I get my books from my locker and make my way to calculus. My brain is buzzing, but my heart lightens when I see Jamie is already there.
“Good morning,” he says when I’m near, but then his smile falters. “Are you okay?”
I blink. “Yeah,” I say in a steady voice. “Yeah, I’m good. I did the homework too.”
He leans back in his chair, hands behind his head. “Excellent. Won’t be carrying you on my back anymore, huh?”
“Not me, you won’t,” I reply, smiling. It doesn’t matter. Mason doesn’t matter. A year from now I won’t even remember who he is.
My gaze catches on the people over Jamie’s shoulder.
Hayley and Nicole. And they don’t look too happy. Nicole, in particular, looks furious.
“Uh,” I begin, and Jamie follows my line of sight.
“Right.” He grimaces. “Nicole talked to me this morning, and as you can see, it didn’t go well.”
“That must have been awkward.”
He nods. “I suppose she felt I was leading her on, but I never thought I was doing that. I apologized for it.”
I frown. “You never treated her differently from anyone else from what I’ve seen. I don’t think you led her on.”
His shoulders straighten. “Really?”
“Yeah. She may have seen something that wasn’t there, but I don’t think she should be so… upset.”
He relaxes a bit. “Thanks. I kept second-guessing myself.”
When the bell rings, lunchtime injects everyone with a boost of excitement crowding toward the cafeteria. One boy catches up with Jamie to talk to him, and I slip through the crowds, needing some time alone to think about my realization.
Considering the way Hayley and Nicole were scowling at me, I decide it’s better to stay away from the cafeteria. Mason and Nicole are definitely in there, and I’m really not in the mood to be their punching bag. The art studio is thankfully empty.
“Hey!” someone yells behind me, and I whip around, heart in my throat. No one’s around but Nicole.
She stomps toward me, her black hair flying behind her. “I should have known you’d be a snake.”
“What?” I rear back.
She’s right in front of me now, my nose taking in a huge inhale of her perfume. Her eyes are bloodshot, the red vivid, her jaw strained. She looks like a viper ready to strike. I back away, but she only comes closer.
“You tell me to my face you’ll put in a good word for me with Jamie, but then you turn around and take him for yourself? Were you laughing at me the whole time?”
I blink, an incredulous laugh escaping, but this only makes her angrier. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She shoves her phone into my face, and I catch a glimpse of me and Jamie at one of the cafés beside Washington Square Park. I’m beaming in the photo, looking up at him, and he’s matching my smile. I’ve never seen myself look this happy before. We’re both holding smoothies. He convinced me to get mango passionfruit.
“So is that where you had to go after brunch?” She seethes. “For adate?”
I scoff. “Okay, calm down; it wasn’t a date.”
“Really?” she spits out. “It’s just a coincidence he turned me down today. Just a coincidence this all started when you transferred here. I always knew you were a desperate bitch, sucking up to fit in. But I can’t really blame you. I mean, all stereotypes have a degree of truth.”
Beneath the shock and the mortification, fury swims in my head.
“So have fun with Jamie,” she sneers. “What did you do to get him to go out with you? Did you tell him you’ve never had a boyfriend before? That he’d be the only one who scored? That you’re so desperate you’d do anything?”
I ball my hands into fists. I want to punch her. I want to throttle her, but I know even if I was able to land a hit, I wouldn’t come out a winner. I’d be expelled, and there’d go Baba’s hard-earned tuitionmoney and Opus. I’d be back home for God knows how long, stuck with a ghost. And that would be the best-case scenario, if she didn’t press charges.
