CHAPTER TWO
AUBREY
JAY CALLED several times over the next week during our winter break from school, but I avoided him. I took care of my mother and kept an immaculate home instead. I didn’t give my father a thing to complain about over the rest of my vacation.
Sophomore Kill Day descended on me more quickly than I would have liked, especially when I had no interaction with Jay. I couldn’t be sure if he would walk me to school or if I would be on my own.
I put on makeup like it would help camouflage me. I wore the cutest skinny jeans I had and a dark flowy top to look nice, but not so showy as to call unwanted attention to myself. I pulled on some boots that would weather the snow and my puffy winter jacket. I’d mastered tying my hair in a bun that mirrored the same one I’d had before it was cut. I thought I looked good.
I could make it through the day as long as Jay helped me. When I left my house that morning, he stood at the end of my sidewalk, beaming.
He walked up like we’d been talking about this every day and swung an arm around my shoulder. Then he grabbed my backpack.
“I can carry my backpack, Jay.”
“Not if the water balloons start flying once we reach school grounds,” he said.
My eyes must have widened because I felt his chest shaking while he chuckled at me. I smacked his chest. “You’re a jerk.”
He squeezed my shoulder and reassured me. “No one’s going to bother you, Brey.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks for walking with me.”
“Wouldn’t have walked with anyone else.”
“You sure?” I teased, skipping ahead to face him and catch him in his lie. “Melanie or Sophie didn’t want to walk with you? They weren’t mad?”
He looked just past my shoulder toward our school coming into view. “They’ll get over it.”
“Probably, but I’m guessing your walk to school could have been much more fun this morning.” I wiggled my eyebrows.
His eyes, such a lighter blue than Jax’s, danced with humor. Then, he dropped my bag and lunged for me. He grabbed me around the waist and knees, carrying me like a baby where he hovered right over a snow pile. I screeched, “Jay, you better not.”
“Say you enjoy walking to school with me just as much as I like walking to school with you. Or else.”
I batted at his arm and tried to hold back my laugh. “Are you kidding right now?”
His smile widened. “Say it, Sass Pot, or I’m dropping you.”
I laughed a little harder as he fake swung me toward the snow pile and screamed, “Fine. Fine! I love walking with you.”
“Say you know I like walking with you too.”
I chuckled as he set me down when I confirmed what he wanted.
Then we were walking again and I mumbled, “Guess I have to protect myself from you on Sophomore Kill Day too.”
Another laugh exploded from him. “Yeah, what a monster I am.”
I just smiled up at him. “You need to stop growing. You’re already a whole head taller than me.”
“Yeah, or keep growing so I can fight off the asshats that are lining up to bother you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, just hundreds of them.”
No guy had approached me all year. I wanted someone to make me forget about Jax next door. I wanted a Prince Charming, one who would overshadow Jax’s effect on me. I’d dreamed he would bump into me on my first day of school, we would both have stars in our eyes and we would fall madly in love.
Instead, every guy pretty much ran away from me or ignored me.