Page 16 of Charger

The lunch table is quiet. Lisa looks up at me occasionally then shoots a glance toward Zach, who is sitting without Sam on his lap today. Garrett pierces his eyes into mine. I’m just waiting for it… for the question looming in the air.

“Someone wanna tell me what exactly happened on Friday night?”

Zach’s eyes study mine. “If your sister didn’t tell you, then maybe she doesn’t want you to know. Ever think of that?”

“Zach…” I calmly press.

“What the fuck, dude?” Garrett tosses his fork down. “You’ve been a prick all weekend and I have a feeling it has something to do with whatever happened at the party. Am I wrong?” He looks at me. “Jules, am I wrong?”

“No! You’re not wrong, okay? But it’s done now and I’m not telling you what happened because it’s my business, not yours, Garrett. I love you but back off with this.”

Pushing my chair from the table, I rush out of the cafeteria and into an empty hall. I’m actually shocked no one spread it around school, but I have a feeling that has something to do with Sam.

Within seconds, footsteps sound behind me and I’m pushed against the wall. Two lean, muscular arms are caging me in. “I know that I gave you a choice. I gave you a choice to ignore what happened with us on Friday night because you were scared. You didn’t want things to change between us, but guess what, pretty girl? Things did change. You liked that kiss as much as I fucking did and there’s no way in hell we can go back to how things were. Not because I don’t want to be your friend anymore but because I want to be more than that, and I think you want that too.” He leans into me and I inhale. “I bet you can’t stop thinking about my mouth on yours. Wanna know how I know? Because that’s all I can think about.”

“You’re wrong.” The soft words leave my mouth. But he’s not wrong. He’s anything but wrong.

“Am I?” He smirks and his lips brush my ear. “How wet are you for me, pretty girl?” Heat rises inside me.

Who is this? Because this isn’t the Zach I know… Or maybe I just never got to witness this side of him before because we were never on that kind of level. No wonder all the girls get completely attached to him. He screams alpha.

“I have to get to class.” My heart hammers in my chest.

He buries his eyes in mine before he pushes off the wall. “I will make you come to me, Jules, in more ways than one. You best believe that.”

The breath is knocked out of me mentally. Why do I feel like I’m going to be completely powerless, completely weak, against this new Zach?

I tap my pencil nervously, waiting for this class to end. Of course, I have History with Zach, and of course, he sits next to me. It’s only been like twenty minutes since the embarrassing hallway episode. Embarrassing not because of what happened, but because of the way my body reacted when he was close to me.

My phone lights up from my lap; trying to be discrete, I check it from the cover of my desk.

Zach: You flipped the switch, pretty girl.

Me: I don’t even know what that means and stop calling me pretty girl.

Zach flashes a gorgeous grin my way.

Zach: It means that you will give in to me sooner or later.

I don’t text back. In fact, I ignore him completely. Tommy is in this same class and he’s shooting death stares at Zach. I feel my phone vibrate again.

Tommy: Can we hang out this weekend?

I feel Zach’s eyes burning a hole into the side of my face. He knows Tommy’s texting me right now, and he’s not liking it at all. But, little does he know, I don’t care and maybe I want to make him a little jealous.

Me: If you want, we can watch a movie over at my house or something. My parents are going to be away this weekend and my brother is barely home.

Looking up, I check to see if our History teacher is paying any attention to the texting war between us three, but he’s oblivious, and… wait a minute.

Wait. Did I just tell Tommy that no one is going to be home at my house this weekend? If that didn’t sound like an open invitation, I don’t know what else could. I definitely didn’t mean it like it sounded.

“Shit.” This was an utterance that was meant to be a thought inside my head and not out loud. The whole class turns around to me and Mr. Gilbert stops his chalkboard writing.

“Miss Taccarelli, do you mind not swearing in my classroom?” A mixture of giggles and soft laughter erupts from the students and Tommy is grinning. I’m a complete idiot for sending him that text. Zach throws me a concerned look then eyes up Tommy. I’m in trouble.

“You guys ready?” Lisa hooks her arm around mine as we head out of our high school. The boys don’t have practice today and Lisa eventually got us all to agree on going to the corn maze after school. Considering it gets dark earlier now, it actually sounded fun. The guys were whatever about it, but despite what happened between Zach and me, I feel like the group will always be together. Until graduation that is. Zach tried asking me what the hell my outburst was about in History today, but I didn’t tell him and I have no intentions of telling him. For all I know, Zach may decide to show up this weekend while Tommy is there.

“Shotgun!” Lisa claims the front seat, which means I get to cozy up with Zach in the back.

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