Page 85 of Choosing You

CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE

Precisely 10 minutes later,Garret shows up at my door holding my wet clothes. “You forgot these.” He tosses them to me. “And here, you can have this, too.” He holds out his sweatshirt.

I throw the wet clothes on the floor and snatch the sweatshirt from him. “But you said I couldn’t have it.”

“I was joking. Come on, Jade. Like I really care if you take my sweatshirt.”

“Thank you.” I give him a quick hug. I can’t seem to stop this hug thing. It’s happening without my control.

“You’re welcome. So where do you want to have breakfast? Do you want to go to Al’s? I know we’re going there tomorrow but—”

“No, Al’s is only for Sundays. Otherwise it ruins the tradition. Let’s just eat here. We don’t have to go out.”

“Ugh. I hate the cafeteria, especially at breakfast. Their eggs are like rubber.”

“The food there is good. You’re just spoiled.”

He spots the letter on the floor. “Is that it? Is that the letter?”

“Yes.” I pick it up and shove it in my desk drawer. “I’m trying not to think about it right now. Let’s just go eat breakfast.”

Despite Garret’s protests, we eat in the dining hall. A few minutes after we sit down, Ava saunters over wearing black yoga pants and a pink tank top, her hair pulled back with a thick white headband.

“What happened to you last night?” She takes a seat next to Garret, acting like I’m not even there. She moves over until she’s so close she’s touching him. “You left the party and never came back.”

“I had better things to do.” Garret pushes the eggs around his plate with his fork, not even glancing Ava’s way. “Why do you care if I left? Did you have something else you wanted to tell me?”

Ava’s eyes wander over to me and remain there as she leans over and whispers something to Garret.

He quickly shifts away from her. “We’re done here, Ava.”

She gets up, leaning over so that the cleavage from her fake boobs is practically in his face. “This goes both ways, Garret. You want me to keep my mouth shut to your dad, you better start acting like a real boyfriend.”

“What’s your problem, Ava?” The words shoot out of my mouth before I can stop them. Seeing her hanging all over Garret that way just set me off. “Why do you care if Garret and I do stuff together?”

She tilts her head and pouts her glossy pink lips. “Aww. The poor little orphan girl doesn’t understand. Garret, you should really explain how things work around here. You shouldn’t keep leading her on this way. It’s just sad.”

Garret stands up and gets in her face. “Go. Now.”

Ava smiles, pleased with herself. She takes her time walking away.

I lean across the table. “How does she know I don’t have parents? Did you tell her that?”

“You think I’d really tell her anything about you? Or us?”

“Then how does she know?”

“Everyone knows. It’s not some big secret. The people around here live for gossip. They always try to dig up whatever they can about people. Not just you. Everyone.”

I glance over at Ava’s table. She’s sitting with Sierra checking messages on her phone. “She really hates me, doesn’t she? Sierra does, too.”

“Just be glad they’ve left you alone. Normally if they decide they don’t like you, they make your life hell. But I’m sick of them pushing people around. They did it in high school, but they’re not freaking doing it here. And they’re definitely not pulling that shit with you.”

“Are you saying they had something planned?”

“When you first got here they were going to take you out for dinner pretending to be all nice and then leave you out in the middle of nowhere. In the dark. And that was just day one.”

“And they told you this?”

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