“Why are you being nice to me? You seemed like you could go either way that first day…”
“Your mom has been nice to my mom and she…needs more friends. It’s hard being black in this neighborhood.” He shuts his locker and looks away. “I do all right. Playing football helps. I watch out for Jen, make sure those girls treat her right. Only one other black kid here—freshman dude, Josiah.” He chuckles but rolls his eyes. “Not as easy for my mom, so I was grateful when your mom reached out, had us over.” He pauses and turns to face me. “I’ll work on Raf, okay? He’s not that bad.”
“You know what? It’s okay. I get that everyone has known everyone forever. Don’t worry about me. I just want to get through this year...I don’t need a bunch of friends.” I wave my hand and shake my head.
One or two friends would be nice…
I keep that to myself.
I slam my locker door and jump when I realize Ashton has moved next to me. He leans against the locker next to mine.
“I think he’s into you.”
Something slams across from us and I turn around. Raf’s watching us, arms folded.
“This is cozy.” He’s staring at Ashton like he wants to pummel him into the floor, but Ashton just grins.
A guy walks by and when he sees Ashton and Raf, he reaches out and they all bump fists.
“Have you met Toby yet?” Ashton asks.
I shake my head, although the guy does look vaguely familiar. I can’t figure out where I would’ve seen him. He checks me out. Ugh. Guys are so predictable. In Toby’s defense, he moves on a lot quicker than most of the other guys here have.
“Hey.”
Toby nods.
“I’ve gotta get to class.”
“Playing hard to get,” Raf says, sticking a thumb in each pocket.
“I’m not playing anything,” I call over my shoulder.
“Maybe not yet.” His voice is closer than I expect and raspy. “But when you do decide to play, it’ll be with me.”
I don’t even bother guessing what he means by that.
But why am I excited by the idea of it?
The girl that sits across from me in Mr. Johnson’s class is already there when I arrive.
“Hey, I should’ve introduced myself already. I’m Luci.”
I smile, grateful for what seems like a normal interaction. Everyone else has been so weird. I’m either invisible or I bring out the hostility when I walk in the room. I don’t get it.
“I’m Gabriela.”
“I know.” She smiles back. “You’ve created quite the whiplash around here.”
“What do you mean?”
“The most popular guys sit by you at lunch and the most popular girls already hate you.” She holds up both hands. “Whiplash.”
I frown. “Yeah, not what I set out to do. Where do you fall in all of this?”
“I’m smart.” She laughs when I stare at her blankly. “Meaning I don’t get caught up in all that shit.”
I smile then. “I’m glad to know there’s at least one normal person here.”
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Raf says, dropping his books on the desk in front of me.
“You worry about you, I’ll worry about me,” I say. “I wish I knew what your problem was…”
“According to you, no one here is normal…except for Luci, so…there’s your excuse.”
Luci watches the conversation with her mouth wide open, her gaze ping-ponging back and forth between Raf and me.
“You coming to my party, Luci? Friday after the game?”
Her mouth clamps shut and she swallows hard. “I didn’t realize you knew my name. Uh—”
“I’ll see you there,” he says, laughing.
“Creep,” I whisper.
I know he hears me by the way his jaw ticks and I feel a tiny rush of satisfaction. It helps take away the sting of him wanting everyone but me at his party.
Chapter Five
I wake up with the worst headache the next morning. My mom had a charity breakfast to go to and I text her asking about meds, but I don’t hear back. By the time I leave the house, I’ve ransacked the cabinets and haven’t found anything. I’m running late and my head is screaming. I should’ve just bought something on the way and dealt with the late slip.
I get out and slam my car door, taking a long swig from my water bottle. I stumble when I step inside the school and am a bit unsteady when I bump into someone in the hall.
“Shit.”
“You just can’t stay away, can you?” Raf holds onto my upper arms with both hands and I feel like I’m spinning.
“Oh.” I clamp a hand over my head.
His forehead creases together in the middle and he looks at me in confusion. “Gabi, are you drunk?” he whispers.
“No. Don’t be stupid,” I groan and close my eyes in agony. “Migraine,” I whisper.
“Come with me.” He grabs my arm and drags me through the hall and to the theater. A few students are leaving and look at us with curiosity. He texts something and then grabs me again, rushing me out the side door of the theater.
“Slow down. I’m gonna be sick.”
“Almost there. This way.” We go through the hall and to the back exit, slipping outside.
The air is brisk, like fall is deciding to skip ahead to winter, and he puts his arm around me, holding me against him. We walk behind the school and stop at the first of the sports fields. I push him away and throw up in the grass. I feel his hand on my back and motion for him to leave me alone. I hate being sick in front of anyone, but it’s a next level of humiliating to be sick in front of someone who hates you. I stay bent over with my hands on my knees even after I’ve stopped throwing up, when Ashton and Henry pull up and Raf helps me into the car.
“You okay, Gabriela?” Ashton asks.
“Migraine,” Raf says softly and no one else speaks as we drive. I try to will my stomach to stop turning and cover my eyes with both
