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Nothing my dad’s death didn’t take care of.
As I hide behind my locker door, I wonder how Ryan is handling Caleb’s arrival. It’s the first challenge to his alpha male status since kindergarten.
As if I summoned him, I hear another voice I recognize immediately. I shouldn’t know Caleb’s voice well enough to identify it instantly. But I do, it turns out. “Hey. It’s Ryan, right?”
“Right,” Ryan confirms. I smile a bit at the annoyance I can hear in his voice.
“Colt said I should meet him here,” Caleb explains.
“Oh. Cool,” Ryan responds. There’s a little less hostility in his tone. “So, what do you think of Landry so far?”
My initial reason for stalling at my locker was to wait for Ryan to leave and avoid an awkward encounter. But now I’m waiting for another reason. I’m curious what Caleb will say. I want to know if he’ll mention the rude girl who led him the wrong way this morning. If he’ll share anything I don’t already know.
“It’s all right. I already know Landry pretty well from visiting in the summers. Not that much of a change.”
He’s lying. I’m not sure how I know, but I do.
Ryan’s oblivious. “The whole school wants to show you around, man. Just go with it.”
“Won’t be necessary,” Caleb responds. There’s a pause, and then, “You play?”
There must be some football paraphernalia in Ryan’s locker. Probably a framed photo of himself in uniform. “Yeah,” Ryan replies. “Quarterback. You?”
“No. Baseball.”
“Oh, good. You’re here. Was worried you might get turned around.” Colt Adams’s voice joins the conversation. “Must have been Lennon’s fault you got lost earlier.”
Colt laughs. I cringe.
“You know Lennon Matthews?” Ryan asks; to Caleb, I presume. Colt and I have gone to school together since we were five. New students are rare here, which makes Caleb a novelty even if you ignore his last name.
“Not really,” Caleb replies.
“But you heard about her dad, right?” Ryan questions. “Not that much of a surprise, really. I would have overdosed too, if I had to live on an old farm that’s falling apart. Poor dude. And you know her mom was looser than—”
I slam my locker door shut, a brief thrill of satisfaction racing through me as I watch Caleb, Colt, and Ryan jump along with everyone else in the immediate vicinity. The three boys remain silent as I walk toward them, giving up eavesdropping and heading in the direction of the library.
“Don’t stop your conversation on my account,dudes,” I comment as I pass them by, barely registering their expressions. Colt looks concerned; Ryan uncomfortable. I can’t get any read on Caleb. His face is blank.
But as I continue down the hall, he ends up being the first one to say anything.
“The cafeteria’s the other way, Matthews!”
And that’s the moment I decide I hate Caleb Winters.
CHAPTERTWO
LENNON
Senior Year
The coil of dread tightens in my stomach as soon as I hear his name called. When mine immediately follows, I miss a loop in the elaborate pattern I’m drawing.
I knew it was coming for the last four and a half minutes. Mr. Tanner isn’t known for his innovation. He prides himself on his predictability. One doesn’t have to look any further than the course syllabus I’m currently doodling on. It’s lined with title after title of revered, classic literature, no doubt copied directly from the state curriculum.
As soon as Mr. Tanner announced Ellie Nash would be working with Jillian Baker, I had a sinking suspicion who my partner would be. I didn’t need to spend the past few minutes running through a list of the last names of everyone in this English class to come to the inevitable conclusion Mr. Tanner just announced. But I did so anyway, hoping bad luck and I were finally parting ways.
“Lucky,” Cassie Belmont whispers from her desk next to me.
