Chapter Two: Life Sucks When You're Seventeen

Disclaimer: The only thing I own is…well, nothing. So you can determine from that I do not own anything in this story, save for the story itself. Woo hoo.

The next morning, I woke to the sound of voices downstairs. I rolled over and glanced at the clock and saw that it was only nine o'clock. Who in the world would be here at nine on a Saturday morning?

I felt something prickling at my leg, and looked down to see my cat, Merlin, crawling along my bed. I sat up and picked him up saying, "Merlin, I had the strangest dream last night. I dreamt that Crudhead said he was in love with me, and then he gave me this engagement ring the size of Tibet. Isn't that just the stupidest thing you've ever heard?" Merlin just looked at me with his big, speculating eyes and meowed. I rubbed my cheek against his fur.

"I know. I'm so glad he never found out about that crush I had on him last year." I knew it would be the end of me if he ever did find out.

I ran my hand down Merlin's back and was about to put him down on the floor, when something sparkly caught my eye. I lifted my hand and squinted at it.

Oh, God, I thought. It wasn't a dream. The diamond was as bright as it had been the night before.

I leapt out of bed using every curse and profanity I knew to damn Cleon to a fiery hell, and managed to stub my toe in the process.

"OWWW!!! Stupid bed! That HURT! I hate you! I hate all of you!" I know yelling at inanimate objects in your bedroom doesn't really do much to help the situation, much less your state of mind, but it helped to ease the pain. It also helped draw every single person in the house to the sound of my voice.

Great going, Keladry. Now they know you're up. I had been planning to sneak out my window and run to the library, but no such luck.

My mom barged into my room, followed by Mrs. Kennan, Freddie, and of course, Cleon. They saw me standing in the center of my bedroom, wearing nothing but my pajamas and holding my toe, and all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Honey, are you all right? We heard you scream and thought you'd hurt yourself." My mom came closer to inspect my foot.

"I'm fine, mom. Just stubbed my toe." I carefully placed my foot back on the ground, and winced when I saw Cleon ogling me. My pajamas aren't the most modest things in the world. I used to sleep in the nude, until Freddie found out and crept over early one morning and took pictures of me to blackmail me with. That was not the best episode in my life.

So I took to wearing shorts and a tee-shirt to bed, though there's not much of them. On this particular day, I was wearing a pair of very short shorts and a very tight top. You can just imagine Cleon's reaction.

He stood there like an idiot, with this really stupid I'm-a-moron look on his face. Freddie noticed this as well, and nudged him with her elbow. He came back to reality with a clearing of his throat as he shifted from foot to foot and looked at everything in the room but me.

I glared at him. This whole toe thing was his fault, anyway.

My mom patted my head and gave my cheek a little peck. "Well, get dressed and come downstairs. Cleon says he's got something to tell everyone…" she trailed off as her attention was drawn to a tiny sparkle coming from my finger. She grabbed at the sparkle in question and stared at my ring.

I closed my eyes and prayed she wouldn't ask anything about it. And prayed that Cleon would keep his stupid mouth shut.

"Where did you get this? It looks like an engagement ring. Are you engaged? When did this happen? Who are you engaged to? Well, what have you got to say for yourself?" Seriously, how does she expect a person to answer when they're being bombarded with questions like machine gun bullets?

I was about to answer when Cleon stepped forward.

Oh, God, was my only thought.

"Ah, Mrs. Wilson, I gave her the ring." Well, thanks so much, Cleon. You've officially made my life a living hell.

With the evilest look I could muster, I glared at him until he was shifting his feet again.

Meanwhile, my mom, Mrs. Kennan, and Freddie were all looking at me, waiting for a response. I glanced back at my mom who was still holding my hand with the ring, and then glanced back at Cleon.

Hell, it's just this week and one summer. How bad could it be?

"Um…yeah. Cleon asked me to marry him last night and I said yes." I let out a weak laugh. There, that wasn't so horrible. In fact, the whole fake-engagement thing was starting to be pretty fun.

Everyone stared at me, stunned into silence. No one spoke a word. Then Freddie cleared her throat and said, "So…how about breakfast?"

Mrs. Kennan mumbled something that I supposed was agreement, and my mom narrowed her eyes at me before following Freddie and Mrs. Kennan out of my room, leaving me and Cleon alone. I waited until I could hear them puttering around in the kitchen before I turned on Cleon.

"You MORON!" I stomped over to the door and slammed it shut. I whirled back to face him and saw him grinning at me with that idiotic smile of his. I growled at him.

"Do you have any idea how sexy you look at the moment?" He stepped closer to me and reached out a hand as though to touch my hair. I slapped it away.

"I don't care! You are a pig and a moron! I hate you! I hate you!" I kicked my bed again and howled as my already stubbed toe felt the wrath of my anger.

"Now that hurts me, Keladry. Really, it does. Here I was, thinking I could get you to fall madly in love with me, and you go and say something like that." He sniffed and wiped an imaginary tear away from his eye.

For some reason, I felt the urge to laugh. Just burst out laughing. Because the urge was so intense, I just stepped forward and smacked Cleon's head.

"You really are a moron." I stalked over to my bed, deliberately avoiding the wooden leg in the corner, and sat down. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get dressed."

"Okay." He just stood there.

I raised my eyebrow at him. "I meant for you to leave the room."

Cleon grinned at me. "Hey, we're engaged. Can't I at least watch you get undressed? It'll be like you're stripping for me!"

He looked so excited, like a little boy, that I had to laugh this time. "No way. Get out."

I stood up and was about to shove him out of the room when he grabbed me and crushed me against his chest. Now, I've known for a while that Cleon worked out, but I've never actually been close enough to see if it made any difference. And let me tell you, it does. His chest was like a block of steel. It was hard! But being pressed up against him was kind of weird, and he was starting to hurt my arms anyway, so I tried to wiggle away.

He groaned. "You're killing me here, Kel." I stopped wiggling to look up at him. Sure enough, he had a look of great pain on his face.

I grinned. "Am I? Well, we don't want that." I was about to knee him where every man fears to be injured when he lowered his head closer to mine.

I jerked back. "What are you doing?"

He said nothing, just smirked and pressed his lips to mine. Of all the strange and infuriating things he'd done in the last twenty four hours, this was the worst. Not only was this the worst, it was also the one that felt best.

Now, I'm not saying that I've never been kissed before, because I have, but it's never been like this. This felt like…I don't know…it just felt right. Like I'd been waiting my whole life for it.

I guess Cleon thought I wasn't enjoying it, probably from the fact that I hadn't moved an inch, because he pulled back and let go of me.

"I better go downstairs," he mumbled with this sort of rejected look on his face. Anyone who knows Cleon will know that when Cleon looks sad, he looks like a little lost puppy. That one look always gets to me.

He turned away and walked toward the door. I snapped out of my trance just as his hand touched the doorknob.

"Wait!" He turned his head in surprise, and I threw myself at him, sending him crashing into the door. I locked my legs around his waist and fused my mouth to his. I had obviously caught him by surprise, because he staggered a bit.

He wrapped his arms around my waist to keep the both of us from falling to the floor.

I let go and slowly slid down his body. "Hmm…well." That was not what I'd intended to do. "I'm going to get dressed now." I spun around and began rifling through my closet, more to keep my hands busy than to find clothing.

Cleon let out a deep breath. "Uh, yeah. Downstairs." I heard him fumble with the doorknob before he managed to get it open and let himself out, closing the door behind him.

I lowered myself to the floor.

"Oh, God," I moaned and put my head in my hands. "This is bad. This is very bad." And indeed it was. Who would've guessed that Cleon would have such a marvelous mouth? I had no idea how I was going to survive the summer.

I whimpered and pressed my fingers to my lips. Life sucks when you're seventeen. No, make that life suck when you're seventeen and pretending to be engaged to your worst enemy and just found out that he is the best kisser in the entire world and has the sexiest body ever.

This was really, really bad.