The Perfect Candy

Chapter 19: Meet the Family

Coop wasn't surprised to find himself on the receiving end of Candy's glare when he walked into class. Her friend, Cyn, sitting in her usual seat in front, shot him an empathetic smile and small shrug, but turned away just before Candy looked in her direction. He felt a grin on his own face as well as he slid into the seat behind her and leaned forward to whisper in her ear. "Is something wrong? You look upset."

"Class is starting," she snapped at him without turning to face him. "No talking."

"Actually," Cyn said from her two seats up, amusement in her voice, "class doesn't start for another three minutes."

"So for tutoring tonight, Spence has agreed to meet us at my house. I can take you home afterwards."

She whipped around to level him with a glare. "I agreed to meet Spence at Bananza."

"I want you to meet my mom." He thought he'd said its softly, just for her to hear, but he heard the sharp intake of breath as Cyn turned enough to look at him with widened eyes and followed the way Candy's gaze slid across the room uneasily. People were staring and whispering. He didn't care. "Please."

After some sort of internal struggle, she met his eyes with a determined light in her own. "Fair's fair, but I'm still angry."

"Would an apology fix it?"

A small smile creeped out just as the bell rang. "Class is starting."

***

He wanted her to meet his mom. Candice was riding high on an odd mix of excitement and anxiousness that only grew as the day went on. She heard the people around her whispering her name, she saw the looks of jealousy, contempt, confusion, and even interest. How had she managed to catch the interest of someone like Cooper? It wasn't their business though, and she didn't owe anyone an explanation.

Seraphina hadn't tried to confront her at all, and that was something that she found strange. Though they'd only really had those three run-ins, Candice had been going to school with the other girl since they'd both been in kindergarten. Seraphina wasn't the kind of girl to consider things even; she was the kind to keep terrorizing the world until she'd gotten whatever it was that she wanted.

"Hey Candy, hold up!" Pulled out of her thoughts, Candice turned at the sound of her name and found Matt jogging up to her with a grin. "You've got the whole school talking, you know?"

"Seems like a ridiculous thing to be whispering about," she replied with a shrug as he fell into step beside her on her way to the school's entrance. "People get into relationships all the time. Look at you and Jay."

"Oh, ouch," he feigned a wince and clutched at his heart with a wink. "What a subtle way to call us out."

She smiled softly and looked over at him thoughtfully. "You're a charismatic guy in high school, it would be odd if you didn't get into a string of relationships."

"Thanks?" he asked laughingly. "Anyway, Fay told Jay that you and Coop were coming to the party tomorrow night, right? Guess I'll see you then."

With a wave, he split off towards the football field just as Cooper appeared beside her. "What did he want?"

Candice shot him a sideways look and smiled at his tone. "For someone who didn't have any problem spending time with another guy's girlfriend, you're sounding dangerously close to jealousy."

He lifted her bag off her shoulder and slid it onto his before grabbing her hand and leading her toward the parking lot. "Because I know just how tempting it can be."

"Are you tempted?"

Cooper looked back at her as they made their way to his car. "Not even a little."