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“Your reverse psychology bullshit won’t work on me, Mitchell!” I call after him. “I’m too smart for that shit!”
“You keep telling yourself that, Falls!” he throws back over his shoulder.
It’s not until he disappears into the classroom that I realize everyone in the hallway heard that exchange. My cheeks heat up, and I duck my head to avoid meeting their stares.
The people around me seem to swirl and press in closer than I like. It feels as if every set of eyes in the hallway is trained on me, like they secretly know how badly I crashed and burned with Evie. I wish life was like football. The game I can read, have some amount of control over. Off the gridiron? I’m like a fucking leaf in the wind. Anything can happen. On a good day, I’m smart enough to keep my mouth shut and my nose to the grind. Backup quarterback or not, on a bad day, well…on a bad day, I’m just the shy, dorky loser I’ve always been, tripping over my stupid words and my too-long legs.
The hair on the back of my neck stands up as I shoulder my way through the halls to class. The feeling of being watched on the field isn’t the same as being stared at off it. It’s creepy. Especially because I know they’re only staring at me for having been an idiot. I wish Evie looked at me the way everyone else does. I wish she looked at me at all.
I can’t shake the feeling I missed my only shot today. What if I never get another golden opportunity like that?
I step into chemistry, and my gaze automatically lands on her seat.
It’s empty.
I sit beside my lab partner, Zoe. She starts chirping before my ass even meets the chair. I fucking hate partnered classes. I’ll bet being Evie’s lab partner would be awesome though. She wouldn’t make me do all the work while she twirls her hair like a bimbo—I’m sure of it. But, again, I’m never that lucky.
Evie walks in the door, and Zoe’s words die before they even register in my brain.
She keeps her chin up even though her cheeks are pink as she wobbles in with her too-high shoes. Her shirt is still stained red from the spaghetti sauce, but it’s even wetter than it was before. There’s white fluff all over the spot like she tried to scrub it with…paper towels…in the restroom.
What the fuck?
Did she not want my stuff because she thinks I’m an asshole? Maybe Kerri was just trying not to hurt my feelings when she told me Evie wasn’t in there. Or maybe Evie found another restroom to hide out in to avoid me. She sure as hell didn’t run home with her tail between her legs like Mike predicted.
My anxiety reaches a boiling point as she takes a seat at the lab table in front of me. It’s been torture for the past month to be so close yet so far from her. Worse is the fact that Jake, her partner, has been trying his damnedest to put the moves on her.
I’d love nothing more than to pummel him on the field. Or in the weight room. Or, hell, anywhere, really. He doesn’t play a single sport, so my options for randomly fucking him up on the field or the court are limited.
The only thing that’s saving his ass from my fists is the fact that she must not be into him. She never seems to take his bait. Sure, she answers his probing questions and isn’t ever mean to him, but she’s not drooling and batting her eyelashes the way my lab partner does with me.
I kind of hate Jake. I’m also extremely grateful for him. While everyone else in class takes notes on oxidation reactions, I’m taking notes on Evie’s favorite things. Each time she supplies Jake with an answer to one of his questions, I store that information faster than new plays from Coach.
“Hey, are you okay?” he asks her.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Thanks for asking.” She turns her head just slightly and peeks at me with a small smile.
Oh. My. God.
Evie Papageorgiou just smiled at me.
Maybe she doesn’t think I’m an asshole after all.
Shit. I never grabbed my clothes back from Alex. I could’ve given them to her now, so she could change after class. Why didn’t I think of that?
Jake clears his throat and breaks the spell. “So, I was thinking… Are you busy this weekend?”
“Well, yeah.” Evie shoots him a look that suggests he’s crazy for even asking. “Friday night is the football game and then the bonfire.”
He shrugs, clearly not thinking it’s as big of a deal as she does. “Oh, right. The game. You play the flute in band, right?”
She gives him a “duh” look. Hell, I give him the same one. How could he not know she plays flute in band? She’s only been doing it for the past two years. Even I know that.
“What about Saturday and Sunday? Do you maybe wanna go get some coffee and work on our next lab together?”
Shit, is Jake seriously asking her out?
“Um, maybe?” She throws me another quick look over her shoulder.
