Page 59 of Break Points and Face Offs

He tenses his jaw. “Fine.”

I touch his elbow, wanting to add some semblance of warmth into the situation, but he flinches.

“Priestley, your dad is⁠—”

His eyes are ablaze when he fixes me in his glare. “My father is what? Your possible future employer? What would you like to say about him, huh?”

My nostrils flare. Why am I hurt that he’s being an asshole to me right now? Hasn’t he always been an asshole?

“Nothing. I’ll see you for the group thing.”

16

PRIESTLEY

I’m able to put the whole debacle with Will out of my head enough to focus on our group project. And I’m reluctantly impressed when Will is, too.

We are professionally courteous during group meetings, before going our separate ways. If the other members of the group have noticed a rift, then they haven’t mentioned it.

We should be confident going into our final presentation. Even Peter has pulled himself together enough to look presentable when we turn up to class on the day.

Except, I’m not confident. For the first time in god knows how long, I’m not certain I’m going to ace something. I hate this … this uncertainty. And it’s all Will O’Reilly’s fault. If it weren’t for him, I’d be top of the leaderboard. And without our stupid rivalry, our group wouldn’t be sitting at the bottom of that leaderboard either.

I sit up straight while Alice Liang’s group give their flawless presentation, trying hard not to grit my teeth loud enough for people to hear.

When it’s our turn, I get up on unsteady legs and make my way with the rest of the group to the front.

We already arranged that I would start us off. I clear my throat and begin to speak.

The presentation goes by in a blur. I usually never allow myself to slip into autopilot, but I’m sure I must have this time.

I have to turn to Will the second we sit down. “How did it go?” I whisper.

He flinches at the sound of my voice, though I notice the slightest softening around his eyes.

“It went well. Don’t worry.”

When the final group finishes their presentation, I have to sit on my hands to stop them from shaking. What if we’re still bottom of the leaderboard? My father is bound to find out. How am I going to fix it before he does?

Professor Moreno spends an agonizing amount of time reading through the notes in her journal before getting up and taking an eraser to the group leaderboard.

I take the fact she erases our name from the bottom as a good sign. If everyone moved except us, surely she’d just leave us down there? Or is Professor Moreno really that evil?

She puts a new group in bottom place. My heart lifts. Am I really this relieved over not being dead-last?

Another team goes into third place, and then in second—it’s us. Alice Liang’s group is still first, of course.

“Well done, all,” Professor Moreno says, turning to us with her wolfish smile. “Please don’t be disheartened if you’re not number one, the competition is fierce this year. You should all be proud of yourselves.”

She looks at me. Is she talking to me? My spirits lift a little more, but at this point, it feels like I’m scavenging for crumbs.

My feet carry me automatically alongside Will to the library, but when we get there, he turns and looks at me.

“Why are you following me?”

“I …”

“Our group project’s over. You don’t need to be seen with me anymore. You’re free to get back to your scheming and elbowing me out of the way.”