I shrug it off. “Just feeling a little off.”
LJ stays close. “Why don’t you tell me about it?”
I step back. “It’s nothing, really.”
He gives me a skeptical look. “Ness?”
I sigh, turning away from the front entrance. “I just want people to think better of me.”
“How could anyone not see you as the best?”
“Ever since I left for Switzerland, rumors have circulated about me.”
LJ sniggers. “And after you got back. The girls talk a lot about my competition; your hunky tutor. Apparently, when you were abroad, you spent all your time with him.”
I flick my hair off my shoulder and keep my eyes downcast. “I’m well aware of what’s been said.”
“Should I be worried?”
I lift my eyes and my expression grows blank. “LJ, we’re not a couple.”
“There’s no guy at Ashworth Academy who’s closer to you than I am.”
“That doesn’t mean anything. I’m not dating anyone from school.”
“So there is someone outside of our circle?”
I sigh, shaking my head. “There’s no someone in my life.”
“Then why are you making things so difficult for us? High school would’ve been the perfect time to get all the dating out of the way. We’d be engaged during college and married by the time I’m a junior executive of plastics.”
A soft retch hitches in my throat. “It’s all so easy to figure out, isn’t it?”
LJ leans in close. “We’re lucky, Ness. Most people don’t come from such influential families with mutual benefits.”
“I don’t want to be a benefit,” I say in a feeble tone. “I want to be more than a commodity that helps someone step up the corporate ladder.”
LJ laughs. “Sweetheart, this is the real world. Why don’t you relax and join me in it?”
An indignant huff rushes out of me. With a stamp of the foot, I spin on my heels and march away from him.
“Vanessa,” he whines, following me. “Come back here.”
He reaches for my arm, and I flail to get him off.
“Vanessa. Would you stop?”
“No!” I snap. “Let me go.”
“Not until you calm down.”
“Stop telling me how I should feel.”
“How would your mother feel about you acting this way?”
My chin drops and my mouth hangs open. Did he really just go there?
He releases my arm, and I wobble on my heels, fighting to stay upright. From behind, LJ’s hands cup my waist, keeping me balanced.
