Page 5 of Science Project

Willie leaned back in his chair and placed his forearm on my table, flashing me a disgusting smirk. “Hope we’ll be partners, babe.”

Deciding to ignore him—which came off as me being a bitch to most people—I stared ahead at Mr. Woodward and hoped that he’d actually follow through with his promise to me.

“Sarah and Willie. Harry and Winslow. Nicole and Akio …”

I released Hannah’s chain and straightened my back. See, Dad, I’m not useless yet.

“I’ll be up front if you have any questions,” Mr. Woodward said, sitting.

With big, goofy glasses nearly falling off his face, skinny arms holding a stack of textbooks, and a Dragon Ball Z T-shirt that had blood all over it, the same nerdy kid from earlier slipped onto the stool next to me, avoiding eye contact.

“H-hi, Nicole.”

“You’re Akio?” I asked, staring at the assignment on my desk with my stomach in knots.

Akio might’ve been Yui’s son, but considering she was Redwood’s mob leader, I’d expected someone a bit more … bad boyish. Akio was one of the geekiest guys I had ever laid my eyes upon with out-of-style glasses and pimples scattered across his forehead, which he tried to hide with his hair.

How was I supposed to get any information out of a good guy like him? I didn’t want to corrupt this poor guy. He didn’t deserve it, and while I didn’t feel bad about trying to get information out of anyone else because of their history in Redwood, I did with him.

“Sorry about this morning.”

I furrowed my brow. “This morning?”

“When I got blood all over your jacket.”

My eyes widened slightly. “That was you?”

Well, that would explain the blood all over his shirt.

He stared down at his open textbook. “I couldn’t see where I was going.”

“What happened?”

“Poison.”

“Poison?” I asked, raising my brow. Maybe he was a bit more bad boyish than I’d thought.

“They kinda beat me up.”

Scratch that.

“Well, your Dragon Ball Z shirt is ruined. Use distilled white vinegar to get out the blood.”

He snapped his gaze up at me. “You know what that is?”

Fuck! Why’d I say that?! What normal kid knows how to get blood out of a shirt? Maybe Poison, but someone like me shouldn’t.

“What?” I giggled softly, twirling my finger around my hair.

“You know what Dragon Ball Z is?”

Oh, he is talking about how I know what anime is and not about the blood …

After shifting uncomfortably in my seat, I cleared my throat. “Sorta.”

Nobody knew that it used to be Hannah’s and my thing.

“Anyway,” I said quickly before he could ask any more questions, “let’s get started.”

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