Page 7 of Jaded (Jaded 1)

Becky Lew chose that moment to appear at my locker. Her crowd of minions flocked behind her. When Corrigan stiffened, something flared in her gaze and then she turned to Bryce. The smile she always wore around them turned seductive and she ran a hand down his chest. “Hi, Bryce.”

No one knew what to do.

It was common knowledge that Bryce was off-limits when I was around. There was a reason why Stephanie Hills scampered off his table when I arrived. It wasn't because I turned sudden bitch, it was because Bryce really did choose me first. Girls got humiliated when I showed up.

I frowned and glanced at Corrigan, who turned to me.

Then I burst out laughing. "I'm sorry." I tried to hide my smile behind a hand. "You were all after Corrigan this morning and now you're into Bryce?"

The seductive gleam vanished from Becky's eyes. They narrowed in anger at me instead.

I caught a glint of amusement in Bryce's eyes so I moved forward and leaned my back against him. He tensed a moment and then slid his arms around my waist to dip his hands inside. His thumbs played with the top of my underwear.

Becky frowned and stepped back.

"What are you doing, Lew?" Corrigan leaned against my locker now.

She paused and studied him a moment. Then she glanced at Bryce and me.

She'd tried the girlfriend bit with Corrigan, which hadn't worked and now…I couldn't understand her thought process. She wanted to make Corrigan jealous? And I had ruined it because I had laughed at her and then stole the show as Bryce had his arms around me, not her? Did she really think that was going to work?

I caught an appreciative gleam in Mena's eyes before she disappeared down the hallway.

Becky was flushed, but she retorted, "I thought I'd say hello to Bryce since you've ignored me all day."

"There's a reason for that." Corrigan bounced on his heels. He was ready for a fight. The malice was mixed with enjoyment.

Bryce chuckled in my ear and I leaned more fully against him. The two continued when I let my head fall backwards to his shoulder and I murmured under my breath, "Truce?"

Bryce pulled away slightly to look at me. His eyes searched my face before he sighed and murmured, "I was just touchy before."

"Yeah, but…" I pulled away and turned so my stomach rested against him. "I don't get what you were mad at before." I ignored the warmth that spread over my body.

"I wasn't. Can we drop it?" Bryce straightened and I pulled away.

"I'm the one who avoids. Why are you avoiding this? I don't even get what you're avoiding."

Neither of us were aware that Corrigan and Becky had stopped to watch us. The entire hallway watched us.

"I'm not avoiding anything. I just don't…"

"What?" I cried out, more annoyed that I didn't understand. If I understood what I'd said to piss him off, then I could understand what he was avoiding. I just didn't understand and we were nearing one of those 'near emotion' events. The need to bolt was starting to rear inside of me.

Then it was there. I'd had enough. I pushed through the group and shrugged. "I'm out."

A second later, I heard Bryce curse.

Ignoring the principal’s heed, I headed to my art class. Mr. Sayword wouldn't say a word, even if the principal did track me down. Seriously, though, how can one truant student be so important?

I managed a grin to Mr. Sayword when I entered the room and headed straight to the darkroom. I flipped the switch that let others know not to interrupt. Instead of grabbing some film, I pulled out my drawing pad and started a portrait.

No, I wasn't upset. No, this wasn't a self-coping mechanism. I just wanted to avoid any and all. The darkroom gave me that.

After ten minutes, someone pounded on the door. I looked up. "What?"

"Are you almost done? We have some pictures we need to develop too, you know. You're not the only one."

I stood and opened the door.

There were three students and all of them took a step back, startled when they saw who it was.

"Oh. Sorry, Sheldon," a girl said as she grabbed her camera and hurried away.

The other two gaped. One was a boy with wire-rim glasses and messy black hair. He used gel to make it stick out on its ends. It looked trendy, which was accentuated by the plaid vest that was snug over a black silk shirt. The other boy was tall, lanky, and wore a Suns tee shirt.

Neither looked familiar.

"What are your names?" I asked since they hadn't moved out of my way.

"Um…I'm Teddy." The plaid vest guy pointed beside him. "This is Brent."

"Hi."

They didn't move.

"Move."

"Um…" Teddy began again.

Just then I looked up and saw Bryce enter the room. He glanced at Mr. Sayword and scanned the room. His eyes stopped when he found me. "We're supposed to be at the principal's office. I've told you twice."

" I said that I was out."

"Then you should've left school. They know you're here so we gotta go and pay our penance or something," he growled and skimmed his eyes over Teddy and Brent.

Both snapped to attention and ran off.

"Were you talking to them?"

"No," I sighed and moved back into the darkroom for my drawing pad. Bryce followed and looked around.

"I've never been in here," he murmured and leaned against the counter.

I eyed him up and down and made my decision. I shut the door again and flipped the same switch.

"What is up with you today?" Enough was enough.

"Noth—" he started to say, but I interrupted.

"Bryce. Seriously. I'm here and I want to have this talk. Tell me what's up with you."

His eyes locked with mine and I saw that he was considering it, considering something. "Why'd you bail on my party?"

"Are you serious? This is what that's about? Because I bailed on your party?"

"Yes and no." He sighed and pushed off from the counter, but kept a hold of its edge. He bounced back and forth, doing reverse push-ups from the counter. His arm muscles bulged with each movement. "I don't know," Bryce mumbled with his chin tucked downwards. He looked at the floor. "I just…I don't know. I'm on edge today."

I was dumbfounded. Yeah. I had bailed on Friday night, but so what? He still got laid. Corrigan said he saw Bryce disappear into a backroom with one of the cheerleaders. And Saturday night, Bryce had been all over some cross-country runner.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "We should go before we get in more trouble."

"Since when do you care how much trouble we get into?" They couldn't do anything to us. Bryce was the soccer team's captain and heavily recruited. The school needed that attention. And I just didn't care. The school knew that and had given up on me a long time ago. They wanted me to continue attending school and classes. At least, that's what their school counselor had confided in me once.

"I don't, but it's a big practice tonight. I don't want my coach more worked up than he needs to be, you know."

Then it clicked. I felt like smacking myself in the head. This was the beginning of Scout Week. Those same recruiters and more were visiting the school's teams. They came to the practices, games, and talked with the families.

"Which ones are coming to your practice?" A flicker of tension passed in Bryce's eyes and I knew I was right. I moved closer and slipped my arms around him. "Which ones?"

He hugged me back, slowly. "Brown. Stanford. Florida."

"You want Brown, right?"

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