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The silence left in Mr. G’s wake lasted all of 3.2 seconds. Jake dropped into the desk next to mine and the weight of his stare landed with a louder thud than his book. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
“I went to lunch with you.” Playing dumb was not my forte. Giving Jake shit used to be, so splitting the difference and wading into the middle seemed to be the way to go. I twisted to open my backpack. It was a cheap move designed to net me a few seconds out from under the pale blue of his eyes. Of the four guys, Jake and Coop had known me the longest. They were more likely to call me on my crap, but while Coop seemed to float on a current of zen through life, Jake possessed a laser-like focus.
His motion wasn’t dictated by a current, but by his choices. If he was in this class, it was because he wanted to be there. Independent study was absolutely voluntary. Not once since we made our class selections last spring had he mentioned pursuing this particular course of study.
Nor had I admitted to it. I’d barely been speaking to them when final schedules came out. More, I’d actively been avoiding them.Too busy. Too much work. Finals. Homework.
And I’d skipped the end of year bash at Archie’s with a drive to San Antonio and a weekend at Jennifer’s place. Thankfully, she hadn’t asked any questions when I’d showed up. We’d stuffed our faces with junk food, stayed up late, slept even later, and for seventy-two hours, I pretended I was a real girl.
Then it was right back home and to work. Summer offered a lot of excuses to keep my distance from all of them—except Coop.
With Coop, I’d had to work twice as hard to achieve only half the success. The only times I’d been unable to avoid any of them had been when they’d shown up at Mason’s—which they had most weeks, sometimes alone, often together, and far too frequently with a girl or three showing up to join them.
“I’m not talking about today. You wouldn’t have been at lunch or there for coffee this morning if Coop hadn’t dragged you along.” Nothing in Jake’s tone suggested speculation. If anything, he sounded… almost disappointed. “Our last first day, and you would have blown us all off, just like you did this summer.”
This again…“I went to Bubba’s birthday party.”
“For thirty-five minutes.” Jake raised his dark eyebrows. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
The urge to squirm under those all-seeing eyes crept through me and irritated me at the same time. I didn’t owe any of them an explanation. “It was a boring party.”
His snort echoed in the too quiet classroom.
Classroom.
Hell, we were still at school. Mr. G just left to make some copies. Granted, the teacher’s lounge and copy machines were on the far side of the school, and it was a safe bet he wouldn’t be back before the last bell—butstill!
“Jake…”
“Uh-uh.” Jake braced one hand on the seat back behind me and the other on the desk in front of me. “It’s just you and me, Frankie.”
“Clearly, unless invisible students enrolled this semester.” Once upon a time, that joke might even have made Jake laugh, lame as it was. Currently, however, it earned me a blank stare.
I tried again. “We’re at school, Jake.”
“We’re in Mr. G’s room. We’re not seeing him again until tomorrow. That’s why I waited until we were alone.” So he’d been waiting all day for this? “You’re a private person, I respect that.”
Respect.
I clamped my mouth shut. Sometimes, if I didn’t think before I spoke, I forgot what a verbal filter was, if I’d ever had one.
“But you’ve been a ghost. You took off, skipped the end of the year party. Skipped the opening pool party. Didn’t show up when Archie had his tonsils out…”
His what?
I blinked. “What?”
“Oh, now you notice?” Jake’s eyes were hard. “Archie. Tonsils. Two weeks after school got out, he was in the hospital for an emergency surgery. We were there. Where were you?”
Dread curled through me.
“I didn’t know.” Oh crap. Clearly, he was fine but… “No one…”
“Told you? I called you, Frankie. So did Coop and Bubba. Archie asked. We lied for you, by the way.” Each word landed like an icy slap. Archie had been in the hospital, and I’dmissedit.
There had been messages from the guys. Voicemails.
I’d just never listened to them.
