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  Becky Lew chose that moment to appear at my locker. Her crowd of minions flocked behind her. When Corrigan stiffened, something flared in her gaze and then she turned to Bryce. The smile she always wore around them turned seductive and she ran a hand down his chest. “Hi, Bryce.”

  No one knew what to do.

  It was common knowledge that Bryce was off-limits when I was around. There was a reason why Stephanie Hills scampered off his table when I arrived. It wasn't because I turned sudden bitch, it was because Bryce really did choose me first. Girls got humiliated when I showed up.

  I frowned and glanced at Corrigan, who turned to me.

  Then I burst out laughing. "I'm sorry." I tried to hide my smile behind a hand. "You were all after Corrigan this morning and now you're into Bryce?"

  The seductive gleam vanished from Becky's eyes. They narrowed in anger at me instead.

  I caught a glint of amusement in Bryce's eyes so I moved forward and leaned my back against him. He tensed a moment and then slid his arms around my waist to dip his hands inside. His thumbs played with the top of my underwear.

  Becky frowned and stepped back.

  "What are you doing, Lew?" Corrigan leaned against my locker now.

  She paused and studied him a moment. Then she glanced at Bryce and me.

  She'd tried the girlfriend bit with Corrigan, which hadn't worked and now…I couldn't understand her thought process. She wanted to make Corrigan jealous? And I had ruined it because I had laughed at her and then stole the show as Bryce had his arms around me, not her? Did she really think that was going to work?

  I caught an appreciative gleam in Mena's eyes before she disappeared down the hallway.

  Becky was flushed, but she retorted, "I thought I'd say hello to Bryce since you've ignored me all day."

  "There's a reason for that." Corrigan bounced on his heels. He was ready for a fight. The malice was mixed with enjoyment.

  Bryce chuckled in my ear and I leaned more fully against him. The two continued when I let my head fall backwards to his shoulder and I murmured under my breath, "Truce?"

  Bryce pulled away slightly to look at me. His eyes searched my face before he sighed and murmured, "I was just touchy before."

  "Yeah, but…" I pulled away and turned so my stomach rested against him. "I don't get what you were mad at before." I ignored the warmth that spread over my body.

  "I wasn't. Can we drop it?" Bryce straightened and I pulled away.

  "I'm the one who avoids. Why are you avoiding this? I don't even get what you're avoiding."

  Neither of us were aware that Corrigan and Becky had stopped to watch us. The entire hallway watched us.

  "I'm not avoiding anything. I just don't…"

  "What?" I cried out, more annoyed that I didn't understand. If I understood what I'd said to piss him off, then I could understand what he was avoiding. I just didn't understand and we were nearing one of those 'near emotion' events. The need to bolt was starting to rear inside of me.

  Then it was there. I'd had enough. I pushed through the group and shrugged. "I'm out."

  A second later, I heard Bryce curse.

  Ignoring the principal’s heed, I headed to my art class. Mr. Sayword wouldn't say a word, even if the principal did track me down. Seriously, though, how can one truant student be so important?

  I managed a grin to Mr. Sayword when I entered the room and headed straight to the darkroom. I flipped the switch that let others know not to interrupt. Instead of grabbing some film, I pulled out my drawing pad and started a portrait.

  No, I wasn't upset. No, this wasn't a self-coping mechanism. I just wanted to avoid any and all. The darkroom gave me that.

  After ten minutes, someone pounded on the door. I looked up. "What?"

  "Are you almost done? We have some pictures we need to develop too, you know. You're not the only one."

  I stood and opened the door.

  There were three students and all of them took a step back, startled when they saw who it was.

  "Oh. Sorry, Sheldon," a girl said as she grabbed her camera and hurried away.

  The other two gaped. One was a boy with wire-rim glasses and messy black hair. He used gel to make it stick out on its ends. It looked trendy, which was accentuated by the plaid vest that was snug over a black silk shirt. The other boy was tall, lanky, and wore a Suns tee shirt.

  Neither looked familiar.

  "What are your names?" I asked since they hadn't moved out of my way.

  "Um…I'm Teddy." The plaid vest guy pointed beside him. "This is Brent."

  "Hi."

  They didn't move.

  "Move."

  "Um…" Teddy began again.

  Just then I looked up and saw Bryce enter the room. He glanced at Mr. Sayword and scanned the room. His eyes stopped when he found me. "We're supposed to be at the principal's office. I've told you twice."

  " I said that I was out."

  "Then you should've left school. They know you're here so we gotta go and pay our penance or something," he growled and skimmed his eyes over Teddy and Brent.

  Both snapped to attention and ran off.

  "Were you talking to them?"

  "No," I sighed and moved back into the darkroom for my drawing pad. Bryce followed and looked around.

  "I've never been in here," he murmured and leaned against the counter.

  I eyed him up and down and made my decision. I shut the door again and flipped the same switch.

  "What is up with you today?" Enough was enough.

  "Noth—" he started to say, but I interrupted.

  "Bryce. Seriously. I'm here and I want to have this talk. Tell me what's up with you."

  His eyes locked with mine and I saw that he was considering it, considering something. "Why'd you bail on my party?"

  "Are you serious? This is what that's about? Because I bailed on your party?"

  "Yes and no." He sighed and pushed off from the counter, but kept a hold of its edge. He bounced back and forth, doing reverse push-ups from the counter. His arm muscles bulged with each movement. "I don't know," Bryce mumbled with his chin tucked downwards. He looked at the floor. "I just…I don't know. I'm on edge today."

  I was dumbfounded. Yeah. I had bailed on Friday night, but so what? He still got laid. Corrigan said he saw Bryce disappear into a backroom with one of the cheerleaders. And Saturday night, Bryce had been all over some cross-country runner.

  "I don't know." He shrugged. "We should go before we get in more trouble."

  "Since when do you care how much trouble we get into?" They couldn't do anything to us. Bryce was the soccer team's captain and heavily recruited. The school needed that attention. And I just didn't care. The school knew that and had given up on me a long time ago. They wanted me to continue attending school and classes. At least, that's what their school counselor had confided in me once.

  "I don't, but it's a big practice tonight. I don't want my coach more worked up than he needs to be, you know."

  Then it clicked. I felt like smacking myself in the head. This was the beginning of Scout Week. Those same recruiters and more were visiting the school's teams. They came to the practices, games, and talked with the families.

  "Which ones are coming to your practice?" A flicker of tension passed in Bryce's eyes and I knew I was right. I moved closer and slipped my arms around him. "Which ones?"

  He hugged me back, slowly. "Brown. Stanford. Florida."

  "You want Brown, right?"

  "Yeah."

  Just then, someone pounded on the door again. It stopped after someone hissed, "Bryce and Sheldon are in there. Ssshh!"

  Bryce chuckled in amusement, but he shook his head a moment later.

  There weren't any more interruptions, but a discreet knock sounded at the door. Mr. Sayword murmured, "Uh…Mr. Scout and Sheldon, the principal requests your presence in his office. Please finish your developing as soon as possible."

  Bryce cracked a grin as I laughed. "We're alm
ost done, Mr. Sayword."

  Before we got to the main office, we saw Corrigan in the hallway, hunched over an open locker.

  "Seriously, dude." Bryce clapped a hand on his shoulder.

  Corrigan jumped around, eyes wide, and nudged the locker shut with his heel. When he saw it was us, he relaxed.

  "Jeez. Don't do that!" he hissed and opened the locker again. He was on a mission.

  "Don't you ever go to class?" I asked.

  "Not if I can help it," Corrigan muttered.

  "Whose locker?" Bryce reached inside and plucked a book out. He opened the cover and read, "Theodore Campbell."

  Theodore Campbell? "That's Teddy. He's in my art class."

  "Yeah, well, he's going down," Corrigan mumbled as he looked through Teddy's bag.

  "What are you doing?"

  "He spray-painted 'Greco' on my car. The douche is going down. I'm looking for his keys."

  "Greco? What does that mean?"

  "I don't know, but it's on my car," he growled. Corrigan never growls. In fact, a serious Corrigan was a rare event.

  "What are you going to do?"

  "Steal his car and give it to Hoodum."

  "Isn't that excessive?"

  Hoodum ran the local gang that specialized in the economics of refurbished cars. They stripped cars, stolen or 'legitimately' donated.

  "He spray-painted my car. No one does that and gets away with it."

  Fair enough.

  "How do you know it was Teddy?"

  "Chet saw him do it. He did it when we left school." Then a set of keys was produced and he took off down the hallway.

  Before we could follow, our names were shouted down the hallway. "Mr. Scout and Miss Jeneve!" The principal's secretary, Mrs. Walker, was irate as she pointed at us. "If you do not get your butts in this office within thirty seconds, you are both expelled from this school."

  I grinned. I liked to see an irate Mrs. Walker.

  Chad Yerling grinned when he saw us walk in. He leaned back in one of the waiting chairs, his arm rested over two more, and had kicked up his shoes on another pair of chairs. Three students were forced to squish together in the remaining two chairs across the waiting room.

  "What are you guys doing here?" he asked as he moved his legs. Bryce and I sat down while Chad rearranged himself to lay sprawled over three other chairs.

  Mrs. Walker harrumphed as she sent a withering glare our way before she walked into the employee's lounge.

  Chad beamed and folded his hands underneath his head. "I got caught getting a blowjob in the boiler room."

  "By who?"

  Chad shrugged. "Just some girl."

  I narrowed my eyes and studied him. He was lying, but whatever. I saw that the other students were frozen at his words. Chad's coolness rose another level.

  He nodded in our direction again. "So what are you guys doing here?"

  I shrugged and Bryce replied, "Mouthing off? I don't know."

  Chad smirked. "Did you guys go to the library in second? Word is that you took off." And had sex.

  He hadn't said the words, but they were still there.

  "We skipped to eat with Corrigan."

  The sneer disappeared from Chad's face as the office door burst open and a student sprinted inside. He panted as he doubled over for breath, "Corrigan Raimler is—"

  We shared a look. Oh shit. Bryce moved in a flash and dragged the kid outside.

  Chad glanced to me. "What was that about?"

  I shrugged and moved to follow. I glanced over my shoulder to make sure that Mrs. Walker was still absent—she was. Chad moved to follow too, but I shook my head. "You cover for us. Tell them I got sick."

  He could've come, but I didn't like Chad—never had. He gave me the creeps.

  "Okay." Chad nodded, but watched through the window as I darted around the hallway.

  Bryce had dragged the kid outside and was already interrogating him by the time I got there. "So what were you going to say?" He prodded the kid with a finger in his shoulder.

  He trembled when Bryce towered over him. "I…I…" he stammered and glanced up at me.

  "Just tell us what you were going to say."

  "I…Corrigan…" He took a deep breath and rushed out, "Corrigan Raimler stole one of my friends' cars. I know it wasn't his because it's Teddy's."

  Bryce and I shared a look.

  "You were going to tell the staff that Corrigan stole your buddy's car?"

  He paled when Bryce repeated his words.

  "No…nnnnoo. I wasn't. I was just…"

  "Corrigan is my best friend."

  The kid shrunk back against the wall.

  "He's my best friend too," Bryce murmured. He heard the lethal promise in that voice.

  "Um…"

  "What's your name?" I asked as I shifted closer to him.

  His eyes widened further and he stuttered, "D-d-Darrell."

  "Darrell? And you're friends with Teddy?"

  "Yeah."

  I nodded and brushed against him. Bryce shifted backwards to give me space and I crooned into Darrell's ear, "When you hear that Teddy's car is gone, you're going to not remember anything about it. Okay?"

  He nodded quickly and swallowed.

  I ran a hand down his arm and murmured, "And the reason you're not going to remember anything is because my friend could get into a lot of trouble. I don't want that. Bryce doesn't want that." I moved back and stared him in the face. "You don’t want that either. If we hear that Corrigan's name was slipped by anyone, you're the one that we're coming after. Got it?"

  He jerked his head up and down. His hands covered the front of his pants as I stepped back. Then he rushed past us, back inside.

  I cursed as I realized what had almost happened. Dammit, Corrigan. Bryce shared my sentiment and yanked his phone out of his pocket. It wasn’t long until I heard him bark, "You idiot! You were seen by a kid. Do you know what would've happened if the kid had told?"

  I breathed in relief as I fell back against the bricked wall of our school and sat down.