Page 74 of Inception

Ben stalked up to the locker and began rubbing his finger over the marker in an attempt to erase it, or merge with it, I couldn’t tell. “It can always be worse,” he said without turning back. “It’s permanent marker.”

I groaned.

Taylor tightened her arm around my shoulder as we stood side by side, staring at my locker like a scene from some tragic car wreck—a car wreck that was my life.

“Morning, ladies.” Caleb appeared smiling next to us, along with a far less chipper Trace. “Why are you all…oh.” He dropped off as soon as my vandalized locker registered. “Damn.”

“I know, right?” Taylor was taking it pretty bad. She picked up the bucket and moved it to the base of my locker.

“Any idea who did it?” asked Trace, his eyebrows furrowed.

“I’ll give you one hint,” said Taylor ringing out the excess water from the rag. “Her name starts with Nikki Parker.”

“Nikki?” His tone was dripping with skepticism as though he couldn’t even fathom Nikki doing something like this. What planet was he living on anyway?

I rolled my eyes at him.

Even though I had no proof that she did this, I was willing to bet more than a pretty penny that she absolutelycoulddo something like this and most likely did. If not her, then who? I couldn’t think of a single person who had it in for me even half as much as Nikki did on a good day. Clearly, the girl had issues. That much had already been established.

“It’s not coming off,” cried Taylor, throwing the rag back into the bucket just as the first bell wailed around us.

“I’ll take care of it,” said Caleb, reaching for the bucket.

“And what exactly are you going to do? Wave your magic wand around and make it disappear? It’s permanent marker, Cale.”

Caleb looked at Ben strangely before answering her. “I have a special cleaner in my locker. Industrial strength. It should get rid of it, no problem.”

Taylor started saying something back to him but I’d already turned my attention to Trace who was watching from the sidelines. I had some unfinished business to settle with him.

“Can I talk to you for a minute…alone?”

Everyone piped down, their eyes suddenly heavy on us.

“...so that you can give me back the history book I lent you yesterday,” I added choppily.

“Chemistry.”

I turned to Ben with doe-in-the-headlight eyes. “Huh?”

He was grinning. “Don’t you mean your chemistry book?”

Shit on a stick. “Right. Chemistry. That’s what I meant.”

I grabbed Trace by his sleeve and shuffled us away from their accusing eyes before any other comments could be made. He looked down at me with questioning eyebrows though he didn’t say anything as I towed him along.

“Here’s the thing,” I said as soon as we were in front of his locker and out of earshot. “I know we’re supposed to be staying out of each other’s business and all, but you have to admit it’s kind of hard to do when you throw yourself off my second-story balcony in the middle of the night and then disappear without a trace.”

His dimples ignited. He was laughing at my unintended pun.

“You know what I mean.” The second bell rang, but I hardly cared. “First I thought you were dead, then I thought I was losing my mind and just imagined the whole night, like it was all part of some convoluted fantasy I was having.” I flattened my back against the locker next to his, exhausted by the incessant questioning of my own sanity.

“Fantasy, eh?”

My cheeks warmed at the sound of his husky voice. What the heck was wrong with me?Stay focused, dammit. “Just tell me I didn’t imagine it.”

“You didn’t imagine it.” He shut his locker door.

“How did you do it?”

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