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“You’re brilliant too, Mads. Don’t sell yourself short.” Mason pops a chip in his mouth.
I watch as a sigh escapes her lips and she looks away, her gaze fixated across the room. Mason doesn’t notice, his attention already back on Sienna.
Seizing the opportunity, I elbow Madison back and enjoy the moment she whips her head around to face me. “You’rethe smart one.” I offer her a fist bump and with a laugh, she bumps me back.
“Yah, whatever you say, valedictorian.”
“Um, isn’t it co-valedictorian?”
Madison throws her head back and laughs some more. When her mood improves, so does mine, and her laugh is one of my favorite sounds. “Maybe one day.”
“Maybe.” I agree. You never know what college graduation might bring.
Madison was right behind me when it came to the valedictorian of our high school class. She was second in class, and the look on her face when they announced our final grades nearly broke me. I wanted to give her my number one spot, make her smile again. I couldn’t care less about the title.
No one was there to see me accept it anyway.
But Madison insisted I keep what I earned. I told her we were co-valedictorians, because in my head, we were.
“But with your senior level classes, you’ll probably graduate early and leave us in the dust.”
“Graduate early, maybe. Leave you in the dust? Never.”
Mads side eyes me, and I swear, I see her hand reach under the table towards me before she quickly pulls it back.
Maybe she feels the same way?
I push the thought out as quickly as it comes. It doesn’t matter. A relationship between us can’t happen so why read into everything? It’ll only drive me crazy.
“Shit, I gotta go.” Madison jumps up from her seat, her happy mood forgotten. “I forgot I have a meeting with one of my professors.”
“Extra credit?” Mason teases and Sienna laughs too loud.
“Something like that- see ya.” She mumbles before hurrying away.
Mason watches after her with concern. The same concern I have but keep inside.
She’s buckling under the weight of all of her classes. She needs to slow down soon.
“What’s up with her?” Mason asks. “She barely sat down for more than two minutes.”
“I’d guess it’s all the damn classes she’s taking.”
“I told her to drop a few. I don’t get why she needs a double major.”
“A double major?” Sienna scrunches her nose. “Ew.”
Does this chick have any manners? Because it sure doesn’t seem like it.
“It’s not ‘ew’,” I enunciate the ew, complete with air quotes. I’m tired of her negative shit. “It’s dedication. Madison has a plan. Which requires a double major. How about we support her?”
Mason shoots me a weird look and raises an eyebrow. I know it’s hiswhat the fucklook, a look I don’t get too often, except when I lose my patience and finally let words slip off my tongue. Not always nice words, but honest ones.
Sienna holds up her hands and shakes her head, her act of innocence not lost on me. “Sorry, I didn’t mean anything against her—”
Mason grabs her hand and she goes silent. “It’s all good. Can I walk you to class?”
Sienna nods. “Bye,” She says to me but I don’t reply. The girl rubs me the wrong way and while being an asshole is the last thing I want, why should I even care?
