“To see Will,” I replied as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
“Are you kidding? He’s the one who should be coming over here to your friends. You shouldn’t be the one always going over to him and his friends.”
“That seems so—” Underhanded.
“Don’t simp,” she commanded.
“You’re all good at telling the others that . . .” commented Poppy.
I decided to follow her advice, even though I hated playing mind games. And after a little while, William joined us.
“May I?” he asked before sitting next to me.
Amelia nodded, then gave me a conspiratorial look.
William ignored her and put his arm around me. “Did you really end up in the principal’s office today?”
“Vice principal’s office. But how come this school doesn’t seem to have a principal anymore?”
“Of course there’s one. But what’d he say to you?”
“Apparently since I threw a ball in Blaze’s face the other week and I tried to slap James today, I have to be kept under control.”
William laughed. “I don’t know about Blaze, but I bet the latter deserved it.” I laughed, but the carefree moment was short-lived as the rest of the vice principal’s words came to mind.
“Then he gave us an assignment to do together. Imagine.”
William scowled, and his smile hardened suddenly.
“With James?”
At that moment, the main door flew open, and the subject of conversation appeared with a new girl. The cold air from outside touched the nape of my neck and ran down my spine as I furtively looked him up and down. His hair was combed back, giving him a more adult, sophisticated look, highlighting his cheekbones. Of course he was wearing his signature leather jacket. With his arm around the girl, he swaggered around the place until he reached our table.
I don’t know why, but a voice that sounded an awful lot like my mom echoed in my head.
June Madeline White.
“Yeah, but I have no intention of doing an assignment with him. I’ll do it alone and put his signature on it,” I replied after a bit of a delay.
“June, we still have to talk . . .” stammered Will.
When I saw James’s eyes turn toward us, my stomach did a flip.
“Look, let’s have fun tonight, okay?” I said to Will, kissing him on the lips. When we pulled away from each other, James was still standing there, but he didn’t pay any attention to us.
“Drinks for everyone, on me,” he announced, throwing his wallet at William.
Will headed to the counter, and James walked away.
I took advantage of William’s absence to slide next to Amelia.
“What are you thinking, June?” she asked, seeing how pensive I was.
“How’s your brother?”
“Are you trying to steal my thunder?” She burst out laughing.
“Meaning?”
