Lo

“READY?” LAURIE SMILED at me reassuringly as we stood on the edge of school.

It was such a loaded question. Could I wait to get back to classes and the distraction they would bring, no. But could I wait to have Miss Tamson hounding me to make a decision about college and Caitlin shooting me daggers every time I entered her hemisphere, then yeah, I could wait.

I could wait until never came around.

Her hand slid into mine. “It’s going to be fine, Lo. You’ll see.”

But was it?

I couldn’t get my conversation with Maverick yesterday out of my mind. Zac Lowell had made them sit a test for three hours. But it wasn’t a regular test. He’d made them all drink a pint of water first and then played rain music into the room. Maverick had skirted over a lot of the details until I insisted he tell me the truth. Only, once I knew, I wish I didn’t.

“Lo?”

“Huh?” I blinked at Laurie.

“I said, shall we?” She inclined her head toward the building.

“Hmm, yeah.” Reluctantly, I followed her into the stream of kids all heading for homeroom. We were seniors now.

Seniors.

Most kids couldn’t wait for that title. But all it meant to me was more pressure. Pressure to make decisions I didn’t want to make.

As we filed inside, eyes followed us. Summer had been a welcome break from the constant stares and whispers, but I guess I had to get used to it again. Only, this time, I didn’t have Maverick around to soften the blow.

“Bitch alert,” Laurie whispered, and a chill ran through me when my eyes landed on Caitlin over by her locker bank. She straightened, flicking her hair off her shoulder. It had grown out over the summer. A long blonde mane giving the illusion of a fairy-tale princess when really, I knew her to be an evil witch out to ruin lives.

The temperature in the hall dropped despite it being a balmy eighty outside. The new-semester rumble of chatter subsided as everyone watched, waiting to see what would happen. Everyone knew there was no love lost between us. I’d played my role in that when I went to prom for Maverick. I knew all actions had consequences, but senior year had seemed so far away then. Now it was staring me in the face and I didn’t like what I saw.

“Ignore her.” Laurie tried to command my attention, but I couldn’t move. I didn’t want to be dragged into a senior year war with Caitlin, but I didn’t want to roll over either.

“Lo,” she hissed this time. “Come on.”

My head snapped over to my best friend’s and I said, “Yeah, come on,” not sparing Caitlin a second glance.

When we rounded the corner and found our locker bank, Laurie let out an exasperated breath. “I really thought she’d be over it by now.”

“Over what?” Kyle poked his head between us. “What’d I miss?”

“Oh, just the usual, Caitlin being a bitch.”

“What’s new?” he shrugged, and I put some space between us, letting him and Laurie have their moment. He hadn’t been able to drive us in this morning. Coach Munford ran a tight ship and wanted all his players to report to the football field at eight-fifteen. So Laurie had picked me up.

But Kyle didn’t try to kiss Laurie the way he usually did when they had been apart for any length of time. Instead, he narrowed his eyes on me and said, “Cous, what’s going on in that head of yours?”

“Nothing.” I lied.

He arched his brow and waited but I pressed my lips together in defiance.

“You’re almost as bad as Rick, you know?”

“Am not.”

“Kyle, stop. It’s hard enough for her without you—”

“Guys, I’m fine. We should probably get to class.”

Laurie nodded but Kyle was distracted as he fumbled with his cell phone.

“Babe, what is it?”

“Shit. It’s Maria. If you see Kiera, tell her I’m looking for her, okay?” He dropped a kiss on the end of Laurie’s nose. “She promised,” he grumbled as he ducked into the stream of kids.

“What was all that about?” I asked Laurie.

“Beats me.”

“She is coming to school though, right?” She hadn’t said any different on Saturday when we visited Maverick.

“Who knows? I like her, but she’s guarded. Way worse than you were when you first arrived.”

“Hey.” I nudged her as we walked to our classes. “I wasn’t that bad.”

“It wasn’t a walk in the park trying to be your friend, Lo,” she replied around a wry smile. “Well, this is me.” Laurie paused at a door. “I’ll see you at lunch? Here’s hoping we have a few more classes together this year.”

“Yeah.” I returned her smile. “Laters.” Hitching my bag up my shoulder, I carried on down the hall to my homeroom, groaning when I saw Devon Lions slip inside.

I chose an empty seat on the opposite side of the room from him. We’d cleared the air between us, but things would never go back to how they were. Too much had happened. I wanted to forget all about him and Caitlin Holloway, the lies, secrets, and games. But then a flash of blonde caught my eye, and I looked up in horror, watching as Caitlin entered the room with her friend. So much for avoiding her this year.

I sank further into my chair, trying to make myself invisible. But from the way the room fell silent, there was little chance of that.

“Good morning, class,” the teacher breezed into the room, oblivious to the tension. “All excited to be back, I see.” He glanced at us over the rim of his glasses.

But I tuned out. If I was going to survive a year of homeroom with Caitlin and Devon, I needed to get my head straight.

Starting right now.

~

“I CAN’T BELIEVE WE only have two classes together,” Laurie pouted as we lined up for lunch.

“But you have three with me.” Kyle wrapped his arm around her and pulled her flush against his chest. Laurie giggled, tilting her head, accepting his greedy kisses.

“Guys, seriously. I haven’t eaten yet and my lunch is already threatening to make a reappearance.”

Kyle’s brows knitted as he met my gaze and looked at me with puppy-dog eyes.

“Oh, look,” I changed the subject. “There’s Kiera. Kiera,” I called, “Over here.”

She wound her way through the crowd, standing out like a black thundercloud against summer and surf.

“Thank fuck,” she sighed.

“Language, little lady.”

“Little lady?” Kiera glowered at her half-brother. “You’re not my dad, Kyle.”

“And thank fuck I’m not.”

“Babe,” Laurie said. “Let’s all just breathe, yeah?” She gave him a pointed look.

“How’s your first day going?” I asked.

“Okay, I guess. But everyone is so...” Kiera searched for the right word while Kyle piped up, “Awesome.”

We all rolled our eyes, and I scooched up to let Kiera cut the line with us. No one would dare question it. Not with Kyle here. He wasn’t just a senior now. He was the school’s star running back. And he had big Stone-Prince shoes to fill with Maverick gone.

“I have two classes with Summer though, which is cool.”

“That’s great, Sis,” Kyle said.

“Yeah, and I have a few with Nick’s friend, Jack. He seems cool.”

“Ah, hell no. You’ve been here half a day.” Kyle threw his head back and groaned. “You can’t already be talking about guys.”

“Ky—”

“No, babe. I can’t handle it. No boyfriends until you’re at least sixteen-and-a-half.”

Kiera looked at me and I looked at Kyle. “You are so unreasonable,” I said.

“It’s bad enough worrying about Summer, now I have Kiera to worry about.”

“I am standing right here,” Kiera interjected but her brother continued, “How am I supposed to focus on football with all these sisters to worry about?”

“Hmm, not a sister.” I lifted my hand into the air and Kiera and Laurie snickered.

“Cousin. Sister. It’s all the same. With Rick gone, it falls to me to keep my eye on you. All of you.”

“You make it sound like we’re at risk of being pillaged by the crusaders.”

Kyle levelled me with a hard look and I made a zipping-lips motion. We liked to give each other crap, but it was only because he cared. And I was grateful. Kyle filled some of the holes left by my brother. Not that I’d ever tell him that, his ego was already inflated enough.

We each loaded our trays with lunch items, paid, and then headed outside to a cluster of tables occupied by the football team. We never hung out with them much last year. Kyle was more of a free spirit—loved equally by the basketball and football teams. But with Maverick gone and our tether to the basketball team no longer, Kyle gravitated to his own. It was just another change to swallow.

Kyle and Laurie planted themselves right in the middle of the table, but Kiera and I slid in on the end. I was happy for them, I was. But as I watched them laugh and chat with the football team, I couldn’t fight the wave of jealousy.

“Oh, there’s Jack,” Kiera said. “I think I’m going to eat with him, if that’s okay?”

I smiled. “Of course.” This wasn’t Kiera’s scene and I couldn’t blame her for bailing. Hell, I wanted to bail. But it wasn’t like I had anywhere else to go. I dug my phone out of my bag and swivelled around to give myself some privacy.

Me: How’s your day going?

Relief swelled in my chest when Maverick replied straight away.

Maverick: Dull. Yours?

Me: Not much better.

Maverick: Only another thirty-eight weeks to go...

Me: Is that all?

Maverick: It could be worse.

I struggled to think of a reply to that, but my phone pinged again.

Maverick: I could be across the country

I wasn’t sure which was worse. Knowing he was thousands of miles and not being able to see him or knowing he was only twenty-five miles away and not being able to see him.

Me: I guess. How’s team stuff?

Code for: Has Zac backed off yet.

Maverick: I told you, you don’t need to worry.

There were so many things I wanted to say to that, but I opted for the least provocative response.

Me: Lunch is calling. Call me later xo

Maverick: I will xo

“Hey, Lonnie.”

I spun around slowly, watching as Caitlin batted her lashes, running perfectly manicured fingers up one of Kyle’s teammate's arm. “How was your summer?”

“Hmm, good.” He cleared his throat, eyes wide like a rabbit caught in headlights. “What’s up, Caitlin?” His voice was cool, guarded even. Everyone was watching. Kyle and Laurie included. And I couldn’t help but wonder if this was all a show for my benefit. If she was so wounded by what went down between us and Maverick that she was going to try to insert herself in my life as much as possible.

Screw that.

I might not have been able to escape her in class, but I didn’t have to choose to be anywhere near her outside of it.

Grabbing my bag, I went to get up, but Kyle caught my eye and shook his head and mouthed “don’t you dare”. I slunk back down and let out an exasperated breath.

“Hey, Lon,” Kyle interrupted Caitlin’s over-the-top description of her summer vacation with her family.

“Yeah?” Lonnie inclined his head toward my cousin, giving Caitlin the back of his head. Her cheeks flamed but in true Queen Bee style, she didn’t budge.

“How’s Becky?”

He shifted on the bench. “Hmm, good, she’s good.”

“I heard you guys were going steady?”

Caitlin’s eyes narrowed into thin slits, anger radiating, rolling off her in waves.

“Y-yeah.”

Poor Lonnie, he didn’t deserve to be dragged into this. But I couldn’t deny the smug sense of satisfaction I felt watching Caitlin get knocked off her throne. One of her friends leaned in, whispering in her ear, no doubt trying to talk her down. But Caitlin shook her head, eyes still locked on Kyle.

“I’m sorry,” Kyle said for everyone to hear. “Did you need something else?”

“Kyle,” Laurie clipped, but he ignored her.

“You think just because you’re captain of the football team, you can go up against me?” She sneered, but it rolled off Kyle. He didn’t miss a beat as he pushed off the bench and stood up.

“Let’s get one thing straight, Caitlin. Maverick is gone. JB is gone. Way I see it that leaves you and me. Everyone knows Rick was the fighter, not me. I’m a lover. I love my team. My girl. And my family. But you know what I don’t love? You, sniffing around my team, trying to worm your way in. Not. Going. To. Happen. You just officially got blacklisted. Bye, Felicia.” He waggled his fingers in a wave and sat back down.

Caitlin’s mouth flapped open like a fish desperate for breath. But nothing came out, and she stormed out with her friends trailing behind. The guys started high-fiving and howling at Kyle’s dressing down of the Queen Bee of Wicked Bay, but as our eyes collided across the table neither of us smiled.

Kyle had made a stand against Caitlin.

For me.

But we both knew he’d stoked the fire. Caitlin didn’t back down from anything. Once she’d had time to regroup, she’d come back swinging. So while I wanted to thank him for having my back, I couldn’t.

Because whether he meant to or not, Kyle had just started a war.