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Damn. Could I just walk away instead? Would that only make him more suspicious?
I leaned against the wall, staring at my sneakers. Justin came out a moment later, not saying anything as he stopped in front of me. I waited for the questions. They never came. Instead, he reached over and grabbed my bag from me, relieving me of the weight. I wanted to snatch my bag back, but something in his expression dared me to try. My shoulders lowered as I tried to force a smile, hoping to pretend that everything was okay. And I was glad he was taking the burden away from me. Made it easier to pretend I wasn’t in a lot of pain.
“Good morning,” I said in a softer, more tired voice than I wanted.
“Morning. The others are already here. They’re eating breakfast.” He tilted his head in the direction we needed to go.
“Okay.” I followed behind as we headed to the courtyard. Students were slowly showing up, enjoying themselves before another day of classes passed. I kept glancing at Justin, expecting him to toss questions my way. His back was broad, muscles peeking through his dark T-shirt.
“Candy Corn, you’re back!” Toby’s voice broke my thoughts and I looked into smiling hazel eyes.
I gave him a small smile. “Hi, Toby.” I looked at the rest of the guys. “And everyone.”
“Hey, Cadence. How are you?” Paxon asked.
“Good.” I sat down in the spot where Toby was practically demanding I sit with the way he was whacking it. “Finished collecting the work I missed yesterday.” I glanced at Justin, expecting him to say something then, but he didn’t. I frowned as he dropped my bag on the ground by me and claimed his own spot on the other side, settling in next to Bryan.
“Need any help?” Paxon asked.
I shook my head. “No, I’m good. It’s still the first week so there isn’t much yet.”
I forced a smile, hoping to reassure everyone, but something in Justin’s expression darkened. His eyes raked over me, but he didn’t say anything. I looked away from him and his piercing gaze. His eyes were truly a window to his thoughts, but sometimes I felt they were reversible too, meaning he saw more.
“How is your song for music analysis going?” Toby asked.
“Why?” I narrowed my gaze. “I’m not doing it for you.”
His eyes widened in mock indignation. “What? Of course not.” He broke out in a smile. “I was just wondering if I could get your thoughts on my lyrics. I feel like something is missing from mine. Maybe we can swap songs and help each other out.”
He kept up an innocent smile, showing off his pearly whites to let me know he was full of shit.
“I’m sure whatever you have will be great. You don’t make it into that class by producing shit.”
He let out a huff, and the rest of the boys chuckled because we all knew he was hoping to mooch off me. I didn’t allow myself to take offense from the fact that he wanted to use me. It was all in good fun. I hoped.
Again Justin gave me a weird look, his blue eyes seeing more than I wanted to show. Hopefully, he didn’t know enough though. I smiled at him, and he quickly broke eye contact to glance down at his cellphone, his fingers moving across the screen as he tapped away.
Everyone fell into friendly chatter, talking about school, the teachers, and the amount of work they had. Bryan went into a diatribe about how the school needed to expand or open another school because there were too many students.
The consensus was in agreement, but it had always been like this. Three growing towns and only one public high school for everyone to go to made for one very packed building. Only the school’s amazing ability to organize everything was saving it all from falling into complete chaos. There were rumors of another public high school to be built, but so far, they’d only ever been rumors.
“Bryan, can I ask a question out of genuine curiosity,” I said.
“Of course.” He seemed reluctant with the way he responded. We hadn’t really said much to each other despite our supposed making up. That was fine with me.
“Like, don’t take any offense. I really am just curious.”
His eyes narrowed. “Say what you want to say.” An edginess entered his voice as his eyes narrowed, and he was ready to grow offended.
“Why aren’t you in private school?” I blurted out. “I mean, if you’re well off as I’m guessing, I imagine your parents would want you in private school.”
Bryan didn’t answer right away as most of the emotions in his face went away, leaving behind only irritation. A muscle in his jaw ticked before he finally cleared his throat. “I was. Through junior high. Once I was in eighth grade, I spent the year harassing them until they let me transfer to Trilec. There are stipulations of course. They choose the classes I take, and they hire tutors to—in their eyes—make up for the lack of education. My grades have to stay up.”
“He’s our current valedictorian,” Toby said in a teasing tone.
Bryan looked away as he pushed up his glasses. “And I’m expected to graduate as such.”
“You will,” I said with a smile. “Even if it’s just to prove to your parents that you’re better than they think.”
