Wick, short for Wickham, was a teammate, not to mention the son of one of my mom’s oldest friends. Tall, blond, way too pretty for a guy in my opinion, but the girls seemed to like him. We’d basically grown up together and probably should have been best friends. I suppose we had been when we were younger. But it turned out he was a douchebag asshole, and I wasn’t.
We had long since gone our separate ways.
“Fitz,” he answered with just about the same amount of disdain.
Because that’s how it was between us. He didn’t like me. I didn’t like him. And we were both perfectly happy with that. Fortunately for me, Wick played defense so even while we were on the same team, we practiced separately unless we were scrimmaging.
“See you at practice,” I said cordially.
“Yep,” he sneered. He started to walk away, then stopped. “Oh hey. Saw Gigi this morning. When did she grow up?”
I didn’t like the tone in his voice. Like maybe there was a hint of something suggestive in it. My sister had notgrown up.Not like that.
“She hasn’t. She’s still just a kid.”
Wick shrugged. “Didn’t look that way to me. Better watch out for her. Wouldn’t want her to hit any lists.”
I frowned. “What list?”
“Just a rumor really,” he said. “Something about a list of incoming hot freshman girls.”
“If such a list existed and I found my sister’s name on it…”
I didn’t bother to finish the threat. Wick, asshole though he was, knew my position in this town and in this school. My sister would never be somebody to be targeted by a bunch of horny juniors looking to score.
He walked off and I was happy to see him go. Now I could go back to focusing my energy on what really mattered. How Beth was going to manage another language course in her schedule.
Heath gestured with this chin to where I was looking. “Looks like they’re adopting the new guy as their pet.”
I’d been focused on Beth, so I hadn’t immediately understood what Heath was talking about. Then I watched as Reen called out to Locke, who was looking around for a place to sit. He hesitated for a second then eventually succumbed to her summons.
Most guys did when it came to Reen.
“You met him yet?” Heath asked me.
“He was in my Geometry class. Seemed completely uninterested, but when Masters called on him to answer a question he rattled it off easily enough.”
“Well, if Reen has taken an interest in him, somebody should warn him before she digs her claws in and does the whole Black Widow routine with this dick and his heart.”
Reen broke hearts and crushed desperate expectations for fun. Yet almost every guy in this school still couldn’t help but line up for the experience. Locke would figure it out or he wouldn’t.
He wasn’t my concern.
Beth, and her new enhanced schedule, was.
* * *
Beth
“So, Locke,”Reen asked him as she bent over the lunch table giving him a prime view of her C-cup supported breasts no doubt. “How has your first day been going so far?”
I tried not to roll my eyes. Really, she could be so obvious sometimes.
“S’alright,” he answered with a casual shrug. “Wouldn’t necessarily say I’m chuffed…sorry…happy to be here, but I’m making do.”
“Why are you here?” I asked him. “In America that is.”
“My brother is a professor. He’s doing a stint at U of Penn and thought it would be a good opportunity for me to experience your culture. You know, how you like things supersized and whatnot.”
