Of all the kisses in the history of first kisses, that had to be the most perfect one—it just had to be.
Rachel Jenson came stomping into the laundry room, dragging a crazy-eyed Drake Fischer. “Charlotte, it’s my turn for seven minutes now!” she giggled.
Drake Fischer? I thought she was supposed to go to heaven with Aaron Henley.
Wait a minute.
If Drake Stupid Fischer was here, that meant…
So was Slate.
Jumping to my feet, I ran out of the laundry room and slammed chest-first into Slate Marshall. Stumbling backward, I (like a brainless dork) grabbed onto Slate’s shirt to try to steady myself. Instantly, I realized I had broken Slate’s “No One Comes Ten Feet Near Me”rule when he smiled that evil, satanic smile of his and pressed his bodycloserto mine.
Immediately, I let go of his shirt and dropped my hands away from his chest.
He flicked a folded up piece of paper in front of my face and opened it for me to read.
Charlotte Stone.
My body went numb. Could someone get paralyzed from a look that someone is giving you? Because, I swore that Slate’s look was freezing me to the spot. Heavily, he dropped both his hands on my shoulders; the stupid folded paper fluttered silently to the floor.
His ugly, evil lips curled up higher, “I just popped a balloon with your name on it.” Lowering his face closer to mine, he whispered, “Now, I’m going to pop your cherry in seven minutes.”
Shrugging his hands off me, I stepped back, but only managed to back myself into the wall behind me. I looked around for help, but everyone seemed paired off, kissing or talking orliving.
Me? I was dying in the corner.
I moved closer to the other kids in the room, sliding myself along the wall. I only made it about a foot before Slate’s arms were blocking my way to safety.
“Slate, there is no way I’m going anywhere with you for seven minutes!” I hissed.
“Those are the rules of the game, Charlotte,” he replied, wrapping his hands around my wrists and pulling me closer to a room with a “HEAVEN” sign hanging on the door.
I leaned back away from him, but he just dragged me harder, my sneakers sliding along the floor.
“Let me go!” I yelled, twisting my body away from his.
Slate was stronger than me, though, and his hands still stayed clamped around my wrists as I tried to break free. My bones bent in ways they shouldn’t as I tried to yank my hands back from him.
“Let go of her,” Joey’s voice growled next to me.
One of his arms swung around my waist, while his other pushed against Slate’s chest. “I said let go of her. She doesn’t want you to touch her,” he hissed.
Slate dropped my hands, laughing. “Relax,Piss Pants. I was just playing around with her.” He stepped closer to Joey and laughed louder in his face. Spittle flew everywhere and Joey flinched back, blinking it out of his eyes. “What were you going to do about it, anyway?”
“Whatever it takes to keep your hands off her,” Joey said.
Oh. Crudcakes.
Ava Marie chose that moment to run upstairs to get her parents, or the police or whomever. At the same time, Jase slammed his body in between Slate and Joey. “Okay, enough. This is a party, and Charlie doesn’t want to play the game anymore. Get over it.”
Thank God Ava Marie’s father came downstairs then and herded us all out into the backyard to cool off.
Swinging my arms around both of my best friends’ shoulders, I squeezed them tightly against me.What girl in the world had two real-life superheroes, huh?
Joey knocked his head against mine, “Let’s just get out of here and go hang out in the tree house,” he whispered, shakily.
So we did.
