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ALLIE
“Ican’t believe he’s giving us another quiz.” Imani pulled out her laptop at lunch and opened the slides from Bio class. “We literally just had an exam last Friday. What is his problem? Give us at least three days before the next one.”
I tugged out my textbook, promising myself that I’d ask Mom about fixing my computer when she got back from her trip. Harlan would get me a brand-spanking-new one if I asked him because he wanted me to like him, but I didn’t want his money. He had produced the infamous Jace Harbor, and I didn’t take any money from the Harbors.
“He’s a grumpy old man,” I muttered, flipping through the five-hundred-page textbook.
Of course Barnes would give us a freaking quiz. He probably didn’t have anything better to do than sit in his house, chuckle menacingly as he wrote the hardest damn questions ever, and wrote Fs on a bunch of papers.
I sipped on my chocolate milk and sighed, unable to focus, as my thoughts had been all over the place during the lecture. I couldn’t even pay attention. I’d never be able to absorb all this information by tomorrow. All I could think about was that stupid fucking man.
My gaze flickered to Jace, standing by the entrance of the cafeteria and talking to all three of the Poison boys. My stomach clenched, and I had the urge to go over there and scream at him for ever getting involved with them. They were no damn good … but neither was he.
If he wanted to ruin his life and all his chances of getting into the NFL, I didn’t care.
Nope. Not one bit.
He could go back to juvie for all I cared.
“Hey,” Jamal said, sitting next to me at the empty table.
My eyes widened slightly at the sight of him sitting at the “Outcast Table,” as designated by the great Jace Harbor after he broke up with me. He usually sat with Jace and the rest of the football team at the table by the windows, the one with all the cheerleaders and popular girls. No athlete would be caught dead sitting here with us.
Except him, apparently.
I unclenched my fists and gently rubbed the nail marks on my palms. “What are you doing here?” I asked, brows raised.
Imani clicked away on her computer and smirked behind her screen, pretending as if she were still studying, but I knew she was listening to every word of our conversation. “Hey, Jamal,” she said, giving him just an ounce of acknowledgment.
“Thought you girls could use some company,” Jamal said, shrugging his shoulders.
I glanced at Jace, who was watching us with a tense jaw as he walked away from the Poison boys to his usual table. After swallowing hard, I turned back to Jamal and nodded, not knowing what to say to him.
“Yeah, sure.” I took another gulp of my milk.
Jamal stuffed half a meatball sub into his mouth and bumped his shoulder into mine. “What’re you up to?” he asked, still chewing.
My lips curled into a small smile, and I pushed his jaw up. “Chew with your mouth closed.” I turned back to my books. “Mr. Barnes is giving us a quiz tomorrow.”
He finished chewing and leaned closer to the table to look at the textbook, putting his arm around the back of my chair. Imani raised her brows at me and narrowed her dark brown eyes at the gesture. And I … I sucked in a breath because Jamal had never gotten this close to me in front of Jace.
“Didn’t you have an exam on Friday?” Jamal asked.
“That loser decided to give us another one,” Imani said, tapping on her keyboard.
I looked over at the popular table and tensed when I saw him.
Jace had sat down at his usual table with Jenny—Jenny, not a cheerleader, not a popular chick, the Science Club president—sitting next to him. She curled her arm around his, drawing her fingers up and down against his forearm. Nicole sat at the opposite end of his table, looking pissed the fuck off.
I glanced back at him, my heart racing when I saw that he was looking at me. What was his damn problem? First, he’d hated me. Then, he’d told me that I was his. Now, he was letting another girl touch him. My hands balled into fists again. Fuck, I didn’t care. I hated—loathed—the dickhead.
Turning back to Jamal, I clenched my jaw. What was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I get over Jace, even after two years of him torturing me every fucking day? I just wanted to be happy, and Jace would never bring me happiness again. I knew he wouldn’t. He had made it clear as day when he broke my heart sophomore year.
“So …” I took a deep breath, slammed my book closed because I knew I wouldn’t be able to study with him next to me, and smiled over at him. “Are you ready for the game on Friday? It’s against our rivals, isn’t it?”
Jamal grinned at me, a small gap between his two front teeth. When he used to come over, he always told me how much he wished his parents had the money for braces so he could fix it. But I kinda, sorta liked it.
“Coach is worried about it, but we’ll kill ‘em as long as Jace keeps his head on straight.” Jamal glanced over at Jace, who was now whispering something in Jenny’s ear and making her blush. Jamal shook his head. “He’s been off lately, more than he usually is.”
Off.
Hadn’t we both been a little off lately? We had both made the biggest mistake of our lives Friday night and gotten back together. It had been a moment of weakness. A moment of weakness that would never happen again.
If only that were true …
