We laugh and dig into our meals. Charlotte catches my eye and gives me a questioning look. I just shake my head at her. Of course I’ve thought of Mason in a more romantic way, but nothing can happen between us. He always makes me laugh and I love hanging out with him, but he’s a player. Plus, my life is complicated enough without throwing in boyfriend drama. Double plus, I can’t have a boyfriend since our whole relationship would be a lie. My own boyfriend wouldn’t even know that my name is Thea, not Amelia.
The rest of the week is pretty long and boring. Now, at almost seven o’clock on Thursday night, Aiden and I are sitting against the lockers in the school hallway. We were in the school’s library, but it closed around five thirty and I was in the middle of a breakthrough, so we just migrated to the hallway, where we’ve been ever since.
The school is dark and deserted except for the occasional janitor wandering by, but no one seems to mind that we’re still on school property.
We’re making a lot of progress, and I’m still surprised every time Aiden proves himself to be an amazing tutor. His endless patience with me and ability to explain the concepts without smashing his head on the wall at my incomprehension astounds me.
“Aiden, this is amazing! One more session with you like this and I can definitely get a C on the test Monday!”
“We’re not aiming for a C. We’re aiming for an A,” he corrects me.
“Aiden, you’re good, but you’re not a miracle worker.”
“You can do this, Amelia. You’re picking up the concepts really fast, and
you’re a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for.”
The honesty and conviction that he says that with causes me to blush and look away.
“Yeah, well, I have a good—”
The sound of a blaring car alarm coming from the parking lot echoes through the hallway. The only cars in the quickly darkening parking lot, other than the janitors’, are mine and Aiden’s. We look at each other, and he pulls me up with him from off the floor. In an instant, we’re outside, the school door slamming shut behind us.
The lights of my car are flashing as the alarm goes off. Aiden takes a couple of steps closer to my car, pulling me by our intertwined fingers. Now a little closer, I can see that the two visible tires are slashed, and from the way my car is sitting, I can tell that my other tires met the same fate.
I look at Aiden to gauge his reaction, but he isn’t even looking at me or my car.
His burning gaze is fixed intently on the platinum-blond passenger sticking her middle finger out of the open window of the red Mustang speeding away. What the fuck? Slashing tires? Is this the 1970s?
I pace beside my vandalized car, trying and failing to contain my anger.
“Who the hell does Kaitlyn think she is? And Ryan Simms? Of course they make a great couple, they’re both sociopaths!”
Aiden walks back toward me from seeing if his car was vandalized, the sound of his footsteps echoing in the dark parking lot.
“Is your car—”
“It’s fine,” he cuts me off, walking around my car to inspect it again.
“They didn’t touch it?” I’m kind of surprised. Ryan hates Aiden more than Batman hates the Joker, and Kaitlyn isn’t his biggest fan either.
“Simms knows it’d be pointless slashing my tires; I get new ones practically every few weeks.”
“What? Why would you need to get new tires every—”
Aiden waves me off. “Never mind. Plus, I’d kill him if he touched my car.”
I wouldn’t doubt that.
“Also,”—he nods at the security cameras at the top of the school—“I park in perfect view of the security cameras. Your car is parked out of reach of any of them.”
I scowl. “I can’t believe they were smart enough to figure that out. Maybe together they have half a working brain.”
In retrospect, Kaitlyn’s mom is the principal—Kaitlyn would know where the cameras don’t reach. Aiden inspects my car as I pace around him, worrying. I really have enough stuff to think about, and now I have bitchzilla and her psycho boy toy to add to the mix?
“Amelia?” The hesitation in his voice makes me pause my furious pacing and look over at him expectantly.
“All four tires were slashed—” He states the obvious.