I’m in a frame of mind where I don’t want to make any arrests unless it involves crimes with violence of some degree.”

  Wait, what?

  But I’m not the one to give up that easily. I want to be arrested. And I will make it happen. “Oh, in that case, why don’t you show me your wife’s photograph?” I say.

  “Sure, here she is!” He cheerfully produces a photo from his wallet.

  I snip it out of his hand and tear the photograph into pieces in front of his face.

  “There.” I give him a challenging look. “What do you have to say now?”

  “No worries,” the cop grins, completely unaffected. “I have her photo inscribed in my heart.”

  What. The. Friggin’. Hell!

  “Your wife will run away on your wedding night,” I say coldly. “Something that she should’ve done on your first wedding night.”

  This seems to have finally ticked the cop off. “Alright, kid, you are really asking for it. You’re under arrest for misconduct,” he scowls.

  Finally!

  I couldn’t have been more pleased with myself. I’ve got my plan to start working. The cop is all set to put the handcuffs on me when…

  “Stop, officer.”

  That thick baritone pierces my ear—a sudden and unplanned interruption. The cop turns to look sideways and so do I. There’s a hardware store on the street that rents out construction tools. To my utter dismay, I see Devon leaving the store and walking over with long rapid strides.

  Was he in there all this time? I think he was and by the looks of it, he might have seen it all. I don’t have a good feeling about this.

  “You were arresting me, officer,” I remind the cop before Devon could open his stupid mouth.

  “Please, don’t, kind officer,” Devon cuts in. “She wants to get arrested ‘cause she’s heartbroken and depressed and angry that I refused to go out with her but, after giving it much thought, I change my mind. I can see now how wonderful she is, and I have decided to give her a chance.”

  Wait…WHAT?!!

  The cop eyes him with suspicion. “And who might you be, kid?”

  “Devon Parker, I’m a new resident of Crawford Lane.”

  “Okay, this girl here says she trespassed on a private property last night. Do you know anything about that, kid?”

  “Completely untrue,” Devon denies flatly. “And I think she was t
alking about the other night when she barged in on me. But it couldn’t be trespassing when she only barged in to ask me out.”

  Say what?!

  “Yeah, you’ve got the looks to drive girls crazy, young man.” The cop nods thoughtfully, believing every word that comes out of Devon’s mouth.

  This is insane. No, I gotta say something.

  “Thank you, officer.” Devon smiles humbly. Turning to me, he adds, “I’m sorry, baby doll, that I hurt you.”

  Baby―what?!

  The cop looks back at me with a stern expression. “Okay. I’m letting you off with a warning. Next time, never waste a cop’s precious time ever again.”

  The cop turns away to leave.

  “No wait, come back!” I call after him. “You can arrest me for wasting your precious time.” But he only picks up his bike, gets on it, and drives off.

  I swing around to face Devon with a glare. “I can’t believe you just made the entire thing all about yourself!”

  “What do you think you were doing, getting yourself into trouble like that??” he rebukes, ignoring my outburst. “Are you crazy?!”

  “That would be you ‘cause you came out of nowhere and poked your nose into my business,” I snap, and without wasting another second, I started to walk back towards my car. He just ruined everything.

  “Since I’ve already got my nose into your business,” Devon falls into step with me, “let me just say that your life is one boring piece of nothing,” he says callously. “You live with an old hag in an absolutely dull and hopeless suburban neighborhood with losers for best friends and an asshole for a boyfriend, all of which have driven you to pitiful heights of craziness.”

  “You might want to watch your words,” I say icily, walking faster to get rid of him.

  “I have watched my words. There’s nothing wrong in them.”

  I’m appalled by his insolence. “You’ve no right to comment on my life or any of the people in it!” I shoot back bitterly.

  “That’s called know thy next-door neighbor, by the way,” he says calmly.

  “I’m not your next-door neighbor, so you don’t have to know me.” I grit my teeth.

  “Sure.” He snorts. “It’s easy to see that I’m the only amazing thing in your life right now. You might want to worship me.”

  I narrow my eyes at him. “Break your stupid ego into parts and throw them into the Dead Sea,” I remark snidely at him.

  Devon scoffs in amusement. “That’s too much to ask for a girl who likes me a lot.”

  “Spare me the horror,” I snort. “I don’t like you.”

  “Okay, here’s the thing,” he counters with a smirk. “If you look up the word ‘irresistible’ on the internet, all trillion search results will tell you one thing―the boy who lives in the trailer by the riverside.”

  This guy is freaking unbelievable!

  “You’ve an ego as tall as The Empire State Building.” I glance at him, offering a sickly sweet smile as I stop near my car.

  “Try Burj Khalifa.”

  I roll my eyes in annoyance and pull the door of my car open to get inside. But Devon blocks my way.

  “Hold your horses, we’re not done here yet,” he says sharply, his expression turning hard and grim.

  My bitter eyes meet his fierce blue ones. “Really? Maybe you’re a slow learner because I am done here,” I counter.

  He doesn’t move. “I saw every ridiculous thing that you did back there, Eleanor, and I want to know. Why would you risk pissing off a real cop? Why did you want to get arrested?”

  I ball my hands into tight fists. “I don’t owe you an explanation for anything. Stay out of my life.”

  I push him aside, get in the drivers’ seat, and zoom off.

  My eyes are on the road ahead but it’s difficult to focus on driving. I grip the steering wheel harder than necessary. I’m mad at Devon for doing what he did. He got in my way. He better not next time.

  Chapter Four

  It didn’t come as a surprise at all when Devon Parker turned out to be a player. Within two weeks, he already has an overwhelming long list of flings. He hooks up with different girls every day. He doesn’t sleep with a girl more than once, leaving most of them heartbroken. Yet, that somehow doesn’t deter any of them to try and get him in bed the second time. They call him the sex god.

  His latest hookup seems to be Kelly Clark, Westford High’s flaming redhead queen bee. I spot them kissing and groping each other against a brick wall in the courtyard.

  I try my best not to look in their direction as I sit at a bench during free period, hoping to spend it with Luke. I shake my head when it is almost time for the next class and he still hasn’t showed up. Annoyed that I just spent an hour for nothing, I pick my bag and rise to my feet but then I see him walk in with his friends. His eyes meet mine, and he walks up to me.

  “Hey,” he greets me with a smile. “What are you doing sitting here all by yourself? Did Stef finally realize how pathetically dull and boring you’ve become?”

  The words sting and my face pales.

  What the―

  “Relax, babe. I was only kidding.” He laughs. I don’t. “Why do you take things so seriously?”

  I decide to ignore what he just said. “I was hoping we could spend free period together,” I tell him silently. “I’ve texted you. But it’s okay now.”

  “Eleanor, don’t be so clingy,” he says, sounding annoyed. “Your boyfriend is the most popular guy in Westford High. I receive a lot of texts from people. And I’m a very busy guy. I can’t be on my phone to fish for your message. We’re in school anyway. We’re not supposed to be on our phones all the time.”

  “I understand.” I nod meekly.

  “I’m glad you understand now. Else there wouldn’t be any difference between you and that Megan bitch I used to go out with.”

  “Yeah,” I say, feeling terrible about myself.

  “Anyway, I’ll make it up to you. How about dinner tonight at the Lip Smack?”

  I look at him with doubt clouding my eyes.

  “What? You have other plans?” he asks as though he just couldn’t think I might have anything else to do. “Cancel them if you do because the last thing I want is to get blamed for not having enough time for you.”

  “Yes.” I nod slowly, feeling a heavy weight in my chest.

  “Good. See you tonight.” He walks away to join his friends.

  I turn around and leave the courtyard with my head hanging low. I want to stop the thoughts plaguing my mind but I can’t. As my boyfriend, Luke is supposed to be the first person I can run to and who can make me feel better, but what’s happening is quite the opposite. All he does to me now is make me feel bad about myself.

  “Hey, E, is everything okay?” Stef asks when she sees me near my locker.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I respond, putting my books in the locker.

  “You look very upset, from which I can only guess that Luke has been a total a-hole to you again,” she states.

  “Nothing like that, S. I’m fine,” I say, shutting the locker close.

  “Dump that guy. You deserve better than take his crap.”

  “No. Luke and I just happened to have a really good time during free period,” I lie to get her off the topic.

  “Alright, if you say so.” She sighs. “Then why do you look gutted?”

  “I told Luke I’d go out with him tonight…”

  “You’re cancelling on me?” she asks in disbelief. “You’ve never ever done that before. We are supposed to binge-watch on Pretty Little Liars tonight at my place, over boxes of pizza. Didn’t you tell him that?”

  “He’d get upset. He wanted it to be just us. I’m sorry, S. I really am. You can do something else with Adam.”

  But that doesn’t cheer her up any bit. “It’s just that I have planned a fun night with my best friend, not with my boyfriend. But if you want to spend time with Luke, if that makes your relationship any better, I guess I’m okay with
it.”

  “Thanks, S. You’re the best.” I smile in gratitude.

  I hate to be the girl who lets her best friend down for her boyfriend. I hate that I had to lie to her too. But I can’t do anything. I don’t want to upset Luke.

  After our brief conversation, I sit through two classes before it is lunchtime. Stef and I are eager to start pigging out but we patiently wait for Josh to arrive. For the record, Josh is hardly ever late for food. So, if at all he is, it’s gotta be something really big and earth shaking, like a test. When he finally does turn up in the cafeteria, he looks as though he’d been in a battlefield.

  “How was the test?” Stef asks as he slumps down onto the seat across us.

  “I don’t know. You never know with Statistics. I don’t wanna think about it.” He shudders. “By the way,” Josh snickers, looking at me, “I didn’t know you were into sexting, E. Cool!”

  “What are you talking about?” I scoff in surprise. “I’ve never sent a dirty text in my life.”

  Josh looks puzzled. “Then who was Thomas sexting? I saw him going really into it when I saw him sitting alone at the far corner in the library?”

  I do a double take hearing that.

  “What? When?” Stef asked curiously.

  “During free period. He was on his phone the whole time.”

  My face falls.

  “But you told me he was with you during free period.” Stef turns to me with a startled expression.

  “Luke and I were sexting, you’re right,” I say quickly, looking at Josh. “Sorry, guys. I didn’t want to make it weird, and I felt I wanted to just keep it between Luke and me.”

  “You’re lying again, E,” said Stef point blank, sounding disappointed. “Just stop it already. Obviously you weren’t with Luke during free period, and it wasn’t you he was exchanging dirty messages with. We’re your friends, you know. We can tell.”

  I sigh in defeat. She is right. I avoid her eyes and speak to Josh instead, “How can you even be so sure that he was sexting?”

  “Dude, I’m a guy.” He snorts. “And I’d know when I see another guy sexting. It’s bad that the receiver wasn’t you as I thought.”