When the bell rings a few minutes later, I scramble up from my desk and quickly gather my things. I want out of this room now before I hyperventilate. I’m almost to the door and have managed to not look at Mr. Monroe sitting at his desk when he suddenly calls my name.
“Miss Hendrix.”
My shoulders stiffen when he calls my name, and I’m tempted to ignore him. The good girl that I am doesn’t let me though. I turn around slowly, my face surely beet red. He’s leaning back in his chair, one ankle crossed over his knee and his laced fingers laying on his flat stomach. He’s eye candy that I can almost never resist looking at.
“I’ll be speaking with your track coach today, so he knows you’ll be late for practice.” He pauses. “Just in case you were planning to use that as an excuse.”
I inwardly groan. That’s exactly what I was going to do. The last thing I want to do is be alone with him. Even if I didn’t make an utter fool of myself by handing in the wrong paper, he still makes me nervous to be around. No, I never used our names in the paper, but I did use descriptions of him. He’d have to be stupid to not know it’s about him, and one thing Mr. Monroe is not, is stupid.
Looks like I’ve got no choice but to see him after school.
What a wonderful time that shall be.
I give him a jerky nod and a muttered, “Yes, sir.”
His eyes darken for a moment and the muscle in his jaw twitches. Before he can say anything else, I turn and hurry out of the room.
The hallways are already mostly clear. One thing you don’t do is get in the middle of a high schooler and their lunch period. It’s the only time they can gossip without fear of a teacher overhearing.
“Hey, Hendrix!”
I look up from watching my shoes squeak across the linoleum floor and find Aaron at his locker.
I slow my steps, but I don’t stop. Something about Aaron gives me the heebie jeebies, and I don’t want to be alone with him in the hallway.
“There’s a bonfire out by the lake after the baseball game this Friday. You in?”
Even if he didn’t give me the creeps, I still wouldn’t be in. I have no desire to be... whatever Aaron wants me to be.
“Sorry. Can’t,” I tell him. “I’ve already got plans.”
Lies. I have no plans. Well, unless you count going home, hanging out in my room and writing until Hannah, my best friend back home, gets off work so we can FaceTime.
“One of these days I’m going to drag you to a party,” Aaron says.
His words send shivers down my spine because it honestly wouldn’t surprise me if he meant that literally.
I give him a tight smile. “Maybe next time.”
He shrugs, like it’s no big deal, but I feel his eyes lingering on me as I walk away.
I stop just inside the door of the lunch room. Hearing the loud chatter and seeing so many faces I have no wish to see has me spinning on my heel and walking back out. I go to the bathroom instead, deciding I’ll spend the next twenty-five minutes sitting in one of the stalls and hope no one comes inside.
My wish is ignored when ten minutes into my peaceful reprieve the door opens, and I hear the clack of heeled shoes.
Heeled shoes. What teenager wears freaking heels to school?
The rich, the pretty, and the popular, that’s who.
I’m in the far stall so I can’t see who it is through the crack in the door, but it doesn’t take me long to figure it out. I barely suppress a groan.
“Aaron’s taking me out Saturday,” Brooklyn gushes, and I can just imagine her leaning over the sink to swipe her peachy lip gloss across her lips.
“Thought you two were taking a break?” Audrey, Brooklyn’s best friend, asks.
I carefully shift on the closed toilet seat.
“It wasn’t really a break. I was just pissed at him for a while. I’m over it now.”