Mansfield Ranch (8 page)

“Yeah?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose with my fingers and closed my eyes for a second. “Let me get this straight. You . . . uh, are going to break up with your girlfriend, a girl who’s sort of my sister, to prove to me that you’re serious about making
me
fall for you?”

“Well, when you put it that way—”

“And how is that going to make me like you more? Honestly?”

“Uh—”

“No. Please, Harrison, enlighten me, because as of right now, you just went from being a massive jerk to the biggest loser who’s ever walked the face of this earth.”

 “Fine. What do you suggest I do?”

I started to laugh—like, really laugh. “Are you kidding me? You’re asking me how to go about making me fall for you? Why? So you could win your own game? The game where you make the rules and you win all the prizes?”
Conceited, arrogant, overconfident . . .
“And just what’s in it for me, huh? Is it so I can say in two weeks from now that I got dumped by you the second some other girl came along? Did you ever stop to think that I didn’t want you as a prize? That maybe I valued relationships a little more than you obviously do?

“Look!” I continued, drowning out his protests, “I’m sure there are lots of girls willing to get burned by you, but frankly, I don’t have the time or the inclination to deal with a guy who’s just playing games. I want a real guy. A guy who thinks of me first. A guy who’s dependable and nice and caring and well, all the things you’re not. Oh! And by the way, if you dump my sister to win some stupid game, you aren’t any better than I thought you were!” I flung the last words at him like I was in a shouting match.

“Wow.” The phone got really quiet.

I stood up and headed back to the closet. Just as I picked up the hanger, I heard Harrison mutter, “I don’t think anyone has ever had the guts to say that to me before.”

 I rolled my eyes and grabbed the first shirt. “Then maybe I’ve done you a favor.”

“Maybe.” I heard him heave a sigh and then, almost whispering, he mumbled, “Fine, you win.” He cleared his throat as if he were uncomfortable.

I flipped the phone to my other ear, wondering what he was going to say next. Harrison surprised me. In a deep, sad voice, he quietly said, “You’re right. I’ll still go out with Lauren. I definitely can’t have her making your life more miserable than it already is.”

“Wait. Harris—”

“No, let me finish.”

I waited.

After a pause, he cleared his throat again. “Look, I’m really not good at this thing I’m trying to do here. I’ve never had to do it before. So if you could just give me the benefit of the doubt for a little while until I figure out a way to balance this cheesy soap opera, you may find I’m not who you think I am.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I remained silent. I found myself wanting him to go on. He didn’t disappoint me.

 “I . . . uh, don’t really know what’s happening to me. I’ve never felt like this before, that’s for sure. It’s pretty painfully, actually.” Harrison chuckled softly before he continued, “What am I going to do with you, Lilly?”

Leave me alone and never, ever think about me again.

“I can’t . . . I, uh, I don’t want to give you up. Funny as that seems. I must be addicted to torture, because you’re pretty addicting.” Then he really laughed. “I’m a torture junkie! Imagine that! Me, Harrison Crawford, addicted to the one girl who couldn’t stand to be with him. It’s ironic, isn’t it?”

“Whatever.” I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to say something. “You’re so overdramatic, you could be a movie heroine. Spare me, okay? You couldn’t care less about me if you were paid to.”

“Lilly—”

“It’s true! So don’t try to deny it. And if you’re honest with yourself, you’d see that the only reason—
the only reason
—you like me is because I don’t like you. And that bugs you. That gets under your skin so much that you don’t know what to do with yourself! You have to prove somehow that you can make me like you. Well, bravo. Your act is quite appealing. Almost believable, if I were someone else, but I’m not buying it. I never will. The only person you care about is yourself, Harrison. So—”

“You know what? For someone who pretends to be shy and perfect all the time, you sure make some pretty rude, brash assumptions of people—based off little or no factual evidence—”

What?
“Factual evidence? As if I needed—”

“And I can’t wait, Lilly Price, for you to be strangled by your own disillusions.”

“My own—?”

“Especially when you see me play the game your way—not how I want to, but with your rules—and then you realize just how jealous it makes you.”

“How jealous it makes me?”
What in the—?
“You’ve got a lot of nerve, bud!”

“Yes, I do have a lot of nerve. And guts. Or I wouldn’t be hanging around you, now would I?”

“Grr!”

“Oh. And make sure you wear something nice to school tomorrow.”

What?
“Why?”

“Any girl who’s going to get the kind of attention you’ll get tomorrow will want to.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re not my girlfriend, but we’re still married, Lilly Price—or wait! Should I say, ‘Lilly Crawford’?”

Urgh!
In disgust, I hung up. Harrison’s laughter rang in my ears long after the line went dead.

***

The next morning came too fast, in my opinion. I played around with the idea that I was sick. I mean, I even tried to cough a few times before I gave up and got ready. No use putting off the inevitable. I clawed through the back of my closet and came up with the oldest shirt I could find and paired it with my oldest jeans, too. No reason to give Harrison any more ammo than I had to. Besides, I was almost a hundred-percent sure he’d said that junk about us still being “married” just to get a rise out of me. What guy is
that
cruisin’ for a bruisin’ anyway? He’d have to be a complete moron.

Harrison Crawford
is
a complete moron.
Ugh!

Okay, so I admit it, once I got to school I had to give a point to the Crawford team. He had completely one-upped me. The last thing I ever would’ve expected was to be welcomed into the elite crowd.
Why me? Seriously?
By the end of second hour, I had about thirteen of Alexis’ and Lauren’s friends following me around the halls.
Joy
. All because Harrison helped carry our books to our classes first hour. Just that small act, teamed with yesterday’s sharing-the-book episode—that was now making the rounds like wildfire—made me officially go from a zero to a hero.

In fourth hour, I tried to scare off the girls with my talk of horses and all things ranch/farm related. But by the end of class, they all wanted horses too. It was downright creepy how those Barbie clones changed their opinions so fast.

“Harrison was so right!” laughed Miri Mortensen, a girl who’d never looked at me without a sneer until today. “You are so much fun! Why didn’t we ever notice before? Seriously. You’re so cool.” She actually giggled as she plopped down into the seat next to me.

My mouth dropped open slightly and I wondered if gushing like that took extra effort. It had to be tiring. I found myself tired just watching. I would’ve asked, too, if I thought it would make her stop. Instead, I smiled vaguely and leaned closer to my English book.

“See what I mean?” a familiar male voice triumphed behind me as I heard his books hit the desk. “I told you all the Benallys are cool.”

Yeah, but I’m a Price.

“I like your vintage shirt.”

I looked up to see the girl in front of me eye my clothes. “Uh, thanks.”

“It’s really cute. Where did you get it?”

I shrugged and glanced down at the faded blue emblem across the plain, boring T-shirt. “From my closet. I’ve had it awhile.”

“I really like it.”

Great. Now I was a trendsetter? How did this day just go from bad to worse?
“Yeah, thanks,” I muttered again. This time I flipped the page in my book and pretended to read. A couple of seconds later, my cell began to vibrate.
Who in the world is texting me?
I pulled it out of my pocket and groaned. Harrison chuckled from behind.

“I thought you’d get a kick out of that,” he whispered.

“You’re not supposed to text during—”

“It’s still two minutes before the bell. Now hurry up and read it.”

I pushed the button and watched his text flash onto the screen.

Told you to wear something

nice didn’t I?

Before I could stop myself, I had already begun to answer him back.

Are you saying my clothing

choice isn’t nice?

Harrison responded with another chuckle before I felt the phone vibrate again.

Of course not. Obviously

you think it isn’t or you

would’ve taken my txt as a

compliment.

Ooh!
My fingers practically flew over the keys.
Take that.

Since when is a text from you

a compliment?

His answer was just as quick.

When will you ever learn not

to tempt me? Don’t you know

that millions of girls would

love to get my texts?

Millions? Millions? Excuse me

while I die laughing. You know

one day you’re gonna wake up

from this demented dream of

yours, you know the one where

you think everyone falls for you

Harrison laughed out loud.

I stopped myself just short of laughing with him. Class had already started. After a couple of seconds, I got his reply.

Anybody ever tell you you’re

hot when you flirt?

Flirt? What in the—? Was I flirting? Eww
. I put my phone back in my pocket. A couple of seconds later, I felt it vibrate again. This time I didn’t answer it. Instead, I crouched down lower in my desk and tried to force myself to listen to the teacher—except I couldn’t get Harrison’s stupid text out of my mind.
What is it that draws me to him, anyway?
It wasn’t like I didn’t know exactly who he was, or that I didn’t despise the loser—but why did he egg responses out of me in the first place? Before I’d even known what happened, I found myself arguing back. It was downright annoying how he could get under my skin like that.

One thing was for certain.
I need to snap out of it or the whole school is going to think I’ve got a thing for him too.
Already, Alexis and Lauren had begun to get suspicious. Not that either of them had the guts to go against anything Harrison decided to do, but they weren’t dumb. It was obvious he’d changed course.

Don’t get me wrong—he was true to his word. As far as anyone else was concerned, he was going out with Lauren. And still flirting heavily with Alexis (right in front of her boyfriend, too). But his new fascination with “all the Benallys” wasn’t going to ring true for very long. I mean, popularity can only cloud someone’s judgment for a little while, right?

Ugh
. Harrison was correct. This was a cheesy soap-opera mess, going out with one girl and flirting with her two sisters. The only thing that amused me at all—the only thing that made me continue to watch this train wreck with any sort of anticipation—was that I wanted to be there when his little juggling act overbalanced and came tumbling back down on him. Yes, I admit it. Harrison’s inevitable failure brought me happiness.

Now if only I could stop Sean from falling for the wrong girl—then I’d be truly happy.

Chapter Ten: Girl on a Mission

“So what do you say? Would you and your family like to come over to our house Friday night?”

I stared at Julia Crawford for a minute and allowed the last few bits of conversation to wash over me.
Hang out with us . . . just a little party . . . a movie night or something . . . Harrison and I are hosting.
The final bell had rung and the whole place had begun to quiet down as everyone headed home.

I decided to stall as we walked down the long hall of the main building. “Uh—you’re inviting all of us?”

“Yeah! Alexis and Lauren are already coming and so is Sean—will you come too?”

 There was no way I would go to that party. Not even if a wild pack of deranged rainforest ants came and hauled me over their shoulders and dragged me down to the Crawfords’ house. I would find a way to fight my way out of it—even if I had to die trying. But I could never admit that out loud—Harrison would probably just move the whole party to our house or something. “Um, yeah. It sounds like fun. I’ll ask if I can come.”

“Great!” Julia’s smile sparkled back at me. She was pretty.
Really pretty
. “I can’t wait to get to know you! You’re all Sean and my brother ever talk about, so it’ll be cool to hang out, I think.”

Sean talks about me?
“Yeah, really cool. I can’t wait.” I hitched up my bag and maneuvered past a couple of kids who were messing around in the hall. I had to hurry and get to the car before Alexis and Lauren threw a fit. Julia had other ideas.

“Here. Let me give you my phone number, in case something comes up.” She pulled out her phone.

“Oh, uh, I’m sure I can get it from Alexis or Lauren. No worries, I’ll just ask them.” I really needed to get out of the hall and outside; I’d wasted too much time as it was. Not that I was particularly worried about making them mad—it’s just that it was much easier on everyone if I didn’t rock the boat.

“Okay, that’ll work too.” Julia seemed a bit taken aback. I must’ve come off ruder than I thought I had. But she smiled and said, “Then, no worries. I’ll see ya tomorrow.”