Page 27 of She's With Me (She's With Me 1)

Mason brings his hand to my cheek, turning me to look directly into his chocolate-brown eyes.

“Are you okay?” he asks softly, stroking my cheek with his thumb.

Out of the corner of my eye, Aiden gives us an unidentifiable look. He turns around and rips down the sign above my locker with ease.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Thanks.” I wiggle out of his intimate hold and turn to Charlotte. “I’m so sorry if I just dragged you into this.”

“I’m not scared of her,” she clarifies. “Plus, you didn’t even do anything. She’s just crazy.”

“Crazier than a PMSing girl with caffeine withdrawal who ran out of tampons and got locked out of her favorite coffee shop,” Noah says. We all glare at him. “What? Too soon for period jokes?”

I shake my head at him. “Why are you even here? Aren’t you supposed to be on bed rest for the week?”

“What? After you told me about what happened yesterday, there was no way I was missing out on all the fun!” he explains. “Best decision ever.”

During this exchange with Noah, Aiden walks to the nearest garbage bin, throws the now-ripped-up sign into it, and drags the bin to my locker.

The five of us stand in a line beside each other, quizzically looking at my locker.

“Do you think it’s real blood?” Charlotte asks.

Noah sticks his hand out, swiping his finger on a tampon covered with red liquid, and puts that finger in his mouth. The four of us stand there with hanging jaws, too shocked to process what just happened.

“Just as I thought,” Noah announces. “It’s ketchup.”

“What if it was blood?!” Charlotte exclaims, looking slightly nauseated.

“But it wasn’t,” Noah deadpans.

“But what if it was?!” she repeats.

“But it wasn’t,” he emphasizes.

That concussion seriously messed with Noah’s head. Maybe he shouldn’t even be at school right now.

“Do you really think Kaitlyn and company would touch a dirty tampon?” he adds.

Or maybe Noah’s a lot smarter than we give him credit for.

8

It’s lunch, and the group is at our usual table. I’m sitting between Charlotte and Mason, with Annalisa directly in front of me. I told her, Julian, and Chase what happened, as they hadn’t seen my locker this morning.

“I wish I was there so I had a valid reason to break her face.” Annalisa stabs her pasta with her fork.

“I can’t believe she’s doing this just because she doesn’t like you around Aiden,” Chase remarks from the other side of Charlotte. Aiden’s eyes darken but he doesn’t say anything.

“Well, I did bitch at her a couple of times, but she started it!” I defend myself. “I just hope Charlotte isn’t dragged into this now.”

Chase’s head snaps over to meet my eyes, suddenly very alert. “What do you mean?”

Noah fills him in. “Kaitlyn was all, Ohh, since Amelia and Charlotte are best friends, imma go after both of you.”

No one else notices, but I catch Chase subtly moving a little closer to Charlotte. Aiden’s keen eyes didn’t miss that small action either. He’s perceptive, and I don’t miss the fact that I’m the only one who catches it.

“She’s batshit crazy anyway; she doesn’t need a reason to torment someone,” Charlotte states. “Plus, I was brought into this the second she decided to mess with my best friend.”

“Me too,” Annalisa states, and the others murmur and nod in agreement, and Mason throws his arm around my shoulder.

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