“I’m so sorry they did that to you,” Penny says. The poor girl didn’t say a word the whole time. And I don’t blame her. She keeps quiet because she doesn’t want to risk losing her scholarship. “I can stay and help you clean up.”
“No.” I give her a small smile. “Get to class. I don’t want you getting in trouble or falling behind because of my asshole stepbrother.”
“Are you sure?” she asks, looking guilty.
“Yes, go. I’ll call you later. Zed mentioned something about a party in Dark Night this weekend if you're down.”
Penny’s eyes light up. “God, yes, please. Take me with you. The music they listen to here haunts my dreams.”
I burst out laughing. “Go, you're gonna be late.”
“Love you, girl!” she shouts as she takes off.
“Alright, Starbright. Let's get this cleaned up.” Leo sighs as he stands up and looks at the ground. “Damn it,” he mutters. “It would have been easier to clean if Luke wasn’t such an ass.”
I lean over the table and find the ground covered in smooshed grapes. He’s right, we could have just gotten them all in one big sweep if they were still whole. “I’ll find a janitor.”
BY THE TIME LEO ANDI cleaned everything up, our after lunch class was done. I hate the fact I’m going to have to work late into the night to get everything I missed done, but my teacher was nice enough to agree to email me my missed work.
“Ready for Gym?” Leo asks as we head outside to the soccer field.
“No,” I mutter.
“Why not, you love running,” Leo laughs, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me to his side.
“Yeah, but it’s soccer. How much do you want to bet that they will find any way to hit me with the ball or trip me up?” I lean my head against him. “I don’t get how the teachers don’t see that the students are not the goody two-shoes that they like to play in front of them.”
“Sadly, this school is no different than any other in any realm. You’re always going to have your mean girls. And in this case, the Heathers are the plastics and your stepbrother and his friends are just the male versions.”
I giggle as he uses aMean Girlsreference. We watched it last night in his dorm room with Zed on video call. They seemed to enjoy it more than I did.
Now they tease each other, finding any reason to use the word ‘fetch’.
“Alright, everyone. Break into two teams. Isaac, you are team captain for the blue team; Heather P, you are team captain for the red team.”
You know what sucks? All grades share the same Gym classes. And I just happen to be put with the guys and their wives-to-be. It’s like the universe just loves to cause me pain.
We all line up, and the two captains are given a box with their color jerseys. One by one, they each pick someone for their team. And of course, Isaac picks his friends, and Heather picked hers, leaving Leo and me last.
“Alright, that’s it. Let's play,” Isaac says, turning around and jogging onto the field.
“What?” I gape, watching him go. “What about us?”
“Sorry, looks like we have enough players.” Heather smirks before running to her net with her team.
“This is bullshit,” Leo says, looking over to the teacher. She’s got headphones in and is reading a book in the lawn chair she has on the sidelines.
“Whatever, I didn’t even want to play. Let's just sit and wait for this class to be over, then we can go back to your room and hang out for the night. We can help each other make up for the stuff we missed.”
“Sounds good, Starbright,” Leo agrees, pulling me into his arms and placing a kiss on the top of my head.
We head over to the bench. There’s a few of the school jackets laying there, so I move them out of the way and sit down. For most of the class, Leo and I laugh and talk about random things from back home. My life in Hell wasn’t always bad, not whenever it involved him.
“You have no idea how happy I am that your dad asked me to spy on you.” Leo grins, lacing my fingers with his. Our spark hums to life, and I sigh at the feeling of want, love, and all around pleasure. At first, every time we touched, I wanted him to throw me up against the nearest surface and do dirty things to me. But the more our bodies get used to the other’s touch, the more manageable it becomes. I mean, I still want him, badly.
“I’m glad he did too.” I giggle. “I love that he cares so much about me to allow you to come here.”
“I was going mad without you, Starbright,” he whispers, cupping my face.