Crushing On The Geek (Crushing on You 4)

“We should get going, before people show up and ask us why we're leaving bowls of milk and honey,” he chuckled.

“Yeah, you're right,” Tamara grinned despite the uneasy feeling that someone or something was spying on them. She grinned when Hayden took her hand and led her from the classroom. Tamara drew small circles with her thumb on the back of his hand, trying to calm her nerves.

The hallway was filled with the clattering and whooping of wings. Tamara bit her tongue and braced for another attack.

“You guys, knock it off!” a freshman girl yelled from the other end of the hall, “You leave that damn June bug alone!”

“We're just goofing around,” a guy ginned at her, holding up a June bug attached to a long piece of string.

“Come on,” Tamara said, tugging on Hayden's hand, “Let's go.”

Tamara dropped Hayden's hand and sprinted to the stairs. She shoved her way through the crowd of fellow students with practiced ease. Tamara could hear Hayden following on her heels.

“I'll see you at lunch,” she said when they arrived at the bottom of the staircase.

“See ya,” Hayden said before they parted in opposite directions.

Tamara peeked around every corner before rounding it on the way to her first period English class. When the final bell rang and the morning announcements began she was only half way there. Mrs. Kelly was so going to have her head on a silver platter surrounded by famous poetry written by dead guys.

“You're late,” Mrs. Kelly said.

Stating the obvious, isn't she, Tamara thought.

Aloud she muttered a simple sorry and slunk to her desk. If Tamara had known her first period English was only the first of eight classes she would be late to, she might have stayed home.

Three-fifteen found Tamara waiting outside of the school for Hayden and the others, gnawing on her already ruined manicure. Her eyes shifted every few seconds and laughter sounded in the distance. Tamara could no longer tell whether the laughter was just that of her fellow students or if the wee folk were having fun at her expense. Fortunately, Hayden didn't keep her waiting long. He arrived for before Amber, who usually rushed out, like she was breaking out of prison.

“You all right?”

“Yeah,” she said, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

“You remembered to call your parents, right?”

“Yeah, I called Mom at lunch. She's cool as long as she doesn't have to come pick me up.”

“Are you sure you're all right?” he asked again, this time entwining his fingers through hers.

“Yes,” she said as they headed toward the parking lot, “I just….”

“Feel like we're being watched?”

“Yeah. It's been like this all day.”

“Maybe, they're trying to figure out whether or not we're really sorry,” he shrugged.

“Well, we left the milk and honey, they should be happy.”

“We'll see,” he said, opening the car door for Tamara.

She bit her lip and slid into the passenger seat. Hayden shut the door behind her and she fastened her seat belt. Tamara quickly checked her makeup in the rear-view mirror as Hayden rounded the car before getting in.

“Does your dad know I'm coming over?” she asked.

“Yeah. I called him at morning break. He doesn't really care who I have over as long as we don't trash the house,” he shrugged, “He's working on finishing his novel’s second draft today, so he'll be locked away in the basement anyway.”

“Your dad's a writer?”

“Not published,” Hayden laughed, “It's more of a hobby.”