“How was your spring break?” Helen asks.
Oh boy. Where would I even begin? “Eventful.”
“Did you go to the fair?”
“Yeah. But I wish I didn’t.”
Helen chuckles to herself. “Me too.”
“What happened?”
“My little brother puked on me after eating a bucket of cotton candy and riding the tilt-a-whirl.”
I grimace. “Eww. That does not sound fun.”
Helen pats her textbook. “Getting back into this sounds like a whole lot more fun.”
I smile. “Well, I’m really glad we can be lab partners.”
“Why aren’t you sitting up the back anymore?”
The truth is, I fought hard for my last workstation. I wanted to sit as close to Lewis as possible. The fact I got stuck with Yvette as a lab partner was worth the close proximity to my crush. Although, I remember being annoyed when Parker took the aisle seat, making Lewis another position away from me.
“I need to focus better in this class.”
Helen cups a hand around her mouth. “Your grade level can only be improved by not being stuck with Yvette Anderson.”
I nod. “Everything improves when you get away from her.”
I keep my head down in class, and I never turn around. I don’t need the proof of Parker and Yvette being together. Seeing them cuddled up at my former workstation would be the last piece to break me.
At the sound of the bell, I quickly pack up after our theory lesson and hightail it out of the lab.
“Hey, you! Wait up!” a voice yells in the hallway.
I stop dead, listening hard. Is that... Is that Yvie?
“Yes, Kylie, I’m talking to you!” her voice booms as I slowly turn around.
Dread consumes my body as she storms toward me.
“You miserable cow!” she yells. “You just couldn’t help yourself, could you?”
The fury in her eyes shakes me to my core. “Huh?”
Yvette lands in front of me with a mighty shove. “You just couldn’t help stealing him, could you?”
I grunt, fumbling for balance.
Her shrillness intensifies as she stands over me. “Is it your mission to take every potential boyfriend away from me?”
All I want to do is ask what she’s talking about, but the wind is knocked out of me.
“Do you want me to be single forever?” Fire burns in her gaze as her arm lifts to strike. “Huh? Is that what you want?”
Her fingers lock together, ready to cut through the air like a blade. Her arm swings forward, aiming a slap at my face.
Without a second to move, I brace myself, squinting my eyes closed.