“Football,” JJ snorts. “Like anyone here cares about that shit.”
“I care,” says a soft voice at the front.
JJ’s head spins again. We all look up to see Carter, leaning against the teacher’s desk like he owns the classroom. Probably does, since his name’s on the building.
“I got this,” I tell him. I don’t need the quarterback following me around and fighting my battles for me. New kids have to establish their own space. I did that the first day I came to practice. I picked a fight with the biggest dude there and took him to the ground. Me and Higgsy are buds now. He knew what I was doing and was impressed I had the moves to down him. I couldn’t keep him there for long. The dude weighs 320, but it was enough that I took him on. This situation isn’t comparable. JJ is a runt, but he’s talking like he’s a big man and so he’ll either back up his words or get his ass kicked.
“Yeah, okay.” Carter takes a seat, putting his back to all of us.
JJ, because he doesn’t use the braincells God gave him, assumes that I’m free game. He gets out of his chair and strolls over to Ace’s desk.
“Yo, pretty girl. Since you’re new here, let me tell you some of the rules. Every new girl has to suck a senior’s dick. Good thing I’m here for you.”
I’m out of my chair and about ready to vault over the desks when Ace’s fist shoots out and decks JJ right in the balls.
“F-f-fuck you, bitch,” he gasps out as he folds in half from the pain.
“I thought you told me to deck a senior’s dick. Did I hear that wrong?” she asks, all innocent. The room fills with snickers. A girl two seats up from Ace says, “Nope. I heard the same thing.”
Several other girls nod their heads and chime in their own agreement. I walk around the desk and grab JJ by the collar. He stumbles to his feet, red-faced, with his hands cupped protectively around his junk.
“You’re going to pay for that,” he says, but it comes out like a baby’s cry and so the classroom only laughs harder. I march him out of the room.
“Get some ice and cool down,” I order and then slam the door shut.
I walk back to Ace and crouch down beside her desk. “You need anything?” Her knuckles are red.
“No.” She talks a good game, but her hand trembles as she turns to a clean page in her notebook.
“All right, but I’m giving you advance warning. I’m not going to let you out of my sight today, which means you’re going to have to come to football practice with me or I won’t be able to do my job.”
“I can’t,” she reminds me. “I have sewing club.”
“Yeah, after football practice.”
I swing into my chair, wishing we had bench seating or some shit so I didn’t have all this space between me and Ace. I inch my desk closer to her. She doesn’t seem to notice or care.
“The signup sheet said that the sewing club meets after class,” she insists.
I tap the desk so she’ll look at me. I can tell she’s shaken up, but she’s pretending that she’s not. I wasn’t lying when I said that I was going to need to keep my eyes on her at all times so this sewing club thing we’re doing is just going to have to be at another time. I’ll talk to Carter. I know he can arrange that. For now, I just have to let Ace know she’s not alone but in a way that doesn’t make her think I’m trying to usurp her autonomy.
“You really going to keep me out of the sewing club and make my mom cry? I mean, she didn’t cry when Peter Parker died in Infinity War so you know she’s got nerves of steel, but this? This would devastate her.”
Ace’s pretty mouth purses into a circle as she tries to keep herself from laughing. “You sound melodramatic.”
“Sometimes truth hits you hard in the heart.” I punch my left pec a couple times.
“I don’t even run the club,” she says and that’s when I know I’ve got her.
“Don’t worry about that. Just make sure you come to practice. I’ll swing by your class at 2:45.”
“You don’t even know—” She cuts herself off.
The corners of my mouth quirk up. “Yeah. I’ve got your schedule.”
“I just remembered,” she snips. Her cute chin goes up. I’d like to pinch it but I stupidly promised not to touch her without asking permission first. I’ll have to get some kind of blanket consent but she’s not going to give it right now. Besides, her making me ask for the okay before touching her is kind of kinky. There are things I can do with that. I smile to myself.