“PSSST. ZACH,” DEREK douchebag whispers loudly from two seats over. Derek is one of my teammates and he gossips more than a girl.
Tipping my chair back on two legs, I look over at him. “What?”
“Lindsay Miller?” He wiggles his eyebrows. “You hit that?”
See?
I shake my head and my attention falls on the girl sitting between us—Kali, a cheerleader, I think—who is looking at me with raised brows.
I frown. “What?”
She winces. “Nothing,” she says softly before picking up her backpack and moving to the empty seat in front of me.
I’m an asshole.
“Hey,” I say, and she glances at me over her shoulder. “Kali, right?”
“Yeah,” she replies before turning in her seat to face me. “I wasn’t trying to be nosey, but it’s kind of hard to mind my own business when you two are talking over me.”
“Sorry.” I shrug.
“No worries.” She smiles sheepishly and turns back around in her seat.
“Bro, how about Mackenzie’s cousin?” Derek continues, shaking his head. “That girl is fine as fuuuck,” he drawls. “Mackenzie threatened my balls if I didn’t stay away from her.”
I laugh under my breath. If Cole hadn’t threatened his balls, I would’ve.
Dex chuckles. “She’s pretty. Got a nice ass and titties, but she’s too skinny for me.”
“You mean she’s too skinny for your big ass,” Derek says and Dex flips him off.
Mr. Baxter breezes through the door carrying a briefcase in one hand and a Starbucks in the other. “Good morning,” he greets us, taking seat behind his desk. “Welcome back. I hope everyone had a nice summer. I expect the announcements will be exceptionally long this morning. Go ahead and make yourselves comfortable, but not too comfortable. I don’t want any snoring, or drool on my desks.”
“I’M STARVING,” COLE says as he sets his tray down on the table and straddles the chair beside me.
“You’re always starving,” Carter states.
“True,” Cole agrees, twisting off the cap of his sports drink. “Has anyone seen Jay today?”
“No,” we all say as Evan takes the open seat beside Brad.
“She’s the hot topic of the day,” Evan tells us as he unwraps his sandwich. “Did you seriously threaten every guy in school to stay away from her?”
Cole smirks and his eyes flick over to me. “Just about.”
Evan shakes his head and chuckles before taking a bite of his sandwich.
Cole shrugs, carelessly. “I’m protective of her.”
“I don’t blame you,” Brad says. “I’m the same way with Brooklyn.”
Ashton and her crew—Reagan, Piper, and Hannah—sashay their way down to our end of the lunch table. “Here we go,” I mumble under my breath, but loud enough for the guys to heed my warning. Brad quickly drops his gaze to his food to avoid Hannah. I can feel Reagan’s eyes on me, but I keep my attention on Ashton as she moves to stand beside Cole with her hands on her hips. Let the shit show begin.
Without looking up, Cole asks, “What’s up, Ashton?”
“Oh, so now I’m Ashton? Not Ash? What’s going on with you? You ignored my calls all day yesterday. You promised me you’d wait for me at your locker so we could sit together at lunch today. What’s your deal?”
Cole slowly lifts his head and locks his wide eyes on me with a “what the fuck” look before he tilts his head to look at Ashton.
“Holy stage-five-clinger shit! What the fuck is your deal?” I bring my fist to my mouth to hide my smirk. “First of all—not that I owe you an explanation—I was busy with my family yesterday, and second, I didn’t wait for you at my locker because I was starving.” He jerks his chin toward the opposite end of the table. “Go down there and eat with your friends and let me eat my lunch in peace.”
“Fine,” she huffs and storms off, Piper following her.
“Bro, that was pretty harsh,” Carter says with a knowing smirk. Because this is typical Cole and Ashton behavior. She bitches. He snaps. And later they’ll be humping like rabbits. It’s a sick form of foreplay in their weird relationship.
“She knows better than to come at me like that. She acts like I need permission from her to take a shit. She’s not my girlfriend.”
I shake my head. Ashton doesn’t need a label. She’s his girlfriend in every sense of the word. Despite what the others think, Ashton is the only girl Cole messes around with.
“Brad?”
“Not happening, Hannah,” Brad says, eating his food while avoiding Hannah’s glare. “I’m not in the mood for your crazy shit today either. Move along.”
I lower my head to hide my smirk. Go, Brad!
And here we go. In five… four… three… two… “Zach, can I talk to you for a minute?”
I lean back in my chair and cross my arms over my chest. “Sure. Talk.”
“I’d rather talk to you alone,” Reagan says, looking around the table. “Outside.”
“I already know what you want to talk about and it’s not gonna happen because it’s none of your business.”
Cole lifts his head. “What?”
Reagan laughs once, rolls her eyes, and crosses her arms. “Whatever.” She scoffs as she turns and walks down to the end of the table with the rest of her crazy friends.
“What does she want to talk about?” Cole asks.
“What do you think?”
“What’s up with them today, anyway?” Brad asks. “Did they get a double shot of psycho in their Starbucks this morning or what?”
“Seems like it. Reagan’s been up my ass lately.” I shake my head. “I don’t get it. We broke up months ago. I’m not getting back with her. I don’t even like her.”
“They’ve got their cheer panties in a bunch because all the new girls are taking the attention away from them,” Evan says, picking up three fries at a time and dragging them through a mound of ketchup before shoving them into his mouth. “Like Jayla.”
“And Harper,” Carter says, jabbing Cole in the side with his elbow.
“You know that Harper has been at this school since our sophomore year, right?” Evan informs them.
“Is she the redheaded waitress from Mac’s the other night?” I ask.
“Yeah, but someone hadn’t noticed her until now,” Carter replies. “Right, Cole?”
“Shut up,” Cole says with a laugh.
“You got the hots for Harper, Mackenzie?” I ask.
Cole shrugs. “She’s all right.”
“She’s not your type,” I challenge.
Cole smirks. “She’s female. She’s my type.”
“What about Ashton?” Evan asks.
“What about her?” Cole shrugs again. He can’t possibly be that dense.
“Cole—” I start to say but Brad snags my attention, tapping my thigh under the table and jerking his chin, gesturing to something across the dining room. Following his line of sight, I see Lexi, Jay, and another girl I’ve never seen before, with wild curly brown hair, heading our way, and my friend Justin trailing behind them. “She’s hot in a bikini, but damn, she’s sexy as hell in that uniform,” Brad murmurs under his breath earning a jab to his thigh. “Damn, who’s the firecracker?” he asks.
I shrug. “I think she’s new.”
“Look at Justin,” Brad says with a laugh. “He’s like the hot-girl wrangler.”
The commotion at the end of our table quiets to a low buzz as they approach our table. Justin takes a seat beside Carter, and Lexi squeezes in beside Evan, as Jay drops down in Cole’s lap and throws her arm over his shoulder. Whispers, gasps, and snickers drift from the opposite end of the table.
“What’s with all the glares?” Jay asks and then to Brad, she says, “They were all smiles at your party.”
“Welcome to high school,” Lexi jokes. “Ignore them. They’re just a bunch of jealous bitches.”
“Where’s Brooklyn?” Jay asks Brad.
“She eats lunch with the juniors,” he replies. “How’s your first day going, Jay?”
“Great.” Jay smiles and gestures to the new girl. “This is Cherry. She’s in my Project Mayhem class. Cherry, this is my cousin Cole, Brad, Zach—”
“And this is my boyfriend, Evan.” Lexi cuts in. “You’ve met Justin and that’s Carter.”
“Hey,” Cherry says with a small wave. Cherry is pretty and tall, like Jay, with a head full of light brown, spiral curls, bright eyes and skin the color of coffee with extra cream.
Jay stands from Cole’s lap. “Anyway, I just came to say hi. We’ve got to get back to class. We told Alex we were going to the bathroom.”
“Aren’t there bathrooms in the performing arts building?” Cole asks.
She smirks. “Exactly.”
“What exactly is the Project Mayhem class? Is it like the School of Rock or something?” Brad asks.
“Or something,” Jay replies. “Alex is no Jack Black. Oh, yeah!” She playfully smacks Cole on the arm. “Thanks for telling me about Alex. I mean Mr. Alex.” She rolls her eyes. “I’m calling Weenie after school. I’m sick of that bitch keeping secrets from me.”
“Who’s Weenie?” Brad asks.
“My lying-ass best friend who lies.”
“Alex wanted to surprise you,” Cole explains. “Don’t be a bitch about it.”
“Shut up.” She smacks him on the shoulder this time. “I’m not being a bitch. I love Alex. It’s just weird having him as a teacher because he’s practically family. Come on, Cherry. See you guys later.” Everyone says their goodbyes as Jay turns and walks away with her new friend, Cherry.
I look around the table to see everyone watching me. Chuckling, I shake my head as I push my chair from the table and stand. “Will you dump that for me?” I point to my tray and, without waiting for a response, go after my girl.
“WHAT’S UP WITH that guy Zach? Is he in love with you or something?”
Is he in love with you or something?”
“No.” I snort. “I don’t think he even likes me. We—” I start to explain but I’m cut off.
“Jay.” I look over my shoulder to see Zach jogging toward us.
“Are you sure about that?” Cherry laughs as we stop and turn around to face him.
“Hey,” he says, then looks over at Cherry and nods before bringing his gaze back to me. “Can I talk to you for minute?” His eyes flick between Cherry and me.
I look over at Cherry and smile. “Go ahead. I’ll be there in a minute.” Returning my attention to Zach, I ask, “What’s up?”
“I’m sorry for being an asshole these past few days. You were the last person I expected to see at Brad’s party.”
“Yeah, I could tell by the look on your face when you came out of the bathroom with that Piper girl. You don’t seem all that happy about me being here.”
“Nothing happened with Piper,” he starts to explain, but I wave him off because he doesn’t owe me an explanation. “And you’re wrong,” he continues. “I’m happy you’re here. I think I’m just in shock.”
“Why?”
“Because we haven’t seen or spoken to each other in a year.” He shoves his hands in his pockets. “Why?”
I cross my arms over my chest and huff out a sharp laugh. “Talk to your girlfriend.”
“I don’t have a girlfriend.” The bell rings, indicating that lunch is over. Zach blows out a breath and says, “Listen, I have football practice until six. Do you think we can meet up after?”
“Why?”
“Because we need to talk, Jay. It’s been a year.”
“Fine. Okay. Where and what time?”
“How about Mac’s at seven? That’ll give me time to go home and shower first. Is that cool?”
I nod. “Sounds good.”
“Can I get your number from Cole?”
“It’s the same number.”
His mouth pulls to the side. “Then you’ll have to unblock me.”
The corners of my mouth curl up slightly. “I unblocked you six months ago.”
Zach’s eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. “I’ll see you at seven.”