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Haley releases my wrist and steps back. “Yeah. Abby. Everyone knows she sells drugs. I mean, she’s your friend, right? Please tell me I left you with a friend. Oh, my God, she’s not your friend, is she? Crap. Oh, crap. Are you okay?”
Her eyes dart around, searching for signs of abuse. She’ll find them—the remnants of the two fistfights from Friday. What she doesn’t see is the internal bleeding from my argument with Dad. Haley stretches her hand to touch the yellowish bruise fading on my jaw, then hesitates.
I inhale and revel in Haley’s scent: wildflowers in bloom. The sights and sounds of the world dissipate—well, everything except those gorgeous dark eyes.
“Seriously, are you okay?” Haley drops her hand and I turn my head to breathe in anything that’s not her.
“I’m fine,” I say. “Are you okay? Did those guys hurt you?”
“I’m fine.” She sounds uncertain, so I cross my arms over my chest.
“I’m fine,” she answers again. “Honestly. What are you doing here?”
I ignore her. “What happened after I blacked out? Why did they leave my car?”
“Not important. Tell me, why are you here? To see Abby? For me? This school has a zero tolerance policy on outsiders. If they find you, they’ll call the police.”
“I go to school here now.” From my back pocket, I pull the schedule I picked up a few minutes ago from the office.
“West...” Haley’s level stare has all the makings of a firing squad. “What do you mean ‘now’?”
“I got expelled from my last school.”
“For what?”
“Fighting.” For the first time in my life, guilt heats the back of my neck. Man, she’s got to have a fantastic image of who I am. The problem? She’d be right and the fact that I care is weird.
She tosses her hands in the air. “Of course. Why not? I’m a magnet for you stinking people. Why wouldn’t I be surrounded by more?” Her head falls back and she focuses on the ceiling. “Hey, God? It’s me, Haley. Not funny.”
“What?”
“Okay. All right. This can be managed. It can. I can manage this. This is entirely under my control. I can own this situation.”
“I don’t need to be managed.”
Haley tosses me an are-you-for-real gaze and her hair tumbles over her shoulder. It’s shiny and I bet if I ran my fingers through it, the strands would feel like silk. I like hair like that. I like kissing girls who have hair like that. My eyes flash to her lips and the memory of her stepping into me on Friday night sizzles in my mind: the walking, talking inferno. Kissing Haley would be a thrill ride experience.
“West?” Haley motions near her eyes. “Attention here, please?”
“I wasn’t checking out your curves.” Though now that it’s mentioned...
“Go there and I swear to God you’ll have to check ‘other’ when asked if you’re male or female.”
I chuckle and rest my palm against the cool cinder block wall, crowding her. Haley shifts and practically shrinks into the corner. She’s shorter than me, but not by much. I’d say she was afraid, but the way she studies my biceps tells me differently.
“Haley?” She refocuses on my face. “Eyes up here please.”
Gaped. Open. Mouth. “Okay, look. Me and you. We’ve got problems. Those guys that jumped us on Friday?”
My hand slips off the wall and I straighten. “Yeah?”
“They go to school here and I’m not exactly their best friend.”
My muscles tighten and I have to work to keep the smirk off my face. Payback is going to be sweet. “Do you know where they’re at?”
“Stay away from them. They’re dangerous.”
I don’t care if they play poker with the devil. They took me down. That doesn’t happen, and I won’t let that be the final say—especially since I’ll be spending the next four months in this hellhole.
