Protect My Heart Read online

  “Thanks,” Maya said as she hurried us toward the two men.

  The girls at school referred to Mr. Lund by his first name, Shane, as they gossiped about him in the girl’s locker room before PE. I didn’t have any classes with him, so I’d never had the chance to notice whether his eyes were turquoise green or not. Maya had, of course, confirmed that his eyes were the dreamiest color of green she’d ever seen and he smelled even better than he looked. All I noticed was that Mr. Lund was tall, with light hair, and wore clothes that looked way too expensive for his teacher’s salary.

  “Hi, Mr. Lund!” Maya waved as we came to stand on the grass at the edge of the sidewalk. “Coming to crash the party?”

  “Sadly, I wasn’t invited.” He smiled. With him in jeans and a T-shirt, I could understand how Maya would have a hard time picturing him as just a teacher. He looked like a regular guy. “We’re actually headed to a barbecue down the street.”

  “Darn it.” She twisted a strand of hair around her finger as she spoke. “So do you live around here? I haven’t seen you in the neighborhood before.”

  “Nah, Damian and I share an apartment closer to the school.” He gestured to his friend, who was a really big guy. He wasn’t quite as tall as Mr. Lund, but he looked like he spent a lot of time either at the gym or pumping up on steroids, or both. I couldn’t help but wonder whether his muscles were compensation for his receding hairline. When my eyes met his, I quickly directed my attention back to Mr. Lund. He was much less intimidating.

  “I don’t think I’ve met your friends yet.” Mr. Lund’s eyes wandered to Kathryn and me.

  “This is Emma.” Maya gestured. “And this is Kathryn.”

  Mr. Lund held out his hand.

  “It’s nice to meet you officially,” I said, shaking his hand. “Maya’s told me how awesome psychology is this year. I wish I had room in my schedule to take your class, with how fascinating she makes it sound.”

  “I’m happy to hear that.” He smiled. “You never really know how your first year is gonna go.”

  “From what I’ve heard around school, you’ve definitely made an impact.” As in, all the senior girls have a crush on you.

  I realized that the longer I stood there, the more it would look like I was a part of his fan club as well.

  But before I could pull Maya away, Damian asked, “How long have you girls lived in Maplebridge? It seems like a great place.”

  “I’ve lived here since I was five,” Maya replied with a smile on her full lips.

  “My family’s been here since before I was born,” Kathryn said.

  “I’m a native as well,” I offered.

  Damian’s eyes narrowed as he looked me up and down, seeming to commit my tall, slender frame to memory. Creepy. Maya always joked that I had a somewhat exotic look, with my olive skin, dark hair, and light-blue eyes, but the way he studied me made me think we’d talked to them a little too long. This Damian guy had to think we were totally hitting on them. Maya obviously was, but I was not in the market for a man, especially not a creepy older guy with biceps bigger than my thighs.

  “Anyway,” I said, tugging on Maya and Kathryn’s arms. “We have a party to get to. It was nice to meet you, Mr. Lund. You too, Damian.”

  The two men continued on to their destination, walking past a black truck that was pulling against the curb. I did a double take and gasped. Was that Arie, the guy from the store? Could he be coming to Landon’s party?

  Then I shook the thought away. Arie was probably going to the same barbecue as Mr. Lund and his friend. Wouldn’t that be a coincidence if they all knew each other? Maya’s crush and my new . . . my new nothing; I was on a boy-cleanse, after all. Arie was simply the guy I’d embarrassed myself in front of that day.

  Yeah, good thing he was going to the barbecue and not the party. It would be so mortifying if everyone found out about my grocery-store incident.

  “I’m glad you guys could make it,” Landon greeted us when we finally found our way into his backyard. He and Maya had been neighbors since kindergarten, so we’d spent plenty of time playing at his house while growing up.

  Landon’s knucklehead friends, Derek and Kalon, soon joined us. While Landon was super chill, his buddies were cocky and thought every girl was in love with them, which—though I hated to admit it—was kind of true.

  Derek sidled up to Maya and draped his arm around her shoulder. “How did you like watching me score the final touchdown in the game last night?” he asked, his wavy brown hair falling across his forehead.

  “What? You were there?” Maya rolled her eyes and shoved him away. “I didn’t even notice.”

  Derek took a drink from his cup, then said, “Ha-ha, very funny. I know you couldn’t keep your eyes off me.” He winked at her and gave her what I’m sure he thought was a charming smile.

  “Oh yeah,” she said as if remembering something. “You were the one who fumbled the ball three times. How could I forget that?”

  “Burn!” Kalon slapped Derek on the back.

  Maya never could resist pushing Derek’s buttons. I figured he needed a little humbling, though, to keep his head small enough to fit inside his helmet.

  “Okay, guys, that’s enough,” Landon interrupted. “Go try using your special charm on some other girls. Maya, Kathryn, and Emma are way too cool for you.”

  The guys began to walk away when Maya stopped them. “Hey, wait—that reminded me of something.”

  They stopped, probably hoping she’d suddenly become bewitched by their “special charm,” as Landon had put it.

  “My family is planning a date auction later this month, actually in just a couple weeks, and I’m supposed to help find volunteers to be auctioned off.”

  “You have our attention.” Derek cocked an eyebrow.

  “It’s for my nephew, Braden,” Maya continued. “He has to have open-heart surgery next month, so we’re putting on the event to raise money to help my sister and her husband pay for the medical expenses.”

  “And it’s going to be awesome!” I added. Maya had come up with the idea last week, and I’d been helping her and her mom with the plans since then.

  “Do you guys wanna participate?” Maya tucked her hair behind her ears, looking at them as sweetly as she could . . . which was a feat in itself since she couldn’t stand them most of the time.

  “Like, be auctioned off?” Kalon asked.

  We all nodded.

  “I’m sure just having you guys up for bid would raise a ton of money,” I added for good measure. I might as well cater to their egos while I was at it.

  Derek shrugged and glanced at his buddies. “It would be fun to see the ladies fighting over me.” He flexed his biceps as he spoke. “I’m in!”

  “Count me in, too!” Kalon chimed, folding his arms across his broad chest. “It’ll be fun to destroy Derek in this contest.”

  “Guys! This is not a contest,” Maya said.

  “Whatever! It’s totally a contest.” Derek nudged Kalon, a smug look on his face. “And I’m gonna win.”

  “I’m sure you will.” Maya sighed. “I’ll be handing out fliers at school on Monday, so you’ll get all the details then.”

  “Sounds great!” Derek rubbed his hands. “In fact, I’ll help you out right now by spreading the news that any girl can have the chance for a date with me. All it takes is a little money.” And with that, he and Kalon wandered off into the crowd.

  When they were out of earshot, Maya turned to Landon. “Seriously, I don’t know how you can stand hanging around those two.”

  “Ah, they’re not that bad.” He waved his hand. “Once you get to know them, they’re actually pretty funny.”

  “I think we’ll just take your word on that,” I said. “No need to spend any extra time with them to see if you’re right.” My eyes caught on someone in the crowd. I leaned closer to Kathryn and whispered, “Conner’s here.”

  Her fair skin immediately turned pink.

  “Let’s go
say hi,” I said.

  We were on our way to the table when I felt a tap on my shoulder. Brian Dastrup, my fifteen-year-old shadow, was standing behind me. What was he doing at a senior party? And why hadn’t my guy-dar warned me of his approach? Oh yeah—this was Brian. The butterflies in my stomach were immune to him.

  Brian was a few inches shorter than me, with black-rimmed glasses framing his hazel eyes. I first met him last year in concert choir, and I think he developed a crush on me while I was still dating Nick. He hadn’t asked me on a date since my breakup, but I figured that was only because his parents had the rule that he needed to be sixteen before he dated.

  I quickly told Kathryn and Maya I’d catch up with them in a minute, and then I turned back to Brian.

  “Hi, Brian,” I said warily, hoping he wasn’t about to ask me out. I’d seen him driving his blue car to school last week, which meant he’d turned sixteen over the summer.

  “Hey, Emma.” He seemed to be piecing his next sentence together in his mind before he spoke. “Has Mrs. Jolley said anything about who she chose for the open spot in Madrigals yet?” Madrigals is the audition chamber choir at our school and one of the choir’s best baritone’s had just moved. I had tried out each of the past two years and had been thrilled when I made the cut last spring.

  “No.” I shook my head. “Did you audition for it?”

  He nodded.

  When he didn’t offer anything more, I asked, “How’d it go?”

  “I thought I did great, but apparently, some other jerk will be stealing my spot,” he huffed.

  “Really? That’s too bad.” I made a show of frowning, though inside I was singing praises to Mrs. Jolley. “Do you know who she picked instead?”

  “She wouldn’t tell me. She said she wanted to surprise everyone on Monday. That’s why I was asking you since you’re the teacher’s aide.”

  Oh yeah, of course.

  “I wonder who it could be,” I said, my gaze drifting past Brian’s ear to spy on Conner and Kathryn. She looked nervous, but it seemed like they were having an actual conversation this time . . . Maya wasn’t even having to say much.

  Brian continued to talk to me for a few more minutes, giving the lowdown on every guy he knew had auditioned for the choir—all of whom sounded just fine to me, though Brian had a few arguments on that front.

  Eventually, I broke away and was able to hear the tail end of Conner and Kathryn’s conversation.

  “So tomorrow at four?” Kathryn said.

  Conner nodded, his boyish face beaming about the prospect of whatever it was they were planning. “See you then.”

  And with that, the conversation was over, and Conner and his best friend Troy were walking off with their cookies.

  “What did I miss?” I asked once they were gone. From the smile on Kathryn’s face, it looked like I’d just missed some sort of miracle.

  “He asked if I wanted to work on our English assignment together tomorrow.”

  “Ooh, so like a date!” I squealed. I might be on a boy-cleanse myself, but I could still be excited for my friend. Conner didn’t seem like the cheating kind of guy.

  “It’s not a date,” Kathryn said. “It’s just homework.” Though the huge smile on her face suggested otherwise.

  “Whatever it is, I’m so happy for you!” I hugged Kathryn.

  “You better call me after your date.” Maya grabbed a cookie from the table. “I’ll be expecting a play-by-play.”

  “Me too,” I said.

  The rest of the party wasn’t nearly as eventful as the first part had been. But we had a lot of fun hanging out with all our friends and dancing to the loud, upbeat music. By the time Landon’s parents shut the party down, I was tired and more than ready to leave. I almost tripped over my own feet when I spotted Arie among the departing crowd. He was standing against a tree a few feet away, by himself, looking at his phone. I didn’t think he saw me, but I did notice his lips twitch a little when I stumbled, like he was fighting a smile.

  What was he doing at a high school party anyway? I thought he was a few years older than me.

  Maybe he was friends with Landon’s older brother?

  CHAPTER FOUR

  EMMA

  AFTER LUNCH ON MONDAY, I met Kathryn by our lockers and walked with her to choir. Choir was one of my favorite classes for a couple of reasons: First, I never had homework assigned from it, which was always a plus. And second, I just really loved to sing. As an alto, I didn’t sing the melody in most songs, but it was fun harmonizing and figuring out where my notes fit in with the group. Kathryn was also an alto, so we were able to sit by each other during class, which was fun.

  “How did your study date with Conner go yesterday?” I asked as we walked past the auditorium on the way to the choir room.

  She blushed and bit her lip. “It was good.” Then in a low voice she said, “When we were sitting at the table, he sat close enough that our arms brushed a couple of times.”

  I laughed. Brushing arms with someone wasn’t usually that big of a deal, but when the guy you liked brushed arms with you, it was the best thing in the world. It had all sorts of hidden meanings that could be analyzed for hours.

  “I think he may like you,” I said in a singsong voice.

  “I don’t know. I-it probably meant nothing.”

  “I doubt it,” I said, smiling.

  We soon arrived at the choir room and found our seats. I glanced around the classroom and noticed someone new sitting in the bass section directly behind me. I had to take a second look when I realized it was Arie. What in the world was he doing in Madrigals? Was he like a student teacher or something? I’d never bumped into a stranger so many times in just a few days.

  Before I could say anything to him, Mrs. Jolley, our choir director, tapped her baton on the music stand.

  Mrs. Jolley was in her midthirties and had been teaching at Maplebridge High for the past ten years. She was short and peppy, and the students all loved her. “Welcome, students,” she said. “As you may have noticed, we have someone new in our class.” She gestured for Arie to join her at the front. He stood and made his way next to her, making her look like a midget next to his tall frame.

  “Everyone, this is Arie Blackwell, a new senior at our school. He just moved to Maplebridge and will be singing baritone in our choir. As you all know, I’ve been holding tryouts to fill the open spot. Lucky for us, Arie saw the sign-up sheet and came in. Once he auditioned, I knew I’d found the baritone for our choir. I’m sure you’ll agree with my decision once you hear him sing. He will also be joining in the All-State Choir this year.” Arie looked a little embarrassed at having Mrs. Jolley talk so much about him, but it could have been an act. “You may take your seat now, Arie.”

  Mrs. Jolley went on. “Speaking of All-State Choir, practices start this Saturday and will be held at Ridgecrest High. We don’t have a bus going down to these rehearsals, so I want to remind those participating that they are responsible for finding their own transportation.”

  I’d already made plans to drive with Kathryn, so I didn’t have anything to worry about.

  Later, as Mrs. Jolley led us through warm-ups, I couldn’t help but notice the deep melodic sound coming from behind me. Mrs. Jolley hadn’t been exaggerating when she said Arie had a great voice. His voice was warm and smooth, like melted chocolate drizzled over a strawberry. After listening for a moment, goose bumps rose all over my arms and neck against my will. Kathryn glanced at me and mouthed, “Wow.” I raised my eyebrows and nodded back. How could he get those looks and have that voice?

  When class was over, I tried to quickly stuff my folder into my backpack and get out of the classroom before I accidentally flirted with him. I couldn’t ruin my twelve-day streak. This was the longest I’d made it so far with my boy-cleanse.

  I peeked behind me as I zipped up my backpack, which was a mistake because Arie was looking right at me.

  “Hey,” he said when our eyes met. “I don’t kno
w if you remember me. We met at the store on Friday.”

  I gave him a bashful smile, remembering the embarrassing experience. “Yeah. That was me in all my glory.”

  “It’s Emma, right?” He remembered my name? Wow! I mean, not wow. Of course, he remembered. Players always did things like that to make a girl feel special.

  “That’s me. I’m surprised you remembered.” I only added that last bit so he wouldn’t think I was already on to him.

  He leaned forward and whispered, “Who could forget you after that fateful muffin attack?”

  I blushed. “I’d hoped you might have somehow forgotten that little incident.”

  He smiled. “Sorry, I’ll try to forget it now.” He closed his eyes briefly and then looked back at me again. “Okay, it’s forgotten.” He scrunched his eyebrows together and pointed a finger at me. “Have we met before? You seem really familiar.”

  “Har, har.” I shook my head and smiled despite myself. “Anyway,” I glanced at the clock, “it was good to see you again, Arie. I hope you have a great rest of your first day here.” I really needed to get away before I started falling prey to his charms. I was already having a hard time keeping my eyes off the cute dimple that formed when he smiled.

  “Hold on.” He reached into his backpack and drew out a folder. “Could you point me in the direction of AP English with Mrs. Hendrix?” He rifled through the papers in his folder until he found his class schedule, studying it for a moment. “This says it’s in room 2B, but I’ve been turned around all day.”

  That was my next class. I groaned inwardly. How was I supposed to continue with my plan of ignoring all the hot guys this year if I had the most tempting one ever constantly in my path?

  I pasted on a smile so it seemed like I wasn’t fazed by the idea of having one more class with him. “Actually, that’s my next class. I’ll walk you there if you like.” I should earn an Oscar for this performance.

  He stood. “That would be awesome. It will save me from ending up in the wrong classroom like I did this morning.” Arie looked down at me, and I noticed his eyes were a brilliant blue surrounded by dark lashes. “Is there anything I should know about AP English or Mrs. Hendrix before going into class?”