“What are you talking about?” I asked, bewildered.
“I saw how you and William Cooper looked all googly-eyed at each other. Do you know him?”
“No. Well, he helped me out.”
“Don’t fall for it. He’s just like them,” he said.
Brian’s mood might have been soured by the heated encounter that had just taken place, but he was right about one thing. If I wanted to stay out of trouble, I’d have to be very careful.
5
June
“Agh!” I yelled as the boiling coffee hit my tongue. Stupid Starbucks.
“Don’t burn yourself,” my mom scolded, as we were on the way to my second day of school.
A second later, she slammed on the brakes in front of school.
“Jeez, Mom, was that on purpose?”
Focusing all my energy on keeping the paper cup perfectly balanced, I said bye to my mom, got out of the car, and fixed my skirt. Then I put a smile on and headed toward the entrance.
“So, we don’t have any classes together, huh?” Blaze’s soothing, musical voice asked.
“Hey, Blaze.”
“If I’d given you my sweater, I’d have a better excuse to talk to you right now,” he mumbled bashfully, walking next to me.
I absentmindedly glanced at him as we went through the door. Blaze didn’t have the toned physique that Brian or the other football players had, but he was cute.
“But you didn’t,” I replied playfully.
“It’s all Brian’s fault,” he blurted, patting his friend on the back as we turned the corner into the hallway.
Brian and Amelia always looked perfect, even first thing in the morning. No bags under their eyes, no flyaway hairs, no wrinkles in their clothes. It looked like Brian was prepared to act like nothing had happened.
We had different first-hour classes that day, so I headed to my locker as I cautiously held my coffee. I tried to take a sip, but the coffee almost burned my lips. It was still too hot. I got to my locker and gazed at the metal door next to mine. I couldn’t help but think of William as I set the cup down to open my locker. I grabbed my math book, shoved it under my arm, closed the locker, scooped up my cup, and turned around.
The cup went flying out of my hands, splattering boiling coffee everywhere.
“God damn it! What the fuck!”
Reluctantly, I lifted my gaze to meet a pair of eyes burning with rage. I began to tremble as I realized that I’d bumped into James Hunter and spilled hot coffee all over him.
“Sorry! Sorry!” I frantically apologized, hoping that my voice conveyed my good intentions loud and clear.
He looked down to inspect the disaster. The coffee was everywhere on his shirt, and even more of it had spilled on his pants. “Stupid fucking child, you did that on purpose, didn’t you?” he growled in a gravelly voice that sounded like he’d just woken up.
“What? No! I turned around, and you were behind me.”
“Me . . .behindyou? Tell me, what the fuck would I be doing behind someone likeyou?”
His words had a vaguely threatening tone, and I sensed a strange heat flood my cheeks.
“No, I meant—”
“Are you saying it’s my fault that your tiny clumsy butterfingers don’t know how to hold on to a cup?”
