“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.
Jay mumbled more to himself than me, “You have no idea.”
I blew a raspberry. “I do. The notches on your bedpost are at about a bajillion and mine ... well, are none.” I shrugged.
He held my backpack to his stomach as he bent over to laugh.
The genuine happiness that belted from him was infectious and made me forget how nervous I’d felt getting ready for school that day and how anxious I’d been to see him after a week, how terrible I felt the whole week without him.
He sighed and patted me on the back as we walked on, approaching the front doors of the school. “There’s my girl.”
I looked at him quizzically.
“Don’t act like you haven’t been jittery and nervous this whole morning.”
I sighed, more relaxed when I admitted, “Well, it's supposed to be a rotten day for us sophomores.”
He nodded and when we reached the school entrance, he stepped in front of me, ready to open the door. He hesitated, then turned to me as he cleared his throat. “When you’re ready to talk about why I didn’t see or hear from you all last week, I’m ready to listen.”
I saw the hurt in his eyes. I could see him warring with himself over bringing it up and guilt washed over me. It was the first time he brought up that I hadn’t returned his calls for a week or that I ignored him when he came to my house and threw stones at my window. He deserved for me to be as good of a friend to him as he was to me. “I’m so sorry, Jay.”
He looked at my hands which were wringing themselves out. This was unspoken territory for us. I’d ignored him in the past when my father had lost his temper but never for this long.
He’d never called me out on it. We would simply pick up where we’d left off.
He pulled me to his chest for a hug and mumbled, “Missed you, Sass Pot.”
When he pulled back, his megawatt smile was back in place, and the concern behind his eyes had disappeared. One day, I owed him an explanation, but relief washed over me knowing that he wouldn’t push me anymore.
The first bell rang as I made it to my locker and Jay set my bag down. “You gonna make it the rest of the way?”
I rolled my eyes. “Thank you for walking me, Jay.”
“A thank you from Brey.” He held a hand to his heart. “Day’s officially made now.”
“Go to class, you idiot.”
“See you at lunch.” He spun to walk down the hall and within two steps, five people surrounded him. Shaking my head at how popular one person could be, I didn’t think much about opening my locker.
When I swung it open and heard the hiss though, I jumped and looked toward the sound. Coiled in the corner sat a green snake. I stared at it as it stared at me, neither of us ready to make the first move. Its tongue darted out, and I jerked back. The snake probably took my movement as a threat and launched itself at me.
I screamed, flying back and trying to catch myself as I stumbled over my backpack. I wasn’t sure if the snake was poisonous, but I acted fast as I fell to the ground and scrambled across the floor, trying to put distance between us.