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In the picture, obviously taken at homecoming though I don’t remember anyone taking pictures, Chase and I are dancing. A sliver of my back shows from the side view, and one of Chase’s hands is entwined in a handful of my silky dress, which is stretched tightly over my thighs from his grasp.
My hands are fisted between our chests and I’m leaning back a little, looking down. His face is obscured by my head, but there’s no mistaking his shiny golden hair, curling up a little at the back of his neck. He’s looking down too, and I know he was whispering in my ear at that moment.
Come home with me tonight.
A shiver of hot memory races through my body even though my mind is in free-fall.
I want do disappear.
Over the peg that’s holding the picture, a teardrop shaped pearl hangs on a fine gold thread. I touch it, feeling the delicateness of the chain, my heart thumping in my chest. I tear my eyes away from it, pulling my locker partially closed so no one will see the picture.
It must be Daria’s necklace.
She’s been leaving more and more of her stuff in my locker. It must be one of those things she keeps Brandon around for, buying her jewelry.
Or maybe it’s even Lindsey’s, although I can’t see her leaving something that nice in my locker. Besides, she only goes to my locker once in the afternoons to get a book she leaves in there.
Lindsey! Shit.
I open my locker again and pull the picture down. Surely she didn’t leave this. She’d confront me in person if she suspected something. Which means she doesn’t know about this picture, and I can’t let her. What would she think if she saw a picture of me and her boyfriend inside my locker?
And that means the necklace is definitely not hers. She wouldn’t hang jewelry over a picture of him and me together. Unless it’s some kind of warning, like marking her territory?
No, that doesn’t make sense. Daria must be trying to warn me.
Unless one of the girls gave Elaine my locker combination. I shiver at the thought.
I’m fucked if she suspects anything.
She wouldn’t hesitate a single second before trying to bring me down. She’s never liked me.
I shove the picture inside a binder. Why am I suddenly so paranoid? Nothing is even going on with Chase. It’s just the things Daria says that make me jumpy. My feelings for Chase also make me feel guilty, like I’ve done something wrong. Having feelings for him is doing something wrong, but I can’t seem to break the spell he has on me. At least I’m not acting on it.
Someone’s hands slip around me from behind, and I jump, so startled my heart nearly stops. I slam my locker shut so hard several people give me funny looks as I spin around. I find myself peering guiltily into Chase’s gorgeous, confident, crystal blue gaze.
“You like?” he asks, giving me his most winning smile.
“Like what?” I ask, pushing him away from me. My heart is pounding, and I feel like he caught me doing something no one was supposed to see, like looking at porn on my phone.
“The necklace. The picture. Do you like it?”
“You put that there?” I hiss. “Where did you—how did you—what are you doing?”
I’m so surprised, angry, and confused that I can’t get a sentence out right.
“Come on, babe,” he says, giving me that puppy dog look that I absolutely cannot resist. “I can’t take another day of you being mad at me. Forgive me?”
“Are you crazy? Or just trying to make Lindsey hate me?” I demand. I spin and open my locker again. I pluck the necklace from the peg and shove it at him. “I can’t take this. Give it to Lindsey.”
“You have to take it. I got it for you. Besides, Lindsey doesn’t like stuff like that.”
“Stuff like what? Nice jewelry?” I ask incredulously. “Look, I’m not mad at you. I promise.”
I draw an X over my chest the way he did while I beg him with my eyes. Why can’t he see how reckless he’s being?
“Please?” I ask. “Just take it back, okay?”
“Nope, it’s yours,” he says, putting his hands up and refusing to take the necklace. “Besides, I can’t take it back. I already threw away the box. Did you see how fragile that thing looks? It would break in my pocket. Guess you’ll just have to wear it.”
