There was a flash of a smirk on Jayden’s lips, there then gone. He remained where he was, not leaning an inch closer, and I could see the mirth return to his eyes effectively diffusing the tension I was sure we’d built up in the last few seconds.
"You'll have to work on that if you really want to be one of us," he continued, making some effort to suppress the boyish grin that teased at his lips.
He was laughing at me, I knew. He’d seen the way the gears in my head had been turning and the way my body gave in so easily to his advance. My face grew warm at the realisation I’d once again made a fool of myself in his presence. I had to salvage my image somehow, shake it off, and be as unbothered as I’d presented myself to be.
"Who said I still want to be one of you?” I challenged, levelling my voice as best I could. “Maybe I'm not as taken as I was the day before. Maybe you weren’t that impressive."
My brow rose
The following week found me hurrying from the house. Staying seemed like a bad idea with Mother having gotten Matt's first semester report card from our previous school sent over. Report time was never a pretty sight, no matter which school it came from. There was something about the straight line of D's going down Matt’s report that always seemed to scream 'Kai's fault', and there was never anything about my own A's that ever screamed 'hard work'.I would end up being responsible for his grades slipping whether through my refusal to help him study or the distractions I produced while locked away in my room minding my own business. Never mind the Xbox he played from morning until night if you let him; it had nothing to do with it. Forget the way he came and went as he pleased, always being out with his friends and never picking up a book. Were it not for the ease with which he navigated his video games, I would be convinced my brother couldn’t read.I gave
"I'm really sorry about that,” I offered, albeit less repentant than I’d been when I first walked in thinking the world was about to end. “With the transfer and the move and everything, I haven't had the chance to really study and throw myself into things. I’ll do better, you’ll see."It was true. Ever since I started there, Mother had been down my throat about who I spoke to, who my classmates were, the times I was getting home—that sort of thing. I couldn’t figure out why it mattered, it never did, but she was adamant all the same. Whenever she felt I was being lippy in my responses, she’d smack me back into place or out of focus; whichever came first.It left hardly any time to lose myself in extra studying."Sorry? If these are the grades you get without studying then I imagine you could give Einstein a run for his money with just an hour of revision!" he exclaimed."...Huh?"Was he feeling alrigh
Their eyes followed me across the gaping distance between the door and the teacher, curiosity overtaking the impulse to want me out of their space. The reluctance with which I handed over the principal’s note necessitated Mr. Burnes prying it from my hand, an action that brought snickers to my new classmates. Barely a minute in and I was back to making a fool of myself."Well, it's nice to have you, Ms. Deneiro. Please have a seat by Mr. Pryce. You're just in time, we're about to begin our lesson on vectors and matrices."My heart skipped a beat as, for the first time since entering the room, I dared to look down at the sea of students. There it was, the empty seat that beamed over at me from its position next to the stude
I’d never admit it, not to his face, but I was relieved it was only him. For all the delicious tension that tended to settle between us, I didn't think he would try anything. On the first day, he'd said he'd only been joking and I’d believed him—I still believed him. It was an odd thought to have, or rather an unfamiliar one, but I felt...safe.The butterflies began to rise inside my stomach and my mind went back to the boardroom once again. Whatever would happen between us needed to happen sooner rather than later. I couldn’t continue to be reduced to a puddle every time he drew near. It probably wasn’t good for my heart, or anything else inside me that went haywire whenever he was around."Keep it down or they'll hear us," he whispered.My eyes remained fixed on him, catching the way his seemed to be drinking me in despite the poor lighting. An eternity passed with the two of us locked away in our own little world, the
"What?" I asked again, losing patience with this guessing game I'd somehow been forced into. Try as I did, I couldn't find anything out of the ordinary or worth driving your friends to the edge of insanity over. Our classmates were still making their way across the field and the coach was bringing in the rear. A scene so common shouldn't have had the power that it did to derail them. "This is a joke, right?" Hayley continued unhelpfully. Seeing my mounting frustration, Madelyn crouched by me and pointed to the opposite end of the field. When my eyes finally locked onto what I figured she must have been signalling, I felt I was still missing a big piece of whatever puzzle the others had b
"Don't play dumb," she warned, her eyes narrowing before they disappeared behind her pair of knees when she dipped. "What's your older sister's name?" "Lisa," I replied automatically, realising I would need to remember everything I said now to avoid true discovery. "Wrong, you don't have a sister. What city's your dad currently touring in?" The second question came too quickly. It gave me no time to come down from the statement that preceded it. Jonie wasn't guessing, she wasn't fishing for information. The girlknewsomething and the realisation of that created a pit
"Kai, talk to m—" "Hey, Kai do you have a partner?" a guy from my math class asked from across the table. He was oblivious to the tension that had begun to rise between us, unaware he'd walked into a minefield and was in danger of having one of us explode. In the end, it was Jayden. "Back off, man. Can't you see we're talking?" He was harsher than he needed to be for someone trying to force a conversation with someone who wasn't interested. "Relax, I was just asking a
"How long do I have?" "Huh?" "Look, we don't have to beat around the bush. You already know I don't have any money or anything else I could offer to keep you quiet so how long do I have before you blow my cover?" "Is that what you've been agonising over for the last week?" "Answer the question." "I haven't decided yet," she said after a moment of silence. "You're the most interesting