I blinked a few times trying to process all of that. “Yeah, it’s called love.”
Her face went white at the mention of the L-word. “I am not fucking in love with that asshole. Not possible.”
I arched a brow.
She stared at me and then cursed under her breath. “Son of a bitch. This can’t be happening. Why him? Why couldn’t my heart fall for someone else? Someone not an Elite.”
“Is it that bad to date Micah? Yes, he flirts with every girl, but I actually think he cares about you. He doesn’t care about those other girls. They mean nothing. But you definitely mean something to him.” Was I doing the right thing as a friend, encouraging her to give him another chance? What if it had been nothing but a fling for Micah? What if I was completely wrong about him having feelings for Mads? It wasn’t like he had ever come and told me he liked her.
“I don’t know, Josie. Every time I think about Micah and me together, I can’t help think he will screw up my life.” She looked so dejected, not elated like someone in love should feel.
I put my arm around her. “From personal experience, it’s not all that bad to date an Elite.”
“What do I do? I don’t want to see him. Not until I figure shit out.”
“You need to talk to him… but maybe not today,” I added. “I think Micah might be kind of busy. I can ask Brock to have Micah assigned to Kenna or me.”
“Assigned?” she echoed, brows scrunching together. “They only do that bodyguard shit when something has happened. What did I miss?”
I dropped my hands into my lap, fingers fumbling together. “I’m assuming you haven’t heard or been online recently.”
She shook her head. “No, I’ve been too busy freaking out about Micah. I haven’t been able to concentrate for two seconds.”
“It’s probably best if I just show you,” I said, fishing out my phone from my bag. I pulled up one of my social media accounts and stopped at a photo of Carter and turned the phone for her to see.
“Holy fuck. Is that… ohmygod. It is. Has everyone seen this?” She grabbed my phone, scrolling through the other photos, eyes growing wider with each one.
“Pretty much the entire fucking school. They just took him to the hospital a few minutes before you got here.”
“How did this happen? Was it the tagger?” she asked, noticing all the graffiti on his face, body, and the grass in front of him.
“Yes and no,” I replied, pressing my fingers to my knees.
Her brows bunched further together. “I’m confused.”
I so wanted to tell her everything, and it was all on the tip of my tongue, but… “Kenna has a secret. It’s not my place to tell it. You guys should talk, but I can tell you that Kenna and I teamed up last night and let Carter know he can’t mess with us anymore.”
She dragged her gaze from the phone and stared at me with bewilderment. “Are you saying you and Kenna did this?”
I nodded.
“Holy. Fuck.” She let her hands fall to her lap, my phone still clutched in her fingers. “I can’t believe you guys did this without me. What the hell?”
I didn’t think now was the appropriate time to point out that she had been busy screwing Micah while Kenna and I had been fucking over Carter. “It wasn’t planned, exactly.”
Her lips slanted. “I’ve never been more proud. Tell me everything. Leave out no detail. I want to bask in your small victory. Then I’m going to lecture you on how stupid it was.”
I laughed, feeling fucking fantastic—at least for the moment.
“I can’t believe you and Kenna pulled that off. This will go down in Academy history as the best prank ever.”
Except, for Kenna and me, it was more than a prank.
“I would have loved to have been there. I’m still upset you didn’t call me.” She didn’t look upset, but I understood her need for wanting to be included. Mads might not have ever been a direct victim of Carter’s, but she had born witness to enough of his shit. “Have I told you what a genius you are?”
I grinned. “Not today.”
She shook her head, handing me back my phone. “Brock must be losing his shit.”