Shut Out by Kody Keplinger (the read aloud family .txt) 📕

up some of the books that needed to be shelved.

“Hey,” he said, pointing down at the stack of books in his arms. “Looks like someone else just finished reading Lysistrata. Maybe it was one of the other strike girls.”

“It could be,” I said.

He smirked and went on shelving while I walked upstairs to put away some of the children’s books. I’d just shelved a copy of Hop on Pop when Cash’s words hit me.

The strike.

Shit.

I felt sudden tears sting at the corners of my eyes as I realized,

with a miserable jolt, that I’d just been used again. That kiss hadn’t been Cash telling me he still liked me. He’d been trying to mess with me, to make me break my oath. He was using my feelings against me so that the boys would win.

I was an idiot to keep getting my hopes up.


chapter twenty-­four

“You okay, sweetheart?”

“Huh?” I looked across the dinner table at Dad. His forehead was creased with concern, his eyes searching my face. I blushed and turned away. Truthfully, I’d been thinking about what had happened with Cash in the library. “I’m fine, Dad. Why?”

“Nothing. You just seem quieter than usual,” he said. “I mean, you haven’t even asked me what I’ve eaten today or lectured me about the health risks of this steak I went behind your back and grilled.” He jabbed his fork into a pink, juicy piece of meat and brought it to his lips.

“Sorry.” I sighed. “I’m just… distracted. But you’re right. You really shouldn’t be eating that. You need to have a salad for dinner most nights. I’ll let it slide tonight, I guess.”

Dad chuckled and swallowed the bite of steak. “Oh, honey. Something has to be wrong. Normally you’d whisk the plate away and force a salad on me this instant. Is it Randy? Did you run into him at school or something?”

“No,” I said. “It’s… I’m just exhausted.” I pushed my plate away, the food barely touched, and got to my feet. “I’m going to go upstairs and lie down for a while, I think.”

“All right,” Dad said. “You’re sure you’re okay? Do you need some Tylenol or—”

“I’m fine,” I assured him. “I just need to… to relax. When Logan gets back from his date with Mystery Girl, can you have him take out the garbage, please?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks.” I walked over and kissed him on the cheek. “And enjoy the steak while you can. I’m getting back on my guard tomorrow.”

He grinned and took another large bite, clearly savoring it. After he’d chewed, he said, “Just yell if you need anything.”

I nodded and hurried upstairs. The truth was, I didn’t need to lie down, and I wasn’t tired. In fact, I was wide awake, my body still on edge from that kiss Cash and I had shared. What I really needed was to talk about it—and not with my father. God, that would have been a whole new level of awkward.

When I got to my bedroom, the first thing I did was call Chloe. I thought about dialing Ellen’s number, since I’d already confessed to her about my and Cash’s brief history, but somehow I needed Chloe for this one. After all, she always seemed to have the answers, even when the rest of us were clueless.

“What’s up, love?” Chloe asked as soon as she answered the phone.

I took a deep breath. “Okay,” I said. “I have something to tell you, and don’t be mad at me for hiding it because I was too embarrassed to talk about it, but now I need your help.”


“Whoa,” Chloe said. “Slow down. Is this some kind of freaky soap-opera scandal? Lissa Daniels, are you secretly a man?”

I let out my breath and laughed, and so did she. This was why I loved Chloe.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll try not to get mad. Now, what’s the deal?”

“I made out with Cash.”

“Wait—Cash Sterling? Holy shit. How did that happen? He doesn’t go that far with anyone, the tease.”

I flinched, remembering the way Randy’s friends had barked insults like that at me. Cock tease…

“I can’t believe this,” Chloe continued. “Okay, so when? Where? And, most important, how was it?”

“Today, the library… and”—I sighed—“fantastic. Even better than the first time.”

“The first time? What the fuck, Lissa?”

“Yeah, that’s the part I didn’t tell you about. Don’t be mad, okay?” And I proceeded to tell her about the party over the summer, how he’d kissed me and told me I was amazing, only to reject me in the end. I even told her about the goofy little Star Game. Chloe listened in silence until I’d finished.

Then she made a thoughtful noise before saying, “But he kissed you again. That’s got to mean something.”

“It means he’s an asshole.” I flopped onto my bed, stretching out on my back and staring up at the ceiling with my cell tucked between my shoulder and ear. “I thought it meant something at first, too, but then he mentioned the strike and I realized what he was doing. His plan this weekend didn’t work, so he was trying a

different strategy. He knows I like him, and he was trying to get me to break my oath.”

“Hmm, maybe,” Chloe said. “Or maybe he’s hot for you and just thought making out with you on the library floor seemed like a good idea.”

“I wish,” I admitted quietly, knowing Chloe could hear me, knowing I could trust her. “It just makes more sense for it to be tied to the strike, though. Otherwise, why now? Why do this after he’s told me he’s leading the boys’ side? If he really liked me, he would have acted on it this summer. I opened the door for him. We both know I don’t do that often. And he left me hanging.”

“Look, Lissa, even if he doesn’t like you the way you like him, he’s clearly more attracted to you than to any other girl in Hamilton,” she pointed out. “I don’t know of anyone else he’s kissed, and he’s kissed you twice now. So cheer up, because he has to be attracted to you.”

“Right, he just doesn’t think I’m ‘special’ enough to actually date,” I said, thinking back to the awkward moment at the lunch table last week. “Forget how I feel about him—I just want to win. To show him that his sneaky little plans won’t work on me. On any of the girls… Hey, wait a second.” I bolted upright. “I’ve got it. I know how to win.”

“Uh-huh,” Chloe said slowly. “And what is this shiny new idea?”

“You’re right,” I told her. “Cash is obviously at least physically attracted to me—the way he was all over me today in the Reference section couldn’t have entirely been an act. And that’s

all I need—for him to be physically attracted to me. I don’t have to be special. I just have to turn him on.”

Chloe hesitated. “I think I know where you’re going with this, but I’m not sure—”

“It’s perfect,” I told her. “If I can get Cash to want to sleep with me, and then turn him down at the last minute, it’ll leave him frustrated and wanting me even more. He doesn’t have to want to date me, just to have sex with me. How hard can that be? I’ll drag him along until he makes the other boys give up. They lose Cash, they lose their organization. It’s almost foolproof.”

“Lissa, listen to me a second,” Chloe said. “I don’t think this is a good idea, okay? When you started this, it was just about ending the rivalry. About making the boys stop acting like idiots. All we were doing was withholding sex. Yeah, sometimes it was funny and a little conniving, but it wasn’t cruel. Now some of the other girls are taking it further, like you told them, and that kind of worries me anyway, but what you’re considering is… Well, it’s pretty fucked up. Withholding is one thing; messing with Cash’s head that way is a whole new issue. You’re not just saying ‘no,’ you’re playing a serious mind game.”

“I’m just giving him what he deserves. After the way he’s screwed with my head, I think I have every right to screw with his.”

“Maybe, but Lissa, this sounds like it’s about revenge for your hurt feelings over his rejecting you. Is this really about the rivalry anymore?”

“Yes,” I snapped. “Come on, Chloe. Be on my side here? This is about ending the rivalry and us girls reclaiming our

sexual freedom. And the only thing we have to do to win is for me to seduce Cash. No one else can do it, after all. I’ve already gotten further with him than anyone in Hamilton.” I kind of felt like laughing maniacally at the sheer simplicity of this plan. “If I can do this, we win. The war is over.”

She sighed. “Fine,” she said. “Just be careful.”

“Trust me,” I told her. “You have nothing to worry about. If anyone can control this kind of situation, it’s me. You’re talking to the girl who managed to fight off the horny high school quarterback for over a year. I think I can handle an evening with Cash Sterling.”

I ignored the little voice in the back of my head reminding me that today, in the library, I’d been anything but in control.

But I’ll be prepared this time, I told myself. I’ll have the power, and Cash will never know what hit him.

I grinned, knowing no one was around to see. “But, hey, Chloe… Can you drive me home from school tomorrow? I think I’ll need your help with part of this plan.”

I spent the next day scheming. Chloe came over Wednesday afternoon and helped me plan the outfit I’d wear on Thursday, when Cash and I would work together again. We decided on a short black skirt that, while covering the tops of my thighs, gave a great look at my long legs—one of my best physical assets. Chloe made me try on a number of tops to go with it, but in the end she told me to wear one of my old T-shirts that was just a little too tight, drawing some attention to my chest without distracting

from my legs. She said overdoing it would be too obvious and would make me look a little trashy.

“Have you seen the dress Ellen wore on her date? She texted me a picture. It was cute, but it made her look too much like a stripper,” she said, flicking through my closet. “And speaking of trashy, did you hear about Susan’s plans for this weekend? Her parents are out, so she invited Luther back to her house. Apparently she bought some lingerie at a store in Oak Hill, and she told him she wanted to ‘model it’ for him. Funny, since she’s the one who was concerned about how ethical using sex was, right?”

“Kind of,” I said. “But I’m glad she has some tactics,