My shoulders drop. “Why did you tell her I was showing you around? She knows that you’re lying.”
He seems genuinely surprised. “How would she know I’m lying?”
Shaking my head, I push around the fruit before setting my fork down. “I never got out much when I lived here, okay?”
He snorts. “Did you ever have a life? You don’t do anything in Exeter either.”
My nostrils flare. “There are reasons.”
His fork clinks against the glass plate, causing me to stare at his waiting expression. “I have all day, Mouse. What aren’t you telling me?”
Narrowing my eyes, I scoff. “What aren’t you asking, Kaiden? You’re so worked up over your own bullshit that you don’t ask anyone about themselves. You assume.”
“That isn’t—”
“Don’t lie,” I cut him off. “You make stupid assumptions about everybody and everything. You shut down when things don’t go your way and you blow up when people try to help. Yet, you never ask anybody about anything that’s relevant because you’re trapped in your own little world.”
His lips part, but nothing escapes them.
Taking a deep breath, I focus on finishing breakfast before tackling the rest of the day. I don’t want to go shopping with Grandma and Betty, but I also don’t want to chauffer Kaiden around. He’ll complain about how little there is to do here or give me crap about my only true happy place being a musty old bookstore that has more dust than books on the shelves.
When I’m finished, I take my plate to the kitchen and start washing it off. Kaiden nudges me out of the way and drops his plate in the sink before grabbing the sponge from me and taking over. I gape as I watch him scrub down and rinse off our stuff, before placing them strategically in the plastic drainer.
“You act like you’ve never seen a guy do dishes before,” he grumbles, turning the water off and drying his hands with the dish towel.
Dad would sometimes do dishes when we were little, but mostly it was up to Mama or Logan and I. Especially when Mama would give us treats or coins for helping.
“I just didn’t expect you to do them,” I murmur, shrugging.
He doesn’t respond right away. Then he turns to me, resting his hip against the counter. “I prefer keeping out of people’s business if I don’t think I belong in it.”
I snort unattractively. “Really? If memory serves, you think it’s necessary to rule the school like you’re the king. Kings are in everybody’s business. I can’t even eat a salad in peace without you making a scene.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
His tongue clicks. “High school is a nasty place, especially Exeter. There was a guy that graduated about a year ago who held my position. Everybody knew him, respected him, and listened to what he wanted. You know what that was? For everyone to get along.”
I roll my eyes. “Not everybody is going to get along all the time. So what? High school is just four years—a blimp in the grand scheme of things. You’re wasting time trying to get everyone on the same page.”
He looks away.
I contemplate telling him my own experiences from the only other school I’ve known. “Logan and I have always been opposites. Everyone loved her because she was outgoing and fearless. I was picked on because I hated interacting with people. I’ve always preferred being buried in a book where nobody can bother me. But even on the days when people teased me and gave me crap, I got through it.”
He still doesn’t look at me.
“There are worse things in life than being picked on. It’s draining to try fitting in. Lo and I were different, but I loved us because we were who we were. People may not have understood that, but only our opinion mattered.”
“So what?” he finally asks, crossing his arms on his chest. “Would you like me to let them talk shit about you? Do you want guys to hit on you, catcall you in the halls, or worse?”
Worse? “What…?”
“You don’t want to know.”
My eyes widen.
“Exeter High is a hunting ground,” he says quietly, stepping closer. His tone drops. “I’ve seen bad things happen to people like you all the time. I do what I can to keep the predators away, but they’re around and they love fresh meat.”