Page 78 of Bump and Run

“What—” He spins around and takes off in the other direction before I can finish. “Traitor!”

“Bye, Eliza!”

“Bye, Brutus.”

Grant winks at me before disappearing around the corner.

My phone shakes with a new message and I flip it up to read it.

Please.

I drop it back into my bag and walk across campus towards the library.

* * *

I pushthe door open to study room B to find Junior sitting at the table. He stands up, immediately dropping his phone down from whatever distraction he used while he waited for me to show up.

“Hey…” he says, surprise crossing his face. “Thanks for coming.”

I close the door and lean against it. “Well, someone had to stop Grant from cleaning you out.”

Junior smiles. “It’s a worthy investment.”

I stand still and wait, unsure whether I should ask questions or if I should just let him talk. Despite everything we’ve been through and done to each other, this is the first time there’s ever been an awkwardness between us and I fucking hate it. All over a stupid party.

“I’m sorry,” he says, breaking the silence.

“For what?”

“For lying to you, to start. Not even sure why I did in the first place.”

“You and me both.”

“I just didn’t want you to be disappointed in me.”

I pause, feeling a light flutter in my gut. If cocky bastards everywhere needed a poster child, Junior Morgan would be the instant front-runner. I’ve never gotten the impression that he cared at all about what I think of him.

“Why would I be disappointed in you?” I ask. “You went to a party. That’s your thing.”

“I was supposed to be studying,” he says, “and I was on my way out when I got your text asking how it was going. Rather than explain the whole story, I said it was going good. I didn’t know that Grant had already told you I was there—”

“Junior — party, study, fuck, kill — I don’t care. You can do whatever you want. The one thing I don’t get is why you didn’t mention the party when I asked what you were doing that night.”

He takes a step forward. “I didn’t know there was going to be a party… but the team invited me at the last minute and when I said I needed to study, we fought about you and I felt like I needed to make it right with—”

“Wait, you fought about me?” Panic rises in my chest. “Why were you fighting about me?”

“Not you, specifically. But with how much I study nowadays, they kind of figured out that I have a tutor.”

“Why does that mean you have a tutor?”

“What else would make a guy like me suddenly care about my grades, Ellie?”

“Okay…” I pause, seeing the logic in the reasoning. “But why would you having a tutor cause a fight with the team? Why would they even care?”

He opens his mouth to answer but hesitates. “Because… they…” His eyes fall to the floor between us.

I sigh with annoyance. “They what, Junior?”

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