Dare You to Kiss the Quarterback (Rock Valley High 1)

My mood soured once again. This business with Dad was making my fingers itch to play the guitar. Closing my calculus book, I reached for my Gibson and pulled it into my lap. I’d been working on a new song since last week’s game. Something that really nailed my feelings about my parents and their split. Strumming a few chords, I hummed the melody until the words came.

You say we’ll be happy, you say not to mourn.

But I can’t move on from the things that you’ve done.

You’ve lied and you’ve cheated. You’ve beaten and torn.

Forgiving you just isn’t part of the plan.

I strummed through two more verses when a deep clearing of a throat nearly made me throw my guitar across the room. My gaze went straight to my open window, where a figure in a dark hoodie crouched on the oak branch outside.

“What the...?” I snatched my cell phone off my bedspread with my shaking hand. We only lived five blocks from the police station. I’d call 911 if I had to. And I was pretty sure I had pepper spray around here somewhere...

“That was actually really good.” The hood came down and Collin’s face emerged from the shadows. “Did you write that?”

I pressed a hand to my chest, sure that I was having another heart attack. My room was two stories up from the ground. Only a crazy person would climb up that tree and onto the aging branches. He was definitely certifiable, just like Lexi had warned.

“What are you doing here?” I hissed, gently laying my guitar on the bed and running toward the window. “You can’t be caught out there. My mom will kill me.”

He leaned clo

ser to the screen and grinned, his eyes searching my face. “So, let me in and I won’t be caught out here.”

My hands froze on the window sill, my mind whirling. I’d never had a boy in my room before. Never even invited one into my house. Mom hadn’t exactly banned them, but then again, she probably still wouldn’t approve.

On the other hand, it wasn’t like Collin was just any boy. He was my singing partner for the big event. Our relationship was purely professional — no matter how much I liked to stare at his beautiful face. At the very least, the attraction between us was all one-sided. Mom could rest at ease. He just liked to be a tease. Collin Preston didn’t actually go for girls like me.

“Fine, but you can’t stay long,” I said, unhooking the screen from the window and letting him in.

He folded his form practically in half to fit through and then dropped his boots on the carpeted floor. Standing up tall, he stretched his arms behind his head and had the audacity to slowly canvas the room. Suddenly, I was very aware of the stuffed teddy bear on my bed, the stacks of Teen Vogue magazines on the dresser, and my pink Aerie bra hanging from the back of my desk chair. Shuffling backwards, I snapped up the bra and stuffed it under a nearby sweater, smiling innocently up at Collin when his gaze landed on me.

“Nice pajamas,” he said, his lips twitching with a smile. “Very hot.”

I looked down at my athletic shorts and vintage pink Barbie sweater with the oversized neck that hung low on one of my shoulders. What was so wrong with Barbie? She was an icon and I still had a couple of my old dolls stuffed in a box underneath my bed.

“Why are you here?” I asked, putting my hands on my hips. “Surely it’s not because you want to insult my pjs.”

“You said you wanted to start work on the song.” He walked past me and made himself at home on my bed, sprawling across the comforter on his side with one hand propping up his head. Raising his eyebrows suggestively, he grinned. “I’m here now.”

The very sight of Collin Preston on my bed made me want to fall into my desk chair in a quivering pile of jelly. Never in a million years had I pictured him there, grinning up at me as if he were God’s gift to women. Instead, I backed away until my rear end hit the edge of the desk and I could grip it for extra support.

“You want to work here? Now?” I shook my head. “It’s a school night.”

“So what?”

“So, it’s not exactly very convenient. Plus, my mom or sister could hear us.”

He sat up on the bed and pulled my guitar into his lap, as if he hadn’t heard a word I said. I took a step toward him, feeling odd about seeing my baby in Collin’s grasp. He moved his fingers nimbly over the frets, strumming softly. After a few strokes, I recognized the song that I had just been playing. Moving closer to him, I could hear him humming the melody, his head bobbing to the beat.

“That’s my song,” I said, sitting on the bed next to him. “How’d you pick that up so quick?”

“I guess I’ve always had a sort of gift with music,” he said, still strumming. “My mom would take me to her church choir practice every Wednesday night. I had nothing else to do but learn how to play. She’d say that I’d been kissed by the angel of music. She probably thought it would make me happy, but I used to have nightmares of these scary, winged creatures coming into my bedroom at night to steal my soul.”

Laughter bubbled up out of my mouth and I tried to picture Collin as an innocent little kid at a church choir practice. For some reason, those images didn’t fit together.

“You know, your song’s really good.” He looked up at me, his hands becoming still on the guitar. “Are the lyrics about your dad?”

The laughter died in my throat and I swallowed it down, trying my best to keep a neutral expression. Other than with Mandy and Trina, I didn’t really talk about my personal problems very often. But Collin had already witnessed my family drama. There was no point in trying to hide it.