One Eighty (Westover Prep Book 1) Read online

  “I’ve never kissed anyone before.”

  Frankie snorts in my ear before I can manage the sound myself.

  “Well, I don’t remember kissing anyone before.” His green eyes dart from my lips back up to my own eyes twice. “You’d be my first.”

  “Dang,” Frankie moans. “Even from five hundred miles away, he’s turning me on.”

  “Now isn’t the time,” I snap at Frankie.

  “Some other time then?” Dalton asks, that same damn casted hand gripping my hip.

  “More like never,” I answer before turning around and getting the hell out of there.

  Chapter 11

  Dalton

  “Never?” I mumble as Piper drives away. I huff a humorless laugh. “That’s never going to happen.”

  “What was that?”

  I look over to find Kyle standing right beside me. He was so engrossed in his telling of a party he went to last week that I was hoping he’d stay in the damn diner. I guess I’m not that lucky.

  “Nothing,” I mutter, taking a step away from the curb.

  I need distance, distance from thoughts of her and distance from the guy who claims to be my best friend. Since he picked me up from my house, he’s been kind of an asshole. All he wants to talk about are the parties we attended together and the girls he’s slept with. There’s no real substance to him, and I’m honestly shocked that we’re friends. He’s nothing like I picture myself being.

  I wonder for the third time if losing my memories are more a godsend than an actual tragedy. The first time I got a glimpse at who I used to be was when Peyton intercepted me at home outside of Preston’s room.

  The second time came the following day when she told me how awful I’d been to Piper.

  “Dude?” Kyle knocks my shoulder with his. “Why did you lean in like you were going to kiss Mary?”

  “Mary?”

  He points down the street in the direction Piper went, but the different name isn’t my main focus. Is he blind? There were several girls that have come and gone from the diner since we’ve been here, and yeah, I can see their beauty, but no one compares to Piper, absolutely no one.

  “She’s gorgeous,” I tell him. “Why wouldn’t I want to kiss her?”

  Kyle snorts. “I realize you don’t remember anything about the people in Westover, but Mary isn’t an option for you.”

  I want to argue with him. I’ll do everything in my power to make that girl see how good we could be together. Holding on to the hope that she eventually comes around has been my primary focus since walking into her house last night.

  “I mean,” he scrapes his hand over the top of his unruly hair, “I guess you can hit that, but fuck her in the dark and keep it to yourself. You do not want people finding out. You may not have believed me when I told you the first time, but you rule Westover, and there’s no faster way to get knocked off your throne than people finding out you’re messing with her.”

  Frowning, I stare at him. If staying on this so-called throne means I have to forget Piper, then I’ll give it up myself.

  “Can you take me home?” I ask, rather than argue with him about Piper.

  Kyle’s clearly an idiot and standing here while he gives me instructions on how to lead my own damn life isn’t something I’m fond of doing.

  “Sure,” he claps me on the back, “come on.”

  “You said Piper was gorgeous,” Kyle starts once we’re back in his truck. “You don’t even know gorgeous. Let’s get some of the crew together at your house. We’ll invite all of our friends and the hottest girls from school. You’ll see how easy it is to score then.”

  “I’m not trying to score,” I mumble, not loud enough for him to hear over the pounding music coming from the radio.

  He bops his head back and forth like he’s auditioning for a music video. As much as I like the beat blaring through the speakers, I sit idle in my seat. I don’t want to be anything like this guy, and I kind of already hate the old me if he’s an example of who I was.

  “Why my house?” I ask. If he hates Piper, then that means my other friends do too. Piper will be there tutoring Peyton, and I don’t want them to get anywhere near her.

  “Really?” He arches an eyebrow but doesn’t take his eyes from the road. “You have a pool.”

  “I can’t be the only one with a pool.”

  “You have the best pool,” he clarifies. “Plus, your sister is hot.”

  “No,” I snap. “Stay the fuck away from my sister.”

  I don’t know my sister very well, but she doesn’t seem the type to go for a jerk like Kyle, but I have to get the warning in, regardless.

  He smiles wide, but he doesn’t agree—such a damn slimeball.

  I don’t know why I finally agree to host a pool party at my house on Friday. Maybe it’s because I’m bored. Maybe it’s because I’m a glutton for punishment. But deep down, I think I’m going to take it as an opportunity to set all these people straight. Maybe Piper will come around if I defend her in front of everyone.

  The bad thing about making split-second decisions is that, most often, you regret them, and I want to cancel the plans I made with Kyle before I even make it back inside my house.

  When I make it to the top of the stairs, I turn right instead of heading to my room on the left. Peyton’s bedroom door is open, but when I stick my head inside the room, it’s clear she isn’t here. Her windows face to the east, and lucky for me, that means that she has a clear view of Piper’s house.

  My eyes focus on the window that has coral-colored curtains. I don’t know if that’s Piper’s room, but it’s highly likely since I know from the dinner visit to her house that her parents’ room is on the main floor.

  Leaning forward, I realize that since this is a corner room, exactly like Peyton’s, she has one window on the side and one in the front, so she’s able to see the road and our front yard. I make a mental note of that, already thinking of ways to be seen by her.

  “What are you doing?”

  I spin around at my sister’s voice. She’s wearing a frown, arms crossed over her chest as if she caught me in here rifling through her things rather than just standing at the window and peering out.

  “Wanna switch rooms?” I ask, instead of explaining my presence in her space.

  She chuckles as she steps further into the room. She comes to stand beside me, her eyes also glued to the side of Piper’s house. “You’ve asked me that same question a million times.”

  “I have?” It seems I’m not entirely different. Some things have remained the same, even after the accident.

  “Yep,” she answers. “Especially since Piper’s boobs showed up.”

  My cheeks heat, and I don’t know if I’m embarrassed for being so transparent or if it’s because my younger sister realizes my perversion.

  “It has the best light,” I argue like an idiot. I have no damn clue about light angles or sunshine infiltrations and telling from the incredulous snort that erupts from my sister, she’s well aware that I don’t either.

  “She’s never going to like you,” Peyton says as she steps away and sits on the corner of her bed.

  “I don’t even remember being a jerk to her,” I remind her.

  “And she’ll never be able to forget. You were cruel to her, and your friends are just as bad.”

  My brows scrunch together. I hate hearing about the past, especially since there isn’t a damn thing I can do to change it.

  “I’m not like that anymore,” I argue. “She can’t hate me forever.”

  “If you think that, you don’t have a clue about a girl’s ability to hold a grudge. Give up on Piper, Dalton. It’s never going to happen.”

  “Tell me about her,” I say rather than agreeing to back off.

  My sister’s frown deepens, but she doesn’t seem annoyed, just resigned that I’m not planning to give up any time soon.

  “She’s a straight-A student, ranked number one in your class. She’s probably
going to get a full-ride scholarship to her college of choice. I don’t think she wants to be a doctor like her dad, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she goes to medical school anyway.”

  “Why would she become a doctor if that’s not what she wants?”

  The concept doesn’t make sense to me.

  “She’s a people pleaser.” She sighs. “For example, she doesn’t want to be stuck coming over here every day seeing you, but she didn’t turn Mom down when she asked. She does shit she doesn’t want to do to make those around her happy.”

  “That’s fucked up,” I mumble.

  “Yeah,” she agrees. “She spends a lot of time at the library. I think she tutors there or leads the children’s storytime or something like that, teaching kids to read.”

  This is all great information to have, but I really need to know what I did to her to make her life miserable, call it penance, or even a way to possibly correct some of my misdeeds.

  “How did I treat her?”

  “Like shit,” she answers without pause.

  “Can you be more specific?”

  She rolls her eyes. “I don’t know everything. I’m just now heading into high school, and we weren’t exactly close before the accident.”

  “But, you know some things, right?”

  “I know that you and your friends made fun of her the day she started her period in junior high. You’ve called her Bloody Mary since that day.”

  So that’s where Kyle’s name for her came from.

  My nose crinkles. “Really?”

  “That’s not even the worst thing.”

  I get the feeling I’m not going to like the rest of the information my sister is about to lay at my feet, but instead of telling her I’ve heard enough, I insist she goes on.

  “What else?”

  “You filled her car with trash from the park. Your friends throw food at her in the cafeteria. You even sprayed her with a water hose the same day you two got in the wreck. She showed up here to iron out our tutoring details, looking amazing, and when she walked past you in the driveway, you turned the water hose on her. You were a real bastard.”

  Peyton is right. I was a complete asshole. But how do I convince Piper that I’m no longer that guy?

  “I’m pretty sure you or one of your friends posted videos online of her doing embarrassing things, and I know for a fact that you’ve messed with her assignments so she’d get horrible grades.”

  “Jesus,” I mutter.

  “And that’s only the things I know about,” she says with a heavy sigh. “Like I said, you were a complete asshole.”

  “I’m not that person anymore,” I argue once again. How many times do I need to say it before people actually start to believe it?

  “Good luck convincing her of that.”

  Chapter 12

  Piper

  “Can we talk?”

  I don’t even acknowledge him as I walk past.

  I’ve been here all day, and somehow, he’s managed to stay in his room and away from Peyton and me while I tutored her.

  I continue to ignore him as I head to the kitchen to pack up my things for the day.

  “Piper?” he pleads. “Can we please talk?”

  There’s sincerity in his tone, but I’m no fool. I won’t fall for whatever game he’s playing. I did that once in fourth grade, and it came back to bite me on the rear.

  “I told you to leave me alone,” I grumble as I cram my pens and a couple of spirals into my backpack.

  “I left you alone all day.”

  “Try forever next time,” I snap as I zip my backpack.

  I refuse to acknowledge that I watched the bottom of the staircase all day, waiting for him to saunter into the room. I even kept my ears peeled, wondering when he was going to show his handsome face. I don’t know if I’m disappointed or grateful that he didn’t.

  “Why are you so hateful?” When my eyes snap up to his, I see his face transform.

  It’s easy to tell he regrets asking the question in the first place, but even if he can’t remember what he’s done to me, his true colors are already starting to reappear.

  “That’s rich coming from you.”

  “Can’t you forgive me?”

  “No.” And it’s the truth. There’s no level of forgiveness I can offer him. The pain from what he’s done is too great. He could become a model citizen, helping the homeless and dedicating his life to those less fortunate, and it still wouldn’t change my opinion about him. A zebra doesn’t change its stripes and all that.

  “I don’t remember being a jerk to you. It’s not fair for you to hold that against me.”

  I sling my backpack over my shoulder with so much force, I wonder if it’s going to leave a bruise on my back from the impact. Hurting myself because of him only serves to piss me off even more, but it’s not like it’s the first time.

  “Just because you can’t remember doesn’t mean I should forget the years of torment and torture I suffered at your hands and those of your crappy friends.”

  “I’m not asking you to forget,” he clarifies, “but a little forgiveness would be nice.”

  “You don’t deserve my forgiveness.”

  “And I’m sure that’s true, but that doesn’t mean you can’t. It’s obvious that you’re a better person than me. You volunteer at the library and help teach little kids how to read. I know that girl could forgive.”

  I take a step back from him. “How do you know that?”

  Is he remembering? How long do I have before he realizes that I was driving his car the night that we wrecked?

  “Peyton told me.”

  My jaw tenses, and I’m already formulating the words I need to have with his sister. We’re not best friends or anything, but it seems like some break in girl code for her to give information to the one guy she knows I hate more than anyone else in this world.

  “Peyton should keep her mouth shut,” I snap as I take a step around him.

  Instead of staying in his kitchen, Dalton follows me to the door, and then he stays on my heels as I walk across his lawn to my own. He’s still at my back when I unlock my front door.

  Mrs. Payne texted not long ago to let me know that she was on her way home, and Preston would be fine until she got there if I wanted to leave. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough, yet, I’m still being followed by her obstinate son.

  “What will it take?” he asks, walking into my house behind me and shutting the door behind him.

  “There’s no chance,” I tell him, but my pulse quickens when the closing of the front door echoes around my empty house.

  My parents won’t be home for another hour or so, and just the thought of being alone with Dalton where no one can hear me scream if he tries to hurt me makes me hyper-aware of my surroundings.

  The curtains are pulled tight, the only light infiltrating the foyer streams in from the arched window above the front door. The silence is deafening, filled only with the ragged sound of my breathing.

  “Y-you need to leave.” I hate the tremor in my voice. It speaks of weakness, and that’s always something I try to avoid around him.

  Dalton has never physically put his hands on me before, and the only time I thought he would, was when I refused to give his keys back outside of Kyle’s house after he caught him and his girlfriend together, but this new Dalton may think it’s a good idea. I have no way of knowing if the crash did more to his brain than wiping his memories. Did I read somewhere that head trauma patients are known to have regular bouts of aggression and hostility?

  “We’re just talking,” he says, and as if to get his point across, he takes a few steps away from me.

  He doesn’t make a move to leave, but the several feet between us calms me some. It gives me a greater chance of getting away if he lunges for me.

  A long breath rushes past my lips when I realize he’s not going to leave until I give in. Since that’s never going to happen, I need to figure out a way to make this boy understan
d that forgiving him isn’t something I’ll ever be capable of.

  “Where are you going?” he asks when I turn away from him and head toward the stairs.

  I don’t answer him, and as I predicted, he follows me up the stairs. I’ve never had a boy in my room before, and that isn’t lost on me when Dalton follows me into my private space.

  Like a fool, he smiles as he looks at my coral curtains. His eyes glisten like there’s some inside joke I’m not privy to. It only serves to frustrate me more.

  “My dad will kill you if he catches you in my room,” I mutter as I fling my backpack onto my unmade bed.

  He doesn’t say a word as his eyes skate over everything in my room. I almost hate that I’m not a tidier person. I shuffle around, scooping up dirty clothes and straightening the things on my desk.

  “It smells nice in here.” His nose tips up as he takes a deep breath. “What is that? Lavender? Lilac?”

  “Really?” His head drops back down, and the heat in his stare forces a wave of goosebumps down my arms. I ignore them, just like I ignore the way his tongue traces his lips. Why does he have to be so good-looking? “You know notes of my body lotion, but you can’t remember your family?”

  His brows furrow. “I know my family. I mean, I know who Mom and Dad are. My memories of Peyton are a little off since she’s no longer a baby.”

  “You don’t remember Preston at all?”

  Sadness fills his eyes, and the flash of pain on his face makes the walls around my heart lose a little fortitude. It also makes the guilt ramp up to its highest yet. He can’t remember a primary person in his nuclear family because of what I did. His memory loss is more than just forgetting what a jerk he was. It’s wiped out entire people. That wouldn’t be so bad if the only ones on that list were Kyle, Bronwyn, and the rest of the evil minions, but knowing he can’t remember his brother makes my heart ache.

  “What’s that look for, Piper?”

  I swallow thickly, breaking eye contact with him.

  “Wh-what look?”

  “I don’t want you to feel sorry for me.”