I gasped just as Banner pulled me back into his chest.
Heart pounding, I looked up over the hood of the truck to the person driving, unsurprised to see Vance sitting in the driver’s seat laughing.
The motherfucker.
Banner tugged me to the side and around the truck, offering Vance a withering glare as we moved.
“He could’ve fucking parked anywhere,” Titus muttered.
Slone caught up to us, as did Abbott.
“I don’t understand why he followed you,” Titus grumbled.
“Hey!”
I looked to the side to see Tempy running toward us.
She skipped and hopped over a few mud puddles, but missed the last one that splashed water all over her brand-new shoes.
“New shoes?” I asked curiously.
“Yes,” she sighed. “I needed some new ones last week, but Mom couldn’t afford them. Now I’m going to have to run in these tomorrow, and it’s going to suck.”
I winced.
Running in new shoes wasn’t something that I would want to do. Especially on our longest course of the year.
It was really going to suck for her.
“Maybe it’ll slow you down enough that I can catch you.”
Slone snorted, causing me to look at him with an eyebrow raise.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re not gonna catch her,” he said. “It takes a lot for us guys to catch her.”
He had a point.
And before I could say that, he walked off, joining Graham and Tatum at the front doors of the school.
Tempy watched him go, and I touched her arm to bring her attention back to me.
Her eyes flashed and she smiled at me, looking lost for a few moments.
“Sorry,” she said. “Head’s in the clouds.”
Yeah, right.
Her head wasn’t in the clouds. Her head was filled with Slone.
Big difference.
Banner caught my hand and started to lead me inside right behind Tempy, and I saw the reason why when I looked over my shoulder upon hearing a commotion and saw Vance pushing his way through the crowd of students to catch up to us.
Banner didn’t let him get a chance to get close, though.
Because instead of stopping and chatting with the rest of his friends, he hauled me straight to our first class.
When we got seated, he took my backpack from my shoulders and unpacked his bag from mine, grinning when he saw a pink pencil in the bottom of my bag and stole it. Right along with a plastic bracelet that had silver glitter floating inside of it.
Like one of those bracelets you won at an arcade.
In fact, it had been won at an arcade. Last year sometime during our junior trip to the aquarium.
I saw it every day. I just didn’t have the time or inclination to clean out my backpack.
“This is cute,” he said, trying to fit it onto his wrist.
I snorted. “It is… absolutely adorable on you. You should wear it for always.”
He sat down in his seat and worked the bracelet over his big hand, moving it in such small increments that I was worried it’d get stuck or break.
It didn’t do either and eventually made its way over his big ass hand and onto his big ass wrist.
“You’re never going to get that back off,” I teased.
He winked at me, holding it up for me to inspect.
“I can have it on in football,” he said. “It can’t dangle. That’s the only rule.”
“Well, it makes you look super sharp,” I teased.
He pulled out his textbook and a pencil, then stuck the pencil behind his ear and watched me curiously.
“What?” I asked as I pulled out notebook paper to write notes on.
“Why do you take notes in here?” he asked.
“Why do you not?” I countered.
Before he could answer, the rest of the class started pouring in, leaving us without another opportunity to really talk.
Thankfully, Vance didn’t have this class.
Also thankfully, we had a substitute that didn’t have a fuckin’ clue what we were doing, meaning we got to jack around and read or do our homework for the period.
Which worked out well for me because I hadn’t gotten much studying done the day before. Not when all I could think about was the guy sitting beside me.
Chapter 12
Is your ass jealous of all that shit coming out of your mouth?
-Banner’s secret thoughts
Banner
The day, so far, had been quite pleasant. Which was weird, because I thought with Vance being here, he would totally find a way to fuck my life up around every turn. But surprisingly, he bided his time.
It also didn’t hurt that every time Vance approached, Titus, Abbott, Slone, Graham or Tatum would be there to provide any distraction that I might need.
Or just act as a buffer.
Honestly, it was kind of nice to have, because at our old school, every single kid was in Vance’s pocket, stroking his cock and his ego every chance they got.
Boy or girl, they all bowed down to him.
Here? Not so much.
He was a nobody here. He didn’t rule the school. Nobody ruled the school.
Sure, there were bullies. Sure, there were assholes around every corner. But ultimately, Vance didn’t have anybody to rely on like he did back in Benton.
Here, he was just another student.
Daddy’s money hadn’t bought him favors here. Daddy’s money was not an issue here.
Because Daddy was dead, and his stepmother had taken the money and left, leaving Vance high and dry with nothing to his name but his daddy’s house, a promise to pay the taxes, and an allowance enough to get him through the next year until he was graduated.
Honestly, it was quite comical seeing him struggle to find a foothold in this school.
Sadly, today was also the day I wouldn’t get to share my lunch with Perry, meaning that I didn’t get to give her a hug or tell her good luck before her game.
I’d sent her a text, but that had gone unanswered, too.
Which led to now, hours later, us finishing up practice.
“All right, boys!” Coach Beasley yelled. “It’s time for me to go support my wife, and y’all to go support your fellow students. I want you at the game. I don’t care if you want
