“No, Ma. It’s the way Willow Springs works. This town is judgy as shit.”
My mom had never talked about the fact that she’d been treated harshly for getting knocked up as a teenager when no one knew the circumstances. They’d just jumped to conclusions like they always did. And she’d refused to leave Gram back then, as she needed her to help with me, so she’d stayed.
Stuck.
I’d never be stuck.
I was born for bigger things than Willow Springs.
I made my way to AP calc and Mrs. Cunningham started clapping when I walked into the room. Sherman and Adelaide followed along with her, as did the other four nerds in the class. I shook my head and my gaze locked with Adelaide’s and her goofy smile made me laugh. She wore her cheer outfit because it was game day. It was a constant struggle not to stare at her tanned, toned legs beneath her short skirt. The girl was small with slight curves in just the right places. I shook it off. I was a normal teenage dude with raging hormones. I could appreciate a gorgeous girl—but she was Alec Taulson’s girl, and there’d never be a moment when I didn’t remember that.
“Game day, Mr. Stone. Are you ready to continue an undefeated season?” Mrs. Cunningham said, sporting her East Text HS spirit shirt and jeans.
“I’m ready,” I said, dropping in my chair behind Adelaide.
“You ready to kick some butt tonight?” she asked, turning around to face me. Her dark hair was pulled back in a long ponytail on top of her head, with a bow that was ridiculously large.
“Do you mean, kick some ass, Ace?” I chuckled.
Sherman coughed beside me and whisper-shouted while Mrs. Cunningham turned to write on the board. “They mean the same thing, so why not use the more appropriate language? I’ll side with Addy on this one.”
Shocker.
Adelaide laughed.
I rolled my eyes. Of course, he thought this was up for discussion. For whatever reason, Sherman had decided the three of us were newfound besties. And any time we disagreed on anything, he always followed it up with, “I’ll side with Addy.”
Whatever, dude. I get it. You’re pining for a chick you’ll never have. I was all about dreaming big, and Sherman was definitely dreaming here.
“Jett might actually be right on this one. It is football after all.” She smiled, and I opened my book and looked away. Getting lost in Adelaide Edington’s deep brown gaze was a waste of time. Sherman was on his own there.
“You going to the game, Sherman?” I asked, because I knew the guy hung on every word we said to him, and well, I wasn’t a complete douchebag.
“I am, Jett. I’ll be cheering for both of you.”
My head tipped back in laughter. I couldn’t help it. Why the fuck would he be cheering for Adelaide? She was a cheerleader. Last I checked, they did the cheering. Damn, the poor bastard had it bad.
“Sounds good, dude.”
“You’re both still taking your SATs tomorrow, right? So, we’ll all be here at eight a.m., I guess?” Adelaide asked.
These two were so deep in my business they gave Ma and Gram a run for their money.
The group texts had become a daily occurrence. I responded to every fifteen texts Sherman sent, and Adelaide responded a little more often than I did. He’d asked for our SAT schedules, and we were all three taking them tomorrow, as were ninety percent of our senior class.
“I’ll be here, Addy. Don’t forget your pencils. And no cell phones.” Sherman pushed his glasses up his nose and it took everything I had in me not to laugh about the no cell phone rule. There was a text from him every morning when I woke up that was to both me and Adelaide. I was fairly certain he was just using me as a way to talk to her, but I didn’t know anymore because he was suddenly very interested in football and where I wanted to go to college. I had to remind myself that I was dealing with the valedictorian and the salutatorian of our class with these two. I knew this because of course Sherman filled me in. He had her edged out by just a hair, and I think he’d give it all up in a heartbeat because he was balls deep in love with the girl. She seemed absolutely fine with being second in line in our senior class, but that didn’t surprise me. She was nice to the core, so even if she wanted it, she’d never be a sore sport. She’d been that way since we were kids. It was the reason I knew she’d keep my fights a secret.
“All right, let’s get this done. We’ve got a busy weekend and I don’t have time for homework. You going to the dance, Sherman?” I couldn’t fucking believe I was now making small talk with Sherman Saxe. These two had dragged me into their nerdy little world and I had to say—I didn’t hate it.
“Yes, I’m going with Sadie Fareweather. We aren’t romantic. We’ll be attending as friends. I feel that being the valedictorian, Sorry, Addy,” he said, pulling his goddamned shoulders up to his ears in some sort of apology as his nasally words reached a higher pitch than normal.
What are you sorry for, dude? Being smart as hell? They were both smart as hell. She smiled and waved him off as if it didn’t matter to her. Her cheeks pinked, but I got the feeling it had more to do with the fact that he kept calling her out about it, and less to do with her being second in our class. “Anyway, I think it’s important that I show how well-rounded I am.”
I’d just taken a sip from my water bottle and I coughed, spewing water across my desk. This guy was as well-rounded as a sharp corner. “Sorry. That went down the wrong pipe. Yeah, definitely a good plan.”
Adelaide shot me a look and covered her mouth with her hand.
“I saw you both were nominated for homecoming court. Sadie and I were disappointed we weren’t selected, but I don’t think popularity is my strong suit.” He forced a smile and my chest fucking squeezed. What the actual fuck was happening to me? Sherman said he wasn’t popular. It was the truth. Why the fuck did I care? I wasn’t this dude’s babysitter. He was the fucking valedictorian. That trumps any bullshit popularity game any day of the week.
Jessica and I had been selected for homecoming court which actually made me cringe. I didn’t even want to go to this stupid ass dance, and now I had to parade around and get announced at the game tonight. Not my thing. Jessica was really happy about it. Maybe a little too happy about it. She’d been texting me incessantly all week about her dress and making sure I matched. If there was a way out of going at this point, I’d be all about it.
Of course, Adelaide and Alec were selected, as they were the golden poster children for East Texas High. Coco and Shaw were on the court which gave me endless joy, because he was as annoyed as I was. And seeing as he insisted on making me go to this damn dance, it served him right. And the final couple was Ty and Ivy. They’d been dating as long as Adelaide and Alec, so no one was surprised about it.