Seconds later, a bulky form moved to take her abandoned seat. He brought with him the tangy scent of a shower gel that smelled deceptively good. I kept my nose pointed at my textbook, refusing to give Gabriel the satisfaction of knowing how upset I was. Michael would’ve seen it as a sign of weakness, rubbed it in my face, and probably dropped the entire project in my lap. Gabriel, however, was completely silent.
Somehow, that seemed worse.
I sneaked a glance at him out of the corner of my eye. Jaw tight and fists clenched on top of the desk, he repeated his performance from the other side of the room and stared hard at Mr. Hart still standing at the front of the room. Maybe he thought he had mind control powers and was trying to use them on our teacher to rethink this assignment. Erase it from his memory. Whatever he was doing, it wasn’t working.
I cleared my throat, unwilling to spend the next ten minutes in complete silence. “So...um. I guess we’re doing this?”
He nodded his head slightly. If I hadn’t been paying attention, I would’ve missed it.
Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I glanced down at my phone sitting on the corner of the desk. Mr. Hart was cool about them being out in the open, as long as we didn’t text during class. Otherwise, it was an automatic detention.
As I stared at my phone, I thought about Battlescar13 and how much we’d messaged over the past few months. Surely, I was wrong in thinking the tight-lipped severe guy sitting next to me could be him. The guy I played with online was fun. We shot the breeze, joking about our day as we slayed the enemy. This couldn’t really be him, could it?
All I knew for sure was that Battlescar13 played hockey for Rock Valley High. And Gabriel played hockey—with the number thirteen jersey. Logic dictated that I’d been unknowingly playing with fire for the past few months.
A shudder went through me. What if I’d revealed my real identity to one of the Corrigan brothers through my online persona before I found out it was Gabriel? They never would’ve let me live it down. All the hard work and time I’d invested in my character stats would’ve been destroyed because the Corrigans destroyed everything they touched.
The only safe way to proceed was to make sure Gabriel never found out it was me.
And that meant keeping Battlescar13 in the dark.
“Any ideas on what we should do?” I asked, turning toward him. The best way to get through this torturous anatomy project was just to get it over with. If that meant playing nice with Gabriel for a couple weeks, I could do it.
Maybe.
“Nope.” Gabriel leaned his hulking torso over the desk, zeroing in on the anatomy book in front of him. He seemed determined not to look me in the eyes. “No idea.”
A sigh left my lips. Guess it was up to me. I shouldn’t have expected anything more. “Well, that was a lot of help, Gabe. Thanks for the brainstorming session.”
I glanced around at the people partnered up around the room. Charlotte and Angie were deep in conversation and it looked like they were already making progress on their project. Michael sat with his feet up on his desk and his eyes closed, his poor partner flipping through pages in the book for ideas. Typical. I sighed again and turned my attention back to Gabriel. My stomach flipped when I realized he was now watching me, his steel-gray eyes pinning me with an expression that made me shrink into myself a little.
“If it’s not too much to ask, I’ll need some time to think on it,” he burst out. “Sorry if that’s not as fast as you’d like. Unlike you, some of us don’t have brains that can shoot out brilliant ideas at a snap of your fingers.”
Talk about intense. I swallowed hard, unsure what had just happened. That was the longest speech I’d ever heard come out of Gabriel’s mouth. And what was more, I was pretty sure he’d just called me brilliant, in a back-handed kind of way. It was disturbing. I found myself wilting a bit more, the attitude I’d put on as a shield slowly melting away.
“Um...that’s okay if you don’t have any ideas right now.” I closed my book gently in front of me. “We’ll both think on it, okay? Meet back up at the end of your hockey practice tomorrow. Sound good?”
He nodded decisively. Some of the storm clouds had rolled out of his eyes, but a severe frown still marred his face. Slipping his textbook into his bag, he stood up and marched toward the door. Class wasn’t even done for another five minutes, but it didn’t matter. Mr. Hart wouldn’t have done any
thing, even if he had looked up from the computer behind his desk. Gabriel was gone.
“Whoa, he did not look happy.” Charlotte came over to lean on my shoulder, her eyes trained on the empty doorway. “Did you give him the Beth Frye treatment?”
I looked up at her and smirked. This was the first time I’d heard of that. “And what exactly is the Beth Frye treatment?”
With a sheepish smile, she ducked and ran a hand through her long hair. “Just a lot of take-no-crap attitude. It’s what I love about you. You’re the strongest girl I know. If anyone can take on the Corrigan brothers, it’s you.”
I tapped my pencil on the desk and let her words run through my mind as she went back to her desk with Angie. Maybe I was good on the outside at pretending that I didn’t take any crap, but run-ins with the Corrigan brothers still left me kind of woozy. That interaction had been no exception. It seemed like Gabriel had somehow wormed his way into my life—both virtually and realistically. I wasn’t sure how I was going to keep it all together and save my pride at the same time.
There was a scraping noise as Michael finally abandoned his nap and got up from his desk. He saluted me with a sneer as he followed the same exit path his brother had cut only minutes ago. “See you around the battle ground, Frye. But only if you’re man enough...”
There he went with the same old crap. My fingers curled so tightly around my pencil that it snapped. The bell rang and then there was a shuffle of everyone grabbing their stuff. I remained sitting, fire rolling through my veins.
He’d definitely see me on the battle ground. There was no doubt about it.
Now, I just needed to find a partner.
Chapter Three