“Want something to drink? Want me to show you the house?”
Connell tried to be polite. I could hear it in the fake polite tone that he used at me; he was thinking he might make me fall in his trap.
“No,” I answered, this time less firmly, because my eyes were captured again by William, who didn’t show signs of taking his eyes off me.
“I’ll get a drink for you, blondie,” insisted Connell, swaggering around the kitchen. I would’ve preferred to remain invisible like I’d been during my first few days of school, especially when I was reduced to receiving attention from troglodytes like that, but now for some unknown reason, I was on his radar, and the only way out was to hightail it.
I turned around, focused on making myself disappear, when I noticed Will and James chatting at the door. Ignore them. When I passed next to them, someone grabbed my arm.
“It’s a party, and I wanna have fun. I don’t have time to follow you around,” muttered James.
His chest smelled so intense and masculine that it was impossible to ignore him. I quickly tore my eyes from his sculpted chest but his grip on my forearm got tighter right when he noticed I was trying to avoid that situation.
“Can you manage to stay away from Connell, yes or no?”
“And can you manage to leave me alone?” I asked, escaping his grip.
“You should stay away from him, I told you.”
“Not because you’re telling me to,” I retorted.
“June.” William’s soothing voice tried to insert itself between us.
“And, yeah, princess, because I’m telling you to,” retorted James, having the last word. I didn’t waste time reminding them that I didn’t need them, but walked into the living room full of people, where the hope of getting some fresh air disappeared because I found myself crushed between huddled sweaty bodies.
“But I still don’t understand who you banged.” Connell’s head stood out in the crowd, and he handed me a big red cup.
“No, thank you.” I wrinkled my nose, disgusted at the smell of alcohol.
“Either of them, if you wanna make them jealous, I know a way.”
“I don’t want to. I don’t play those games. Now if you’ll kindly leave me alone—”
He blocked the way. “Will you come up with me?”
He pointed up, and I desperately hoped he wasn’t talking about his room.
“Yeah, sure, we’ll go right up, Corbell. Then do you want a hundred grand and a kick in the ass?” I walked away, frustrated by the countlessnos that I’d given him in the past ten minutes.
“Fuck, you’re weird. It really is true what they say about you.” I heard him laugh behind me.
“I don’t care what they say about me,” I shot back, continuing to walk as far away from him as possible.
“Be aware that that’s all that counts. What they say.”
I rolled my eyes. I knew I should’ve ignored him, but it was stronger than me. I turned around to give him a defiant look.
“Who? Who says that? Your friends? Those future astrophysicists and Nobel Prize winners? Are you talking about them?”
I pointed at the group of football players laughing vulgarly at every little ball they managed to throw in a girl’s bra.
“It doesn’t matter who believes it. Gossip can be more convincing than a boring truth,” he shot back staunchly. “So?”
“Trust that I just put two fingers down my throat to vomit,” I answered, turning away.
But that gesture didn’t seem to be enough.
“Maybe you didn’t understand. If I go back to school tomorrow and say I slept with you—” I was horrified, while he sneered in an unsettling way.
