The Force of Gravity(46)

I hate her face.

She’s discussing the homework, as usual, but she doesn’t fool me. She may have fornicated my boyfriend’s brains out last weekend, but there is no way she’s touching Slate. His eyes briefly touch mine as he answers her long-winded questions, and I feel like I might go into cardiac arrest. After zero contact in four days, it’s like my first glorious sip of water after crawling through a desert.

As Avery leans into his desk, I imagine yanking her golden hair back and punching her in the throat. When she can’t procrastinate any longer, she picks up her books, observing me. I hold her stare until she’s the first to break away. She glances at Mr. Slate, then back at me.

“What?” I snap.

“Aren’t you going to be late for second period?” she says in her irritating little princess voice.

“What the hell do you care?” I retaliate. “I have a question for Mr. Slate, and if it didn’t take you so long to comprehend what he was saying to you, neither of us would be late.”

She huffs and marches out the door. I roll my eyes and approach Elijah’s desk just as someone else comes through the door. Damn it!

I let out a loud, exasperated groan.

“What’s wrong, Kay?” I hear Emily’s voice behind me.

I spin around, feeling my face flush.

“Nothing,” I squeak. “Just, you know, I hate math with a passion. Nothing new here.”

She scrunches her brows in confusion.

Yep, I still suck at lying.

I grab my things and give her an exaggerated smile. She’s still wary as she watches me leave, and I pray she lets it go by lunch.



BUT SHE DOESN’T.

“What’s up with you and Slate?” she whispers.

I almost spit out a mouthful of soda.

I cough, trying to finish my swallow. “What?”

She shoots me a glance while she pours dressing over her salad. “Did you get in trouble because of the Tommy incident or something?”

“No, why would I?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. I didn’t think you did, but Avery said you were called into the office on Monday, and you still haven’t mentioned it to me. And today . . . I don’t know. You seemed upset when I walked in, but . . . he almost seemed . . . amused. It was weird.”

“Amused?” That was his expression when I turned around? “I was just talking to him about the homework.” It’s becoming much more difficult to lie to her. Physically painful.

“That’s all?”

“Yes. Why? What did you think was going on?” It’s a dangerous question, and I’m afraid of her answer, but I have to feel her out. If she suspects something, I need to put a stop to it right away.

She glances around the table and lowers her voice. “I don’t know. The whole interaction just seemed odd . . . and intense. I’m just making sure everything’s okay.”

I rake my hand through my hair. “Everything’s fine, Ems. Sorry I didn’t mention the office thing; it was just so awful. I felt caught in the middle.”

I want to ask if she knows if Tommy is pressing charges, but I figure she’d tell me if she knew. But with all the stuff I’ve been keeping from her, who knows? Maybe she’s doing the same. I take a swig of my soda and pray she doesn’t convey her suspicions to Derek.



AS SOON AS the final bell rings, I’m hauling ass to Slate’s room. I need to be quick before Emily comes looking for me. After the last student leaves the room, his eyes greet mine as I stride up to his desk.

“Sorry,” I whisper, a little out of breath. “I just wanted to know . . .”

I suddenly don’t know how to finish my thought. There’s so much I want to know. Where do I begin? We really need time to talk about everything that went down this week, but do I just invite myself over? It’s not like I can ask him to meet me somewhere.

“You wanted to know . . . ?” He blesses me with that twinkle in his beautiful brown eyes as he waits for me to finish.

It comes out in a jumbled haste. “Emily’s going to be looking for me, so I have to hurry. I just want to know what’s going on. And . . . when can I see you again?” I cringe at my lack of cool and study my shoes as I run my hand through my hair.

When I lift my gaze, he’s smiling at me.

“I’m busy Sunday, but you can come over any time before that.” He appears entertained by my jitteriness and leans back in his chair. Is this the expression Emily caught? Damn him. He is pure confidence, and I want to crawl over this barrier of a desk and rip the suit right off his strapping body.

“Okay,” I breathe. I don’t want to seem too eager, but it comes out anyway. “Um . . . tonight? Or tomorrow if that’s better.”

He chuckles. “See you tonight. Come over after dark.”

I immediately break into a grin, unable to suppress my glee. “Okay. I better go.”

As I turn and head for the door, he calls after me. “Kay,” he says, leaning forward, his expression serious. “I know the lack of communication has been hard, but after what happened I’m just trying to be extra careful.”

“I understand,” I say.

I hurry out the door and am met by Emily and Derek as they stroll down the hallway, hand-in-hand.

My heart palpitates. “Hey, guys!” I say a little too loud.

“Hey,” they say in unison.

“Everything okay?” Emily asks.

“Uh, yeah,” I fumble. “Totally. I just um . . . forgot something.”

They both stare at me blankly.

“About the homework. I just had a question about the homework,” I finish. Shit. I clear my throat. “So, you ready to go?” I spin around, not waiting for an answer and take off for the parking lot. I burst out of the building ahead of them and focus my gaze straight ahead as I march to Emily’s car.

Just when I think I’ve made it to safety, I hear Derek behind me. “Sup, Slate!”

I whip around and see Elijah and Derek embraced in their familiar bromantic handshake as they engage in conversation.

“I want to wait to say good-bye to Derek, is that cool?” says Emily when she meets me by the car.

“No problem.” I pull on the passenger door handle, but it’s locked. When I look up at her, she’s leaning on the roof of her car across from me with suspicious eyes.

“What’s up with you?”

“Me?” I ask, peering over the roof of the car.

“You seemed really . . . excitable back there.”

“Oh, I did?” I glance at Derek and Elijah still immersed in conversation. My mouth goes dry as I try to think of a good excuse. “Well . . . I didn’t want to say anything in front of Derek, but I was talking to Slate about the incident.”

She perks up a little. “Oh, really?”

“Yeah, I was just . . . thanking him. And I’m so relieved he isn’t in any trouble,” I lie.

I can only hope that’s true. If he was getting fired, he’d be gone by now, right? If I’m wrong, I’ll have some explaining to do, but it’s the best I can do for now.

Derek comes up behind Emily and gives me a quick nod. “Avert your eyes, Kennedy,” he says, twirling Emily around to kiss her.

She tosses me the keys, and I turn away, opening the passenger door, then slink down into the seat. I reach over and start her car so I can roll down the windows. When I look up, Elijah’s eyes find mine as he walks across the lot. He winks at me before disappearing out of sight, and an uncontrollable grin spreads across my face.

He’s still mine.

Emily opens her door and pokes her head in. “What are you smiling at?” she says, plopping into her seat.

“Huh?” I turn to her. “Oh, nothing.”

She drives around to the exit, pulling into the turn lane, right beside Slate’s Tahoe. He discreetly shifts to his left, peering down at me, his eyes magnetic. I bite my bottom lip, attempting to tone down my feverish grin. When Emily starts to pull out onto the road, he flashes me a sexy smile before turning in the opposite direction.

“What are you so happy about?” asks Emily. “No offense, but I figured you’d be moping around this weekend.”

“Screw that,” I say. “I’m moving on.”

She sighs. “I wish I could say the same.”

“I know you’re upset, Ems. I’m sorry. But you still have me. And you still have Derek. That’s more important than the four of us still hanging out together. Right?” I wish she was handling it better.

“Yeah, but aren’t you sad we don’t meet after school anymore? You and Tommy aren’t even speaking. It’s just depressing. High school’s almost over, and our group is a wreck. I just thought we’d be savoring the end of the year right now. . . . I thought it would be so . . . different.”

My heart sinks as she opens up. Here she is heartbroken over the collapse of our group, whereas I’m too enraptured with Slate to give a damn about repairing things with Tommy. I don’t think she expects me to forgive him, but I think it’s also what’s making her feel hopeless about it.

“Well,” I say softly. “Maybe it’s better this way.”

“How’s it better?” Her voice sounds abnormally bitter.

“I don’t know, Ems. Maybe it’ll be less sad when we all have to part ways.”