He nods. “Ellen’s best friend.”
“Oh, Lord have mercy.”
“Exactly. They’ve got a group of four—”
“I’ve heard about the four, who they are. Ellen, Sondra, Gianna, and Tawny who I have yet to meet.”
“Well, what you probably haven’t heard is, those four have ‘rules’ that have to be followed.”
“I heard but tell me your version.”
He smirks. “No. Their main thing is to date only from their school and someone worth more than they are.”
“That’s snobbish and discriminatory!” I’m so offended on behalf of all the boys victimized by these “rules”.
“It is. Thing is, no one is worth more than Gianna Rothchild. We’re talking billions,” he informs me.
I whistle. “Wow. Beaucoup bucks.” Way more than what I’m worth.
“Yeah.”
His defeated expression is more than I can bear.
“Maybe she’ll change her mind if she knows you’re interested,” I offer.
“Nope. I’m from SBH not SBA and that’s another of their ‘rules’.”
“Oh boy. All these rules.”
“You have rules,” he points out.
“I do not.”
He chuckles. “Foxy. One, you won’t date jocks. Two, you won’t date people who are super popular because you don’t want to be in the spotlight—even if you put yourself there often. Three, you won’t date wealthy people.”
I look down shamefully and cringe. “Yikes. I guess I’m no different than they are. It’s just… my rules are there for a reason and that reason was a boy I dated back in Wisconsin. He was so attentive when he chased me, but when he caught me, he didn’t like me so much. All the reading I do, he thought it was cute—until he caught me. The fact that I don’t like parties wasn’t a big deal—until he caught me and wanted me to go with him. My not wanting to stand in the spotlight with him was refreshing for him—until he caught me. When he caught me, everything changed. He changed. While he chased me, it was all, ‘Come on, Jillie. I’m not a bad guy. I think your being different is cute,’ until his friends asked where his girlfriend was when he arrived at parties alone, or where I was when I didn’t go to his baseball games. Ugh, I hate baseball so much. Nine innings of boringness that lastshours. I went a couple times but brought my Kindle. He got so mad, he told me not to bother. So, I didn’t go anymore. When I said no to going to parties, he started going with other girls. I honestly didn’t care. It got him off my back and left me alone with my books.” I sigh.
“Wow.”
“I’m not done yet. One night, I decided to go to a party where I knew he’d be. I just wanted to end everything, you know? And I knew I’d catch him cheating. When I opened a bedroom door and I saw him with one of the cheerleaders, I felt nothing. No anger. No jealousy. Absolutely nothing. I just told him it was over, closed the door, and left. He tried to get me back. Lord, how he tried. He was such a nuisance my grandpa told him he was going to the sheriff if he didn’t stop with the harassment. It stopped after that—the chasing. Then came the ridicule.”
“Really wow,” Elan says. “That’s quite a fucked-up situation.”
“And then some. I don’t base that experience on all jocks, but usually I can tell who’s good and who’s bad.” I look over to where Leo is standing with his buddies. He’s got his arm wrapped around some blonde’s waist—someone who isn’t Ellen. I tip my head straight forward. “Like him. He’s a player and then he gets annoyed when the discarded ones keep coming back. I don’t know if he’s straight up with them from the beginning or not. All I know is he’s breaking hearts right and left. I’m not going to be in that line, no matter how much I wish things could be different—he could be different.”
Elan wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me into him, so I wrap my arm around his waist. “I think he has different plans for you, Foxy J. He keeps watching you.”
“Let him keep watching.”
“You gonna tell me about what happened with you and Becks?” he asks.
I nod. “Not here, though. I really don’t want people to overhear.”
“Let’s go grab a burger.” He’s about to step forward when I stop him.
“Wait.” He stops, and I wrap my arms around his waist and hug him. He hugs me back, kissing my forehead. “Thanks, Hottie E.”
“For what?”
