Before I can turn around I hear that soft, sensuous voice in my ear. It’s Blair, and as usual, he’s standing much too close to me.
“Hey, Bunny,” he murmurs, and I feel his strong chest against my shoulder. I lose my breath completely for a moment and when I try to breathe in again, his faint cologne teases my senses and I have trouble surfacing.
“What do you want, Blair?” I ask, trying to sound irritated. It’s the first time we’ve really spoken since that first day. I’ve done a pretty good job of avoiding getting cornered by him, for just this reason. The moment he stands close to me, it’s like the rest of the world melts away. It’s just me and Blair.
“Mmmm … that’s a long, long list where you’re concerned. What if I start with something simple?” I hear the crooked smile in his voice rather than see it. “Come out with us tonight. We missed you last week. It’s Friday so we’re going to go have some fun. I want you there.”
Suddenly there are butterflies bouncing all over the walls of my stomach, and my heart begins to race in my chest so loud that I’m sure he can hear it. Part of me wants to say yes, and part of me wants to tell him hell no. I should know better. I should.
“I’m … busy tonight,” I say as nonchalantly as I can, hoping that he can’t hear my rapid breath.
“Blair Rashnikov, what are you doing in this room? You aren’t in this class,” our teacher, Mr. Davis, scolds him from the front of the room. We both turn to face Mr. Davis, and Blair wraps an arm around my shoulder.
“I was just coming to see a friend,” he answers with a naughty lilt. Then he turns and kisses my cheek softly, and I gasp as my eyes widen. Mr. Davis is furious.
“Mr. Rashnikov, we do not permit that kind of behavior in this school, and you know it. Detention, both of you, Monday.” The teacher’s stern expression hardens. “Now please leave, and I don’t want to see you in here again until you’re scheduled to be here.”
With a red face, I head to my desk and take my seat. I am equal parts mortified and enraged. Now I have detention because Blair decided to kiss my cheek, which he shouldn’t have done to begin with. Mr. Davis speaks out over the class as Astor, who is sitting immediately to my left, begins to snicker. I glance over at him and see that he’s laughing at me. Great. His friend gets me in trouble, and he thinks it’s funny.
Mr. Davis announces that our Shakespeare essays are due, and I dutifully open my folder only to see that it’s empty. I stare down in disbelief that quickly turns to horror. I wrote the essay. I spent the last two weeks working on that essay and now it’s not there. Panic floods through me and I can hear blood rushing in my ears.
“Lose something, Sadie?” Astor grins as he eyes me with a wicked glint in his eyes.
I turn to look at him and I realize what’s happened. Astor must have gotten into my folder and taken my paper while Blair was distracting me at the back of class.
I wait for Mr. Davis to start pulling up attendance on his computer to lean in to Astor.
“Give it back,” I demand. He only laughs at me and reaches into his own folder to pull his out and pass it forward.
“You’re going to have to take your work in this school seriously, Sadie, or you’re going to wind up asking people if they’d like fries with their meal.”
He laughs, and I want to punch him again, but there’s nothing I can do. I’m not about to make things worse by calling out Astor Hawthorne in front of the whole class.
Mr. Davis flips through the papers and then eyes me in concern. “Miss White, I don’t see your essay here. Do you have it?”
I didn’t expect to be the one called out in front of class, and I’m lost for words.
“I … I must have left it in my room. I’m sorry. I can turn it in on Monday.” My mind is blazing, and I think to myself that maybe I could rewrite it all tonight. I still have all my notes and my rough draft in my room where they can’t be stolen, thankfully. Hawthorne makes us hand-write all our papers because they think it helps decrease plagiarism but it also means I can’t just slip away and print another copy like I would have literally anywhere else.
Dana, who is sitting in front of me, turns in her chair and gives me a worried look. “Where is it? You worked so hard on that!”
I can only shake my head at her and try not to look at Astor still chuckling to my other side. If I tell her now, she’ll never let me hear the end of it.
Mr. Davis warns me I’ll have to take a fifty-percent deduction in my grade, but there’s nothing I can do but accept.
There’s so much emotion rushing through me. Most of it is anger and frustration directed at Astor, the beautiful jerk sitting next to me still laughing under his breath. Dana was right earlier. I’m going to have to be very careful around the holy trinity; her snide nickname for Wills, Blair, and Astor.
I can barely take in the rest of the class, and when the bell rings, I shoot out of the door. I keep to myself the rest of the morning until lunch when Victoria and her Barbie doll twins, Alisha and Laura, sit next to me. She’s as perky as ever, but today it grates on my nerves more than usual.
“There you are! I was looking for you earlier. You have to come out with us tonight. We’re going out for some fun!” She positively bubbles excitement.
Where me … I’m just miserable. I tell her about my missing paper I have to re-write … though don’t tell her why.
“Write it tomorrow night. You have the whole weekend, come on! Everyone who is anyone is going. You have to come.” Victoria presses me about it. “You haven’t been out for a proper Hawthorne excursion yet. You don’t want to miss out on your first one.”
She eyes me seriously. “I’d be amiss if I didn’t make you go.”
I sigh.