Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 124135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
“Did you even look at the assignment list?”
I frowned. “What assignment list?”
Her eyes looked up in exasperation. “The one Lewis talked about for pretty much the entire class.” She walked forward and pressed my headphones into my chest. I looked down at her. She was only about five foot three, if that. She was tiny compared to my six foot two. Easton was just an inch or two shorter than me. He’d clearly got all the good stuff in the womb.
“You and me, superstar, are partners. In composition class. For the next year.”
I stared at her. Locked in on her brown eyes and felt the Fates laughing at me. I couldn’t seem to escape this girl. “Of course we are,” I said, sighing and turning back to my laptop. I’d only just tapped a key to bring the screen back to life when Bonnie shut the laptop again.
Her hand rested on the computer. I didn’t even look up, just said through gritted teeth, “Bonnie. I’m only going to tell you this once. Get off my laptop, and leave. I’m working.”
Her hand didn’t move. She didn’t move. I roved my eyes up to meet hers. “Don’t mess this up for me,” she said, face calm. But her words, spoken in that thick country twang, were anything but. I heard a shake in her voice that made my chest tighten.
I pushed the feeling aside and raised my eyebrows. “And how can I mess this up for you, Farraday?” My tone was shitty. Condescending. I knew it. But she was starting to piss me off.
Her cheek twitched in annoyance, but she still didn’t remove her hand from my laptop. “I’ve worked too hard to get this far, and I won’t let someone like you, someone who breezes by in life, screw it up for me.”
She seemed desperate, somehow. Still, fire lit me up inside. “You don’t know a thing about me.”
“No, I don’t,” she said back. “And I don’t need to. I don’t care whether you like me or not. But we’re stuck together for the duration of this assignment.” She swallowed, and then her voice softened. “To have someone like Lewis teach me is a dream come true.” Her hand slipped off the laptop. I stared at the spot it had just been on. “Don’t take it from me.” There was a small catch in her voice.
I didn’t know why, but it made that damn stabbing feeling I chased away so often slice through my stomach. Bonnie reached into her bag and pulled out a piece of paper. “The TA was handing these out as we left. You were gone before he could get one to you.” I didn’t even look at the piece of paper as it landed on my desk.
Bonnie sighed in frustration. “It says we have to have a rough outline of our project done for Friday’s seminar.” She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “I won’t be around for a few days, so we need to talk about this now.”
The thought of working with Bonnie made an uneasy feeling sprout inside me. I didn’t like to feel anything. I was happy numb. But for some reason Bonnie Farraday sparked life back into my dead soul. “I’m busy.” I sat back down, throwing my headphones back over my ears. I had just taken the volume off mute when my laptop lid was pushed down again. This time harder. I had to count to ten…really bloody slowly.
The anger I lived with daily was waking up.
I slid my headphones off my head and put them around my neck. I turned. Bonnie was still beside me, fuming. She closed her eyes, and her shoulders sagged. “Please, Cromwell. I know you’re pissed at me for what I said to you in Brighton. I can hear it when you speak to me. But we have to get this outline done.”
Even at the reminder of that, fire boiled my blood. “I’m not pissed off at you. I feel nothing toward you,” I said coldly. I didn’t want her to think her words had had any impact. Especially how much.
“Right. Okay then…”
My jaw clenched as she started rubbing her arms. Like I’d hurt her. That annoying stabbing feeling was back in my stomach again. She moved toward the door then stopped dead. She spun and faced me, chin tilted upward. “Come with me for a coffee. We’ll hash this out. I’ll write it all up. You don’t have to do anything but contribute to the idea. We just need to decide what we’re gonna do.” I blew out a long breath. I simply wanted to be alone. I was better off alone. “Just come, please. Then you can get back to your drum pad.” She was persistent. I’d give her that.
I really didn’t want to go, but oddly, I found myself getting up. “You have an hour.”