Kody Keplinger - Shut Out

if I'd misunderstood her. Then she shook her head and the flicker of disbelief was gone.

"I'm sick of this fighting. It's definitely crossed a line." She gave me a meaningful look before adding, "I think a sex strike is a great idea, and I can try to get some of the other soccer players' girlfriends in on it. I bet they'll help. We're all fed up."

"R-really?" I beamed at her, half in shock. "Ellen, thank you so much."

After that, a lot of people seemed to hop on the bandwagon.

"I'll do it," Susan said. "Damn, Lissa, you've got some brains. I never would have thought of this."

"I'm in. It'll make this season more entertaining at least."

"I guess I'll do it. Maybe end-of-rivalry sex will be even better than make-up sex."

I ducked my head to hide the blush creeping up my face. How could these girls be so open about their sex lives? I barely even talked about mine with Chloe. Hell, I couldn't even say the words for the things I was doing with Randy without cringing.

"We need to make a pact or something," Chloe said. "Like, an oath. We need to swear to abstain from all sexual activities."

"What do we swear on?" Susan asked. "The Bible?"

"That's kind of inappropriate," I managed to joke. "Considering what we're swearing about and all."

"Here." Ellen placed her backpack on the table and unzipped it. After a few seconds of digging, she pulled out a new issue of Cosmo and tossed it onto the table. "It's the sex-tips issue. Includes a nice list of all the things we can't do. We can swear on it."

Chloe picked up the magazine. "Sweet," she said, flipping through the pages. She paused and visibly cringed. "Ugh. No, don't try that. Trust me, not as great as it sounds."

I grabbed the magazine from Chloe, half wondering and half afraid to see what she was talking about. I held it up for everyone to see. "Okay," I said. "So we'll all take a vow. I'll lay out the rules, and if you agree, you put your hand on the magazine and say, ‘I do.' Got it?"

Most of the girls nodded.

I placed the magazine on the table, putting my hand over the model's face on the cover. "I hereby swear to abstain from all forms of sexual activity. This includes but is not limited to anything involving body parts below the belt. That's either party's belt. Oh, and second base is outlawed, too. Nothing, um, under the shirt." I forced myself to continue, despite the way this speech made my face heat up. "I'll stand my ground, even in the toughest of times, and will resist temptation until the rivalry is put to an end."

I slid the magazine to Ellen, still feeling a little anxious when our eyes met. But I couldn't let my composure falter right now. Not with all these girls watching.

I cleared my throat for, like, the millionth time that afternoon. "Do you agree?" I asked.

"I do," Ellen said solemnly.

She passed it on to Susan. "I do."

Susan passed it to the girl to her right. "I do."

"I do."

"I do."

When it came to Mary, I saw her hesitate for a minute. She looked at me, took a breath, and placed her hand on the magazine. "I do."

Then she passed it to Kelsey.

"Just pass it on if you're too chicken," Chloe taunted. "You call me a whore, but you're more hesitant about giving up sex than I am."

"Shut up," Kelsey hissed. "Give me that." She yanked the magazine toward her and put her hand in the dead center of the cover. Her eyes locked with Chloe's as she said, "I. Do."

Chloe grinned.

To my amazement, after so much disagreement, all eleven girls at the table — plus me — wound up making the oath. Chloe was the last, and she grinned at me as she swore to be celibate. I knew it would be a challenge for her more than anyone.

But looking at the others, I knew Chloe couldn't have been the only girl who liked sex. So many others had been hesitant to agree right away. Surely some of the girls had the same reason as Chloe, even if the others were reluctant out of fear of losing their boyfriends. I wondered what the ratio was — how many of the girls just didn't want to give up sex versus the ones who were afraid of being cheated on.

And I wondered why Chloe was the only girl willing to come out and say she liked sex. Maybe because the others knew she was called a slut or a whore for liking it so much? But I didn't understand that, either. Like Chloe said, it wasn't like she slept with other girls' boyfriends.

I also wanted to know why Mary had been the only one

willing to confess the opposite — her virginity. Because I didn't think for a second that she was the only one at the table who hadn't yet made that leap.

When everyone had sworn on the magazine, I handed it back to Ellen. "You can make the soccer girls take the same oath," I said.

"Sure thing." She tucked the magazine into her backpack again.

"All right," I said. "So here we go. I'm thinking we should all keep in touch via e-mail. We'll need a support group to get through this, and it'll keep us organized. But I definitely think we are onto something here. We can win this way."

"For your sake," Kelsey said, getting to her feet just as the bell for third block rang, "I hope so. This better work, Lissa."

"It will," I assured her. "I know it will."

The girls began to move in a herd toward the door. I started to turn to Chloe, who was still sitting at the table with me, then noticed Ellen, lingering uncertainly near the library door.

"Hey," I said, walking over to her. I'd picked up my pen again and was already spinning the cap. "Thanks for coming. I know this is all really weird. The football girlfriends and being around me and… whatever."

"I'll always come if you want me to, Liss." She gave another small smile and put a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it briefly. Then she turned and left the library.

I thought I'd lost Ellen for good because of this feud. Because our boyfriends hated each other. But maybe, I realized, I could

end the war and get a friend back at the same time. The thought made me smile.

Chloe eased up beside me. "You ready for AP Bio?"

"Sure," I said, turning to face her. "Thanks, by the way. For agreeing to this."

"Yeah. You owe me."

"Well, at least the stupid fight will be over soon," I said. "Won't that make up for it?"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Lissa, I couldn't care less about the problems between the teams. I know it's stupid, and I know it affects you, but it doesn't really have an impact on me, since I'm not really committed to any of the boys." She shrugged. "I didn't do this to end the fighting. I did it because I know it's important to you. And you're important to me."

I smiled. "Thank you, Chloe."

"Yeah, yeah," she said, picking up her messenger bag. "I also did it just to spite Kelsey, so it wasn't totally selfless. I hate that bitch."

I laughed.

"Come on," she said. "Mr. Hall will flip his shit if we're late."

That afternoon, as Chloe and I walked out to the student parking lot after last block, Randy jogged up behind us. "Hey, Lissa, hold up a sec."

We stopped, and I turned to face him. "Yes?"

He came to a halt a few feet from me, looking momentarily confused. "Something wrong?" he asked. "You look upset."

"It's noth — ow!" Chloe had just elbowed me hard in the side, and now she gave me a stern look. I sighed. "Okay, fine. Yes, I'm a little upset, Randy."

"Shit. What did I do?"

"Okay, my work here is done. I'll give you two some privacy." Chloe brushed past me and walked over to her convertible. I saw her climb onto the hood and pull her long legs up to her chest.

"So what's wrong?" Randy asked. He was already dressed in his workout clothes for football practice.

I kicked at a small chunk of loose pavement, a little harder than I'd intended, and it skittered across the parking lot, colliding with a Dumpster a few feet away with a loud thud.

"Didn't your mother teach you to use your words?" Randy joked.

I looked at him sharply.

"I — Sorry," he said. "I know you don't like to talk about… sorry." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Let's rewind. What's wrong? What did I do? Tell me."

"Look," I said, forcing the word out of my mouth. Chloe was right. I needed to open up and tell Randy how I felt. "It's just… I'm not cool with being your…" My eyes stayed trained on my hands, where they wound and unwound in a steady rhythm near my waist. "Your booty call."

"Booty call?"

"Last night," I reminded him. "My room. You bribed me with flowers before ditching me. You were there; I'm sure you remember."

Suddenly, the lightbulb clicked on over his head. "What? That? That wasn't a booty call, babe. It's only a booty call if you're not with the girl. But we're in love, so it's cool."

"Not to me," I muttered. "It hurt. I felt used. I'm tired of you ditching me for this stupid fight, Randy. It really bothered me last night. It's been bothering me for a while, actually." I stared at my feet and shoved my hands in my pockets so I'd stop wringing them.

"Lissa…"

I looked up at him.

Randy shuffled his feet and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to feel that way. Can I make it up to you?"

"How?"

"Let me take you out Friday. Like, on a nice date."

"Randy — "

"Seriously, Lissa. I mean it. Let me try again. Please?"

I sighed and shifted my weight from one foot to the other. "Well… okay."