Candid (True Images Series) (16 page)

“There was zero chemistry,” he agreed, his eyes flicking anxiously to me.

I smiled to reassure him that I wasn’t worried. My mom clearly wanted to see Lee being interested in someone besides me. “Well, as long as it works in the photo, that’s all that matters.”

“I guess so,” she agreed, sounding disappointed. “So, what have you kids got planned for the rest of the day?”

I shrugged. As usual, my plans hadn’t gone further than my pictures.

“I have to go to work in a minute,” Olivia said. “I waitress at a diner downtown, and I have the lunch shift today. In fact, I’d better be going. Thanks again, Sienna.”

“No problem. I’ll email you the files for your pictures.”

“That’d be great.”

As she left, Alyssa and Marisol said that they’d made plans to go play paintball with Will and Parker. I raised my eyebrows at Marisol, who had never mentioned a desire to go paintballing. She flashed a smile at me and shrugged before glancing over at Will. This was getting serious.

“How about you, Lee?” my mom asked.

Lee glanced at his watch and said, “Well, I’m supposed to meet my Dad after lunch to help him with some yard work, but I was kind of hoping to hang out here until then.”

I was looking at him as he said this, and my lips parted in surprise. This was news to me. Knowing that my mom was unlikely to agree if I looked too enthusiastic, I quickly turned my attention back to my laptop to tweak another photo.

My mom hesitated before answering. “Don’t you have to go to work today, Sienna?”

I shrugged casually and said “Not till 1:00. Lee and I could work on the story for last night’s game. He hasn’t written it yet, and he needs to choose a couple of pictures for it.”

“Well, I guess I don’t have a problem with that. I’ll be in my studio for a little while. Oh, and Sienna, don’t forget you have chores.”

When she had gone, Lee said, “Nice. I’d forgotten all about writing that story.”

“Well, I had to think of something dull for us to do so she’d let you stay. Thanks for the warning on that by the way.”

His gorgeous smile flashed at me. “You don’t mind do you? Besides, I want your mom to have me around enough to realize I’m not a threat to her daughter’s innocence.”

I slowly ran my eyes over his male perfection and raised my eyebrows. “Good luck with that one.”

Chapter 11

Hits on my blog exploded over the weekend. I put up several gorgeous pictures of Marisol and Alyssa. From the comments the pictures were getting from kids at school, I was pretty sure they would be living in a new social strata from now on. I didn’t doubt that Marisol would handle her new popularity well, but I wasn’t so sure about Alyssa.

Parker hadn’t seemed too impressed with her after spending more time with her on Saturday. He said she didn’t have much going for her but a smoking hot body. From what I could tell, that was enough for most guys, but apparently not for him.

As I got ready for school on Monday, I tried to think of a girl I could set him up with. My conscience would feel better when he had someone other than me to be interested in.

I’d decided to lay off on the T-shirts a little, so I put on a pretty green blouse that I’d bought after work on Saturday. Marisol had followed through on her threat to take me shopping. I now had a new wardrobe and no money for the new lens I wanted. Looking in the mirror, though, it might have been worth it. A black headband gave some order to my hair style, and I borrowed my mom’s black, knee high boots. I must have gone crazy.

But I looked great.

I left for school feeling good about the day ahead, until my car died.
Right in front of the school.
With a line of cars behind me.

I got out and glared at the heap of junk. I knew that nothing short of divine intervention was going to get the thing running so I wasn’t sure what to do. I glanced nervously at the cars behind me, fully expecting the wrath of many to fall on me. To my immense relief, three or four guys got out of their cars to help me. I recognized one of them as one Brian, the school’s best running back. I wasn’t sure who his buddies were, but I was pretty sure they’d manage to move my car between them.

Sure enough, they put it in neutral and pushed it all the way into the parking lot, where they maneuvered it into an empty spot. They hurried back to their cars and the line got moving again. To say it was embarrassing to have the whole school driving by me and my pathetic car, whistling and cheering is an understatement.

Brian came back over to my car when he’d parked his truck and eyed it somberly with me. “It’s probably for the best. That thing should have been retired years ago.”

“Maybe, but did it have to do this in front of the whole school?”

“They usually die at the worst time – at least in my experience. Are you going to need a ride home from school?”

“Nah.
I can ride with my mom.”

“Oh, right. Well, don’t worry about it too much. Maybe it can be fixed after all. Want me to look at it after practice today?”

I looked at him oddly, wondering why he was being so nice to someone he’d never said two words to before. I was about to tell him not to bother when I saw Lee coming towards us.

“Something wrong with your car?” he asked.

“It died out on the street.”

“So you were the reason for that mini traffic jam.”

“Yep.
That was me. Luckily Brian and some other guys pushed it out of the road for me.”

Lee and Brian acknowledged each other with a frigid nod of their heads. Feeling awkward, I said, “So, anyway, thanks Brian.”

“No problem. Let me know if you
wanna
take me up on that offer.”

A strange look passed between the two guys like they were measuring each other up or something. Brian headed inside, giving us a backwards look as he went.

“So, what was his offer?” Lee asked, his voice cool.

What was his problem? “To look at my car,” I said, keeping it brief.

“Huh. Well, are you coming in, or do you want to say a few words over the dearly departed?”

With this flash of humor, I relaxed a little. “I guess I should just go in, huh? The last thing I need today is a tardy slip.”

After Lee and I went different directions, I hurried to my homeroom class. As I came into the room, I realized something. Practically everyone in the room was smiling at me, saying “Hey!” when I passed, or trying to talk to me about something. Sure a few people teased me about my car, but not in a mean way. When had everyone become so friendly?

I continued to notice this the whole week. Usually I walked quietly down the halls, focused on getting where I was going, and jumping if a locker slammed nearby because my mind was somewhere else. Now, changing classes was like a party I’d suddenly been invited to.

A small, annoying part of me liked it. Mostly though, I hated how easily everyone’s perceptions changed. And yet, that was exactly what I was counting on to make my plan work.

And it was working.

Marisol and Alyssa had both collected a following. Marisol thought it was hilarious and was enjoying every minute of it. She’d wink at me when she would pass me in the hall with her entourage. Alyssa on the other hand seemed to have forgotten that I was even alive. It was fine with me because she’d been Marisol’s friend and not
mine
anyway, but she was kind of doing the same thing to Marisol.

I should have guessed that Jordan was behind her strange behavior, but I was still new to this whole popularity game. When Jordan began to realize that some of her devoted friends and admirers were abandoning her for Marisol and Alyssa, she made a brilliant maneuver. Friday, I passed Jordan on the way to lunch and she was arm and arm with Alyssa.

“Oh, hey, there’s Sienna,” Jordan said, coming up to me. Her smile was friendly and if I hadn’t known better, I would have thought she’d become a sweetheart overnight. “I was hoping we’d run into you. I’ve had the most brilliant idea. I know you’re running out of people to take pictures of for your blog – I mean
,
there aren’t that many good looking people in this school, you know? –
so
I’m volunteering the whole cheerleading squad. Well, except Katie – you’ve already got her.”

“No thanks, Jordan. I’m actually already scheduled through the rest of the school year. I’m afraid there’s no more room.”

Some of the friendliness slipped for a second, but she quickly plastered it back on.
“Really?
Alyssa thought you needed help finding people. I mean, you must. She said you were taking pictures of Chicken Legs Charlie.”

“I am - Saturday afternoon.”

Jordan looked amazed.
“But why?”

“Have you seen him lately? No wait. Don’t bother answering. I’m sure you haven’t. Your problem, Jordan, is that you can’t see anything good about anyone outside of your little circle. I know you follow my blog, so be sure to check it out Saturday night. If you’re lucky, you might get to “Chicken Legs” before he’s swarmed by half the girls in this school.” I started to walk away, but I couldn’t help throwing over my shoulder, “After all, I noticed Tyson is getting a little less…um…attentive to you.”

Was I a chicken because I didn’t say that last part until I was a good fifteen feet away from her and only a few feet away from the tree where Lee was waiting for me?
Maybe.
But it was always smart to have a quick retreat when you were intentionally ticking off a psycho.

“Hey there,” Lee said. “You look pretty with your cheeks all red, but what’s up?”

“Oh, I was just stirring up Jordan’s anger a little.”

He shook his head at me as I sat down next to him on the bench. “Look, I get why you’re trying to make other people popular and why you have a grudge against Jordan. But why in the world are you making yourself her number one enemy?”

“Well, if she’s focused on ruining my life, she won’t be paying as much attention to what’s going on in the rest of the school. She did make a nice maneuver today though. She’s clamped on to Alyssa.”

“Yeah I know. She seemed like a cool girl too. Don’t you wonder if you could have set her up for a nasty fall by making her popular over night?”

“I guess, but I’m figuring something out. Popularity brings out people’s true colors. Like, take Katie. Even without the cheerleaders behind her, she’s got a lot of people in this school who really like her, and she’s still just as sweet as ever. And you’re pretty awesome that way too. You have way more girls swooning over you than Tyson and Charlie Hopkins ever will, but you’re still a nice guy.”

“Well thanks,” Lee said, his voice dry. “Don’t make me blush or anything.”

“What? Nice is a great compliment. It’s what I like most in a guy.”

“I’ll try to remember that next time I find a guy hitting on you, because my “niceness” is starting to slip a little.”

“Yeah, what’s the deal with that? It’s not like I’d ever be interested in any of these guys, any more than you’re interested in these girls that follow you around like lovesick puppies all day.”

“Maybe not, but – and I don’t mean to sound chauvinistic or anything – I’d love to tell them to stay the heck away from my girl, but I can’t. You see, there’s a code that most guy’s live by. You don’t go after another guy’s girlfriend. But you aren’t my girlfriend, so …”

“Well, try not to let it bother you. I’m telling you, they’ll forget I’m alive in no time.”

Lee snorted and said, “You’re delusional.” He opened a bag of chips and crunched on a few before he asked, “By the way, who is Charlie Hopkins?”

Excitement flooded me, making me forget about the turkey wrap I’d been about to eat. “Oh
my gosh
, he’s my next subject.”

“You’re next victim you mean.”

“Whatever. He’s president of the FFA, you know Future Farmers of America, and a real cowboy. I don’t mean one of those posers who walk around in boots and wouldn’t know one end of a horse from the other. I mean the genuine, horse riding, cow roping, squinty-eyed kind of cowboy.”

“So you like squinty eyes or something?”

“When they’re squinty from working out in the hot sun that’s tanned and weathered him into cowboy hotness, then yes.”

“Excuse me?”

Not really hearing him, I said, “I don’t know where it came from. I mean, he has always been skinny and quiet. He’s still quiet, but he isn’t skinny anymore. The dude has some serious abs now and…” Then I realized that Lee wasn’t appreciating my enthusiastic description. How stupid was I? “I mean he’s kind of short, and his nose is too big, and…”

“Give it up, Sienna. When did you see his abs anyway?”

Resigned to his reaction, I said, “His mom commissioned my mom to do some paintings of their horses. She took me out to their ranch a couple of days ago, after school, to take some reference photos for her. Charlie was working outside – with his shirt off.”

Lee looked kind of forbidding. “So of course, you’ve got to go take some pictures.”

“It’s for my blog, Lee. Just think what kind of reaction I’ll get.”

“And what about Charlie?
What does he get out of this?”

“Well, there’s this girl that he’s really in to that doesn’t know he exists.”

“Tell him to take his shirt off for her,” he said sarcastically.

“You don’t understand. Sometimes, the way to get a girl interested in you is to make her see that other girls want you.”

“Who’s the girl?”

“He wouldn’t say.”

“Are you sure it’s not you?”

“What?
No way!”

“Well, it’d better not be, or
me
and this cowboy will be having words.”

“Lee?”

“What?”

“Your jealousy is showing again.”

“Well, how the heck
am
I supposed to act when you’re drooling over another guy’s body?”

“Supportive?”

“That’s messed up.”

*****

Saturday evening, Marisol and I were driving back to town from the Hopkins’ ranch with the windows down to let in the cool evening air. The sun was starting to set on the horizon and we were both feeling kind of buzzed from the photo shoot with Charlie. I was kind of surprised my SD card hadn’t gone up in flames.