His smile breaks through, but he hastily wipes it away as a guy with brown hair steps up in front of us and clears his throat. He’s cute with full lips and the greenest eyes I’ve ever seen. He also seems vaguely familiar.
“I hate to break up this little moment, but I need the keys to the car. I left my bag in the trunk the other day.” He sneaks a curious glance in my direction.
It takes me a moment to connect where I’ve seen him—he was the guy who waved at me while I was running.
River pats his pockets then fishes out a set of keys. “Just make sure to lock it up.” All of his humor is gone. He’s not rude or anything like that; merely guarded.
The guy offers him a tense smile then looks at me. “You’re the new girl, right?”
“The one and only,” I tell him. “I prefer to be called Maddy, though, not new girl.”
“I’ll make a mental note of that.” He starts down the aisle. “I’m Noah, but I’m sure you’ve already heard of me.” He doesn’t wait for me to respond as he exits the classroom.
“That’s your stepbrother,” I state as the name clicks.
“Yep,” he mutters while staring down at his hands.
I sense some tension there. “You two don’t get along?”
“We’re just not friends.” He slants back in his chair, crosses his arms, and stares straight ahead. And there’s the broody, quiet guy whom I first saw in jail.
I decide to let the conversation drop, but I’m curious what’s behind the tension. My best bet is the fact that Noah’s mom had an affair with River, Finn, and Lily’s dad, which led to the divorce and remarriage.
As we sink into silence, I note a girl at the bottom of the aisle staring at me. She has long, blonde hair in braids, her makeup is minimal but flawless, and her fitted green sweater and wide, pin-striped pants look fashionable. Her gaze slides between me and River, and her brows furrow.
“Um, so I hate to break up your little solo brooding moment, but who is that girl staring at us?” I give a subtle nod in her direction.
He tracks the nod, and his frown deepens as he hastily looks away. “That’s Isla.”
“Oh, the betrothed.” The words slip out of my mouth before I can stop them. “Shit, sorry. That was probably insensitive.”
His gaze shifts to me. “Lily told you?”
I tap my pen against the desk. “Only because I was asking her all these questions about why everyone was staring at me during orientation. I thought it was because I was from northside—and honestly, I’m still convinced that’s part of it—but then she told me about the”—I gesture at the front of the classroom where Isla is—“well, you know.” I feel awful, considering the moroseness that’s consumed his features. “Sorry for bringing it up. I like to do this thing sometimes where I put my foot in my mouth. It’s a real friend magnet, let me tell you.”
His eyes scroll over me. “You’re not that bad.”
“Only somewhat bad,” I quip, to which he responds with an attempt at stifling a smile. I fiddle with the cap on my pen, sliding it off and on. “So, I have a subject change I’m going to offer right now to slide on right by this.” I set the pen down to stop my fidgeting. I’m not even positive why I’m doing it. Okay,that’s a lie. I know exactly why—because I’m about to ask for a favor.
He absentmindedly rotates a ring on his finger. “Okay, what is it?”
“It’s a favor,” I start then hastily tact on, “And you can totally say no. Your sister suggested that I ask you—or, well, she said I could ask you, Finn, or Noah, because you’re all on sports teams.” And … I’m rambling. “But, anyway, I want to get onto the cross country team, and Lily said it was hard to navigate the sports world at the academy. So, if you could offer me some pointers on navigating it all, that’d be so helpful.” I give him a cheeky grin at the end of my speech, hoping that’ll entice him even more.
He blinks at me then stares like I sprouted a unicorn horn out of my ass. “You’re asking me about sports?”
“Um … yeah?” I grow a bit twitchy. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. In fact, forget I asked.”
“No, it’s not that.” He shakes his head and blinks again. “Sorry, it’s just that when someone asks for a favor, it’s usually something much bigger than me giving pointers.”
“I can actually understand that.” I chew on my bottom lip. “I mean, I’m sure you heard my convo with my mother on the phone, back when … well, you know.”
Discomfort radiates from him. “I did hear a little,” he confesses. “Finn did, too. We didn’t eavesdrop on purpose or anything like that. It’s just that?—”
“We were in a confined space,” I finish for him, whispering. “You don’t have to explain why. I know I was being an asshole back when we were in there, but I was having a shitty night.”
His eyes search mine. “Why were you in there?”
“Why wereyouin there?” I throw back at him. When reluctance flashes across his face, I add, “How about I show you mine when you show me yours?”
