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Another grin. “Sure thing.”
Just then, the crackle of the school intercom sounds just above the lockers.
“Sebastian Murdoch, please report to the principal’s office immediately. Sebastian Murdoch, report to Mrs. Tromely’s office immediately.”
Sebastian rolls his eyes, long fingers raking through his hair again. “Shit.” He grins. “Forgot I’m on probation… I’m not supposed to be late for class. Since the suspension and everything.”
My eyes widen at his casual reaction. “Oh. I’m sorry. You didn’t have to—”
He shrugs. “It’s fine. I’ll head there now and explain.” He walks a couple of paces and picks up his backpack, which is leaning against the wall beneath Scarlett Thiels’ locker. He slings it over his broad shoulder. “See ya round,” he says as he starts down the hallway toward Mrs. Tromely’s office.
I take off after him. “I’ll go with you,” I say, trying to match his long strides. “So I can explain to Mrs. Tromely that you were late because you were helping me.”
He glances down at me, his honeyed eyes fixing on mine with that increasingly familiar look of confusion. “Sure… If you want to.”
I falter.
I’m going with him because it’s not right for him to get in trouble for cleaning my locker. Not because Iwantto.
Which is what I tell him. But he just shrugs again.
“Okay, cool.”
I shake my head, trying to imagine what it would be like to be so happy-go-lucky about absolutely everything.
It’s obvious the secretary is confused to see me showing up alongside Sebastian, even more so when I go into Mrs. Tromely’s office with him. I’m pretty sure I’m way more nervous than Sebastian, even though he’s the one in trouble here.
I explain the situation to Mrs. Tromely, only I change the story to me spilling coffee instead of someone leaving a dead jellyfish in my locker. I’m not an idiot. Ratting on Madison would only make my life a hundred times worse.
Mrs. Tromely accepts the story. To be honest, I think she’s just relieved she doesn’t need to deal with whatever consequences she’d have to lay out if Sebastian had been late for some other reason. And he may not have shown it before, but I think Sebastian is relieved, too.
We both turn to head back to class, tardy slips in hand, when Mrs. Tromely says, “Well, it’s nice to see you’ve decided to give Sebastian another chance with the tutoring, Caroline. And hopefully, you’ll take the opportunity seriously this time, Sebastian, and prove to us all that you’re capable of turning things around.”
She smiles at us from her double-wide mahogany desk, and I’m struck speechless for a second. Sebastian rubs the back of his neck and it makes his T-shirt lift, exposing his six-pack abs. Because of course he would have six-pack abs.
I avert my eyes just as he says, “Oh, uh… She’s not tutoring me. I just—”
“Yes, I am,” I blurt.
Wait.What?Why did I just say that?
For once, I am onside with Sebastian’s confused expression.
He drops his hand. “But I thought you—”
“I’ll give you one more chance to show up on time,” I cut him off.
He just risked getting in trouble to clean out my locker. Probably serious trouble, given that he just got off a suspension. It’s the right thing to do. Even though I hate that it’s the right thing to do.
Sebastian doesn’t say anything. He drags his lip between his teeth, the glimmer of a smile flashing in his eyes.
“Well, alright then,” Mrs. Tromely says. “Don’t make Caroline regret giving you another chance, Sebastian.” She skewers him with a warning scowl that would make most mere mortals cower.
“Yes ma’am,” he says, nodding at Mrs. Tromely, the picture of repentance and solemn obedience.
She makes an unintelligible noise that’s a cross between a “hmph” and an exasperated sigh, then turns back to her computer screen and whatever she was working on before we interrupted her busy morning, clearly dismissing us both.
I turn on my heel, knocking Sebastian’s rock-hard bicep in my rush to exit Mrs. Tromely’s office and the whole stupid situation. I practically jog to my next class to avoid any chance of him catching up with me before I get there.
