Page 69 of Not in My Book

“Is that so?” I muttered.

“Sorry, what was that?” I looked up and he was staring me dead in the eye for the first time.

“Just keep going,” I snapped.

“It’s frankly unrealistic that the two of them would be so okay with all of this after years of hating each other. They’re willing to put that all away?”

Ida hummed, her gaze shifting between the two of us.

“It seems more likely that one of them would shy away from all of this. Or even run away.”

“I agree,” I said, looking him in the eye. “I think Max wouldn’t want to ruin what she has with Hunter. You know, the newfound friendship.”

He tilted his head. “She may even want to ‘forget it,’ right? I wouldn’t be surprised if she was playing with his emotions.”

I scoffed. “As if she could do that. For that to happen, Hunter would have tohaveemotions.”

“Really?”

“And you know, I bet his ego may be a little bruised after this, so maybehe’sthe one that runs away. Save him some humiliation.”

“Perfect.” Aiden threw the papers down. “So we’re agreed, in the next few chapters Hunter and Maxine will no longer be friends.”

“Or anything that resembles lovers. You can have your sad ending.”

“I’m not sure I’m the only one who wants it.”

The class was watching us go back and forth. Plenty of people were whispering between each other, their brows furrowed in confusion. But Aiden and I glowered at each other from across the table.

He always had to do this. He had to win, and he had to do it by embarrassing me in the process.

“Alright,” Ida said carefully. “Why don’t we move on? Aiden and Rosie, you can discuss this outside of class.”

I glared at Aiden, but he looked away from me. For as much as I wanted him, I couldn’tstandhim. He was so determined to not let anyone in, he didn’t understand that some peoplewantedto go past his walls. For the first time in his life, he hadn’t gotten what he wanted and now he was throwing a temper tantrum.

I tried to pay attention to the rest of class and give critiques to my classmates, but every so often my eyes would flicker back to him.Once, I caught his gaze before he quickly looked away. My chest grew tighter at the thought of all I’d ruined.

Once we were dismissed for winter break, Aiden quickly left our classroom, but I followed him onto the street. The harsh chill hit me extra hard since I hadn’t taken my time wrapping myself in my scarf and gloves like usual.

“Aiden,” I called after him once we were on the street, but he kept walking. I repeated his name louder, but the jerk pretended not to hear me. “You are such ajackass!” I shouted. People turned to look at me, especially our classmates who were lingering outside of the building. With his back still turned to me, he paused. Then he carefully and slowly turned around.

“I know you weren’t speaking to me.” His words were impatient, like he didn’t even want to waste a breath on me.

“What the hell was that in there?” I demanded. “You did that to embarrass me.”

“No, I didn’t.” His face was hard, his eyes stormy. He clenched his jaw, ticking it back and forth.

“Yes, you did!”

“Rosalinda, I’m not going to do this with you. Stop.”

“Or what? You’re gonna write about it in the next chapter? Then critique my response in class?” I taunted.

His eyes narrowed a fraction. “This is about Max and Hunter. What they do has nothing to do with us—”

“Bullshit. You’re just mad about last night.”

His head tilted to the side. “Now what happened last night?”

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