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17
Harper
I takemy usual seat in Professor Lee’s class, ignoring Damon as best I can. My cheeks feel hot and I’m pretty sure I’m bright red but I don’t look his way. I’m so pissed about what he pulled last night that I can’t even look at him.
The worst part is that I enjoyed it.
And I’d never, never tell him that.
“Seats, class,” Professor Lee says as she walks through the door. She’s in a Rolling Stones tee shirt today and her long silver hair hangs over her shoulders in a pair of braids. If not for the fact that she gets off on watching students squirm, I might like her.
To be fair, I’d managed to avoid her attention the last few weeks simply by doing average. On occasion, I was a little better than average. But today I can’t afford that.
Part of me wants to keep my rank, but I’m way too high to hold it there for long without drawing attention. In some conversations around strategy with Sadie, we both agreed that my best bet was to wait till the last month of school before I risked showing off.
And I know it’s the right call. Cain held the top spot for three weeks. Then someone took him out.
My mind replays my first day here when I met Liam Drake. Since that night when he made me crawl for my room key, I’d avoided him. And based on what I’d heard about his reputation, I wouldn’t be surprised if he pushed Cain over the stairs.
Whatever it was, I can’t afford to draw attention to myself yet. I have to lower my rank. Or at the very least, keep from moving up any time soon.
“Books away, it’s test time,” Professor Lee says as if she’s cheering on something spectacular. Why is it that teachers are always so excited about giving tests?
I didn’t bring my book so I sit quietly and wait for instructions. Someone taps on my shoulder and I nearly jump out of my seat at the surprise. Cautiously, I risk a glance.
Damon managed to move to the seat behind me and he’s grinning at me like a madman.
“What do you want?” I hiss as quietly as I can.
“To apologize,” he says.
“No,” I say as I turn back to face the front of the room.
“I’ll make it up to you,” he says.
“No,” I say again, through gritted teeth.
“What was that, Miss Love?” Professor Lee asks. “Are you volunteering to go first?”
I ball my hands into fists under my desk and curse Damon in my head.
“I was,” Damon says from behind me.
“You two seem to go hand in hand with trouble,” she says. “Fine. Miss Love. Mr. Wood. You’re a team. You either both pass, or you both fail.”
“No,” I say. That ruins all of my plans. I have to do poorly on this test but I know Damon is an excellent student. There’s no way he’d botch it. And if I do it on purpose, he’d notice. “I want to work alone.”
“Tough,” she says.
“I’ll work with Damon,” Em calls.
“Of course you would,” Professor Lee says. “But I think I’d rather see you work with let’s see…” Professor Lee looks around the room. Her eyes settle on the back corner where the only bear shifter in the class is sitting. With his finger up his nose.
I wrinkle my nose at the sight and look back at Professor Lee. She’s smiling that smile she gets when she knows she’s about to make a student unhappy.
“Remember and Cody, you two are a team,” she says.
Em groans and when I look over at Cody he’s making kissy faces at her. I bite down on my lip to keep from laughing. The last thing I need is to let Em know how funny I find her situation. She’s largely been ignoring me and I like it that way. All I want to do is get out of here alive. Friends or even boyfriends are not high on my list of priorities. Aside from Sadie, I’m good on my own.
