“Not really?” She frowns. “Is that all you have to say?”
Knowing she won’t move if I don’t do it first, I start walking. “What do you want me to say?” I ask defensively.
“I don’t know, something?” She catches up to me, the two of us hurrying through the throng of people that are also rushing to get to their next class before the bell rings.
Not Emmett, though. He’s too busy flirting with the Barbie.
I’ll wait for you to kiss me first.
Yeah, right, I see how he’s waiting. Seriously, what was I thinking? I wasn’t. That’s the problem.
That’s what you wanted anyway, I remind myself.
“They have US history together,” Becky says, bringing me out of my thoughts. “Emmett and Emma. They’re probably been talking about the class or something.”
“Or something,” I mutter, entering the classroom.
People are already mingling around the room, getting ready for our next lesson to begin. I sit down in my seat, letting my backpack slide to the floor next to my desk. “You don’t have to explain Emmett to me. What he does is none of my business.”
From the corner of my eye, I can see Becky’s brows shoot up. “Is that why you’re acting so weird?”
“I’m not acting weird,” I protest quickly. Maybe a little too quickly.
“Mm-hmm… right. I figured after Friday…”
“Nothing happened Friday.” I force a smile out. “Seriously. Emmett can do whatever he wants, with whoever he wants.”
“If you say so…”
She doesn’t seem convinced, but thankfully, she lets it go.
“Can we talk about something else, please?”
“Like what?”
“What’s new with you and Miguel?”
“Shh!” Becky hisses at me, then looks around frantically to make sure nobody is listening.
“What?”
“Not so loud.”
I look around, but everybody is, for once, minding their own business. “Nobody’s looking.”
“Still, I think we’ve already established nothing’s going on. We’re just friends.”
“Mm-hmm, if that’s what you call it around here, then, sure.”
“I’m serious, we’re just…”
But she doesn’t get to finish because the bell rings, and our teacher starts the class.
I give her a look. “Saved by the bell.”
EMMETT
“Are you planning to tap that?” Nico asks me as we hurry to get to the gym on time, so Coach doesn’t kill us.
I look at him over my shoulder, but the dude seems completely serious. “Don’t be an idiot.”
“What? She seemed more than willing, and you didn’t exactly correct her.”
I was about to, but then I saw Kate and Becky together. Kate caught a glimpse of me, but before a smile could form on her mouth, she saw Emma standing there next to me. Her smile was gone before it even appeared, replaced by a scowl.
I knew it was wrong, a completely asshole thing to do, but I couldn’t help myself. I was still so pissed at her for not even giving me a chance. For assuming that I’d want to hurt her sister, all of it. So, I might have let Emma hang on my arm a bit too much, and my smile might have been a bit bigger than usual.
Kate was the one who said no, after all.
“We were only talking,” I say defensively, as we get to the locker room, just as one of our teammates is coming out in a hurry.
“Dude, hurry the fuck up because Coach’s pissed.”
Shit, just what I needed.
I let my backpack drop on the bench in front of my locker and quickly work on changing my clothes.
“What he’s trying to say is that he was trying to make Kate jealous.” Miguel grins knowingly.
“The new girl?” Nico frowns.
“Her name’s Kate,” I mutter, pushing down my jeans and grabbing my shorts.
How hard is that to remember?
“See? He gets all irritable like that when she’s in question.”
I pull my shirt on and glare at my soon-to-be ex-best friend. “Seriously?” Does he really have a wish to lose one of his teeth today? “And all that coming from a guy who can’t find common ground with his best girl friend?”
“Shut up.” He shoves me away as we all start toward the door and gym. “It’s not my problem that girls act so freaking weird.”
“She’s Becky,” I point out.
“I know, that’s why it’s even more weird than usual. You’d think she’d be used to it by now.”
“Girls are just weird, bro.” Nico shrugs.
“Maybe if you tried not to piss her off so much…”
“I’m not doing it on purpose.”
I give Miguel a pointed look.
“What? I’m not. At least, not most of the time.”
“And then you wonder why she’s pissed at you most of the time.” I roll my eyes.
“Hey, it’s not like you’re any better. I remember seeing Kate storm away as fast as she could just now.”
“For the hundredth time, I wasn’t the one who asked Emma to come and talk to us.”
It’s not like I intentionally wanted to make her jealous. It just kind of, sort of, happened.
“Sure thing.”
Miguel pushes open the door to the gym, and we go inside. The door makes a squeaking noise as it always does, making the coach turn around toward us.
“Oh, look who finally decided to join us. Guess we know who’ll be cleaning today after we’re done.”
I want to groan, but with Coach’s narrowed eyes still on us, I hold it in.
“Now, get your asses to work.”
Chapter Fifteen
KATHERINE
“Why is it still so hot?” I groan loudly as I wave a hand in front of my face in hopes it’ll help me cool off. No such luck. “Shouldn’t the temperature start falling by now?”
Becky chuckles. “This is Texas, honey.”
“So, not fair. It feels like all I do is sweat, and it’s frigging September. Did Texas not hear about fall?”
Becky, on the other hand, looks amazing as always. Her hair isn’t frizzy from the heat, and there’s not even a drop of sweat on her face.
“Not likely. It’s like there are two seasons around here, summer and winter, and that’s about it. Are you sure you don’t want to go back inside? There is AC in the cafeteria.”
And be forced to spend my lunch break with Emmett and the guys? Highly unlikely.
“The quad’s fine. I think a little bit of air will help me clear my mind.”
Becky gives me a skeptical look. “Suit yourself.”
Together we find a little piece of ground that’s in the shade of a tree, so we settle underneath it, pulling our lunch out.
“You’d think that you’d be used to heat coming from California of all places.”
“I am, but I guess after a while, you just get sick of it? I’m so ready for cooler weather.” I pull my chicken wrap from the bag. “What about you? Been anywhere outside of Bluebonnet, Texas?”