Nash I hadn’t seen Tallulah since Dad had come home then ordered Ryker to take her home. He’d gotten a call from the principal while at work. I was grounded. He’d even taken my phone and laptop. I’d had no way to contact Tallulah. Which sucked after all we’d done. It hadn’t been much by most standards, but with Tallulah it had been a lot. It had been more. Even sex with other girls hadn’t been that intimate before. Walking into school that Tuesday, I was suddenly accosted by females. I froze as girls I’d dated, girls I didn’t know, and girls I had previously wanted to know were all around me. Confused, I searched for Tallulah in this mess, but she was nowhere. When I finally took a moment to listen to the chatter all around me, I heard the word famous. Who was famous? Other than Haegan. Were they all over me because I’d been hanging out with Haegan? I’d never been this fucking popular. Hell, not even Brady Higgens had been this popular back when he was at school. “Welcome back,” Haegan said with a slap on my back. “Your appearances on my last two vlogs seemed to be a hit. I’ve got fans all over the world begging for more of you.” I frowned. “That’s what this is about?” “Oh yeah. There was even a Nash Lee fan club website started up. I saw it last night. Impressive. It took me months to even draw attention. But then I didn’t have someone already making it in the business to get me started.” Started? I didn’t want to be started.
“Where’s Tallulah?” I asked him instead of dealing with my sudden fame. Which seemed weird, and I imagined it would be short lived. I wasn’t going to get on a video daily and do crazy shit to get viewers. “Haven’t seen her,” he r eplied. “Did you even watch my vlogs this week?” I had no interest in watching the vlogs. But that wasn’t nice to say, so I r eplied, “I’ve been grounded from my phone and computer. I haven’t seen anything.” Haegan grinned. “Damn, you’re in for a surprise.” “Haegan Baylor,” a loud voice called out angrily. I wasn’t sure which one it was since they all looked ready to kill Haegan. But Mr. Dace, Mr. Jones, and both principals stood in front of the office glaring at him. “Shit. Guess they saw the vlog,” he muttered, but was grinning. “What did you do?” This couldn’t have been the fight. He’d edited out so many faces and shit there was no way they could get upset about that. “I’d guess it was the peanut butter.” “Huh?” He smirked as if he weren’t facing very angry adults who could suspend him yet again. “I covered Dace’s piece-of-shit car in peanut butter Friday. Vlogged about it.” Oh shit... “Are you insane?” He shrugged. “It was funny, Nash. Fucking hilarious.”
I watched as he went toward them. He didn’t appear worried at all. People were watching and whispering. They’d all seen the vlog, I assumed. He would have gotten away with it if he hadn’t vlogged about it. “I think he’s either brilliant or a dumbass,” Ryker said, and I turned to see my cousin beside me. “Coach D was pissed Friday, but no one knew who did it. Him ranting and trying to get the door open through the thick-ass peanut butter was priceless. But then yesterday that idiot posted a vlog, and the whole thing was on it. Even him coating the car. Last I checked, it had over two million views already. Two million.” He r epeated the last part, shaking his head. I knew Haegan made a lot of money from advertisers and merchandise he sold. The last time I was there, he had boxes of free stuff companies had sent him, wanting him to use it on his vlog. The brand new i Phone no one had yet, a pair of shoes I knew cost over three hundred dollars, and a video game system that didn’t release until closer to Christmas. I had been blown away, but he acted like it was no big deal. “Have you seen Tallulah?” I asked Ryker, changing the subject and getting back to searching the crowd for her. The girls were still there. Would they leave eventually? “Yeah, she’s already gone in her first-period class. She saw that”—he pointed to my unwanted groupies—“and walked away.” Shit. “Thanks,” I said, and excused myself as I walked away from the group and through the few blocking my path. “Excuse me.” “Can we talk?” Blakely asked, st epping in front of me.
“No” was the only response needed for that. I started to move around her. “Please,” she begged, her hand touching my arm. “We need to talk. Maybe after school. Above your garage.” She’d never been up there. We’d been done, or she’d been done with me, by the time it was completed. I didn’t like her insinuating I wanted her up there. “Move, Blakely,” I r eplied, annoyed. “I was dealing with my own problems this summer, Nash. You were too upset over your leg to focus on me. I needed comfort.” I paused then. Stared at her for a moment and decided mentioning how incredibly selfish she had just sounded was pointless. I didn’t have time for this. “Yeah, well you got it. Go get some more.” I hurried the best I could with my damn leg and finally got free of her. I needed to see Tallulah before I went to my first period. The classroom was already starting to fill up. I scanned the room when I got to the door and found her two seats from the front. She was reading a book. Others around her were talking and laughing. She seemed oblivious to it all. “Nash!” some female called out, and I rolled my eyes. This shit was going to have to stop. All this over a damn You Tube video. Tallulah’s head snapped up at my name, and our eyes locked. She looked unsure and hurt. Shit. I nodded my head for her to come out in the hallway. She glanced up at the teacher’s desk, which was still empty, then stood up and walked my way.
A few other people called out things to me, but I ignored them. I k ept my eyes on her. I wanted her to know I was here for her. I didn’t want the other attention. She paused at the door, and I st epped out into the hallway. When I finally had her out there with me, I was relieved but knew I was limited on time. I didn’t care about being late to class, but the moment her teacher walked up, she’d go inside. “My dad grounded me. I’ve been without any way to communicate. I’m sorry. And that shit with the girls, that was all over some vlogs of Haegan’s I was in. I didn’t ask for that. I just wanted to see you this morning.” Her smile was small and didn’t meet her eyes. “You should probably search yourself online. You’re more popular than you realize.” I shrugged. “I don’t care. It’ll blow over.” I reached for her hand. “Come over after school. Please. I’ve missed you.” She stared at the floor so long I thought she was going to turn me down, but she finally lifted her head and simply nodded. I could live with a nod. For now.