“Hey, Megan!”
Oh no.
It’s him.
“Meg!”
What does he want?
Nope, you know what? It doesn’t matter. I don’t care about what he wants. I am walking down this hallway to my next class, and I am NOT giving him the time of day.
“Feisty!”
I’m not turning around. That doesn’t bother me. If I keep ignoring him then—
“You know, I really thought calling you that would work,” he interrupts my rationalizing, now standing in front of me. “I’m a little disappointed.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Well, I really don’t care.”
“Look,” he says with a slight lip twitch, “after class yesterday, Celise offered to share her tablet with me until I get my own. And seeing as how you weren’t too thrilled to be sharing a tablet with me, I thought it’d be a good idea to take Celise up on her offer.”
I’m mentally rolling my eyes so hard right now. “Why exactly are you telling me this?”
“You seemed frustrated when Celise came over to sit down,” he replies, shrugging a shoulder, “so I just wanted to clear things up.”
I almost scoff. “I don’t need you to clear anything up for me, Brayden. Okay? I’m—” I stop when I see that stupid lopsided grin on his face. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I was wondering how long it’d take for you to say my name,” he drawls, raising an eyebrow at me. “Maybe you can stop being mad at me now, hmm?”
Since when is he so observant? I remember getting bangs back in middle school, and it took him three whole days to notice. THREE!
“Maybe you can stop bothering me,” I shoot back, pursing my lips at him, “how about that?”
I don’t wait for a response as I stride past him and continue walking down the hallway. You know what? I have solid reasoning for being mad at him. Not only did he turn out to be a terrible boyfriend (I use that term very loosely, by the way), but he’s also a terrible neighbor. I mean, who shamelessly flirts like that with someone they don’t even know? Okay, so technically he does know me…but he didn’t realize who I was yet. PLUS, he was totally conceited! And he made fun of me!
Stop being mad at him? No, I don’t think so.
——————
“Hey, do you know where Lora is?”
I finish chewing my piece of apple, then swallow and look up at Holt. “No, I don’t. She hasn’t come in here yet.”
He sighs, running a hand through his messy brown hair. “I need to talk to her.”
“Sounds serious,” I drawl with an eye-roll, “but like I said…I don’t know where she is.”
“Maybe she’s in the bathroom,” he mutters to himself, stepping away from the table. “Thanks anyway, Megan.”
I shake my head as I watch him leave the cafeteria. And now he’s going to stalk the bathrooms. Wonderful.
More than likely though, Lora is in some random hallway; losing track of time while she watches yet another cat video.
Or she could be walking toward me from the other side of the room.
I raise an eyebrow at the sight of her. “Were you outside?”
“Yep.”
“Why?”
“I took your advice,” she says, sitting down across from me.
“Uh…” I trail off as she eats one of my crackers. “What advice?”
I don’t even remember giving her advice. When the heck did I do that?
“Wait!” I exclaim, now remembering. “Do you mean the advice I gave you about getting another ear piercing?” I then look at her in confusion. “But what does that have to do with you being outside?”
“I’m not talking about the ear piercing, Meg,” she replies, widening her eyes at me. “I’m talking about me getting a tutor. You literally suggested the idea yesterday, remember?”
“Ohhhhh,” I drawl, nodding a couple of times. “Yeah, that makes more sense. So, you found someone to tutor you then?”
“Paul Winthers,” she says with a slight shrug, “he scored really well on our last history test, so I figured he’d be a good person to ask. We’re supposed to meet after school.”
“Gotcha. Well, you should know that while you were outside talking to Paul…your ex came over this way looking for you.”
She scowls, proceeding to glance around the cafeteria. “Is he still in here?”
“Nah, he convinced himself that you were in the bathroom.”
“He’s ridiculous,” she huffs, standing to her feet, “and I’m hungry. I’ll be right back, okay?”
I motion to the air around me. “And I will be right here.”
She makes a face at me before walking off toward the lunch line, and I resume eating my food. Well, until my phone buzzes anyway.
Mom: Hey, honey! Don’t forget about that heart-to-heart with Hailee, okay? I’ll be taking Kyle to soccer practice after we’re all settled at home, so it will be the perfect time for you and your sister to talk. Love you!
Ugh, that’s right. I agreed to share my “dating experience” with Miss Attitude.
Yay.
I send her a thumbs-up, and a heart…because less is more.
“Looks like you could use some company.”
That stupid voice of his could melt butter.
I pocket my phone as I watch him sit across from me. “I think I’m fine, actually.”
“Humor me, Meg,” Brayden drawls, resting his folded arms on the table, “I’m still the new guy, after all. It’s not like I have a bunch of people that want me sitting with them.”
“I don’t want you sitting with me,” I say in the nicest way possible. “As a matter-of-fact…I’m pretty sure I told you to stop bothering me. Sound familiar?”
He is so full of it. Almost all the girls here are dying for him to be their next boyfriend, and I’m sure the guys
