I smiled against his shirt, sat up, and kissed his cheek.
“Thank-you.”
“Anytime.”
I damn near skipped into school the next morning. I ignored all the looks I’d been dealing with all week and the aching muscles in my legs from running five miles the night before and walked straight to my locker as if I didn’t have a care in the world.
I wasn’t even concerned about the fact that my dad had grounded me for a week. I was only allowed to see Evan to work on our project, and it either had to be when he was home or I’d have to go over to Evan’s house where his mother could watch us. Apparently, everyone knew that she worked from home except for me. Regardless, I didn’t wholly regret the things I’d said to my father because, for the most part, they were true. I’d take the grounding rather than apologize for the things I’d meant.
But I’d met Evan’s family. He’d introduced me to them as his girlfriend, and they’d seemed genuinely happy to meet me. His younger sister, Sherri, who was attending a gifted art school in Albany, which I envied her for, was the epitome of energy, and it was obvious to see that she and Evan adored each other. His parents, Zack and Amy, were extremely nice, welcoming, and highly amusing. When they’d offered to whip out the baby pictures and started talking about some of Evan’s interesting bath time rituals from his younger days, Evan practically jumped on his mother and clamped his hands over her mouth.
I saw what I’d always imagined when I’d caught glimpses of them out and around town in the past; he was more relaxed and comfortable than he’d ever been in school. He was joking, laughing and enjoying every little thing anyone said—well, minus the bath and baby pictures thing—and it was really nice to see after the week he’d had.
He’d driven me home half an hour after I’d arrived and was about an inch away from kissing me goodnight when the front door opened and my father walked out. He leaned against doorjamb of the door with his arms crossed over his chest and looked annoyed. So I’d settled with a kiss on the cheek and made it into the house in enough time for my dad to tell me that I was grounded before he disappeared into the living room for the rest of the night. I’d merely gone in there to get my books before I went up to my room and finished my homework, going to bed early.
Despite that, I was still in a good mood because when I opened my eyes this morning, I realized that I got to see my boyfriend at school. For the first time in longer than I could remember, I was actually excited about having to go to that prison, disguised as a high school.
I shoved my bag into my locker, looked wistfully at the dried orchid I had hanging off the hook in the back, and grabbed my books for human physiology. When an arm wrapped around my waist, I jumped and then tensed, preparing myself for the worst before I felt him drop a kiss to the top of my head.
“Good morning, girlfriend,” he said.
I smiled and closed my locker door, turning and looking up at him.
“Good morning, boyfriend.”
“How’s it going?”
“Better.”
“Compared to?”
“I’m grounded.” I shrugged and his face fell. “We can only work on our project if we’re being supervised.”
“Supervised?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I don’t know what the big damn deal is.”
He sighed heavily and leaned forward to rest his forehead against mine. I wasn’t able to bite back the grin that spread across my face, and he chuckled.
“What has you so happy?”
“You,” I answered honestly.
“Is that right?”
“Mm-hm.”
“What about me?”
“Fishing for compliments, are we?” I asked.
He laughed and stood up straight, his arms back around my waist as he backed me up against the locker and looked down at me.
“No more than usual.”
I saw a flash go off from the corner of my eye before I heard, “You two might actually rival the two of us.”
Kyle and Ashley—with her ever-present camera hanging around her neck—stood behind us, both of them looking a lot more relaxed and comfortable than they’d been the last time I’d seen them. I felt a little cautious around them because, to be honest, I still didn’t know if they’d been a part of the locker incident. It had seemed like they’d tried to keep me from seeing it, but there were too many questions still bouncing around in my mind to feel completely comfortable around them.
“I don’t think that’s possible,” Evan said casually. He kept his arms around my waist and leaned against the lockers next to me, linking his fingers on my hip.
“Yeah, well, you know how we are,” Kyle said, draping an arm around Ashley’s shoulders.
“We? No, that’s all you,” she disagreed, pinching his side.
He yelped, and I looked on in thinly veiled amusement.
“I’ve never heard any complaints!”
“How can you when you won’t let me breathe?” she asked innocently, batting her eyelashes at him.
I laughed, and Kyle pouted as he crushed Ashley against his chest.
She scoffed and pushed him away from her. “Where are Christina and Vince?” Evan asked.
“They both have study hall first period, so they got their parents to write them a note to get out of it.”
“Lucky bastards.”
I laughed and agreed with him.
“So,” Ashley began, eyeing Kyle as he stood next to me, glaring at his girlfriend, “are you two going to Steve’s party tonight?”
“Uh . . .” I looked over at Evan. “I can’t.”
“And I probably won’t.” He sighed.
“How come?” Kyle asked, making his way back to Ashley’s side.
“Have you not been here all week? I’m not exactly talking to the same people anymore.”
“You’re talking to us.” Ashley shrugged, eyeing Kyle as he slid his arm around her shoulders. “You’ve always talked to us. Nothing’s
