The bell for class rang five minutes ago, and I had breathed a sigh of relief, thankful we wouldn’t be in human biology class together. I don’t want him and Trevor in the same classroom. I’m afraid of what’ll be said. Art is unpredictable. I hope this is the only class they have together.
“Good Morning,” Mr. Beck says in greeting.
“Morning.”
“I’m Mr. Beck.”
“Art.”
“Principal Taylor already emailed me to inform me you’d be a little late. Take a seat, anywhere.”
Please don’t come back here.
But of course Art does. He sits a few desks down from Trevor and me. Something tells me if those desks weren’t already occupied, Art would’ve sat next to me. I see him staring at me from the corner of my eye.
“What the fuck are you looking at?” Trevor growls.
“Your girlfriend, she looks fucking good.”
Oh no.
Trevor stands. “You want to say that again?”
I grab Trevor’s wrist. “Sit down. He only wants to get a rise out of you,” I whisper.
Our classmates are animatedly watching the altercation unfold.
“I don’t need to. You heard what I said.”
Art slowly rises to his full height, without a care in the world.
When Trevor tries to snatch his wrist from my grasp, I stand, latching onto him with my other hand to pull him back.
“No, Trevor, don’t. Sit down and ignore him. Don’t do this in school.”
“You better listen to your girlfriend. I have nothing to lose, but you do.”
I glare at Art.
“Is there a problem, gentleman?” Mr. Beck asks.
“No, Mr. Beck, simply a misunderstanding,” Trevor answers as he sits down.
“That’s what I thought,” Art taunts.
Trevor stiffens, but I’m relieved when he ignores him.
The PA system clicks on. “All seniors report to the auditorium for an emergency assembly immediately.”
I notice Sheriff Andy sitting in a chair on the stage next to Principal Taylor with a few other school officials when I walk inside the auditorium. They’re deep in conversation. I know this impromptu gathering is about Chaos. I take the end seat in the first row.
“Hi, good looking,” the platinum blonde from the other night says.
I don’t remember her name. I have to admit she does look good. My old self would’ve been all over her to hit that. She glares at the girl sitting next to me.
“Move, bitch. You’re in my seat.”
The girl scrambles out of the chair to find another one. Platinum blonde squeezes past me and makes sure she puts as much of her ass in my face as possible. When she takes the now-available space, she pushes her breasts into my arm. My eyes clash with Cin’swhen I look forward. I waited around in the living room and kitchen to catch a glimpse of her yesterday like a fucking fool. Only to discover she left early that morning—to stay clear of me, most likely. She makes me forget—only temporarily, but still—she provides me with a high stronger than cocaine. When I bumped into her this morning while jogging, I wanted to drag her into a nearby ditch and fuck her senseless. She can deny it all she wants, but she wanted it just as much as I did.Want.The only thing I’vewantedfor the last few years was to die.
