Page 39 of Veiled

She snorts, “Well, considering the only other students I’ve had were teddy bears and dolls who refused to sip tea properly, I can confidently say you are not the worst.”

As we walk to meet the guys in the dining hall, I can’t help but stir the pot a bit.

“So, speaking of Antonio—” I begin, casually throwing her a sidelong glance. “How’s that going?”

Sasha freezes mid-step, letting out a little cough. “Wait? Who? What? What do you mean?” She’s trying way too hard to sound casual, but you would have to be blind to miss the way they act around each other.

“You know. Antonio. The guy you ditched me for last weekend to hang out with at the table, and the one you look for every night when we walk into the dining hall for dinner. About six-foot, light brown hair, always smiling, but it’s even bigger when he’s looking at you. Ring any bells?”

Her cheeks flush a little, and she starts walking a little faster, “We’re just friends.”

“Friends, huh?” I can’t hold back the laugh that escapes. “So you’re saying you haven’t noticed how he looks at you?” I nudge her with my elbow, my grin widening as I see her face turn even redder.

She huffs, but there’s a flicker of something in her eyes, like she’s trying to pretend she isn’t getting excited. “Okay, sure. But, you know, I’m not like you, Annalise. I don’t know how to talk to guys… like that.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Like what? He’s just a guy. And he clearly already likes you. So why not go out on a date and see where it goes?”

Sasha rolls her eyes at me, but there’s a tiny smile tugging at her lips, like she’s trying not to admit I’m right. “You’re impossible.”

We round the corner, and the dining hall doors swing open. I spot Matt, James, and Antonio immediately at “our” table. Matt's gesturing wildly as he tells some animated story, and James is laughing too loudly at whatever it is.

We reach the table and drop our bags, me with a little less care than I probably should have for books.

Matt immediately looks up, flashing a wide grin. “There you are! I was giving you another thirty seconds before I came to the library and threw you over my shoulder,” he says dramatically, passing the plates of overflowing food that he already got for us.

“You would not,” Sasha says, with certainty.

“Clearly, you have not known him long enough yet. He totally would,” I say.

“And have, several times in fact.” Matt declares, too proud of himself. “Remember that one time after the football game?”

“Shut your mouth, right now Mattey. Living that night once was enough!” I laugh.

Sasha takes her chance for instant payback from my teasing, “Oh no, I definitely need to hear this story. Don’t stop, Matt. What happened at the football game?”

I try to block the sound by covering his mouth with my hand, but he licks it! Yanking my hand back to wipe it clean, he dives into story mode.

“Ok, so it’s Homecoming Junior year, and we’re about to play against our rivals, Keaton High. It’s tradition for the girls to wear one of the football players' away jerseys on home games—usually it was girlfriends, but Lee usually wore mine since I didn’t have a girlfriend. Well, I had asked a girl, Katie, to the dance, and Lee insisted that I give Katie the jersey for the night instead. I really didn’t see the point when it wasn’t like we were dating…”

“That’s because you’re a guy…Everyone knows if you ask someone to the dance, that you’re asking them to wear your jersey for the night, too.” I interject.

“So you kept telling me,” he says with a smile. “So anyway, Lucas, being the douche that he is, decided he was going to try to embarrass Lee during the Homecoming parade before the game. He made some comments…”

I roll my eyes, “Say it, Matt. It’s not like it’s going to hurt my feelings after all these years.”

“Right, well, right after they announced her as Homecoming Princess, he yelled over to her from three cars over so everyone could hear, asking how shitty it felt to be…”

“Such a whore and still not able to get a date to Homecoming.” I finish for him, knowing he was trying to avoid repeating Lucas’s comment.

“And saying that even I didn’t want to go with her. Which, for the record, several guys had asked her, but she had turned them all down.

“Well, in true Lee fashion—she turned around and walked to the middle of the field where Keaton was warming up and straight up to their starting quarterback, Josh, Lucas’s nemesis since they were like ten. Of course, everyone was watching and trying to figure out what the hell she was doing. They talked for just a minute before we all watched Josh run off the field and come back with his spare jersey in hand…”

“Uhm, I’m loving all of this, but what does this have to do with you throwing her over your shoulder?” Sasha asks, fully enthralled by the story but clearly trying to keep us on track.

Matt shakes his head and continues, “I’m getting there. So—he comes running back with his jersey in hand, and as soon as he makes it to her, he grabs her and dips her down into a movie-worthy kiss. Lucas absolutely lost his shit and came running at Josh, followed by most of the football team. Obviously, Keaton’s team was watching this all go down too, so they blocked Lucas from getting to Josh. It turned into a full-out brawl between teams.

“And do you know where Lee was during this epic battle?” He pauses for effect. “Still making out with Josh in the center of the damn field. The absolute rage on Lucas’s face said there was no way he was going to be deterred from getting to her, so I pushed my way through all the fighting before he could get there, threw her ass over my shoulder, and started carrying her out to my pickup. Little did I know, she was smiling and waving back at Lucas the entire time.”