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OCTAVIA
Linc pulls into the parking lot, and I swear every single student at ECP is here, staring at us.
At me.
None of us have been at school for two weeks, and I have zero doubt that Blair has been reveling in our absence, lying about God only knows what. Knowing her, I’m probably such a slut that I’ve added Indi to my harem of lovers and we’ve all run away to an exotic island to get married.
Yep, that sounds like something she’d say.
“Are you ready for this?” Linc asks as he pulls into his spot beside Mav’s bike.
No Finn yet.
I look over at him and nod as Mav climbs from his bike and opens the back door. “I’m not about to survive Panda just to be afraid of this place. The only thing I’m worried about is how badly my GPA is going to suffer from being away so much and being so distracted all the damn time.”
Here’s hoping that Smithy convinced my teachers I was sick enough that they don’t have me try to do the work I missed and just give me a pass.
I’m not that lucky, but it would be nice.
At least tomorrow is the start of March, and there are only a few months of school left, only a month and a half until my birthday. If I can just graduate with my required GPA and stay alive long enough to reach 18 then maybe, just maybe, things will start looking up.
I haven’t even had much time to worry about it lately with everything going on, but now that I’m here, back in the cold hard light of day—back to real life—it’s just one more thing to weigh me down.
Mav jumps onto the back seat and leans forward, kissing my cheek. “Don’t worry, princess. We got you. I mean, I don’t, but Linc and Finn are boy geniuses. They’ll help you with anything you need, but you’re a smart cookie, I doubt you’ll even need them.”
I laugh softly, turning in my seat to face him. “I like this unrelenting positivity. Maybe some of it will rub off on me.”
“I’ll rub off on you,” he jokes, wagging his eyebrows at me, and I can’t help but laugh at him while Linc rolls his eyes.
“I’m sure you would,” he mutters. “Where’s Finn?”
“Getting coffee,” Mav answers before leaning back. “He shouldn’t be long.”
Indi pulls into her space, waving at me from her Wrangler, so I jump out of the Porsche and head over to her. “Morning, Rainbow Sparkle. How you doing today?”
“Better, how are you? You were weird at dinner yesterday.” She frowns as she grabs her bag and climbs out of the car.
“I’m okay, I just felt a bit off. I thought I hid it.” I bite my lip, hoping I’d hidden it from Smithy and Matthew at least. I’m sure the smell was a coincidence. I’ve never met Matthew before, and he’s never met me. Probably just some popular brand of cologne. That’s the most logical explanation.
None of it makes any sense, and the bags under my eyes are a testament to how little sleep I got last night as I played it out in my head over and over again.
She shrugs, pulling on her backpack. “You probably did, I just know you too well.”
“I’ll be fine,” I say, trying to wave it off. We head over to where Finley is waiting for us with the guys, a tray of coffee in one hand.
“Morning,” I say, smiling at him. He hands Indi and I our coffees, and I kiss him chastely. “Thank you, and thank you for including her,” I say softly as he tugs me against his side, hugging me.
“She’s your person. Of course I’m going to include her.” I smile up at him, tuning out Indi and Maverick’s bickering until Lincoln’s patience runs out.
“Will you two just fucking stop,” he growls, and Indi flips Mav the bird.
“I will if asshat does.”
Mav scoffs, opening his mouth to say something else, but I move from Finley to between him and Indi before he says something else and puts Linc in a foul mood for the rest of the day.
“Let's just call a timeout, shall we?” I grin, and Mav kisses me.
“I can think of a fun way to spend my time out in the naughty corner.”
