Page 48 of Landon & Shay: Part One

Landon

“Are you on drugs?”Shay blurted out as she sat down across from me in the cafeteria.

I snickered. “I ask myself that each day.”

“I’m serious, Landon. Are you on drugs?” She didn’t have to tell me she was serious; her eyes said that all on their own. She was tensed up, her body looking rock hard as she stared me in the eyes.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked.

“Just tell me, because if you are, I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to play this game if you’re just drunk and high all the time. I don’t want anything to do with any of that stuff, okay?”

Her voice cracked with despair as she spoke my way. I didn’t have a clue where her intense emotions were even coming from, seeing how we had recently been joking with each other about my Dumbo ears.

Seeing how serious she was feeling made me sit up a bit straighter. The only thing I looked forward to lately was being able to bother Shay a little to keep my head clear. So, based on her reaction, I knew right now wasn’t the time to be a sarcastic ass to her.

“No,” I said flatly.

“Don’t lie to me, Land.Please.” The last word melted off her tongue with pain.

What was that, Chick? A small glimpse into your imperfections?

“I swear, Shay. I used to, but I stopped a while ago, after Lance…” I shut my eyes for a slight second and took a breath. When I reopened them, I stared straight into her eyes. “You read people, right? That’s what you do? Look into my eyes and tell me if I’m a boy who’s lying to you. Tell me what you see.”

She narrowed her stare and didn’t look away. She drank me in as I swallowed her whole, and we sat there for a few seconds before blinking and looking away. “Sorry,” she muttered, standing from the table.

“Where did this come from?”

“Earlier, Monica said something about—”

Monica. Of course. I should’ve known. “That should’ve been your first warning sign.”

Shay shifted around in place. “Are you two still a thing?”

“We never really were.”

“Tell that to her,” she huffed, combing her hands through her hair.

“Trust me, I have. Listen, I’m not using, and I’m not going to be using anything. As long as we’re doing this bet, I can promise you I won’t do anything like that, all right? I swear. I know a promise from your sworn enemy doesn’t mean shit, but there it is.”

“It means something,” she whispered, timid as ever. She turned away from the table and muttered an apology—one I didn’t need. If Monica had gotten to her, I completely understood. She had a way of poisoning a person’s thoughts with such few words.

“So, I guess the game is still on,” I said, throwing a carrot her way.

She caught it and bit into it as she shrugged her shoulders and began to walk away. “Catch me if you can.”

Don’t worry, Shay Gable. I will.

* * *

I spentthe next few days thinking about the clues Maria and Raine had given me over the course of our interactions. Anything they mentioned about Shay I plugged into my brain. There was one thing that stood out the most that I figured could come in handy, one thing she would’ve never imagined I’d use to get close to her—which meant, by all means, I had to use it.

On Wednesday afternoon, I pulled out the ammo I had in my possession, and Shay’s reaction was priceless.

“Are you kidding me right now?” Shay gasped as I entered the auditorium for theRomeo and Julietauditions. We hadn’t really interacted in a few days, because she’d been busy, and I had too.

Did you know this Shakespeare dude talked in circles? Half the time, I didn’t even know what the hell he was even saying. Thank goodness for SparkNotes. I was thankful there were enough nerds in the world to translate the meaning behind the old guy’s words.

When I’d stumbled across his most public insults on my internet search, that was when the fun began. For example: “Thou sodden-witted lord! Thou hast no more brain than I have in mine elbows.”

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