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Garrett scowled at me. “Why not?”
I stared at him. “Are you serious? This is a joke, right?”
Devan cut in. “No, seriously. It’s no problem for us. You won’t have to do anything. We’ll take care of it, and you’ll get an A. Then you’ll have more time to just…I dunno, read the books or focus on your other classes or…” He trailed off under the force of my glare.
“Do you guys think I’m dumb? You think I’ll mess up the project and hurt your grades or something? Is that what this is?”
“No,” Devan assured me. “It’s not that. I’m sure you would do a great job.”
I stared between them in bafflement, my fingers clenching at my sides as I tried to make sense of their words. “Then what is it?”
“We just don’t work well with others,” Garrett put in with a growl.
“Well, you’ve made that abundantly clear,” I told him, but he ignored me.
“It’s easier if we do it ourselves,” he said. “It’s not a big deal.”
A thought occurred to me, and I glanced back and forth between the two of them.
“Is this…wait. This is how you always do group projects, isn’t it? It’s not that you don’t want to work with me, it’s that you don’t want to work with anyone.”
Garrett glowered. “Usually they don’t take a lot of convincing.”
I looked at Devan. “But you don’t seem to have a problem working with me in chemistry,” I pointed out.
“I don’t,” he assured me. “It’s…different.”
“Because it’s in class,” I surmised. “And this means we would have to spend time together outside of class.”
He nodded, his creased brow relaxing in apparent relief that I seemed to understand, but I narrowed my eyes at them.
“So, what is it? Are you guys keeping some sort of big secret? Is there a dead body in your room you don’t want me to see?”
Garrett’s expression darkened even further, but I was just warming up. “I’ve heard more rumors about the three of you than anyone else on campus. No one knows anything about you. Is that it? You’re afraid I’ll find out who your parents are? Where you came from? Because I’ll tell you a secret.” I leaned in close and lowered my voice. “I don’t fucking care.”
Devan looked pained. “Camilla, it’s not like that. We just…”
He trailed off, pushing his hand through his auburn hair, which hung loose around his shoulders.
Yeah, not like that. Uh-huh.
Garrett’s face was so dark a thundercloud could have been hovering over his head. He had a twig gripped in his fingers and was methodically stripping off the bark. “We just don’t do group projects,” he informed me. “It’s not a big deal. You leave us alone, we’ll leave you alone, and we all get As. Okay?”
“No.” I glared back.
I wasn’t even sure why I was making such a big deal out of this. If I left in a week, I wouldn’t be here to work on the project anyway, and it honestly would make my life easier, having one less thing to worry about. But, on the other hand, it was wrong, and the way they’d assumed I would go along with their asinine plan made my blood boil. It was what was wrong with everyone at this damn school, the entitlement. The assumption that just because they had wealth and power they could do whatever they wanted and everyone around them would fall in line. Well, fuck that.
“It’s not okay,” I informed them. “I don’t care that you don’t play well with others, and I don’t care about whatever secret you’re trying to hide. You can fucking pull up your big-girl panties and do the group project the way it was assigned. All of us, together. Like adults.”
Devan tried to speak, but I didn’t let him. “Look, if you want to talk to Martinez and try to get the groups reassigned so you can work with someone more pliable, be my guest. But if you’re stuck with me, then you’re stuck with me, and I’ll earn my own damn A, thank you.”
Devan had the decency to turn his gaze to the ground, his cheeks flushed a little in embarrassment, but Garrett just ground his teeth like he was chewing on a mouthful of nails.
“Fine,” he finally bit out, and the look Devan shot him was surprised.
“Fine,” I repeated. “So, should we go get our books?”
* * *
