Getting back into his car, Amo felt his blood start to pump. He was closer than ever to following in his father’s footsteps. It was a day he had been dreaming of for as long as he could remember.
The day I become a made man.
* * *
“This is the best day of my life!” Chloe almost couldn’t believe it when those words passed her lips as they headed toward the cafeteria. It was the first time ever Cassandra hadn’t come to school, and not one person had said anything to them. She hadn’t heard “freak” or “waitress” all day.
Elle chuckled. “I know. Best freaking day ever. I wonder why Cassandra isn’t here.”
“Who cares? I never thought one person was the sole reason for high school being such a nightmare for us.” She had thought it was more like Cassandra, Sebastian, Stacy, and Stephanie, plus all the people who wanted to impress them by making fun of her and Elle.
“Yeah, me, either.”
However, they still weren’t stupid, so they reached the cafeteria and got food from the shortest line.
“I have to tell you what happened when you left me this morning. By the way, what the hell? Why did you do that?” Elle asked once they sat down to eat their lunch.
It took her a second to realize what she was even talking about, but then it came to her.
In their first period English class, Elle hadn’t seemed like she was even there. It had seemed like something was wrong, or maybe something had happened, but she had snapped out of it pretty quickly when they had realized Cassandra wasn’t going to be there today. Anyway, Mr. Evans had given them an assignment of writing a short, five-hundred-word essay the day before, and Elle hadn’t turned anything in. Therefore, he had asked to talk with her after class, and that left Chloe getting to second period on her own.
“Because Mr. Evans said he needed to speak with you, not me. I knew it was about you not turning in your essay. He wasn’t going to talk about it in front of me, you know that. Oh, and why didn’t you turn in your essay? It was the first assignment of the semester.”
“I was sick. Listen, I have to tell you something. You’re not going to believe who talked to me and didn’t want me dea—”
“You were sick? Really, that’s the excuse you’re giving me? I hope you didn’t use that on him.” She didn’t believe that bologna for a second.
“Uh, yes, I was sick. That’s the truth, and he believed me. Why can’t you?”
“Probably because, not once have you not turned in an assignment, and you get sick all the time. You practically stay sick. There isn’t anything that goes around that you don’t catch.”
Elle started to look like she was hiding something serious. She was the master at lies, so whatever it was, it must be bad for it to affect her to the point of not being able to pull off a lie.
“Well, this was a different kind of sick.”
Oh, okay. Sure, a different kind of sick. What in the world is she hidin—
A male voice interrupted her thoughts. “Hey, babe, can I sit here?”
Chloe about choked on her food when she turned to see Nero with a tray. She thought she was seeing things—wait … Did he just call Elle “babe”?
Elle pointed to the empty seat beside her. “Are you serious? Sit here?”
“Yes, I was talking directly to you, wasn’t I?”
Her mouth dropped to the table. The sarcasm was real in their voices, telling her that something must have happened between them. She was pretty sure of it by the way he was eyeing Elle. Yep, he is, in fact, talking directly to you!
Chloe was on the edge of her seat, wondering what Elle was going to say next.
“No, you clearly weren’t because my name isn’t ‘babe.’ I bet you don’t even know my name. So, no, you cannot sit here, Nero.”
Okay … I wasn’t expecting that.
“All right, babe. I’ll eventually be sitting right there. I can wait.” Nero left with a smirk on his face.
Okay, I wasn’t expecting that, either. He definitely liked that answer more than he should have.
Chloe picked her jaw up off the ground and swallowed the food that was still in her mouth. “Don’t you think I deserved a little warning?”
“Jesus, Chloe, I tried to tell you twice, but you kept interrupting me. I said you weren’t going to believe who talked to me.”
“Well, tell me already!”
“When you left me, I went in the hall, and he bumped into me. I tried to tell him sorry, but he told me to not apologize for something I didn’t do. He actually talked to me and wasn’t mean.”
Chloe felt her mind being blown at this moment.
“I can’t believe it. Nero is … nice?”