Wick flipped him the finger, but quickly walked away. A few seconds later, the crowd that had circled them dispersed.
“Are you insane?” I asked him, thinking of what could have happened. “Was that seriously necessary? Forget being suspended, if you’d hit him, he could have charged you with assault.”
He looked at me, his expression still fierce. “Yes. It was necessary. You’re not quitting the show. Anyone looks at you funny, you tell me.”
“What are you going to do, Fitz? Beat up the whole school?”
“If I have to. You need to get to class.”
He was right. The bell had rung minutes ago. “This isn’t finished. I didn’t tell you I was quitting so you could fight my battles. I can take care of myself.”
He bent down low and dropped his voice. “Like you said, you’ve got enough on your plate. Maybe you can let a battle or two go.”
I shook my head not believing his white-knight act. At least not on my behalf. “This has nothing to do with me. You just can’t stand Wick because you think he’s behind the List.”
Fitz nodded. “You’re right. I can’t stand Wick. I do think he’s behind the List. And this haseverythingto do with you. Now, go to class.”
He followed this statement with a light slap on my ass.
I blinked a few times because instead of hauling up and slapping him like I should have been doing, I actually kind of liked it.
“Did you just slap my ass?”
“Get to class, Bennet. Wouldn’t want to get detention for tardiness.” He said this while walking backward away from me. Then he gave me a smile that I’m sure was intended to be charming but instead was infuriating.
With nothing left to be indignant about, I hurried to my next class.
* * *
Fitz
“Heard you almost laid out Wick,”Ed said as we stretched out before practice in the middle of the football field. Meanwhile, the track and field team was running sprints along the track that circled the field.
“News travels,” I said as if I could care less.
The truth was I’d been seething all day. A bunch of guys, guys on my own team, schemed to push Beth around then actually did it. It wasn’t going to happen again.
If anyone was going to physically touch Beth, it was going to be me.
And my purpose wasn’t going to be harm her.
I wondered if she was catching on to that yet.
That I’d reached certain…conclusions about us that I think had probably always been there in the back of mind.
Maybe I needed to make things clearer.
Like sticking my tongue down her throat.
God knew I wanted to the other night, sitting with her in my car, talking about sex. But as I’d started to realize things were changing between us, I’d also decided I needed a plan.
Beth and I had seen each other as adversaries for years. I needed to change that impression first. Needed to make her understand that this dance we’d been performing since we were too young to understand what it even might be was nothing more than foreplay.
The other night, when she’d opened up to me about her father, I knew was an important first step. It meant she trusted me. Which only proved there was more of a connection between us than either of us realized.
Something told me I would get only one chance to make this right with her. One shot at becoming what I wanted us to be.
Because suddenly it was very clear to me, I wanted there to be anus.
