CHAPTER THREE

Clayton

"Unpacking sucks." I tossed the last of my boxers in the top dresser drawer.

I didn't even have much, but still, it felt like it took me all day when I needed to get prepped for my first day with Doc at his clinic tomorrow.

"What'd you say?" Mom asked as she strolled in. "Whoa. Looks like a tornado hit here."

Boxes littered the floor. My bed was a mess, but I didn't care. My computer desk was set up in the corner, and my clothes were mostly hung up. That was all that mattered.

Now I needed to get my stuff ready for tomorrow.

"Do me a favor, huh?"

"Mom. I want to—"

"You want to take the trash to the curb? Awww, thank you for offering. That's so sweet."

So not what I was going to say, but when she joked like that...she wasn't really joking. And the sooner I got that done, the sooner I could hop online and get more research done on the football team.

I was meeting with a handful of them tomorrow for their pre-scans, and I had to be ready. My first day as a research assistant. Holy test tubes.

"Dr. Asgarth said he stopped by the school today to officially meet you." Mom followed me out of my room.

She peeked into Jordan's as we passed by and must have been okay with what she'd seen because she kept following me.

"Yeah, Doc stopped by. He's cool."

"He's been good to Jordan, too. He swung by here to say hi." She grinned as she held the pantry door open. "This trash, and the one in the hall bathroom, please."

I must have smirked because she tilted her head, and her blue eyes narrowed. No one sassed Mom and got away with it. I hopped into trash collector duty and hustled out the side door off the kitchen. The scorching sun hammered down on me instantly.

Early August sun in the desert was so not like North Dakota sun. At least the humidity wasn't so bad. Man, that pool sure was calling my name...

No. I needed to get studying. Facing off with five football players tomorrow for baseline scans was not going to be easy. Challenging their sport with a concussion study...yeah, I so wasn't going to be the popular kid on the block.

Not that I ever was.

Or ever would be.

I trekked around the corner and down the small sidewalk beside the house. Some rustling from our neighbors mimicked my sounds...probably doing the trash as well. Each of these houses and yards were pretty cookie-cutter, so their trash area was probably in the same space mine was.

No time to meet them, though, so I hustled to the trash bin, threw open the side gate and hauled ass to the curb.

"You a Vampire Hunter or something?"

I whipped around at a girl's voice.

There stood Megan. Bikini top and all. Holy crap, a bikini top. I diverted my focus to the ground as heat steamed my face.

"Now that's a first," she said, dragging the trash bin behind her. "A guy choosing not to look at a chick's chest. Impressive."

Her flip-flop caught a rock, and she stumbled. I jetted forward, my hands outreached. "Here. Let me."

"Back off, Nerdacious. I got this."

Nerdacious? "That's a new one."

"What?" She trounced to the end of her driveway, and I glanced up enough to catch a grin on her face.

"Nerdacious?"

She shrugged and plopped the bin on the sidewalk, then turned around, arms crossed over her chest.

"So...how the heck do you know me?"

"You live here?" I pointed to her house.

"Don't change the subject."

"Wait, did you call me a Vampire Hunter?" I asked.

"Seemed fitting since you insinuated I was a vampire earlier with your ash comment. What was that about, anyway?" She inched closer to me. "I—we haven't met before."

"Don't remember the closet, then?"

She froze. Her mouth was open and her eyes wide, which was surprising considering the sun beaming down. She wore a neon pink bikini top, covering very tanned skin, and a matching skirt, which covered her bathing suit bottom.

"Closet?" She looked down. "Closet. I was...in a closet with you?"

I was pretty forgettable to the opposite sex, I understood that. I'd come to terms with that years ago, but she freaking had her head in my lap. How could she not remember that?

I pushed my glasses up and turned toward the open door to my backyard. "Whatever."

Faster than I registered it, her fingers curled around my arm, just above the elbow. And yes, I felt every bit of contact against my bare skin. Her hands were warm, and her grip strong.

"I don't remember. I...had a—"

"Migraine. I know. You stumbled into my lab—"

"Your lab? The one with all of the microscopes and fancy equipment?" She laughed. "That's totally my lab." She whipped me around. Little thing was strong.

"Yours?" I laughed. "Don't see many cheerleader types in a science lab."

"Wow. Stereotyping me much? You know, I kinda want to deck you right now."

"With the grip you're packing, I'm sure it would hurt, and I couldn't stop you. But you better think twice. I might not lend you my lap the next time you drag me into a closet to escape the bright light during your next episode."

She released me and shook her head. "Your...what?"

Now, that was just rude continuing with the bull crap. Nobody just forgot something like that. And we were alone right now, she didn't have a rep to protect by denying it. "Whatever, vampire girl. I'll be sure to not acknowledge you in front of your clones."

"Seriously? You did not just say that to me."

I hustled toward my open gate, hoping to escape this chick. She was easy on the eyes, but what kind of game was she playing that she didn't even know me?

I couldn't wrap my brain around what was going on with her, either. She suffered migraines, fine, but completely forgetting that she met me? Nope. No way. Unless she was on drugs? Maybe I was doing the stereotyping thing again, but she either was totally making all of this shit up or she had other issues going on.

I glanced over my shoulder. Crap. She was walking toward me. Oh, man, if looks could kill.

But then she stopped. She buried her fingers in her hair and turned around, showing me her back. Slowly walking away. I might have dodged a bullet there. Maybe it was a good thing she didn't know who I was after all.

I faced the pool in my backyard and took in a deep breath.

Perhaps I did have time for a quick dip before getting back to my computer.

"Take a deep breath."

A violent push to my back sent me stumbling forward, straight into the pool.

The water drowned out the laughter behind me.

***

MEGAN

Dang it, I should have videoed that.

Nerdacious flopped around in the water, but it looked like he could swim all right, so I didn't worry. Instead, I enjoyed the sight of that deceptively cute nerd thrashing around.

"What the heck?" He grabbed onto the edge with one hand and slid off his thick glasses with the other.

The sun shone down on his green eyes like a spotlight, and they looked more like emeralds than eyes. And that grin—wait, he was smiling after I shoved him into the water?

I liked that. A guy with a sense of humor.

I wouldn't have guessed that with a science-type guy. Usually they're all awkward and...odd.

Then again, most cheerleaders wouldn't have purple hair and a lip ring.

He blinked a few times and ran a hand over his face, sending water droplets flying.

Damn.

He's not bad to look at.

Not at all.

The corners of his lips tugged into a big smile. "Is this how you welcome everyone to the neighborhood?"

"Oh yeah, totally. The Elderman's, they're in their eighties. We almost had to call an ambulance." I laughed and he joined in.

"But for real, that's what you get." We kept laughing until I doubled over, my sides clenching and stomach tensing from laughter. "Oh, my gosh. I totally got you!"

"Having fun out here?" A woman's voice from the side came into the picture.

I whipped around to find a tall, thin woman strolling toward me with a smile plastered across her face. The same green eyes my cute Nerdacious neighbor had.

"Megan Reynolds." I waved. "Next door neighbor."

She quirked an eyebrow, then leaned to the side, more than likely to see about her son...at least I assumed it was his mom considering she shared the exact same eyes.

Dang, these guys hit the jackpot in the eye category.

"I'm Caitlin, Clayton's mom. Nice to meet you."

"Same." I smiled.

"Saw your handy work from inside." She nodded at me and let out a chuckle.

Behind her lay three massive picture windows that opened to the main living area. Exactly like my house.

"Didn't know Clayton had made any friends yet," his mom said.

His name was Clayton?—oh dear, Nerdacious really did fit him.

"So that's his name." I shook my head. "Couldn't get anything from him, so I called him Vampire Hunter."

Caitlin laughed. "Oh dear. Vampires? That's a new one."

Water sloshing behind me dragged my attention from his mom. At least she wasn't freaking out on me or anything for pushing him in. Maybe she had a little cool factor, and it'd just skipped Clayton.

"Hold your breath," Clayton's voice rang out from behind me as cold fingers latched onto my arm, and I fell backward.

I plugged my nose just as my back hit the water, and the bubbles rushed over me. I pushed off the bottom and broke the surface, laughing. I might suck in some water if I didn't settle down. More laughing bounced around the air, and I shoved my bangs from my eyes so I could see what was going on.

He'd snuck out of the pool when I was focused on his mom and grabbed my arm.

Sneaky.

I liked it.

"Dinner's in fifteen," Caitlin said as she turned and walked away, shaking her head. But I heard her laughing.

Yep. Definite cool-factor there.

Clayton—no, it'd be Clay for now—held onto the edge a few feet from me, his green eyes analyzing me through his splattered glasses.

"Nice one," I said, treading toward him.

"I can't believe you did that." He ran his hand through his damp, shaggy hair.

The soaked t-shirt clung to his body. It wasn't muscle-clad like the football players, but it was tight and lean. Almost like a runner's body.

"You deserved it," I said.

"Me? Whatever, Miss I Don't Remember You." He shook his head.

That was the thing I hated most about my head injury. Damn memory issues. Well, no, I hated the migraines the most because they hurt like a bitch. Second, were the memory issues. Ever since the accident, I started forgetting things. Short-term memory things. Like meeting Clayton in the science lab. It didn't always happen, but when it did, it was really inconvenient—not to mention embarrassing.

He'd talked to me, like we'd met, and I had no recollection of it. It sucked, because there was no way for me to know if someone was messing with me or being totally honest.

Either way, I couldn't tell him my brain was broken. Well, I could, but I didn't want to. People already looked at me like I was an alien and treated me like a fragile doll.

But he...he yanked me into a pool. None of my friends would have done that for fear of breaking me. It was nice, normal too, so if I had my way, I'd never tell Clay about my issues. Then again, how was I going to explain not remembering him thing?

"So. You're the new kid next door." I'd floated down to the shallow end of the pool where I could finally reach the bottom, so I put my feet down and stood a few feet from him. "Nice glasses."

Yeah, distract him a little. Change the subject. Even though the subject was a little distracting to me. I liked his glasses. He looked like a young Ryan Gosling in all those Hey Girl memes.

No, he was even cuter with his full lips and wicked-awesome eyes. I loved the way his hair flipped up just above the ears, too, now that he'd shuffled through it with his fingers.

He just stared at me, his eyes wide, and then shifted away from me slightly. Maybe I had a booger. I wiped my nose and reached for the edge beside him. Drops of water slid along his thick lenses. He pushed his glasses up and glanced away.

Shyness overload. It somehow made him even cuter.

"Where are you from?" I asked

He cleared his throat. "North Dakota."

"Yikes. That's practically the North Pole! You're gonna melt down here. You a senior?"

"Junior."

I would have pegged him as older. While his eyes were big and bright, they looked...old. Like he had a lot on his mind. Carried around a lot of baggage.

"Not that you'll remember..." He went to push himself up, but I grabbed his arm.

"Wait. So, the lab. It's...what were you doing in there?"

"Softening your fall to the tile floor in the closet."

"No. Really. I mean, what were you doing in the lab? Especially before school starts and stuff?"

"I'm gonna be doing some work in the lab for Mr. Schwartz."

"The science teacher?" I slapped the water. "And you're already at school, prepping like a good boy, two whole weeks before we have to head back?"

"I'm starting to think this welcoming committee gig isn't for you, Vampire Girl. Might need to find a new line of work."

I laughed.

He really was funny.

"I like you're sense of humor. That's good. I can work with that."

He ran his hand through his hair again and sighed. "Look. I have to go. I've got work—"

"Your mom said dinner was in fifteen minutes. That's just enough time to do this!" I palmed his head and dunked him.

He gave absolutely no resistance. Just slid under without a fight. Okay, he was going to need some work if—

Two hands grabbed my ankles and yanked me under.

Oh...but he was a quick thinker.

***********

Happy Saturday, Lovelies!

Thank you to bookishbronte for coming up with Clayton's mom's name! 

Hope you enjoyed this update! 

I'll be updating GUTTER GIRL soon as well! 

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Sincerely,

Kelly Anne Blount and LynnRush xoxo