The Rush by Rachel Higginson

completely unfazed with what I was going through. Of course he wouldn’t or shouldn’t feel any of the stirrings of guilt or remorse; we really had done nothing wrong.  
                  “My phone call went long,” I explained not telling a lie, but not exactly telling the truth either…. my specialty. “Ryder was nice enough to write me a pass so I wouldn’t get marked for being late.”
                  “Aw, that’s nice of you buddy,” Phoenix crooned at Ryder and tried to pinch his cheek.
                  “Back off, man,” Ryder laughed, smacking away Phoenix’s long, gangly arm.
                  Their exchange was followed by thirty very awkward seconds of silence while Chase sized Ryder up and shot me a nervous glance that let me know to some men, I still had power. Chase took another step toward me, like he was marking his territory and a flash of panic heated my belly. Not wanting to examine it for too long, or analyze if my reaction had anything to do with Ryder’s watching gaze, I raised my hand in a wave goodbye.
                  “Well, thanks for the pass Ryder,” I started walking backward, clutching my books to my chest and the thin yellow paper between my fingers tightly. “I better get to class, since I’ve missed so much already. See you guys at lunch.”
                  I didn’t wait for any response, but turned on my heel and high-tailed it out of there. Ok, weird morning. But at least I had been sufficiently distracted from thoughts of Nix, my mother, or what was waiting for me at home tonight.

Chapter Nine
     
                  “Thanks again for the ride,” I offered for the fourth time. Chase sat across the armrest in the driver’s seat of his tan Honda Civic sedan and smiled at me. It was obvious I was stalling, but I was hoping he thought it was just because I wanted to spend time with him.
                  Which I kind of did. Chase was easy to be around, there was no hidden agenda, no evil plans for my future or even my pants. I could breathe. And breathing was the most important thing in my life right now.
                  “We could go do something if you’re not ready to go home yet?” he answered back intuitively.
                  “No, I’m ready,” I whispered weakly and then realized how lame I sounded. “What I mean is that it isn’t that. I just…. um, this is nice.” I motioned back and forth between us with my pointer finger. He grabbed onto it yanked my arm forward playfully. His fingers grazed the inside of my palm slowly, barely touching but capturing all of my attention.
                  “This is nice,” he gave me his charming smile, the one that melted normal girls’ insides and then somehow, through tricky moves only boys can pull off, his hand was now holding mine. “So tomorrow is Friday….” he started suggestively.
                  “Finally,” I breathed out in relief because I was supposed to, because it was expected. Every sixteen year old looked forward to the weekend. It was the way of life. But truthfully, with Nix around I preferred to be in school over the freedom of the weekend, not to mention the cocktail party tomorrow night that was bound to leave bone marrow deep scars and painful emotional trauma on my psyche.
                  “And I was thinking maybe I could take you out….?” He spoke his words slowly, carefully, like he was nervous and unsure. He was adorable, I couldn’t deny that.
                  “Tomorrow night?” I gulped, wishing more than anything I could say yes. He nodded, while his deep blue eyes begged me to say yes, not to let him down. “I can’t,” I groaned and there was nothing but sincerity behind my tone. “I have this family thing and there’s no way I can miss it.” I pushed out a playful pout and moved my thumb back to graze