I groan, letting my head tip back. “I don’t have time for this. The test is Wednesday.”
“Then stop wasting time with me and get to work, Cap.” He places a reassuring hand on my shoulder before he heads off to class.
“Some help my friends are,” I mutter under my breath. I already tried Austin last night, but since he’s dating Lacey’s best friend, he just laughed and said something about being glad he wasn’t me and that I should look out for glitter bombs.
The three of them are hanging together now in front of Lacey’s and Claire’s lockers. Lacey won’t even look at me this morning, but Austin gives me a half smile and a nod as I approach their circle.
“We should get to class,” Austin says to Claire, grabbing her hand and pulling her away. I appreciate that he’s trying to give me an opening to talk to Lacey, but I haven’t figured out what I’m going to say.
“See you at lunch!” Claire waves to Lacey, who smiles back. Lacey sees me as she turns to her open locker. She doesn’t look as mad as last night, but she’s not happy to see me either. I don’t know when it happened, but at some point, she stopped frowning at me and now that she’s back to it, I don’t like it.
“Hey,” I say, stopping beside her.
“Hi.” One word. Flat tone. Just like the old days.
My pulse races as I scramble to think of what to say or do next. She’s not going to make this easy on me. Rowan saidgrovel. God, he better be right. How do I grovel? He said something about compliments. Okay, I can do that.
“You look nice today.”
Her brows inch up, and she stares down at her cheer uniform.
“Thanks,” she says dryly.
She does look nice. She always does, but the uniform somehow works better on her than any of the other cheerleaders. The light blue complements her well and her legs are toned and sexy. Even the big bow on top of her head, which would look ridiculous on just about anyone else, suits her.
She slams her locker shut. “Is that all?”
“Umm…” I clear my throat. I don’t spend a lot of time talking to people, but I’m not usually this bad at it. Laceybrings out the worst in me. “The study guide you made was great. I really appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome.”
Okay, compliments are not working. What was the other thing? Ah, gifts. Except I don’t have anything. I’m not exactly keeping a stash of flowers and chocolate in my locker. Is that something Rowan does? Is that a normal thing? I have no idea, and trying to figure it out is exhausting. I used to think I was pretty good with women. But one ex-girlfriend and her best friend who hates me, says otherwise.
I reach into my pants pocket and pull out the protein bar I was saving for later. “Here.”
She takes it, then stares down at it for several moments. “What’s this for?”
“Umm…to eat?”
“You brought me a protein bar?”
“They’re good. My dad orders them online. They taste better than other brands. That one is chocolate milkshake.” A smile tugs at one corner of my mouth as I remember she also shares an affinity for my favorite flavor shake. Maybe I’m better at this than I thought.
“Thanks.” She looks confused by the gesture but less angry. Could Rowan’s advice have actually worked?
Without another word, she heads off to class, and I stand here like an idiot. A hungry idiot. Fuck, I gave her my morning snack. My friends are useless.
* * *
By lunch I haven’t come up with any other ideas. I scarf down the cafeteria food, then go back for seconds. When I sit back at the soccer table, Rowan eyes me carefully. Heusually sits with Austin at Claire and Lacey’s table, but since I failed my test, he’s been around more. Rowan’s like that. He seems to gravitate to people in need. And I guess I’m the biggest charity case right now.
“It didn’t work,” I say, chewing around another big mouthful.
“You actually did it?” he asks, tone indicating he hadn’t expected me to.
“I need her help.”
“Okay. Okay.” He drops his chicken sandwich to the tray. “What did you say? Give me the play-by-play.”
