“Don’t forget your clothes tomorrow.” He raises his voice and turns to Claire. “Either of you.”
“Yes, sir.”
Claire scowls.
“I can find it on my own,” I say once we’re in the hallway.
“No. I’ve got bio anyway,” she says, shoving her phone in her pocket. She looks at me like she’s seeing me for the first time. “You’ve got an accent—where are you from?”
“North Carolina.”
She nods. “I went to Myrtle Beach one time.”
“Yeah? My mom and I go there sometimes.”
“It’s really different from the coast in Northern California but it was nice enough.” Her phone buzzes and she checks it, typing something quickly before stashing it away again. “So, you know the foster brothers?”
“Uh, what?” The question throws me off.
“I was in the cafeteria at lunch. I saw the reunion or whatever the hell that was.” She kicks an abandoned pencil on the floor. “I also saw the way Jake kept looking at you in gym.”
So she was paying attention to something other than her phone.
“I spent the summer here—in Lee Vines. We got to know one another.”
Her eyebrows raise. “Impressive. No one has ever been able to break through their force-field in years. I mean, many have tried, but with a few exceptions, most have failed.”
“Does everyone know about their dating life?”
She laughs. “Everyone knows everything about everyone here. It’s a small town. There are no secrets.”
She points to my classroom and I pause before entering. I spin when she’s on her phone again and say, “Really? No secrets?”
“Nope.”
“I’m not sure that’s true. No one knew about me.”
She looks up and studies me for a minute and I feel my skin heat from the scrutiny. Suddenly I understood why the boys didn’t race over when they saw me and held back. Once these people knew…they’d want to know everything.
“True,” she says in acknowledgement. “But be prepared for that to piss people off.”
She vanishes in the crowd of people starting to fill the hall and I press my back against the wall, trying to stay unnoticed but it’s impossible. Every person that passes me looks at me. They all see me. I’ve gone from non-existent to incredibly visible.
I have a feeling having four boyfriends will only make it worse.
I’ve barely taken a step out of my last class and had time to figure out how to get to the football field when Dexter eases his stride next to mine.
“How did you find me?”
“Word travels fast around here. You may want to get used to it.”
“That and a million other things,” I mumble, but I’m really trying not to cry. It’s stupid, but I’ve been on edge for hours. Dex glances down at me and frowns. My nerves are settled when I feel his hand on the small of my back, leading me down the back stairs.
He pulls me against the wall, out of the way of people passing. “You okay?”
“It’s just been a lot to take in.”
I feel the eyes of every student walking past us taking us in. “I bet, come on. Let’s get outside.”