“Nope. We should air this out, you know, so other girls have been warned ahead of time. My time with my lover was cut short. A guest arrived, prematurely, if you’re getting my drift. Its arrival came early.”

His eyebrows shot high and his arm dropped from the table, but then he caught himself and chuckled. Shaking his head at me, he put his arm back on the seat. He looked ready with a retort when his friend checked into the conversation. “Dude, you were in jail Sunday night. When’d you hook up with her?”

“He didn’t,” I snapped at him. “That’s my whole point.”

The friend glared back. “Sounds like you need to get laid to me. You’re a bitch.”

“Jamie.” Cord gave him a pointed look. “You don’t know who she is.”

“Yeah, but—”

“You don’t know who she is. Watch your tone.”

He reared back. “Are you kidding me? She’s just some—”

“No, she’s not,” Cord cut him off again. “I was just giving her a hard time. Relax.”

“She was being a bitch to you. Just saying, that’s not cool.” His friend leaned back in his chair with a slight glower. He grumbled, “Since when do you let chicks talk to you like that?”

“I was baiting her on purpose. She lashed back. It’s my fault.”

Hearing this, I sat back and had to reanalyze Cord again. This was the same Cord from Sunday, when he’d been nice and helped me move in. This wasn’t the old Cord from when he had thrown aside Marissa after their first hook up. What brought this change to him? But I kept quiet. I had no intention of asking. It was interesting to see the change.

Cord dropped his arm and leaned close. This time he lowered his voice so the girls couldn’t overhear him, “You pissed that Jesse hasn’t called? He’s got stuff going on right now. I don’t know if he told you that.”

I shrugged. “I don’t care.”

Yes, you do. What was going on with him?

Ignoring that nagging voice in my head, I scowled at him. “Just do me a favor. Pretend we don’t know each other. I don’t want the extra attention, you know?”

His eyes narrowed.

I stiffened, feeling the weight of his measuring gaze, but then he nodded. “Sure.” A ball of tension loosened in my gut and I lounged back in my chair again. The professor had started roll call. Cord was true to his word. He dropped the teasing, everything, and it was as if we never knew each other. The only time he violated this was at the end of class when the professor told us that we would need to form a group of three or four.

Cord latched onto my desk. “Partner up, Connors.”

I glared. What was he doing?

His friend had the same sentiment. He glowered at me around him, but didn’t argue.

The three girls had turned around, hoping to become a part of their group, but they stopped when he did that. I realized why he’d done that and rolled my eyes at him. He shrugged, but gave the professor our names when the groups were recorded. It was then announced we’d be working with the same group throughout the semester on different projects. The first project was for introductions. Screw that.

Class was dismissed and everyone stood to give phone numbers and email addresses out. Not me. I grabbed my bag and darted past Cord and Douchebag for the door. I heard DB grumble behind me, “Dude, are you mental? That girl is crazy.”

I didn’t hear Cord’s response. I was already out the door.

I had two more classes and it was after two before I was done for the day. My stomach was rumbling since I’d skipped lunch and hurried across the quad so I’d get to my third class in time. When I headed to the food court, I spotted Beth and Hannah at a picnic table in the yard. They had books spread across it and Hannah was lying on her side while her cousin was hunched over a book on the other side.

I paused, wondering if I should go over or not, but Beth glanced up and saw me. She waved me over and Hannah lifted her head to see who was coming. She squinted with a hand over her eyes, but dropped her head back down when she saw it was me.

Drawing closer, I nodded to Beth.

She gestured to the empty seat beside her. “Take a seat. You have another class?”

A line was forming outside of the food court doors, but I put my bag on the ground. “I’m done. I was going to grab some food and start studying.”

Hannah groaned. “It’s the first day. You two are nerds.”

Beth shot her a dark look. “We are not. When you’re failing all your classes before finals, don’t come to me for help.”

“Ugh,” her cousin mumbled, scowling back as she sat up on her side and pulled a book in front of her. “Fine. Whatever. You suck.”

A small grin teased the corners of her mouth, but then Beth rolled her eyes. She turned to me, “Take a seat.”

Gesturing to the doors, I started towards them. “I’m going to grab some food. Be right back. Watch my bag?”

She nodded, turning back to her book already.

Hannah frowned at me before I turned all the way around. I couldn’t see from the Aviators she was wearing, but I was sure she was studying me intently. I narrowed my eyes back at her, wondering the reason behind her sudden perusal. She hadn’t given a damn whom I had been when we went to Club T. When I headed back with a salad, muffin, and water, both girls seemed to be reading again. Neither said a word when I sat so I ate my food and pulled out one of my textbooks for my own head start.