My mind reels. “What? I have a right to be here just as much as you do.”Drop out?What is wrong with him? He’s fucked in the head.
He chuckles, the sound scraping up his throat like he’s swallowed nails. “You can’t seriously think that, Red.”
My back straightens.“Stopcalling me that.” I’m tempted to tell the asshole that my mom attended here, so in a way, Idobelong, but I won’t give him the satisfaction of knowing anything else about me. And if I talk about her, I could very well break down, and I won’t let him see me cry.
Notagain.
His hand drops its hold on me, and he walks away, back to class.You know, the class I’ve got to return to, just like he does.
Unfortunately, I’m stuck following right behind him. I put my hand gingerly to my hip where he’d held onto me, his heat penetrating right through my skirt. What the ever-lovingfuckwas that all about?
Mr. Roudebush looks up when I come back into the room. “Oh, good, you’re back Scarlett. You’ll be partnered with Xander Grey for labs this year.”
“What? No—I mean—” I pause, aware I have no choice. “Okay.” My palms dampen as I glance over to where Xander is casually sprawled back in his seat watching my internal struggle as it plays out on my face.
He tosses me a teasing grin and a wink. He’s laughing at me. He knows I’m freaking out on the inside. I don’t know whether to slap him or combust right where I’m standing.
“Please rearrange your seating when you come in next class period so you share a table with your partner.” Mr. Roudebush’s demand hits me square in the chest. Share a table with Xander?
Fuck. My. Life.
Chapter 7
Itake a long enough time gathering my things together at the end of Physics that everyone else has cleared the room. Good, because I swear I’mfinishedwith human interaction today. I’ve hit my limit.Done.
Walking to my locker, I think about the day as a whole. Had it really beenthatbad? I’d met some new friends. Classes weren’t awful. But—
I come to a stop at my evil, difficult locker.I will conquer this damn thing eventually.Pulling out my phone, I open my camera roll to the photo I’d taken this morning of my schedule, which has my locker combo on it. Without looking, I grab at the dial to give it a spin.
Ew. What the hell?I yank my hand away.
My eyes dart from my phone to my hand, which is now covered in some sort of wet, slippery substance. I rub my fingers together frowning, then look back at the offending locker dial.
“Looks like lube.” I startle at the deep baritone, practically jumping out of my skin before I turn to see who’s behind me. A guy with dark hair and high cheekbones stands there eyeing the mess. “Hi. I’m Justin. We met earlier in the lunch line.” At my confused look, he continues, pointing at the locker next to mine. “And we’re locker buddies. This is me right here.” He holds out his hand to shake mine, then laughs. “Never mind.”
He’s cute.But this is a disgusting, mortifying way to meet.
I wiggle my fingers. “Um, yeah. I’m Scarlett.” I look down at the mess.So gross.I’d bet he’s totally right—not that I’ve ever actually touched any in my life to know for sure. It’s smeared all over my locker, not just the dial. Grumbling, I pull a small package of tissues out of my backpack and wipe my fingers off before starting on my locker.
Justin pulls what he needs out of his locker, stuffing a few books and notebooks into his backpack. He watches me clean for a moment before I look back at him.
“Have you ever seen this happen before? Is this like some weird hazing of the new girl on campus or something?”
“Nah, but I wouldn’t put it past someone, you know? Pretty easy to walk past and smear it on there.”
I wrinkle my nose and make a gagging face.
“The question is why? And who? If I had to guess, I’d say it’s gotta be a guy.” He shrugs, slamming his locker shut and spinning the dial to lock it.
“Why a guy?” My heart races, wondering if Xander is behind this.
“Seriously? I mean, lube?” He looks at me with laughing eyes.
“Point taken. Thanks.” I finally get into my locker, pull out all of my books, and jam them into my backpack.
“Made an enemy on day one, huh?”
I roll my eyes and mutter under my breath, “Apparently.”