Page 47

Raelyn jumped as the librarian, Mrs. Combs, placed a hand on her arm. The Curse of Curves blared through her headphones and she had apparently missed the bell that signaled the end of fifth period. One more class to go.

Thanking Mrs. Combs for alerting her, Raelyn wound her headphones around her iPod and stuffed it away in her bag along with her books.

Her last class of the day was an AP history course, which she shared with Quinn, so she had to move quickly if she was going to get upstairs in time to walk to class with him.

She needed to talk to him. There was a lot on her mind, and she needed the support and encouragement of her best friend right before the end of the day.

They might be able to talk in class, but she’d prefer to not have a bunch of eavesdroppers for such a sensitive topic.

Liam was planning to take her out on some big fancy date tonight.

He had also been getting particularly handsy lately and dropping hints about getting time alone.

Raelyn was able to put two and two together and figure out he expected to have sex with her tonight, which quite frankly, she was not ready for.

She’d been under no disillusions when she decided to start dating Liam.

She knew he was sexually experienced. She was also aware that he wasn't the type to wait around very long.

To be perfectly honest, she was surprised he had waited two months as it was.

Their relationship was fun and flirty and, okay, it satisfied a lot of those hormonal teenage cravings, but it was not meant to last.

It wasn't meant to happen at all, really.

For some reason, Raelyn had found herself exceptionally annoyed that Quinn had been so arrogant about being able to find someone else, someone better , than her to take to homecoming.

So, in a particularly petty moment, she'd agreed to go with Liam.

He was exactly the type of person Quinn would hate to see her with.

Vain, arrogant, entitled. Quinn would probably tease her and say he's exactly the type of guy people expected to see her with.

Again, petty. And she had felt bad as soon as they got in the car and he pulled his brooding, grumpy attitude with her.

But she felt a lot less bad when that hoe-bag, Britney Garrett, told everyone in the girls' bathroom how they'd been making out and it escalated into a blow job in the back of the limo.

Out on the dance floor, Raelyn had thought Quinn was being oddly flirtatious with her.

She thought maybe he was making up for being extra moody and brooding in the weeks leading up to the dance.

But no. It was the new-found confidence of a seventeen-year-old boy who'd gotten his first blowie and now thought he was hot shit.

The following months had made that point perfectly clear.

Their walk together after chemistry earlier that day was probably their first interaction in weeks that they'd had a whole three minutes to themselves; no shameless flock of girls fawning over him, and no Liam trying to stick his tongue down her throat. It had been so refreshing- while it lasted.

The walk had made her reach a definitive decision, though.

Between the stress of her and Liam's impending date and her three-minute reminder of how much she missed Quinn's company, she'd decided she needed to end things with Liam after school.

There was no point going through the motions of whatever extravagant date Liam had planned only to ruin it by telling him that no, she would not be putting out tonight.

Or worse, let herself get coerced into something she wasn't ready to do just yet .

Something told her Quinn might also be relieved to hear this news.

Sure, he had all this new female attention that he was basking in, but Raelyn liked to think he missed their friendship, too.

She was hoping things could go back to normal and she could start spending time with her three best friends again.

After pulling on her T.C. West Baseball crewneck and throwing her backpack on, Raelyn started her trek through the halls toward her and Quinn's lockers. In her head, she rehearsed what she was going to say to Quinn about her date and what she was going to say to Liam when she broke things off.

Once at her locker, she shoved her bag inside and grabbed the books she would need for her next class. With no sight of Quinn yet, she walked down to his locker and leaned against it, letting her eyes shut momentarily as she waited for him.

"Must feel pretty good to have the school's hottest womanizer defending your honor," an amused voice drawled somewhat sarcastically from a few lockers down.

Raelyn rolled her head to face the always-moody Alaina Costello. “Are you talking to me?”

“Obviously,” Alaina droned. “Or do you not know yet?”

“Know what?” Raelyn snapped, really not in the mood for Alaina and her moody condescension.

“Wow, you really do just live in your own world,” Alaina said as she shook her head in disbelief. “Must be nice never having to worry about anything other than what’s going on in your own pretty little head.”

“What’s your problem with me?”

"Guess I'm the only one who doesn't understand what's so fantastic about Raelyn DeRose ," Alaina's tone was airy and mocking as she said the name. "Although, I suppose I did hear a rumor a couple minutes ago about how you're quite the cocksucker."

“What?” Raelyn’s eyebrows came together. “Where the hell is that rumor coming from? ”

“Apparently your own boyfriend,” Alaina smirked. “I guess he was telling everyone in his weight training class all about your ‘talented mouth’ and the various uses he’s found for it.”

Anger flared in Raelyn’s stomach, though she wasn’t exactly surprised. She and Liam had gotten pretty physical- certainly more so than any other guy she’d been with- and he was sort of a mega-douche. Locker room talk about sexual conquests sounded exactly like something he’d be into.

Oh God...Quinn’s in that class.

Raelyn was temporarily horrified at the thought that Quinn- and Chris and Jett, fuck!

- had heard whatever crude things her soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend had been bragging about.

She should have seen this coming sooner or later.

It was stupid that she’d even considered he might keep some things private when it came to their intimate life.

Not allowing Alaina to have the upper hand and think she'd somehow offended her, Raelyn simply said, “Well, everyone likes to hear they’ve got a natural talent.”

"Oh yes, it's always good to know you've got career options," Alaina remarked. "I hear that's one market that just doesn't crash."

Well, fuck. That was good. I hate this bitch.

Luckily, Raelyn was saved from having to come up with a quick retort, because Quinn appeared around the corner.

Both girls' attention went to him as he approached.

His expression was angry, and the bruising along with the cut on his lip would've made him look menacing if he weren't so devilishly handsome.

Why doe s he look so hot right now?

Whoa- back up. Why does he look like he got into a fight? Focus, girl!

She pushed herself off from Quinn’s locker and gaped at him. He had a darkening bruise along his cheek bone, another mark on his chin, and his lip was split, but not actively bleeding.

“Oh my God, Quinn," Raelyn reached for him and took his face in her hands to look him over. “What the hell happened? Are you okay? ”

Quinn shook her off and moved around her. He opened his locker and began stiffly grabbing his things out, shoving items in his bag, and definitely not looking at her.

“Quinn…” She stood by and watched him clean out his locker.

Was Quinn mad because of the things Liam had said about her? About them?

Would Quinn get into a fight with Liam over that?

Of course he would. Quinn was big on respecting a person’s boundaries and knowing when to keep your mouth shut about things that didn’t need to be said. He was also big on letting his fists do the talking.

“Quinn, what happened?” Raelyn asked again, not wanting to jump to any conclusions.

"Ask your boyfriend," Quinn mumbled.

“What did he say?”

No response. Quinn's jaw clenched and Raelyn could see the muscles there move.

"You didn't seriously just punch him because you found out we do more than kiss, right?" Raelyn prompted, hoping to end the silent treatment.

Quinn paused for a brief second, hovering a notebook over his backpack. He looked like he wanted to say something. She knew he wanted to say something. But he just shoved the notebook in his bag and continued clearing out his locker.

"Okay, well, I'm confused. An hour ago we were fine, and now I hear there are rumors being spread about me and your face is covered in bruises…”

Quinn shut his locker with force and turned to face her finally. "What the hell are you doing talking to Liam about me?"

Raelyn raised one eyebrow. "What do you mean? I can't mention you around him?"

"I mean, why are you telling him about my life? About my mom? About home?" Quinn asked. "You think I'm some sort of charity case that your family took on? Is that seriously what you think of me? "

"Of course not!" Raelyn was completely taken aback by the accusation. "What the hell? Quinn, we're friends. Why would I say something like that?"

"Why does he know any of it?" Quinn countered. His eyes were dark and challenging- unforgiving.

"I don't know, Quinn. I didn't tell him anything," Raelyn insisted.

Why was he glaring at her like this? How could he not know that she would never betray his trust like that?

She suddenly realized she was also angry.

She couldn't believe after nine years of friendship that he'd actually think she felt that way.

"The way this shit's gonna run around the school, I'm sure everyone will know by the weekend," Quinn grumbled. "I'll just be some crack-whore’s kid. Fucking great."