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I stepped back, which then allowed me to see all the students standing around staring. Some were whispering while others were just plain talking loud enough for me to hear.
And if I could hear, Derek definitely could, too.
He heard me getting up and trying to make coffee this morning while he’d been outside talking to Dax about where to move my stuff and where to put it today.
So yeah, needless to say, when he finally handed me my backpack, his eyes were hot and annoyed.
I rolled my eyes and took it from him, holding it by the loop at the top instead of trying to settle it on my back.
“Let me know if you need anything, okay?” he ordered.
I winked at him.
“It’s high school, Derek,” I said. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
Apparently, the worst that could happen was torture me relentlessly until I had no other choice but to call Derek.
And even then, it was with the utmost reluctance.
It all honestly started out okay.
I carried my backpack into the school, avoided everyone’s eyes, even Marcus’, Rachel’s boyfriend.
Usually I at least smiled at him since he smiled at me, but today, that wasn’t going to happen.
Marcus was officially off of my smile list.
Hell, quite a few people were off of it, actually.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to do much smiling in the office for my first ‘off’ period as I ran errands for the office staff.
Luckily, they took pity on me and allowed me to work on my laptop, which then allowed me to work and edit photos for a newlywed couple and get them sent off, instead of walking the halls of the school for an hour.
Second period went much the same.
That was until the teacher had to make a phone call and left the classroom.
I tried to pull out my computer and continue to work on editing some photos, but before I could even pull it out of my backpack, the entire thing was taken away from me by a boy.
“Hey, metalhead. Who was that guy you were with today?” Marques, the school’s quarterback, asked.
I gritted my teeth and held my hand out for my bag. He grinned and pulled it farther toward him.
“Marques,” I said sweetly. “Please give it back.”
Marques pulled it even closer, practically hugging my backpack to his chest now.
I gritted my teeth and tried not to get pissed, but it was honestly a very hard job at this point because I wanted to deck the kid.
Violence is not the answer. Violence is not the answer.
“Just be careful with my laptop, Marques,” I ordered. “It cost me about two thousand dollars and I can’t afford to replace it if you break it. And I don’t think your mom can, either.”
Marques’ mom was one of the receptionists at the police station and a very nice lady. Also, she had Marques on such a tight leash that just the mention of her had him handing the backpack over almost immediately.
I was kind of happy, because by mentioning her, the class started to jeer at Marques about his mommy being strict.
Which had me almost laughing.
She was strict, but she was great, and Marques knew it.
Marques and another boy, Jude, got in a fight then because Jude wouldn’t stop giving him shit about his mother.
Which caused the entire class to get up and start yelling.
The entire class but me, because I knew that if I got up, I would just be pushed right into the middle of the fight.
There were too many Rachel followers in the classroom for me to ever get away unscathed.
“Teacher’s coming,” I said, spotting her walking toward us from down the hall.
My desk was at the most prime spot in the room for leaving. I’d made sure to get it the day that school started.
Marques and Jude retook their seats just as the teacher walked back in.
She gave us all stern looks that clearly said she knew that we weren’t behaving.
Well, I was behaving, but she’d included me in the look.
It didn’t affect me at all.
I felt fully justified to act the way I’d acted and bring up Marques’ mom.
I’d do what I had to do and fuck everyone else.
Well, everyone but Derek.
I was beginning to like him.
The teacher got on with the lecture, and I tried to pay attention, but I’d already read the chapter we were going over at Derek’s last night. He’d teased me relentlessly for being an ‘overachiever,’ but he’d stopped when I’d explained.
I’d explained that the whispers and the teasing and the constant interruptions usually made it to where I couldn’t concentrate during class. When he’d realized why I had to read the chapters, he’d immediately gone from teasing to angry on my behalf.
It was nice that he cared, but I could handle it.
I would handle it, in fact.
All I had to do was get through another month and a half of school. And technically it wasn’t even that. Technically it was even less because that included weekends and one more holiday.
