“Well, not just us—” Thwack! “Dude!” Noah rubs his head for the third time. “She already knows! Might as well just tell her straight up!”
Mason sighs. “He’s got it down to a science. You pretty much have someone with you in every class. We’re with you first period; we walk you to second. Aiden and Julian are in your second; they walk you to third. Chase and Charlotte are with you until lunch, where we all are, then fourth—”
“What if I have to pee?” I cut him off, bewildered.
Noah smiles. “I thought of that, so we got it covered too. You wait until you’re in transition. Anna or Charlotte go in with you, the guy who’s there waits outside to make sure no one comes in to ambush you.”
“Aiden actually planned out the rotations of my bodyguards? And you organized my bathroom schedule?” I’m so overwhelmed I don’t know what to think right now. “I didn’t know he cared so much.”
“I told you Aiden’s actually a great guy. He’s just—”
“Guarded?” I finish.
“Yeah.”
“Prickly?”
“Like a cactus.” Noah nods.
“Angry? Easily agitated? Permanently unimpressed? Always scowling—”
“He has his faults,” Mason cuts me off.
No fair. I could’ve named at least seven more, not including gorgeous. Or brillia
nt. Or intuitive. Not that I would’ve said any of that out loud.
“But moral of the story is that he’s a great guy,” Mason continues. “You just don’t know him like we do.”
I do know that he’s a confusing pain in my ass.
“Why all this precaution anyway? I’m sure Kaitlyn won’t do anything so bad that I need to be chaperoned when I pee.”
Mason sighs. “Kaitlyn’s ruthless. We’d all rather prevent something from happening, than get a call that you ‘fell’ down the stairs or something.”
My eyes widen. “She’d push me down the stairs?!”
That it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been pushed down the stairs, is what I don’t say.
“Who knows what she’s capable of? No one has ever stood up to her so blatantly. All we know is that she’s seriously pissed and I don’t want you to end up in the hospital. Again.” Mason fits his hand in mine and starts walking, pulling me along with him.
“Do you think she’ll leave me alone if one of you guys are with me?”
“Oh, no. Shit’s gonna go down. At least if one of us is there, you won’t have to face it alone.” Noah beams at me. “I hope it’s when I’m there. I don’t want to miss any of the action!”
This time, Mason and I both glare at Noah.
“Aiden is behind all this? Why does he care so much anyway?”
Maybe, just maybe, Aiden considers me a friend? And that would explain the sudden protectiveness? I know I’ll never be as close to him as the Boys are, but that’s to be expected. Just making sure I don’t get ambushed by his psycho stalker is enough in my books. He doesn’t have to open up to me or tell me his deepest secrets, but he chuckles around me. For a guy like Aiden, whose emotional range is either bored or mad, that feels like a big step forward.
Noah makes a face. “I think he feels bad.”
“About what?” I ask as we walk through the front doors and down the halls.
“Kaitlyn’s only out to get you because she told you to stay away from her imaginary boyfriend: Aiden. I guess he kind of feels like she’s attacking you because of him,” Mason explains.
“He’d never say it out loud, though,” Noah says, as if reading my thoughts. “You can kind of just tell. Or we can. We’ve known him since we were kids.”