Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 32770 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32770 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
“Is he always this bossy?” Fleur asks.
“It can be kinda sweet,” I admit. Dunc smirks. “Don’t let that go to your head.” Fleur laughs.
“You haven’t signed up for any activities,” Fleur says, stealing a grape from my bowl.
“How do you—” I stop mid-sentence. “You know everything.”
“You could too.”
“All right,” I agree.
“And no, you can’t join,” Fleur tells Dunc without him even asking.
“Why not?”
“You wanted us to be friends. Deal with it.” She pops another grape into her mouth. Dunc grabs my bowl and moves it to the other side of my tray away from her, making us both laugh.
It feels good to laugh in this space and gives me hope that everything will be okay.
CHAPTER 21
DUNCAN
I make a promise to Sadie that I won’t talk to Van about what happened with Rose.
“He’ll go ballistic and then get kicked off the football team,” she explains on our way to Calc.
“Is that a bad thing? I thought you hated that he played football.”
“I do, but I don’t want him to get kicked off. I want him to quit because he knows it’s harmful.”
“I’m sure he knows it’s harmful.” I hold open the classroom door and nudge her under my arm before following her into the room. “He just doesn’t believe the harm will happen to him, so he won’t quit.”
“Thanks for your words of encouragement.” She flounces to her seat.
Rose is sitting two rows over. I catch her attention. “You find your phone, Rose?”
“Yes. It’s broken, thanks to you. I’ll be sending you a bill for the new one.” She gives me a saccharine smile.
“Good luck getting it paid.”
“I can’t believe I ever thought you were hot. I hope your dick melts off.”
I start to reply, but Sadie lays a hand on my arm. “She’s not worth it.”
“I was going to be funny.”
“You save that for me. Don’t be giving your jokes around like freebies to people who aren’t worthy.”
“All right.” I like that. That she wants to keep me for herself. I wink at her, which causes her face to turn a pretty pink.
“I wouldn’t go to her party if you paid me. I’m sure it’s going to be a drag. No booze. No weed. They’ll probably have a piñata and dress her up with a sash and a little crown like it’s a five-year-old’s Disney princess festival,” Rose sneers.
The pretty pink turns red and this time not from shyness but embarrassment. I straighten immediately, and I’m about to lay into Rose when a girl from behind her says, “Shut up, Rose. No one is buying what you’re selling. You’ve been dying to get into Duncan’s pants since we were freshmen, and even though you’ve done everything but practically strip in front of him—”
“No, she did that sophomore year during PE when she fake-tripped during floor hockey and her shirt somehow flew up and exposed her red lace bra,” adds in someone else. “Not that you noticed,” they direct to me. I have no recollection of this.
“Okay, so you’ve done everything to get his attention, and it didn’t work, but this girl—”
“Sadie,” I offer.
“—Sadie shows up and bam, Duncan is in her pocket. You can’t live with that, so you’re making up stories—”
“It’s not a story!” Rose insists.
“—that no one believes so give it up. Anyway, thanks for the invite, Duncan, we’re all going to be there, so it better not be a drag,” warns the girl. Madison, I think her name is.
I salute her. “Every drink will be spiked with tequila, and we’ll have weed baked into everything including the tortilla chips.”
The class is still laughing and cheering when Van walks in. He looks at us all suspiciously but agreeably gives high-fives as he makes his way to Sadie’s side.
“What’s this all about?” he asks.
“I told them you were going to sing at the party this Friday, and they’re all excited,” I say.
Sadie giggles. I’m guessing from her reaction she knew about the surprise party.
Van sits down with a thud. “The hell I am.”
“Your last school said you had the pipes of an angel. Looking forward to it, man.”
He stiffens. “You been checking out our old school?”
Belatedly, I realize my mistake. “Nah, it was just a joke.”
“Don’t stick your nose where it’s not wanted, asshole.”
I keep my tongue locked behind my teeth because I absolutely shouldn’t have gone there just for laughs when we were just beating down Rose for trying to scrape up old rumors about Sadie.
“He didn’t mean anything,” Sadie says quietly.
“Are you defending him?” Van is incredulous.
“Let’s talk about this at home,” I suggest. Around us, the classroom has fallen silent and more than a few are coming to the realization that something happened to Van and Sadie at their old school. Rose tips her chin up as if to say, See, I told you so.
“Okay, no karaoke,” I say. “And crowns for only the guys because otherwise the party favors are predictable.”