Read Online BAD Beginnings by Shelley Wall - Free Book Online Page A

leads and had an ass that made every high school boy drool. It also made him pass out that day. The perspiration had beaded on his forehead before his name was called. Mr. D had given him a bored look as he trudged to the head of the room, his notecards shaking in his pale fingers. He was nervous as hell. Not Natalie. She had worn a skirt.
    He swallowed hard and tried to begin but his voice failed. Two kids snickered and he looked around at the staring faces, then swallowed again. Natalie ran her tongue over the end of the Bic pen in her red painted fingernails. She crossed her legs and the skirt hitched up, giving him a full view of her thigh.
    Heat flared in his chest and surged toward his head, then completely disappeared as it changed to a clammy coldness. He opened his mouth but the words failed, refusing to come out. So did his legs when she lifted the skirt just enough to show him the lacey thing underneath. He sucked in air, when the sexual tingle mixed with the nervousness. He knew his face waffled between crimson and ghost-like. He concentrated on the notecards. Come on, Bad. Spit it out. Concentrate.
    But he couldn’t because the words on the notecards faded into oblivion. An indistinguishable pile of white with dark dots funneling into them like a vortex—sucking him down. Thud. With everyone staring and waiting, he hit the floor with all the grace of an elephant.
    Fear of public speaking. Right up there with death. Baden hadn’t been sure whether it was that or the loss of blood from seeing Natalie’s drawers that had taken him down. She called him that night and joked about it, right before she promised to make it up to him on Friday night.
    That was the Friday night that never happened because she ditched him at the Sonic when some longhaired dude in a refurbished roadster showed up and told her she looked amazing. Damn, he wished he had used that. Baden just hadn’t enough experience then to know that girls actually liked it when you told them they looked good. Most girls actually craved it, unlike guys who really couldn’t care less most of the time.
    Ironically, in those days it had been cool to be nicknamed “Bad” by his friends. He had felt tough and part of the popular crowd. Of course, that was before the shit hit the fan. He was a big football star about to be laid by the girl that promised to put out—even though they’d only seen each other a few times.
    They had pulled into the Sonic for smoothies before heading out to the lake after a movie. The red lights of the pharmacy blared at him as if to remind that he needed protection. Yep, the college girl had been prepared…thankfully. But Natalie? Well, based on how comfortable she seemed with the concept, he thought that a pack of condoms would be a wise investment. For him, not her. Who knows where she’d been or who she had done.
    It was a little embarrassing to look at all the different labels, colors, and—other stuff. Not to mention how he would explain if someone he knew happened to walk by. A kid about his age, maybe a year or two older, with hair below his collar walked past. Baden had turned and pretended to be searching for something on the other side.
    The guy reached up and grabbed a pack of the ones with the gold ribbon on the side. He snickered and slid a glance Baden’s way. “You got any idea what the difference in these might be? Fuck, who knew there were forty different kinds. What happens if you get the wrong one? Do the ones that are cheaper still work? They aren’t going to fall apart are they?”
    Whew. Thank God he wasn’t the only one who wondered about that. “Yeah, they all work the same as far as making sure nothing bad happens. You know.” He winked as if he actually knew what he was talking about. “Just some are different sizes and smell or something. See?” He pointed at a label.
    The guy held his head back and shook the shoulder length hair to get it away from his eyes. Damn fine hair too—Baden