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“Oh hell.”
That wasn’t the reaction I was looking for. “What’s wrong?”
“That’s the weekend Rhys has rearranged for us to go to Michigan. We’re all supposed to go. I won’t be here.”
“Fuck,” I muttered, dropping my head. I needed her, but could I really ask her to stay here with me?
The halls of the schools looked different lately.
Not that anything here had changed. In fact, everything inside this building was exactly the same, from the overworked and underpaid teachers, the bustling hallways filled with different cliques of students, and the overinflated egos of the popular crowd.
It was me who had changed.
I was already one step into the future. All the work I’d been doing with Angel to make a plan was killing my desire to stay here day in and day out. Senior fever probably didn’t help. Less than a semester and we would be out of this place forever.
“Hi, Jonah,” Mariann breathed as she exited the library. Clutching her books to her chest, she moved her gaze over my khakis and long sleeve polo as if I were a GQ model walking straight out of a magazine. Her family was from money, but as long as I’d known her, she never cared about fashion or wealth. She was more into the prestige of grades and extracurricular activities that looked amazing on college applications.
“Hi Mariann.” I nodded as I passed her, but she was quick to keep pace with me.
“We need to start finalizing some of the yearbook content. At least what we want to use from the first semester. Jason is going to throw a party at his place for the committee so we can work on it. You’ll be there, right?” Hope oozed from her.
As much as I had always thrown myself into school with a vengeance, I had zero interest in hanging out with the stuck up yearbook committee. Rhys thought his friend group was lame, but he hadn’t hung out with mine. If I could even call them that.
“What night?” I asked to humor her. As head of the committee, I should be there but hell, if I could find a decent excuse to bail, I would.
“This coming Saturday,” she yelled over the noise of the hallway. Now that it was lunch, it would stay a jumbled mess of chaos like this until the bell rang.
I grinned. “Sorry, no can do. I have plans to go out of town with friends,” I said as I searched for Rhys and Astrid. There they were, standing in the far corner with Astrid pressed up to his side, his arm draped over her shoulder, linking his fingers with hers. She closed her eyes as if she needed a nap as he chatted with one of his hockey buddies.
They were such an unlikely couple. Dressed in expensive clothing that was everything the popular crowd wore, Rhys rightly fit into the star athlete role. Then there was Astrid, wearing a long flowy skirt made of a thick material for winter, different from the gauzy things she had worn in the fall. Her favorite chucky boots adorned her feet and a long sleeve shirt tucked into the skirt. She was the epitome ofI don’t give a fuck. I could safely say she was the only one at school with her particular style, and that made her all the more intriguing as Rhys’ girlfriend.
“What friends?” Mariann sounded affronted.
“Those friends.” I pointed, and Rhys looked my way. He jerked his chin up as I pushed through the crowd to get closer to them.
“Wait.” She stopped me with a hand to my arm. I stopped, not wanting to be rude. Not yet, anyway. "Why are you friends with them? Rhys’ dad got arrested and that girl is a weirdo. Definitely not on our level or in any of our advanced classes. They’re going nowhere.”
I glared down at her. “Your intellectual snobbery is showing.”
She gasped. “You of all people should care about that. You’re on every committee, your grades are top tier, and you’re president of the student body council! Are you really going to change everything about you now?”
All this time, I’d wanted to be just like her. From a well to do family on the path to success and all the materialistic milestones that came with.
I glanced back to Rhys and Astrid, both of their gazes firmly on me. Rhys quirked a brow, as if asking if I needed saving from Nerdy Nancy. Nah, a more appropriate name would be self-righteous Rebecca.
After one tiny jerk of my head, I turned back to Marianne. “I’m not changing. You just never knew the real me.”
Done with this conversation, I left her standing in a circle of smelly freshman and joined my friends. When I was within touching distance, Astrid reached her hand out and skimmed her fingers over the back of my hand.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as if she’d zapped me with electricity, such was the effect Astrid had on me. Over the last few weeks, we hadn’t been able to spend much time alone, but when we had, the make out sessions were…
I shivered.
Okay, change of thought required before I had a full-blown erection in the hallway. Wouldn’t that be scandalous of the student body president? I smirked as both Rhys and Astrid looked at me in confusion.
Turning my mind to something other than the feel of Astrid in my arms, I glanced around. If I wasn’t so in tune with the student body, I still would have noticed the disbelief behind the stares. Some were covert while others were downright gawking. I knew what it looked like.
Rhys and Astrid had come out as a couple around the time of Rhys’ attack, so seeing them loved up in the hallway was nothing new. Now with her touching me freely, if conservatively, they were wondering what was going on. Some probably thought they were on the verge of breaking up, others might believe we were having a three-way affair. Especially with Rhys appearing so relaxed and laid back when he saw her touch me.
