Chapter Thirteen
Ientered the school through the east hallway with Jett on my mind. We hadn’t kissed since Friday night and I was beginning to go through withdrawal. A very large part of me wanted to march up to him, back him up against the locker, and remind him of what we’d shared in his truck last week.
In case he’d forgotten over the last few days. Meanwhile I was over here replaying the scene in my mind (with great detail, I might add) a hundred times a day.
Despite the fact that it was chilly out, I opted tonotwear Jett’s jacket. It would just feel too shameful to shrug out of it before handing it back. It was bad enough that I had to let go of it at all. But I was starting to believe that I didn’t deserve to have a boyfriend so good; that I was destined to latch myself only to men who needed to be rescued from themselves—not that I’d be able to do anything about it.
I had seriously considered staying home for the day and letting Summer or Bailey bring his jacket to him, but my curiosity about the assembly won out. Plus, I really couldn’t go around missing school without being punished for it later. If not by my mom, then by the sheer amount of makeup work.
And then there was the small vow I’d made yesterday to confront him about the dance. Ihadto do that today no matter how awkward it felt.
Sadly, Jett was nowhere to be found. In fact, I scanned the adjacent lockers where a bunch of his teammates usually stood, but didn’t find any of the guys there either. Suddenly, I heard the frantic call of my name.
“Harper, we need his jacket.”
I looked over to see Tasha weaving her way past a group of sophomores. Her bright green eyes were focused on the jacket draped over my arm. She held her hand out as she neared and added, “Okay?”
But it wasn’t. It wasnotokay that I was supposed to hand Jett’s letterman jacket over to his vicious ex-girlfriend without a care in the world.
Heat boiled up the back of my shoulders and neck. I glanced down at the name and number stitched on the front, hating the idea of Tasha prancing along the hall while it hung loosely off her shoulders.
“WhereisJett?” I asked.
“Practicing for the assembly, of course.” She thrust her hand toward me once more. “C’mon, I’ve really got to get back in there.”
The fact that she was dressed in uniform said that her probation period was over and she was probably in the assembly with him, which made sense. The cheerleaders were almost always part of the assemblies.
“Here,” I finally said, forcing myself to hand it over.
Tasha snatched it with a fast fist. “Thanks.” She shot me a smug-looking grin and tipped her head to one side. “You coming to the assembly?”
Nausea worked its way through my gut in a cold, slow crawl. “I’m not sure,” I said. The last thing I wanted was to give Tasha the satisfaction of being part of her adoring audience.
She gasped theatrically. “Why not? Jett will be in it, and you’re, like, claiming that he’s your boyfriend now, aren’t you?”
I gulped. “I’m notclaiminganything.”
She held my gaze for a moment more, then nodded. “Too bad he can’t really get over me, isn’t it? If I wanted, I could have Jett back likethis.” She snapped her fingers in front of my face.
I flinched, but the fury fuse had been lit and there was no stopping the response it triggered. “Wow,” I blurted. “One minute you want TJ, the next you want Jett back. Make up your mind, Tasha. It seems like you want whoeverI’mwith.” I did a theatrical move of my own—a head tilt as I placed a finger beneath my chin in wonder. “Tell me, are we in some sort of competition, because I think I missed the memo?”
“This coming from the girl who used to chasemyboyfriend down and kiss him on the playground.”
The angry heat spread like wildfire to my chest. “Get over it, Tasha. How many kindergarten memories are you clinging to?”
“Break it up, girls,” came a familiar voice. I glanced over to see Connor standing nearby. Levi was there too, a concerned expression on his face.
In fact, a small crowd had gathered around us. I looked beyond Jett’s friends, hoping to see Jett there for myself, but failing.
“I’ll take that,” Levi said. He snatched the jacket out of her hand and took off back down the hall.
I hid a satisfied grin; at least Tasha wouldn’t be wearing it.
“Let’s go, Tasha,” Connor said.
The pint-sized brunette shot me a squinty-eyed glare and waved at me with flittering fingers. “Bah-bye, now.”
I caught Connor giving me a lingering look after Tasha left. “Sorry,” he said when our eyes met. “She’s a brat.”
