Page 131 of Collided

“How was book one?”

“Just like I remember. Great.” Her smile widens.

I can’t stop looking at it.

“You didn’t update me,” I complain, much to my surprise.

“Oh, I thought you didn’t mean it seriously—”

“I always mean what I say, Rose. You should know it by now.”

She stares at me with an open mouth. Amusement fills me, and I gently tip her mouth to close it.

I decide to go easy on her. “You haven’t read this one before?”

“No. No… um…not at all,” she stutters, and my brain believes that it’s because of me. “I haven’t even watched the movies because I didn’t want to spoil it for myself.” She hugs the book tightly to her chest.

The school bell rings and the four of us enter the school building. The moment we step inside, people stop and stare at us. As we move along the hallway, I hear the snippets of whispers which I ignore. But that doesn’t stop them from talking about us.

Suddenly we’re the center of attention on a Monday morning.

Sebastian and Marie have their locker side by side—Sebastian somehow got it done—so they drift away from us.

I don’t keep much in my locker except for snacks or spare notebooks and pens. There are no photographs or things like other students have.

I lean against the locker next to Hope’s and study the inside of her locker. Like me, she hasn’t decorated it. But hers has a row of textbooks, pens, and a hoodie.

“Why is there a hoodie?”

“In case of emergency.”

“What about pants?”

Blush tints her cheeks. “There’s shorts underneath it.”

Hoodie and shorts.An image of her wearing them flashes through my mind. Her long, sexy legs in those shorts.

For fuck’s sake. I need to stop thinking about her like that.

“Did I get any orders over the weekend?” She closes her locker and looks at me with her light brown eyes.

“See for yourself.” Handing her my phone, I watch as she opens the app.

Averting my gaze from her, I notice the number of eyes on us. Almost everyone is taking a double take at us as if we’re dressed as clowns. Motherfuckers.

I search for Marie and Sebastian who are nowhere to be seen. Those two always leave me alone with Hope. Intentionally.

“I got three orders.” A deflated smile clings to her features.

“It’s something.”

Just like that, her gloomy smile changes to a beautiful, bright one. “You just said what I say to you.”

I didn’t realize.

I fold my arms over my chest. Her eyes quickly drop to my muscles that stretch the material of my black shirt. Her gaze traces my entire arm, then reaches my broad chest.

She’s openly staring at me with fuck-me eyes. For fuck’s sake.

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