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I needed to get going or I’d never find a parking spot at the school. I got the sticker that said I could park, but unless I wanted to pay an extra hundred, I didn’t get assigned parking spot there, either.
Unsurprisingly, a sandy blond leaned against the side of my car. He had his backpack slung over one shoulder, his eyes half-closed, and five o’clock shadow on his face.
“You look like crap,” I said by way of greeting.
“Look better than you,” Coop retaliated, and I grinned.
“Impossible.”
With a light shove, I pushed him away from the driver’s side door. He mock-stumbled before straightening. At six foot, he topped me by six and a half inches.
“Let me guess, you need a ride?”
“Kind of obvious, isn’t it?” He smirked and circled around the car. I’d already unlocked the doors, so he all but fell into the passenger seat. “I’ll cover half the gas.”
“For the ten-minute drive?” I rolled my eyes as I set my backpack into the backseat before climbing into the driver’s seat. The ten-year-old Toyota wasn’t flashy or sexy, but she was reliable and got me where I needed to go. She was also paid off, and I made payments to Mom for her, which helped Mom make payments on her new car—not that she’d asked me to do it, but fair was fair.
“Okay, I’ll keep my money to myself, if you insist,” Coop smirked. “Drive, Jeeves.”
I flipped him off, and then got the car started. “Ass.”
He just laughed.
The drive to school didn’t take long; it never did. Coop spent most of it with his eyes closed behind his sunglasses, and I drank my coffee, draining the last of it before we even pulled into the lot. First day back and it wasn’t crowded yet.Fantastic.I scored a parking spot next to the only tree and closer to the gym hall’s exit doors.
Good karma for the first day.
First day as a senior, too.
So weird.
Coop made an obnoxious snoring noise as I shut the car—and thus the air conditioner—off. I pinched him and he made a grumbling noise then caught my hand and held it to his chest.
Rolling my eyes, I flicked his nose and he made a face. “You are so mean to me.”
“Ha. Out of my car, Coop. I need to go inside, walk my classes, and see if Ms. Fajardo is in her classroom.”
“Why?” He gave my hand a squeeze before he let me go. “God, girl. Just come to the cafeteria and hang out.”
“There’s plenty of time for that.” Well, there had been in freshman and sophomore years. We hung out every day before classes, but then Mr. G let me use his classroom in junior year, and I hung out there some—mostly toward the end of the year. I was kind of hoping Ms. Farjardo would do it this year.
“Uh huh.” Cooper “Coop” Brennen, the boy next door with the lazy attitude and the never in a hurry motto, had a GPA just a bare fraction off mine. He was so not the face he showed the world of being too cool for school or study. “You said that last year and disappeared on us.”
“I didn’t disappear,” I argued. He unfolded himself from my car and stretched before sliding his arms into his backpack. He shut the door and circled the car, snagging my backpack for me and holding it up. It was already hot and humid outside. Texas in August? What did anyone expect? At least we could wear shorts to school, and I’d taken advantage of it.
Not Coop. He wore jeans and looked like he’d never broken a sweat. Sliding my arms into the straps, I locked the car before shoving the keys into my pocket. My tumbler would stay in the car until I got home. I’d kill for another cup of coffee. There was a Starbuck’s a short walk away, inside the grocery store up the street. But—meh. I didn’t want to be dripping sweat with curls pulling my hair out of the ponytail.
So, I’d suffer.
Looping an arm over my shoulders, Coop turned me toward the building. “You spend most of your timeinclassrooms even when you didn’t have to be.”
“I was studying. Five AP classes is a lot of homework.”
Coop snorted again. “Frankie, Frankie, Frankie… do not hide this year.”
“I’m nothiding,”I said, and gave him a shove. “And get off. It’s hot.”
He laughed. The great thing about Coop was he never fell into bad moods or got tense. If anything, he was the most laid-back guy at Robertson High. He didn’t sweat grades, homework, the temperature, or life. He just drifted along, and the currents were always kind to him.
