around his thoughts, mocking him, howling that he'll never touch its fur again.
They had dated for four months. He had asked her out because he heard she was easy, and he stayed with her for convenience, 'sex on tap' as he called it. He played the role of boyfriend well, and kept the game of Good Guy going as long as he could. But that all ended last week when she caught him in the ladies room with Lucy. He wasn't even sure how it happened.
Not quite, anyway.
He was waiting for Leaf at the local Cafe when Lucy walked in. She had followed him there but acted like it was just a lucky chance. Fortunately for Lucy, he wasn't that hard to fool.
When he saw her walk in he told himself: Berkley doesn't want anything to do with Lucy. Berkley is the man—he has a sex bomb as a girlfriend—Berkley definitely doesn't want what Lucy is offering. He often spoke to himself like this in the third person. He thought it sounded classy.
He'd told himself the same thing last week, and the week before. But when Lucy had a determination to get what she wanted—and she wanted Berkley.
Lucy was obsessed with Berkley. She had been ever since Junior High. For years she had dreamed of being with him. Until recently, that dream had failed to materialize. However, she was like a block of iron, and what she wanted, she got. Train hard, play hard, take no prisoners. There was a reason they called her the Terminator.
In recent times, she had developed a strategy that produced some remarkable results. At first it was just another strategic attempt to finally get it on with him, but their bathroom rendezvous had sparked off some of her inner electronics. So much so that she found it hard to contain her primal instincts—but of course she did; she was always in control. For years she wanted Berkley. And now, with the help of a few public places, she had been making out with him, too. But not too much, not yet. She knew his type well. Once he got the full love pie he'd be gone. No, only one little piece at a time. She had a plan and she was outworking it with precision. Slowly, and systematically, she would lure him in.
One day, the Terminator had often thought, her pupils flashing red with desire, I'll have him for good .
It was just bad luck, Berkley told himself. Had Leaf arrived five seconds later she wouldn't have seen him follow Lucy into the toilet, she wouldn't have also followed them in, and she wouldn't have caught him with his tongue down her throat.
But now that he couldn't have Leaf he wanted her more than ever. He thought once she cooled down she would take him back. However, to his surprise, she was adamant that he couldn't have her. Never again. But how could he not have her? That was the question that was ruining his mind. He was Berkley. The Berkley. He was the guy who could have any woman, but now there was a forbidden fruit in his garden. Now there was a Red Fox consuming his mind, and every attempt to catch it again blew up in his face.
“ Do me a favor,” Berkley said to Brick, “and find out why New Guy left his old school and moved here.”
Brick nodded his moon face in obedience.
5.
As Jay and Leaf exited the school grounds they walked past a group of girls, all of them with an eagle eye on Leaf. A few of them called her names under their breath.
One of them, the ring leader, Jay recognized immediately.
“ Hey pervert , where you going?” Lucy called out.
“ None of your business,” Leaf replied on his behalf.
“ I wasn't talking to you. ”
“ Come on,” Leaf said to Jay, grabbing his hand. They began to run, leaving the group of girls behind to watch them disappear into the woods.
“ Enjoy her, like all the other boys have,” the Terminator called out from behind them.
Jay ran after her as she darted into the woods. He tried to keep up with her, but he wasn't used to such terrain. He was a city kid, and he was afraid he might fall and break his leg at any moment. Regardless of his anxiety