The guys clamber to their feet. Todd has a black bruise around his eye.Jesus.
“Morning, Avery,” Todd mumbles.
My jaw drops open.
Daniel greets me as well without meeting my eyes. Then they look over my shoulder at Erik. Only then do they retake their seats.
Following suit in this odd tableau I’ve found myself in, I lower myself into a seat, trying to remember how to breathe.
Erik sits next to me, barely fitting in the seat. Other students file in and cluster around us.
“Hey, Erik. Great game, man!” one guy in a Granthorpe Knights t-shirt says.
Erik nods.
The guy thrusts out a hand and introduces himself. Erik shakes it, then inclines his head to the side toward me, saying, “Avery Kershaw. Shane Moran’s stepsister.”
The guy smiles at me and raises a hand in a wave. “Hey. Nice to meet you.”
I nod, my mind racing.
There is no reason for Erik to be here unless Shane sent him. And given Todd and Daniel’s shrunken appearance ever since we arrived, it doesn’t take a genius to know Todd’s black eye is somehow related to my newfound campus adoption by Shane and his friends.
It’s the why I can’t fathom.
“You don’t have to stay,” I whisper to Erik when Professor Smith-Hall approaches the podium.
In a Shane-like manner, Erik doesn’t answer or even acknowledge that he’s heard me. Instead, he leans back and folds his arms over his massive chest, settling in.
I glance around. People are looking at us while pretending not to. It’s the opposite effect of what happened in high school when Shane and Declan froze me out. In high school, I went from being popular to being non-existent. Now I’ve gone from invisible to visible. That’s the power Shane and his friends wield.
When I open my laptop, I find an email message I’ve been cc’d on from Todd. It’s to our professor.
Dread curdles in my stomach. But when I read it, my fear drains away.
I read it again to be sure I’m understanding it correctly. The bottom line is that our team has decided that as the biggest contributor to the project, I’ll be the one presenting.
Oh, my God. Unbelievable.I finally exhale.
Two different feelings war within me, like those serpents on Shane’s tattoo.
One is elation. The other fear. I’ve got my shot at showcasing myself as team leader, but I owe it to Shane.
And owing him a favor puts me in an even more precarious position than before.
7
AVERY
Erikcomes with me to Café Ramen. People turn and stare at him, which I guess is normal for him. I wonder if he feels like a celebrity or a freak. Maybe both.
“It was cool of you to come to class. It made things easier for me, and I appreciate it. But you don’t have to have lunch with me,” I say softly.
He glances down at me for a moment, then continues walking with me to get in line. On the walk over, he said zero words.Zero.
I guess he’s going to continue the trend.
“Okay, stay and have lunch with me.” I blow out a breath. I’ve never seen Shane or his friends here, so I don’t think low-key and cheap is their scene. “Where do you normally eat?”
