“He’s extremely rich too, and you know what that means.”
“Did he seem like a jerk?”
“Not really.” Her eyebrows furrow as she considers it. “He’s a hard one to read.” I can tell she’s annoyed with that fact. “I’m sure I’ll get a better feel for him at the party.”
Uh oh. She’s gone and found herself a challenge. Now she won’t be able to stop until she can decipher what kind of man he is. It will bug her otherwise, and she won’t let it go.
“Eat, then we’ll go get our nails done and find us both a new dress. We’ll get something special for the party. I think you could use a girls' day after what happened at school.”
That does sound nice, and it might actually take my mind off what tomorrow might be like at school.
It suddenly dawns on me that the guy I ran into at the coffee shop the other day was with Rory. I wonder if that means he’ll be at this party. A mixture of panic and excitement builds, because if I’m honest, I haven't been able to stop thinking about him.
He was kind of a jerk, but a handsome one at least. It was an accident when I ran into him, so he didn’t have to be so rude. Then he shouted at me as I was leaving, which was a little over the top in my opinion.
I really am embarrassing myself all over Craven Cove. There’s no way it could get worse. Or could it?
Chapter Four
Apollo
“Mr. Crew, how can I help you?” the study hall teacher, Mrs. Shaw, asks as she looks at me over the top of her glasses.
“I need to use the restroom.”
She looks at the clock on the wall and then back at me. “You’ve only got fifteen minutes left.”
What I want to tell her is that I’m not going to survive fifteen more minutes without losing my fucking mind in here, but I keep that to myself. The entire rowing team had to come to school at six o’clock this morning as part of our punishment. Principal Nolan was pissed and wanted us suspended, but our coach was able to work out this deal.
Every day this week we’ve all come to school two hours early to help clean the gymnasium and then spend the remainder of the morning in study hall. This way we won’t miss classes, but we’ve had to make up for what she called our shenanigans. The only problem with this punishment is sitting in this room and waiting for it to be over. I would have been happy to stay in the gym and scrub toilets if it meant getting out of this. I don’t do well being still this long, and my muscles are twitching to move.
Leaning close to Mrs. Shaw so that it looks like I’m embarrassed, I lower my voice. “It’s number two.”
“Oh.” She looks around and then back to me like I might somehow be about to let loose in the middle of the classroom. “Fine, take your bag and go.”
Giving her my best pleading look of thanks, I nod and grab my backpack. With my back to Mrs. Shaw, I wink at Jackson, and he gives me the middle finger. I hurry out the door and smile to myself, but I know this will only save me for today. It’s not like I can fake it every day this week, so I’m going to have to figure something else out.
The classroom they’ve decided to use for our study hall is on the far end of the campus. It faces the teachers’ parking lot and nothing else. Even though most students are getting here around now, the hall on this end is empty. As I get to the end, I take a right and almost run into someone.
“Shit,” I say right before I reach out and stop the person from falling. As I help her get steady on her feet, I look down and realize who it is.
“You,” she says, her eyes narrowing.
“You,” I answer in surprise. I glance down at her body and then immediately look back into her eyes. I don’t need the distraction her curves are offering. “You were a lot wetter last time.”
Her cheeks flush, and she blinks. “Excuse me?”
“At the pep rally yesterday. Or have you forgotten about getting doused with a bucket of water and then me coming to your rescue?”
“And how did you manage to rescue me?” She crosses her arms over her chest, but all it does is show off her ample cleavage in her low-cut V-neck tee.
I lean forward and put the palm of my hand on the locker behind her. She rests her shoulder against it, and right now we’re completely alone. This dark-haired beauty has been on my mind since the coffee shop, and I want answers.