Julian

“Earth to Julian.” Alice kicked my chair beneath the table and I snapped back to my sad reality. The cafeteria was buzzing with noise around us, but Alice sat quietly across from me.

“Are you doing okay?” Her voice was laced with concern and her eyes were so filled with it, it was hard to make direct eye contact.

A week had passed since the breakup and since that bizarre run-in with Briarwood’s psycho sweetheart. That was how Alice and I had referred to her prior to the closet incident. I still hadn’t told Alice about that…not that I thought she’d judge. I was just still trying to make sense of it myself.

I’d finally told Alice about my breakup with Leila though, and she’d been great. She’d hardly left my side ever since. Her boyfriend Brian was even getting in on the act, hanging out with me when Alice was busy with rehearsals for the spring musical.

I loved Alice like a sister, and even Brian had become a good friend over the past nine months or so, ever since the two of them had started dating. But what neither of them seemed to get was how that it sucked badly enough to go through a breakup, but when your closest friends were the happiest couple on the planet?

Not fun.

I mean, I was happy for them, of course I was. But they were so not on the same wavelength. Mainly because they were happy and I was miserable.

“Do you want to talk?” Alice asked as she picked at her lunch. She’d brought her lunch today and it looked like a medley of fruit and cheese—far more appealing than the greasy pizza I’d gotten from the cafeteria line.

Did I want to talk? Not really. There was nothing new to say. A week had passed but I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Both hers, actually. When I wasn’t obsessing over Leila and her betrayal I found myself replaying snippets from that bizarre conversation with Tina.

Tina. Tina Withers. I mean…had that really been Tina?

I was still having a hard time resolving the Tina I’d been peripherally aware of since I’d started at Briarwood and the girl in the closet. I mean, there were times it was clearly the same Tina I’d always known—a girl I’d come to think of as superficial, snotty, cliquey, and bossy.

And those were her nicer qualities.

But then there were moments when she wasn’t like that at all. She’d been refreshingly honest and she’d even made me laugh, something I hadn’t thought possible.

I mean, this was Tina the renowned drama queen. Well, her and Alex, I supposed. They were a drama team. Honestly I’d always just lumped the two of them into one category, like they were the same person or something. Even when they weren’t together—and seriously, who could keep up? They flipped back and forth so often no one was able to keep track. Or maybe everyone kept track except for outsiders like me and Alice.

But now I couldn’t stop keeping track of her. Don’t ask me why. Maybe because she’d gotten it. She’d understood what I was going through in a way no one else had. Hell, by the time I left that stockroom I felt like maybe she understood my situation better than I did.

In the week that had passed since our weird interaction I’d alternated between disagreeing with her and agreeing with her on the topic of cheaters and Leila, in particular—all in my head, of course. But one thing was certain. She’d understood what I was going through. Which had oddly made her a good listener.

I know. I would never have believed it myself.

“Who are you looking at?” Alice asked. Her gaze followed mine to the table in the center of the cafeteria where Tina was holding court with her minions.

“Ugh.” I heard Alice take a sip of her club soda as we both gawked at the A-list table. “Looks like they’re getting back together again. Shocker.”

Alice’s voice dripped with sarcasm, and I couldn’t blame her. Normally I’d be mocking them too. Especially Tina, who had her nose so far in the air it was a wonder she could see anything around her.

But I wasn’t noticing that now. I was too interested in the way Alex, with the brawny build and the surfer dude shaggy blond hair, was sitting next to her. He had one arm slung around her shoulders all casually, like it belonged there.

No, like she belonged to him.

Normally I wouldn’t care. At any other point, I wouldn’t have really noticed, and even if I had I wouldn’t have given it a second thought. They could’ve both rotted in hell for all I cared. They were the kind of superficial clichés who were such caricatures of themselves, they didn’t even seem real.

Catty blonde cheerleaders didn’t really exist outside of 90s teen movies, did they? And no bro was really that bro-like in his douchery, was he?

I’d like to think no, but then I came to Briarwood. My old school in New York was too big to have one popular clique. There were lots of different groups of varying degrees of popularity. So nothing had prepared me for this microcosm of high school hell when I transferred to Briarwood.

Anyway, the point was, I’d grown used to it as one does. I’d started to take them at face value, because how else could one take these people? They had no depths. These were no onions to be peeled one layer at a time.

They were avocados. One flimsy outer layer that could be cut with a butter knife to reveal a mushy, possibly rotten core.

Bitter much? Yeah, I know. Alice and I were both in the jaded and cynical camp when it came to the cheerleaders and alpha-hole jocks who made up the A-list crowd. One of many reasons she and I became such fast friends.

Brian Kirkland was exempt from this contempt, of course, along with a few of his friends who’d passed muster by Alice’s strict standards.

This was all to say that I thought I had Tina pegged. I thought I knew who she was. That, more than anything else, was why our bizarre interaction was nagging at me. Haunting me.

Well, that and the fact that she’d actually had some good insights. And her description of Leila had been so alarmingly spot on that it had made me take everything else she’d said far more seriously. Like, maybe Tina knew what she was talking about.

I took a bite of my pizza and instantly regretted it. The grease did not taste any better when it was cold. “So,” I said as casually as I could. “Are they really back together?”

I felt Alice’s stare but I ignored it. There was laughter in her voice when she answered. “Do you care?”

I shrugged. “Distraction is supposed to be helpful, right?”

She outright laughed then and I looked over to see her nodding. “Okay, fine. If watching Barbie and Ken be crazy and toxic is a good distraction, I’m all for it.”

I had to bite my tongue to keep from prompting her again. My knee was bouncing up and down as I peered over at them like some weirdo creeper.

Alice sighed. “I wish I didn’t know this but Tina and her friends were talking to each other in the locker room after gym class and they were way too loud for me to ignore.”

“So?” I said. “Are they together?”

She drew her brows together in confusion but she didn’t comment on my uncharacteristic interest. “I guess he’s trying to win her back.” She sighed and shook her head. “God, it’s the same old song and dance over and over. Don’t they ever get tired of it? It’s so obvious that they’re just looking for attention.”

I wanted to join in on her exasperation but I was too busy trying to figure out why she was doing it. Tina, I mean. Why the hell would she take him back when she knew it would only end in her crying in the storage room?

I had to stop her.

The thought was insistent and dumb. What right did I have to stop her? And better yet, why did I care?

Because she was nice, a voice pointed out. Well, no. By traditional standards, she was not nice, per se. But she was kind to me when she didn’t have to be. Which, granted, might not have been the best selling point for someone’s character. No one was going to hand out a Nobel peace prize for not kicking a man when he was down. But then again, this was Tina we were talking about. Tina, who I hadn’t thought had a kind bone in her body.

A little nice went along way when you were known for being mean.

And then, oddly enough, I remembered Tina’s voice when she mocked Leila for being nice and I felt a smile creep across my face against my will. Tina would probably hate the fact that I was sitting here contemplating how nice she was. She’d managed to make it sound like a bad word. She’d said the word nice with a sneer, like other people said perverted or disgusting.

I smothered a laugh at the memory.

I was depressed, dammit. I was still heartbroken. I would not laugh over something Tina said a week ago.

“That smile looks good on you,” Alice said. I glanced over to see her watching me with a smile of her own as she nudged me. “You should smile like that more often.”

I turned to look at my friend but I wasn’t really seeing her. The decision had been made, I realized. At some point that insistent voice had won the internal debate.

I was doing this. “Alice?”

“Yes?” She popped a berry in her mouth.

“If I were to go over to the alpha-hole table and do something stupid, would you still be my friend?”

I was teasing and she knew it but she squinted her eyes and studied me as if to see if I was serious.

“Yes,” she said decisively, giving me a short nod before eating another berry. “I will wholeheartedly support your craziness if it means you keep smiling.”

I leaned forward and planted a supremely chaste kiss on top of her head. “That’s why you’re the best.”

“I know.” I heard her say it as I stood and walked away from the table, leaving my half-eaten pizza to congeal into whatever it was that cold grease turns into. Lard, maybe?

I focused on that conundrum to distract myself from what I was doing. It worked right up until I was standing beside Tina’s table. At first only her friend Melody seemed to notice me. A petite brunette with a wide smile, Melody was always bubbly and outgoing.

But anyone with an ounce of insight could see that Melody was only surface-sweet. Underneath the smiles she was as catty and manipulative as they came. She was sweet. In the same way that Leila was “sweet.”

Oh good God, was I the biggest idiot on the planet? Had I been dating Atwater High’s version of Melody without even knowing it?

How was it so obvious that Melody was as fake as could be but I’d been duped by my ex?

That rhetorical question would have to wait because now Melody’s gaze was joined by Alex and then a few others. Tina was the last to look in my direction.

Not the last to notice me though. I’d seen her stiffen when I stopped beside the table but she pretended I didn’t exist until she couldn’t anymore.

So this was it. My moment to bask in the radiance that was the A-list table. The fact that I was standing here was ludicrous. I knew without a doubt that Alice was watching me with wide eyes and an open mouth.

I’d pretty much spent the entirety of my time at Briarwood trying to avoid being noticed by this crowd. And now here I was. Seeking them out.

My gaze met Tina’s. Her blue eyes flashed with panic and horror before she disguised it with her signature look of bored disdain.

My stomach twisted but I stood still. I hadn’t exactly expected her to welcome me to her table with open arms—one weird closet interaction did not a friendship make—but her horror still seemed a bit over the top.

But whether we were friends or not, I couldn’t let her do this. I’d seen the look in her eyes, I’d caught glimpses of the emotions beneath the surface when she’d talked about this toxic pattern with Alex.

She might hate me for it, but I had to try. There was nothing I could do for my own broken heart but there was a girl sitting right here who was…well, she wasn’t as bad as I’d thought. And she didn’t deserve to be hurt again.

So before I could doubt myself any more, I cleared my throat and met her glare head on. “Tina, could I speak to you for a second?”

Shock flickered across her face but she recovered quickly. “Uh…yeah? I guess.” Her tone was grudging at best. She shrugged off Alex’s arm and got up to join me, tossing a quick, irritated, “I’ll be back in a minute,” over her shoulder to her friends and Alex.

When she snagged my arm, I had to marvel. “Holy crap, you have a strong grip.”

“I’m a cheerleader,” she said as she led me into the hallway.

I stood in front of her, the sudden silence of the hallway jarring. “What does that mean?”

She pursed her lips and rolled her eyes. “It means cheerleaders are always stronger than people imagine. We don’t just clap our hands and wave our arms, you know.” She let out a huff of annoyance. “Now, what did you want to talk to me about?”

She arched her brows expectantly and her eyes were guarded. Unreadable. If I hadn’t been in that storage closet myself, I wouldn’t have believed that this was the same girl. There was absolutely nothing weak or vulnerable about her. She was like a small, blonde general of some pixie army.

She was also beautiful.

It was a stupid realization to have at a ridiculously inopportune moment. But it was true. She was beautiful in a sort of movie star way—the way that seemed a little too perfect to be real.

“Well?” she snapped.

I cleared my throat again, suddenly doubting this plan. I mean, this little commander hardly needed my help, let alone my interference. But she was waiting and I was already in it to win it.

“You can’t get back together with Alex again.”

She stared at me for so long I thought perhaps she hadn’t heard me, even though I’d blurted it out right in her face.

“Excuse me?” She drew out the words in a sort of Valley Girl accent that had no place in a Pennsylvania high school.

“You heard me.” Oh hell, now I sounded like a bratty cheerleader too. But honestly, her irritation was irritating me. No, it wasn’t just that. It was the fact that she was trying to act like I didn’t know her that was pissing me off.

She was acting like I hadn’t seen her cry, like I hadn’t seen her have an anxiety attack as she wept in a closet. She was giving me the same act that had fooled this whole school into thinking she was untouchable. A drama queen maybe, but one so far out of everyone else’s realm that she was Briarwood’s version of a celebrity. A star who people could gossip about and even ridicule, but always with a hint of awe.

She gave her head a little shake, the only sign that I’d gotten through to her. “What makes you think you have any say over what I do or who I date?”

Her words were harsh but her tone lacked the right amount of venom. She might’ve been trying for self-righteous anger, but I heard her genuine confusion…her honest curiosity.

I crossed my arms. “Consider this an intervention.”

She arched her brows again as if shocked—and not in a good way—but I could have sworn I saw a flicker of a smile on her lips. “An intervention.”

“Yeah.” I shrugged. “Something like that. You said yourself you’re not sure why you keep getting back together with that guy.” I jerked my head toward the cafeteria where slimy Alex waited for her. “My theory here is that you can’t stop yourself. So someone else needs to stop you.”

She blinked a few times as she took a few steps back. That celebrity routine was slipping fast as she grappled with my words. Finally, she said, “And you think you’re the one to stop me?”

When she said it like that, it did sound ridiculous. Honestly, I was wondering how on earth none of her friends or family had stepped in before now. I mean, I couldn’t be the only one who’d seen how much he hurt her. But if her friends had stepped in, they’d failed. “Yeah,” I said. “Why not me?”

Her lips were definitely trying to form a smile but she seemed hell-bent on stopping it. She pursed her lips instead, but the smile was still there beneath that prissy look. “How exactly do you intend to stop me?”

I sighed. Good question. “I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe just remind you regularly that he’s going to hurt you again? That it’s just a matter of time before he reverts back to his cheating ways?”

She stopped pursing her lips and the almost-smile faded fast. For a second there she looked so sad I just wanted to give her a hug. She recovered quickly though, her expression turning haughty with disbelief. “So what, you’re going to shadow me and jump in between us every time Alex gets close?”

I let out a short laugh at the mental image and then she did too. The absurdity of this conversation was starting to get to both of us.

“That wasn’t exactly what I was thinking.”

“So what exactly were you thinking?”

I narrowed my eyes as if giving it some deep thought. Really I was just making this stuff up as I went. “Maybe we could treat it more like AA.”

She blinked up at me. “Alcoholics Anonymous?” she clarified.

“Yeah,” I said slowly. “But this would be Alex Anonymous.”

Her mouth fell open and I thought she was going to berate me, but instead she laughed. An honest-to-God laugh that made her seem like a normal teenage girl, not a celebrity or an A-lister or a bratty cheerleader. Just a girl.

She crossed her arms so she was mirroring me, though I towered over her by a solid foot. “What about you?”

“What about me?” My tone was too defensive by far.

“I take it you haven’t heard from your ex yet?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

She smirked. “You haven’t.”

“No, I haven’t,” I said. “And I don’t expect to.”

She shook her head with an expression that said ‘oh you magnificent moron’ more eloquently than any words. “When you do, let me know.” With that she turned around. Apparently our conversation was done.

“She’s not going to reach out,” I said to her retreating back. “We’re through. She ended it.”

Tina stopped and turned. “She will. And when she does, tell me.”

“Why?” I was honestly confused. Or maybe just surprised by her interest in me and my ex. For a girl who I’d thought was so one-dimensional, she was full of surprises.

Her look said ‘duh’ but she spelled it out. “If you insist on helping me, then I’ll help you too. Consider me your breakup coach.” She flashed me a sugary sweet smile that reeked of mischief. “You can thank me later.”

“I don’t need help,” I said.

Her laugh would have been cruel if she didn’t look so genuinely amused. “You will.”

“I won’t.”

She gave me a knowing look before turning toward the cafeteria. “Just tell me when she reaches out.”

“She won’t,” I called to her retreating back.

This time she didn’t turn around. “She will.”

* * *

She did.

Several days later I watched in horror as my phone lit up with Leila’s name, and my ex’s pretty heart-shaped face smiled up at me. I almost didn’t answer it. I mean, what could she have to say?

It was over. She’d cheated on me, I’d found out thanks to an accidental, ill-fated glance at her phone when a text came in while she was in the bathroom, and then when I called her out on it, she’d ended it. Brutally.

She’d broken my heart, end of story. What could she have to say? There was nothing to discuss.

The phone rang again.

But on the other hand—what could she have to say? Yes, it was the same question, but this time I couldn’t help but think of what Tina had suggested—what she’d seemed so sure of. That Leila wanted me back.

Something surged up inside me. It wasn’t so much hope as it was…oh hell, I didn’t know. It was a need to be vindicated. Maybe it was just my pride talking—okay, yeah, it was definitely pride talking—but I was desperate to know if she wanted me back.

She didn’t.

At least, she didn’t say so during the excruciatingly awkward one-minute conversation. The silences were tense but even worse was her voice, so soft and gentle. So innocent. Like she was the victim here and not me.

But worst of all was the way my chest ached when I hung up the phone. She wasn’t trying to get me back and now I was having a hard time holding onto my anger.

And anger was the only thing keeping me from missing her. Were we perfect together? No. But she was my first serious girlfriend and I guess I’d been naïve enough to think that it meant something.

I didn’t tell Alice about the call. Not because I didn’t trust her but because Brian was sitting at our lunch table that next day and the two of them were so nauseatingly happy together I just couldn’t bring myself to bring up the latest episode in the misery that was my life.

But I did tell Tina. Not just because she’d told me to, but because I was a little awed by the fact that she’d called it. She’d known Leila would reach out. Did I still think she was a demon from hell? No, not so much. But I was starting to wonder if she might seriously be a witch with some sort of psychic sorcery.

“How did you know?” I asked when she reached her locker. I’d been stationed beside it waiting for her since the last bell rang. She barely gave me a glance before unlocking her combo.

“She texted?” Tina guessed.

“She called.”

That had her looking over. “She has more nerve than I would have thought.”

I had no idea what that meant. Was I being offended here? I shook my head. It didn’t matter. “How did you know?”

She gave me a little smile and the look in her eyes made her seem so much older than eighteen. It was jaded and cynical…and maybe just a little bit wise.

“And?” she said. “Did she try to win you back?”

I gave a short laugh at that. “No. Not even a little. She just called to make sure I knew that she was cool with me playing open mic night at her coffee shop.”

Tina gave me an unreadable look as she stacked her books in the locker so I explained. “That’s how we met. I was trying out my new songs at Java Hut, the coffee shop where she was working as a barista—”

“She still works there?” Tina interrupted.

“Yeah. I skipped open mic night these last couple weeks, for obvious reasons.”

She turned to me with one arched brow. “Because you were a wuss and didn’t want to face her?”

I kept my expression blank. “Because I was heartbroken and needed some space.”

“Same difference.” She slammed her locker shut and turned to face me, leaning against it and ignoring the looks we were getting from just about everyone who passed us on their way out the door to the parking lot.

I wondered if she didn’t care that she was being watched or if she was just used to it. Did people always gape at her like this or was it because she was talking to me? A guy so outside her popularity stratosphere, I was basically from a different planet.

“So?” she asked, impatience in her tone. “Are you going to do it or are you going to continue being a wuss?”

I stiffened, even though I knew she was teasing. Or at least, I assumed she was. At least partially.

I peered at her. She was teasing, wasn’t she?

But, oddly enough, her harsh words helped me make the decision that I’d been debating ever since I hung up the phone. “Yeah, I’ll go.”

Tina arched her brows, like she was waiting for more.

I shoved my hands into my pockets, confidence growing as I thought it through. “No, I mean yeah. Why not? I was performing at open mics there long before she and I got together.”

A smile was forming on those pretty lips of hers—lips which were currently a dramatic shade of red.

“It’s not like she owns the place,” I continued. “I don’t need her permission.”

“Even though she gave it,” Tina pointed out.

I frowned down at her. “Are you helping or being a brat?”

She grinned. “I’m helping, I promise.”

I grunted something indecipherable. Honestly I was having a hard time coming up with a response because my brain was too focused on that smile. It lit up her features and made her too pretty. Seriously, she was way too pretty when she smiled like that. It was distracting.

I was brought back to the present though when Alex came sauntering down the hallway in our direction, his normally easy grin replaced by a glower that was firmly directed at me.

I leaned in toward Tina and lowered my voice. “Um, don’t look now but I think your ex might be planning to murder me.”

Tina’s grin didn’t falter. “Oh, that’s because I told him you were into me.”

My eyes widened and my voice leapt up an unmanly octave. “You…what? Why—why would you do that?”

She laughed silently at my outrage. “He wanted to know why you needed to talk to me alone.” She shrugged as if the rest was a given.

And maybe it was.

The pieces fell into a place so quickly I forgot for a second that a Neanderthal was coming for me and focused on the sudden anger. “You were using me to make Alex jealous?”

She rolled her eyes. “I had to tell him something.”

Alex stopped at his locker which was mere feet away but still out of hearing distance. It was not out of glaring distance, however, not even a little bit. I could feel his eyes on me like a laser, but they were less irritating than this little blonde who’d gone and done what everyone expected of her.

“You’re playing games,” I said.

She blinked up at me. “Of course.”

I shook my head. “Aren’t you even a little embarrassed to admit that?”

She frowned. “Why would I be? It’s the way of the world.”

I returned her frown. “It’s the way of your world.”

She rolled her eyes again. “Isn’t that what I just said?”

“That’s not how I operate,” I said. “I don’t want any part of your weird games.”

She crossed her arms, apparently not noticing or not caring that her ex was watching us with a ferocious glare. “So it’s like that, huh?”

“Yeah, it’s like that.” I leaned forward so only she could hear. “I want to help you with Alex and I appreciate your insights on Leila, but I don’t want to get mixed up in your toxic weirdness with Alex.”

She tilted her head to the side. “Okay, fine.”

I thought she was done so I started to pull away but she reached out and grabbed my shirt in a fist, holding me close. “But here’s the thing. Everyone plays games.” Her gaze met mine. “Everyone. You’re naïve if you think otherwise.”

I stared down at her. She was serious. “That’s a really crappy way of viewing the world. You know that, right?”

She looked nonplussed. “I told you, I’m a realist. I get that you’re all good and kind, but good and kind won’t make you a winner.”

I shook my head. “That’s the thing, Tina. There’s nothing to win. Not everything in life is a competition.”

She let out a short laugh as she shook her head. “That’s where you’re wrong, Morris. It’s always a competition. And if you’re not playing to win, you’re bound to lose.” She arched her brows meaningfully. “Just look at you and Leila.”

Ouch. I opened my mouth to protest but closed it again quickly.

She let go of my shirt and gave my arm a condescending pat. “Don’t worry. You might be too good to get your hands dirty, but that’s why I’ve got your back.”

I stared at her in bemusement. I honestly didn’t even know what she meant by that. “You are kind of terrifying, Withers.” I used her last name like she’d used mine.

She grinned like that was the best compliment she’d ever heard and I found myself returning the smile without even meaning to.

She seriously had a great smile, especially when it was genuine.

“Come on,” she said, taking me by the arm and pushing me toward the exit. “Let’s get out of here before Alex totally loses it.”

That got my mind back on the matter at hand. “He doesn’t honestly think I’m into you, does he?”

She glanced up at me with a rueful smile. “You don’t have to make it sound quite so ludicrous, you know.”

I shoved my hands into my pocket and kept silent, because it was ludicrous. Me into her? Never. We came from two different worlds. This new pseudo-friendship was more of an alliance forged out of mutual understanding.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw Alex’s gaze following us down the hall.

Now, I was a tall guy. Tall but lanky. Also, I had zero athletic prowess and had never once been to a gym, unlike Alex the Brawny Hulk walking.

I’d never even been in a fight and I had no plans to start now. Especially not over this girl who was clearly using me to play games with her ex. I wasn’t afraid, per se, but I was very definitely put off by this whole conversation.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let him hurt you,” she said, tugging me again so I was once more facing forward and keeping pace beside her.

I slapped a hand over my heart. “Okay, now my male ego is bruised.”

She laughed loudly at that. “Good. I love taking guys down a peg.”

I fell into step beside her as we walked toward the exit, Alex’s glare following me. “See now, I am all for bringing guys down to size…in theory. But I promise you, I didn’t have an overly developed ego to begin with.”

She was still snickering beside me and I found myself fighting a smile. For the first time since I’d talked to Leila I was feeling like myself. And by that I mean, I wasn’t exactly about to burst into song, but the world wasn’t about to end either.

I was, at the very least, distracted from thoughts of Leila…and it was all thanks to Briarwood’s psycho sweetheart. The meanest mean girl of them all.

Alice would never believe it.

I stopped short on the sidewalk leading to the parking lot. My car was down on the lower lot and I was heading in the wrong direction. “So, wait. If you’re trying to make Alex jealous, does that mean you’re trying to get him back?”

Her smile faded fast. “Don’t be stupid.” She tossed her hair back over her shoulders. “Of course not.”

I found myself mimicking her with the arched eyebrows and haughty look of disbelief.

It had the desired effect of making her lips twitch with amusement. “I’m not!” she said way too defensively. “I’m just a big believer in making cheaters pay. And nothing makes a cheater more miserable than watching the one they pushed away move on.”

“You are one coldhearted lady.” I said it slowly, with awe and admiration, and she laughed in response.

“Don’t worry about Alex. He doesn’t really see you as a threat.” She gave me an impish grin that took some of the sting out of her words. “He knows I’d never really date a geek like you.”

“Ouch.” I slapped a hand over my heart. “That stings.” The amused glint in her eyes made it clear she was teasing. A little, at least.

She rolled her eyes. “Oh please. Like you’d ever date a cheerleader like me.”

I feigned indignation. “Hey, don’t try to pigeonhole me, blondie. I’ll have you know Leila was a cheerleader.”

Tina groaned. “Of course she was.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I was honestly curious. Sometimes I got the feeling that although Tina’s way of seeing people and the world in general was so very different from mine…maybe she wasn’t entirely wrong.

Not all the time, at least.

“It means, I could have guessed that she runs in a different circle,” Tina said. Her expression said more than her words. What she meant was, I’d clearly been dating out of my league.

“Tina Withers,” I said slowly, my voice filled with disbelief. “Are you attempting to be tactful?”

She scoffed loudly as she started walking toward the parking lot. “Oh please. Tact is overrated.”

“So what are you trying to say then?” I pushed. “That I wasn’t good enough to be dating someone so pretty and popular?”

I was only half teasing. In my defense, that male ego I’d been joking about had taken a major blow lately thanks to Leila.

Tina frowned at me and for the first time she seemed honestly annoyed. “Of course not. Don’t be an idiot. I just meant that you were in over your head.”

“Because she was dating beneath her,” I finished. I couldn’t seem to let it go, but this felt important. Like I was getting the insight I needed.

She stopped again and turned to face me, her hands planted on her hips. “Stop being stupid. I didn’t mean it like that. Any girl would be lucky to have you—you’re funny, in your own weird way, and smart, and…you’re not unattractive.”

I let out a short laugh. “Careful, my ego is in serious danger of getting out of control here.”

She ignored my attempt at humor as she let out a huff of frustration at my incomprehension. “What I meant was, she should have stuck to playing games with people who knew the score. Does that make sense?”

No. Not really. But I’d gotten another glimpse of how Tina saw the world and the view was depressing, but also kind of fascinating. Like watching a documentary on the meat industry or whales in captivity. I couldn’t seem to look away even though I felt bad for everyone involved.

“We were joking around before, but I’m totally serious right now,” I said, turning to face her head on. “You do know it’s not always a competition, right? No one is actually keeping score.”

She tilted her head to the side with a little sigh that was filled with tolerance, like I was a child or something. “That’s a sweet sentiment, Morris. Naïve but sweet.”

She kept walking toward the parking lot and I found myself keeping pace beside her. I could head back to my car later. I wasn’t in a rush, and this girl was far more entertaining than I would have ever thought.

Crazy, obviously, but entertaining.

“So you won’t take him back then,” I eventually said, picking up the conversation at a point before it had gone off the rails.

“Nope,” she said, her chin lifting resolutely as she spoke. “Not this time.”

“Good for you.”

She gave me a sidelong look and I knew she was checking to see if I was mocking her.

I was not. After that one phone call I’d gotten a sense of how complicated things could be following a breakup. One conversation and I was a mess of conflicting emotions. Anger and pity and sympathy and jealousy...I’d been an emotional disaster.

And if your ex was seriously determined to get you back like Alex was? Let’s just say I was starting to understand the sick cycle that Tina had found herself in.

“What about you?” she asked, ignoring a group of Alex’s friends from the football team who were watching us with narrowed eyes. “When’s open mic night?”

“Tomorrow at eight at the Java Hut.” At her questioning look, I added, “And no, I am not going to be a wuss. I’m going to go, sing my songs, make some civil chit-chat and be on my way.”

She was quiet for a moment and when I looked over she was eyeing me carefully. I thought she might say something snarky but she gave me a small smile and reached up to clap a hand on my shoulder. “You’ve got this, Morris.”

“Thanks, coach.”