Practice Kissing With The Bad Boy

9: The Raw Deal

TAYA's POV :

"Just one grand romantic declaration, was that really too much to ask?" I groaned as I threw my body lazily on Hallee's bed.

"All I wanted was for Blake to turn the car around, get out, and declare his undying love for me. I would've taken him back in a heartbeat!"

"What a stinkin' bastard! I still can't believe he left you on the side of the road just like that," Hallee followed suit.

"Well, maybe it was my fault. I was the one who told him to go and I was being a real b***h too," I shrugged.

"Still, how could he do that to a girl? Maybe we should tell RJ about this, so he can have a little talk with Blake?"

"And bring about the second wave Coronavirus? I don't think so. Hals, you've promised you're not gonna tell anyone about this,"

"Ah, fine," she sighed in defeat.

After the fiasco that was my first date, I went over to Hallee's the next day and told her everything. Blake had been trying to reach me, but I kept ignoring his calls. I figured if he really wanted to talk to me, he would just come and see me.

Sadly, he never did.

"It was a good thing you ran into Judah though. He got you home safe and sound," Hallee said again.

"Yeah..."

"Is there something going on between you and Judah?" she raised an eyebrow at me suddenly.

"What? No!"

"Are you sure? My love-radar seems to be detecting something," her eyes held a playful glint.

"Your love-radar sucks. And plus, I think he has a girlfriend. He was with a girl that night. He called her ‘babe’,"

"Aw," she said, sounding disappointed. "And speaking of Judah, did you talk to him about the play yet?"

"No, but I'll do it tomorrow,"

"You're coming to school tomorrow?” Hallee shot me a worried look. “You know the principal's making everyone go to that stupid homecoming game. You're gonna have to see Blake there,"

"It's fine, I can handle it," I said coolly.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I'd been ignoring his calls and messages all day and night. I got real good at it," I said reassuringly.

“You sure?” she asked again. This time, I knew I couldn’t lie. Hallee could read me like a book.

I let out a defeated sigh and said, “Hal… why don't he want me as a girlfriend? Am I not girlfriend material, is that it?”

“You’re absolutely girlfriend material Taya Williams!” she responded quickly. “If there ever comes a day when I’m not into guys anymore, you’d be the first person to know,” she winked in addition.

I knew she was trying to make me feel better, but I still felt like a sore loser.

“Am I not pretty enough or interesting enough?” and then the thought occurred to me, “Or am I a bad kisser?”

Blake was the only guy I had ever kissed, if you didn’t count the window incident, and I wasn’t counting that. I was very inexperienced, and Blake had been with so many girls. Maybe I wasn’t good enough? Or maybe he got bored of me?

“Don’t think like that, Tay. I think this says more about Blake than this is about you,” Hallee said again.

That sounds like a good advice. But what if it is about me…? Am I really a bad kisser?

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The dreaded Friday finally rolled along. All day long, I kept telling Hallee that it wasn’t going to bother me to have to see Blake at the game today, but obviously, that was a lie. It bothered me a whole lot.

The homecoming game kicked off as the cheerleaders, Viviane amongst them, led in boisterous chants and did their dance routine. Hallee kept rolling her eyes at Viv as she danced and pranced around seductively, while Gabe's mouth fell open at the sight of Maddie.

"Give it up for the Red Raiders!" Viv announced through the megaphone and the crowd cheered louder.

"And give it up for our captain, Blake Harrison!"

"Blake! Blake! Blake!" the crowd began to chant.

I could only let out a deep, long sigh as Hallee gave me a sorry look.

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By halftime, I couldn't take it anymore. I mean, why did people have to chant the quarterback's name every five seconds of the game?

I had been sitting there for forty five minutes, watching the crowd and the cheerleaders praising Blake like he was a king. This was all too much for me. In frustration, I told Hallee that I was going to the bathroom and I got myself out of there as soon as I could.

As I was making my way towards the bathroom, my eyes darted aimlessly around the back of the bleachers, and I caught a glimpse of a familiar face.

Judah was standing against the back of the bleachers, smoking his cigarette. The upbeat sound of the drums and loud cheering of the crowd was behind him, but his face held zero interest in whatever was going on in there. He took a long satisfactory drag of that cigarette, before blowing the white smoke out.

Seems like he had the right idea.

Taking a deep breath, I walked over to him and tapped his shoulder. When he turned to me, I just started singing:

"Hey, Jude..."

"Don't do it—" he grimaced.

"Don't make it bad. Take a sad song and make it better~" I continued on shamelessly, doing my best Paul McCartney.

"Ha-ha, nice, very original," he rolled his eyes. "You don't know how many times people have done that in my life,"

"Not enjoying the game are we?"

"See, this is why I think the whole country's education system is f****d. Like how is watching guys dance around in helmets' supposed to help me in my learning?"

"I'll take that as a no,"

He took another long drag before releasing the smoke through his nose this time.

"You feelin' alright, Blondie?" he turned to me, c*****g his head to the side.

"Yeah... I'm fine," of course I would say that. What would the alternative be?

There was silence in the air for a few seconds. He probably noticed something was off. I let out a sigh as I leaned against the bleachers, right next to him.

"Well, actually, no, I'm not alright,” I admitted. “This place sucks,"

"So what, you wanna get out of here or something?"

"Well... I can't," as much as I'd like to, I didn't want to get in trouble.

"You want a drag?" he offered me the cigarette in his hand.

"No," I shook my head quickly.

"So, why you comin' over to me for?"

"Why do you assume that I came over here because I wanted something from you?"

He narrowed his eyes at me and waited for me to continue.

"Well, actually..." I grinned sheepishly, "Hallee said that maybe we should hang out sometime. Run lines together and stuff,"

"Why would I wanna do that?" he scoffed.

"Look, this play means a lot to her. All her life, she has wanted to be a playwright. She's gonna submit this play to NYU, so this might be her ticket to making it there. And Hallee means a lot to me. So please, can we at least try?"

He let out an annoyed sigh.

"It won't be too hard. We can just meet up after school and do some extra practice together," I said again.

"That sounds like a lot of work,"

"Come on, Judah, please?" I tried one of Hallee's famous puppy-eye tricks.

Judah bit his lower lip as a naughty grin appeared on his face.

"Okay," he said suddenly, catching me off-guard. "But, I have one condition,"

"What is it?"

"The kissing scene had to be real,"

"The hell it is!" I gaped.

"See here Blondie, I don't do anything half-assed. So if I'm gonna do this for real, I'm doing this for real alright,"

"But — that's not — I can't —"

"We'll look hella stupid if we're faking it and expect people to believe it was real,"

"But... it's... actual kissing?"

"So?" he scoffed. "It's just kissing. It's just like eating cake. You do it. Most times it tasted good. Sometimes not so much. That's it,"

"Maybe for you, you've done it like a thousand times. But that's not the case with me,"

Judah shot me a look I couldn’t decipher. Suddenly, he licked his lips and said, "If experience was the issue, you know I could help with that, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"We could practice it, the kissing stuff. I'll teach you how to kiss and we put on a great show for your friend. Hell, I could even make you a damn good kisser by the end of all that,"

The audacity that this guy has…!

"Ha!" I spat, "I see where you're going with this. Nice try, but no thanks,"

"Kissing is basically a sport. With enough technique and practice, you'd get it just right," he paused a second before saying, "It's just that girls always have to attach emotions to everything, you know,"

"We do not,"

"You do,"

"Some girls do, but not me,"

"Then prove it. Kiss me,"

My jaw fell off my horror-stricken face.

"I—I uh," I was stuttering, my eyes blinking rapidly.

Judah took the cigarette off his mouth and slowly leaned his face down to me. I was frozen in shock, not knowing how to react.

He took one look at my helpless face and that devilish smirk played on his face. His lips moved closer, and he was parting his mouth slightly, about to kiss me— or at least, that was I thought.

Instead, he blew out a cloud of white smoke through his lips and it landed straight across my face. I coughed instantly at the harsh cigarette smell as he laughed maniacally.

"Screw you!" I said in between my coughs.

"You two! What are you doing here?" suddenly we heard the loud angry voice that was Principal Finn, coming straight at us. "And put that away, Mr. Hudson! This is your first and only warning,"

Judah let out an annoyed sigh as he threw the cigarette butt on the ground and kicked it out of sight.

"Get back to the game, now, or it'll be detention for you two," he instructed sternly.

"Yes, Mr. Finn," the goodie-goodie in me couldn't help it. I bowed my head quickly and dragged Judah's lazy body away from the scene.

As Judah and I walked back around, trying to find some seats, I noticed this repulsive sight right in front of us. Blake was standing near the bleachers and Viv was running over to him. She swung her arms open and secured him with a hug. He held onto her too for a second, before letting her go. They were talking. They seemed happy.

My body tensed instinctively. Maybe he could sense that I was watching him, because Blake's head suddenly turned in my direction. Our eyes met and he kept his gaze on me for what felt like an eternity. I was looking right back at him too, waiting for his next move.

If this was a movie, Blake would be racing over to me to declare his undying love for me as the crowd roared supportively and rain started to pour. But no, my life was not 'A Cinderella Story'.

Instead, Blake just stood there, and a few moments later he glanced away, breaking eye contact.

"That's not a good look on you, Blondie," Judah's husky voice cut through the air.

"What look?"

"Disappointment and jealousy,"

"I'm not jealous,"

"Ah, here we go, high school drama,"

"Seriously, screw you," I stood by my previous statement.

"Please do," he grinned and I rolled my eyes at him, before smacking his arm.

"Ouw," he winched, and he responded by flicking his finger on my forehead. I replied by shoving him away as he laughed.

"But that, now that look suits him," his head motioned to where Blake was standing. At this point, Blake was staring intently at me, or rather, at us.

There was something in that stare. Was that jealousy in his eyes?

This probably sounded really bad, but this was the first time this entire night where I didn't feel like a complete loser. Finally, Blake could understand what I felt when I saw him around Viv and those cheerleaders.

And suddenly, I had an epiphany.

"Hey!" I said abruptly. "On second thought, let's do it,"

"Huh?"

"Practice kissing. Eating cake, whatever you call it, let's do it... starting now!"

Before Judah could say anything else, I grabbed him by his jacket and pulled him close. My lips found him and I kissed him hard and hungrily. I could tell he was shocked, but my lips continued their demand, ignoring his protests.

When I felt like we had kissed long enough, I pulled away, and Judah's face was just full of shock and disbelief. Meanwhile, I noticed the loud cheering and oohs coming from the crowd, directed for us and not for the game.

I wondered if that got Blake's attention.

My face turned to where Blake was standing. Blake had his helmet off and I could see the anger in his eyes and his face was burning red. I might go to hell for this, but I totally enjoyed seeing him like this.

Blake glared at Judah, and Judah just stood there with a winning smile on his face. The tension was so palpable, you could cut it with a box cutter. And although I was the one who started all this, it felt as if I was the one caught in the crossfire.

Thankfully enough, the piercing sound of the whistle roared through the air, signaling the beginning of the second half of the game. Blake's jaw was clenched tightly as he took one last look at Judah, then to me, before he turned back towards the field.

"Well, that was intense," I let out a quick relieved sigh.

"So, we're really doing this?" Judah turned his gaze to me.

I had never felt more like a winner in my life. My judgment was now clouded over my intense desire to get back at Blake... or to get back with Blake.

"Yeah, why not? You said it yourself, it's just like eating cake," I shrugged.

There was a glimmer in his eyes as he heard my response.

"Alright then, I'll see you later for practice," Judah suddenly grabbed my chin and tilted my face to him. He leaned in dangerously close and I could taste his cigarette-flavored breaths hitting my cheeks.

Without any warning, he then planted a short sweet kiss on my lips. My mouth had parted itself instinctively, but he pulled away quickly, leaving me hanging.

"This should be fun," said the smirking devil.

My eyes followed him as he turned around and jumped off the bleachers in one swift move. Principal Finn chased after him as he dashed towards the parking lot, and the crowd cheered on for him. Amongst the crowd, I noticed Hallee was staring at me in disbelief.

And when I turned my head back to the field, Blake was standing there, looking straight at me with fire in his eyes.

Oh, God... what on earth did I just get myself into?

Suddenly I felt so parched. I needed water. No, scratch that, I needed holy water.

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- - - To Be Continued - - -