Chapter 33
Matt
“Mr. Nelson, if you’relate to my class again, don’t bother coming next time.” Professor Mills glares at me as I slide into an empty chair, his mustached lip curled in a sneer. I wanted to get back up and stalk out, just to make a point, but instead, I said nothing and nodded, wishing I could punch him in the face.
“Yeah, Mr. Nelson,” Aaron hisses under his breath. “Where the hell have you been, dude?”
“Hungover as shit,” I said, far too loudly, and Professor Mills glared at us. Aaron scoffs and leans back in his seat, focusing his attention back on the front, and I tried to follow his lead. I couldn't concentrate, though. I couldn't even pretend to. Because I was sure Renee Lyon was taking over every crevice in their brains the same way she was mine. There is no functioning anymore, not while we’re all so crazy about the sassy redhead who wants nothing to do with us.
“There’s a party tonight,” Aaron whispered as Professor Mills turned his attention back to the whiteboard. “Wanna go?”
“Is Renee going?”
“Fuck if I know. I haven’t seen her since ...” he stopped speaking abruptly, then shrugged, and I knew he was hiding something.
“You’ve been with her, haven’t you?”
“Not like that,” Aaron muttered. “But I saw her, yes.”
“When?”
“None of your concern.” Aaron makes it a point to turn away from me and pretend to focus on whatever bullshit Professor Mills is spouting to his students. I nudge him in the arm, but he ignores me, and I know if I punch him out right here, I’d probably be suspended permanently. So instead, I wait for the end of class before following Aaron out of the building.
“We need to do something about her,” I said as Aaron and I walked. “Renee, I mean.”
Aaron shrugged. “We could, I don’t know, leave her alone,” he suggested.
“Yeah,” I said with a nod. “How’s that worked for you so far?”
On the football field near the quad, Jake is out on the field, nearly done with football practice. Aaron and I look around for a shaded spot near the bleachers and sit down to wait for our friend to finish.
“So, the party,” Aaron said, nodding at me. “Are we going?”
“Sounds fucking lame.” I take a cigarette out of my back pocket and slip it between my lips. Some chick sitting near us glances at me and scowls, but I ignore her, and moments later, the girl gets up and storms away, muttering under her breath. The cigarette still isn’t lit.
“It won’t be lame if Renee’s there,” Aaron reminds me. He leaned back a bit when I didn’t answer and shrugged, looking pensive. “Maybe I’ll just ask her to go tonight. You know, kind of as a date. What do you think about that?”
“I think if you keep talking, I will end up burying your body somewhere behind the house tonight.”
“Careful,” Aaron said. “I could be recording this entire conversation.”
I was about to retaliate when someone shouted something in our direction. A moment later, a leather football nails Aaron between the eyes, and he careens backward off the bleachers, cursing as his glasses spill from his face and hit the grass a split second before he does.
“Sorry!” Jake called, jogging up to us just as Aaron picked himself up off the ground. “I told you to catch it.”
“You said no such thing, dick.” Aaron got to his feet, scowling at Jake as he swiped up the rogue ball and chucked it at him with an impressive force that shoved Jake back a couple of steps.
“Damn, dude,” he said with a low whistle. “Why aren’t you on the team?”
“Please,” said Aaron. “Like I have nothing better to do than throw balls across a line and smack my teammates’ asses all day long.”
“That’s not how it works.” Jake throws his hands up in the air in mock deceit. “That’s not how any of this works!”
“Shut up, both of you,” I snap, pulling my buzzing cell phone from my pocket. I glanced at the screen. It was a mass text, sent to dozens upon dozens of people I didn’t know. “It was about the party.” I hand my phone to Jake, who squints as he reads.
