“Brian!”
“What?”
“God damn it.” He lost his grip and we both fell.
“Sorry!” he exclaimed, frightened when I landed on him.
“No, I’m sorry. I’m incredibly ticklish!” I pushed myself up, leaning on his shoulders. “It’s better that I was the one who fell on you, otherwise you would’ve killed me with all these muscles,” I joked.
Brian stared at me bewildered. I’d just given him a compliment, and that seemed to make him uncomfortable.
Maybe Will was right, I was too direct. I pushed up on Brian’s arm to get up. He really was well built under that shirt. I’d never noticed.And surely this isn’t the time to notice that, I scolded myself.
When Brian got up on his elbows, I felt his pelvis thrust under my skirt.
My eyes went wide with embarrassment as I realized that I was straddling him. I felt guilty. I got up confused, and he did the same.
“I gotta go now,” he sputtered, agitated. “I remembered that I have math. You can help me another time.”
I was fixing my skirt when a deep, grating voice took me by surprise.
“Well, who do we have here?”
Oh my god, no.
Anyone else.
The President.
The elementary school teacher who hated me. Even my mom.
I could have put up with anyone else, but not him. Not James Hunter.
“Weren’t you going to a class for a history pop quiz?” I asked acidly.
“I’m certainly not going to class to get interrogated. What are you doing here?” James was leaning against the wall, bringing a water bottle to his lips to take a long sip.
“I don’t know about you, but I got an A- on the test,” I retorted fiercely.
“Hold on, do you want another grade for the little show you just put on?”
“I fell. Don’t give me shit.” The way I answered him made him giggle.
He followed me when I started walking.
“Smooth move, slick,” he quipped.
“Look who’s talking.”
“So normally you only fall down on other people’s balls, White?”
“Are you looking for my knees to fall on yours by any chance?” I asked. Then he stopped me in the middle of the hallway. “Hunter, cut it out.”
“Cut what out?”
“You’re insinuating something. I don’t like it.”
“What don’t you like? Hearing the truth? That you were straddling that asshole Brian Hood on the floor?”
