Page 12 of Jack

Yeah, I didn’t have high hopes of this happening, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try. Obviously, Ava was not averse to hooking up. Just thinking of exactly how receptive Ava had been made my dick jerk, forcing me to hold my books in front of myself like a fucking kid in junior high with his first hard-on.

Christ.

I walked down the hallway, not sure where Ava’s locker was, but knowing all seniors were in the same general area. I turned a corner and saw her. She had on black leggings and boots that did some great things for her legs, and an oversized sweater the same color of her eyes. My groin tightened, but unfortunately, so did my chest. I reached up to rub the feeling away, instead forcing myself to focus on how much I wanted to fuck her.

I started to walk over, ready to amp up the charm that had panties dropping all over town. Charm she had never experienced because she had thrown me so far off my game in all of our interactions that I acted like a tactless asshole.

Ava glanced over and saw me, so I shot her a slow smile. Her eyes widened, and she made a sound that sounded like squeak, slammed her locker and darted in the other direction. I stopped and simply stared at her retreating back.

Shit, that wasn’t a good sign.

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Chapter 7

Ava

Smooth, real smooth, Ava, I thought to myself as I scurried to my first period class. By the look on Jack’s face, he was over whatever the hell had set him off on Friday night, but I had spent too many hours reviewing our time in his car and mentally cringing every time I got to the end of the evening, reliving the horrible feeling of rejection. Now, the only emotion I felt when I saw him was pure embarrassment.

As I sat in my Spanish class, I came to the sick realization that I had a class with him today. As I sat there and mindlessly took notes, I recognized I couldn’t run like I’d been cattle prodded every time I saw him. That made me look even more stupid, not to mention I couldn’t exactly keep doing it for the entire school year.

No, I had to be cool; act like the other night hadn’t mattered. I wouldn’t freak out or run away. When I saw him, I would be friendly, but casual. People did this sort of thing all the time, right?

I took a breath and tried to relax, feeling confident in my new plan. I was actually able to focus on my class and pay attention to some of the lesson. Okay, I could do this.

The rest of the day passed in a blur, as I continued to avoid Jack. He made a couple of other attempts to talk to me, but I had managed to dodge him until it was time to go to chemistry. Suddenly, my feet moved as though attached to cinder blocks.

All the nerves I’d suppressed throughout the day sprang to life, shooting bursts of adrenaline through my system like ping pong balls. Instead of walking into class, I waited in the doorway of the girl’s bathroom until the bell rang, then darted in through doorway.

Yep, real cool.

I was completely brought up short by Jack sitting in my seat. I frowned and looked around the room. Had we changed seating? No, everyone else was in their regular seats.

I didn’t even realize he knew who I was before Friday, but he obviously knew me well enough to know where I sat. His arms were crossed over his chest as he shot me a victorious look. While I was aggravated and dreading talking to him, I did take a moment to appreciate how he looked. God, why did he have to be so good looking?

I was slowly walking up to my seat at a table in the front of the room, when Mr. Perkins, our teacher gave me an aggravated look. “Ava, why are you standing there? Get to your seat.”

Everyone in class knew Jack was in my seat for some mysterious reason, and they were avidly waiting to see what would happen when I got there.

Jack seemed to realize that everyone’s focus was on us, so he got up and shot me a hard look. “We need to talk, Ava,” he grunted as he passed me on his way to his seat.

I gulped and sat down, relieved I didn’t have to deal with him right now.

I chanced a look back to where Jack sat, across the aisle and a couple tables behind me and found him glowering at me. I almost yipped in surprise, and quickly swung back around. I guess he wasn’t happy I was avoiding him.

I pulled out my notebook and listened to Mr. Perkins drone on for about ten minutes, but felt the weight of Jack’s stare like a thousand-pound gorilla on my back. Unable to help myself, I turned in my seat, pretending to look for something in my backpack, and took another quick peek back at him. He was still staring at me, his expression stony, but intense.

His dark brown hair looked like his hands had been run through it a couple of times, giving it a sexy tousled look. He was wearing a black Ramones t-shirt that clung to his shoulders and showed off the strong biceps I remember rubbing my face against and grabbing onto last Friday.

My cheeks flushed, and I started to clench my thighs together, remembering the other events that happened last Friday. Fifteen more minutes passed and, like a drug addict, I couldn’t help myself from taking one more look at him.

He was still looking at me, but his head suddenly cocked to the side as he assessed my red face and watched me squirming in my seat. That stony intensity transformed into a cocky smirk as he relaxed back in his seat.

My anger and irritation skyrocketed. I whipped my head back around, furious at him for figuring out what I was feeling, and furious at myself for giving it away. I stared at Mr. Perkins with the focus of a laser beam, probably freaking him out with my atypical attentiveness, but didn’t hear a word he said.

When the bell rang, I hopped up and gathered my books as fast as possible, but it was no use. Jack was quickly at my side, leaning against my table.

“Hey, Ava,” he murmured, close enough that I could smell the body wash from his morning shower. “Can I talk to you?”

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