“She’s not my girlfriend.” Asa sighed, tired of having this conversation for the thousandth time.
“By the looks of it, she isn’t anything to you anymore.”
That comment hurt, but Asa didn’t show any signs of it. He wasn’t going to give anyone any more ammo to load their guns.He was done being at the mercy of whoever had their hands wrapped around the trigger. Except, he realised, he’d already given someone the ultimate power to shoot him dead when he told Carmen he was in love with her. He stamped down on the worry, though. There was no reason to be afraid, was there? Carmen’s hands were safe. They were gentle. Her hands could never aim a loaded gun at him.
Asa was safe. He was safe.
He’d found a safe haven in her. And he was darn lucky to have done so.
“Asa’s right, though,” somebody else from the basketball team spoke. “Isla’s out of the picture. He’s got himself a new girlfriend now.”
Asa’s back stiffened, his muscles tensing, and the only words playing in his head were Oh, don’t you dare. Don’t you drag Carmen into this.
“I’ve noticed, too!” Ronnie grinned, eyes widening. “She’s a senior, right? I think she’s in one of my classes.”
“So, is she any good?” someone whose name Asa couldn’t pronounce asked suggestively.
“‘Any good’?” Asa repeated, feeling sick to his stomach. He hated locker room talk.
“You know.” Gabe smirked. “In the sack.”
Anger flared up in Asa so fast, he thought he would explode into flames right then and there.
“Don’t talk about her that way,” he hissed.
“Oh, relax,” Ronnie rolled his eyes. “As if you haven’t thought about getting it on with her. What’s her name again? Something West…Carmen, I think.”
“That’s enough,” a low voice came from the back and Asa whipped his head around, eyes landing on Hunter who’d been seated on the bench at the corner all this while, apparently watching the scene unfolding before him without a word.
“What?” Ronnie gawked, stunned like every other person in that room that Hunter was actually not jumping at the chance to antagonise Asa, his supposed archnemesis.
“I said shut up,” Hunter growled. “Or, are you fucking deaf?”
Ronnie was blinking repeatedly, his mouth opening and closing like a fish on dry land, looking so lost that he might as well have arrived on planet Earth just yesterday.
“Since when do you have a problem with us talking about girls?” one of the senior swimmers scoffed.
“When the girl you’re speaking about is my cousin, you asshole,” Hunter said with an edge to his voice, his tone sharp enough to cut through steel. “Mention her one more fucking time, I dare you.”
The whole room fell silent within a matter of seconds, and everybody looked away awkwardly, suddenly finding something to fidget with or forcing themselves into conversations with whoever was near them.
But Asa wouldn’t look away. He couldn’t.
He hated Hunter, and he always, always would. But his eyes remained fixed on the brown-haired, blue-eyed boy as if waiting for him to turn to smoke and vanish into thin air like it would in a dream.
But it wasn’t a dream, because Hunter was still seated there, sweeping his eyes over the lockers, the scattered jerseys, and the athletes in a bored manner. No, scratch that. Hunter didn’t look bored—not even that, no. There was nothing there in his eyes, not a single flicker of emotion. And Asa hated himself right then. Because even though this boy had put him through hell, made him feel like he wasn’t good enough, Asa felt the tiniest part of him twist in sympathy for Hunter.
He tore his eyes away, reminding himself that he was the last person Hunter deserved any shred of compassion from.
With that in mind, he walked towards Hayden and Wyatt on the other end of the locker room and soon enough fell into an effortless conversation with them.
•••
“Hey,” Asa murmured as he lowered himself into the seat next to Carmen during lunch, his voice soft enough for only her to hear.
She tilted her head towards him, a surprised smile lifting her mouth at the corners. “Hi.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “This is a nice surprise.”
Carmen sounded genuinely happy, and that sent a ripple of warmth through him.
“Yeah? Well, then, I’m glad you’re not kicking me out.”
She laughed, and Asa could picture a shooting star zooming across the midnight sky, a trail of light in its wake.
“Is this going to be a daily occurrence now?” Willa asked, raising a brow as she placed her tray on the table and sat down across from them.
“Feel free to move if it makes you uncomfortable.” Asa shrugged, a lazy smile playing on his lips.
“All right, Cassanova.” Willa grinned. “Play nice now. We can still vote you out of this table, you know. Carmen’s the only one in your favour here.”
Asa’s teasing eyes fell on Joyce, the mischief in his smile unmistakable. “Joyce, you want me here, don’t you? Unless, of course, you want to take my place in History class again.”
Joyce’s cheeks flamed red, and her jaw dropped open, appalled that Asa had the audacity to actually threaten her.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” He grinned, taking advantage of her speechless state. He turned towards Willa. “Guess it’s a tie now.”
“You guys aren’t a thing, right?” Lottie spoke up for the first time, nodding towards Carmen and Asa. “Like, you aren’t together or anything, yeah?”
Asa figured she was Joyce’s counterpart, bold and blunt.
“No,” he replied, somewhat awkwardly.
Lottie let out a breath of relief, and it rubbed him the wrong way.
“You seem relieved to hear that,” Willa remarked, picking up on the gesture too.
Lottie lifted a shoulder into a half-shrug. “Well, yeah. Carmen
