15
MALLORY
Before Paisley could talk me out of it or I realized how spectacularly bad this could go, I slid into my seat beside Maddox in biology.
He looked rougher than usual. Shadows clung under his eyes. I shouldn’t care whether he had trouble sleeping or not, especially after what I learned about Raven Night, but if I wanted an invite, I needed to play nice. I needed him to mark me.
“Are you okay?” I whispered, dropping my book onto the table for us to share.
His eyes cut to me. “Just tired,” he replied. “I didn’t get much sleep. And Coach has us practicing harder. It’s wearing on me.”
Among other things.
I saw more than exhaustion in his eyes when he looked at me. There were secrets there, the kind that sat heavy on your chest, followed you into sleep, and waited when you woke. As someone who carried her own collection of secrets, I recognized the look.
Mr. Gifford passed out our first quiz results, and Maddox swore under his breath, a hiss between his teeth as he glared at his paper.
I stole a glance and saw the angry red F bleeding across the top of his quiz.
He saw mine a second later, the bold A scrawled across it in thick marker, and snorted. “Figures.”
Mr. Gifford cleared his throat, rapping his knuckles against his desk for attention. “Anyone who failed can make up some of the points with an extra writing assignment on the chapter due Monday.”
A wave of groans rolled through the room, including from the body beside me. Maddox dragged a hand through his dark hair. “Fuck this,” he muttered, balling up the quiz with one hand and crumpling it into a wad. He shot it toward the trash can across the room in a perfect arc. It landed clean, disappearing into the bin without touching the sides.
“You might have a future in basketball,” I joked.
He huffed out a laugh. “My father would love that.”
“Maybe I can help you.” I saw an opportunity. I had to take it.
He turned to look at me slowly, one brow lifting. “How exactly?”
“I’m pretty good at writing papers,” I said, my fingers drumming once against the desk before I stilled them. “I could get you those extra points you need to make up for the quiz.”
His light-green eyes narrowed, studying my face like he was searching for the catch. “Why would you do that?”
Because I want something from you. Because this is a terrible idea and I’m doing it anyway.
I shrugged. “I can’t have my lab partner failing. It would look bad on me.”
“What do you want?” he asked flatly, spoken like someone who understood nothing in this world was free.
“An invitation to the party Friday night.”
“No,” he snapped, no hesitation.
“Fine. No A,” I said nonchalantly, like it was no sweat off my back. I couldn’t let him know how much I wanted to go to this party.
“How did you even hear about Raven Night?”
“Paisley.”
“Paisley needs to learn to keep her trap shut.”
“Did something happen between you two?” I asked, watching him closely.
He snorted, shaking his head once. “No. I’m not interested in Paisley like that. I’ve known her too long.”
