Page 25 of The Wrong Costar

“Why not?”

“My mom’s remodeling, and it’s a disaster zone right now.”

“I don’t care about that,” I said.

“Well, I do. You’re not coming to my house.”

I huffed out a breath. “Fine, you can come to mine.”

“Fine.” She quickly gathered up her books and left before I got the chance to ask her if she needed directions.

“The bell hasn’t even rung yet,” I called after her. But she didn’t respond as she continued walking back toward the school’s large brick buildings. Apparently, that was all the time she was willing to give our planning session.

* * *

The following afternoon,I waited by the school entrance for Teagan to come out. She’d avoided me since yesterday, and it was near impossible to catch her in the school corridors when fans were constantly stopping me to talk. It was frustrating that we hadn’t had any classes together. All I wanted was to arrange the details for our school project, but that was impossible when Teagan wouldn’t have anything to do with me.

As school students began to trickle out the front entrance, I started to draw a crowd. Standing alone out here seemed like some kind of open invitation for them, and before I knew it, I was completely surrounded by fans, all trying to grab my attention. I smiled politely at those closest to me and exchanged a few words at first, but it was hard to maintain a conversation when the crowd grew larger and people started pressing in.

Phones were all pointed in my direction, and my eyes twitched at the constant flashes going off. These kids were almost as bad as paparazzi and had no shame in taking reels of pictures of me without asking if it was okay.

Situations like this made me feel like I was more of an object than an actual person, and I hated it. I wanted nothing more than to get away from all these people, but I stood my ground, hoping Teagan wouldn’t take much longer.

“Come on, kids, move along. You’re blocking the school entrance, and Liam will be back tomorrow.” Boss’s voice drifted over the crowd, and I let out a relieved breath as I caught sight of him making his way toward me. My bodyguard was at least a head higher than even the tallest kids and twice as wide. The crowd around me didn’t seem to think twice before moving out of his way.

“Keep it moving. Go on now.” He waved the kids away from me, and most of them were all too willing to follow his directions. I wouldn’t go against his orders either. Boss was ex-military and looked damn scary when he was on a mission.

As he came to stand at my side, a wave of gratitude rushed through me. The crowd was no longer pressing in tightly around me, and people seemed to think twice about approaching me when he was standing in my shadow. I gave him a relieved smile.

“Thanks,” I murmured.

“No problem,” he replied. He was probably wondering why I’d decided to wait out in the open like this, but thankfully, he didn’t question me. Boss was good like that. With him by my side, kids were maintaining a safe distance away. It didn’t stop several of them from keeping their cameras focused on my face though. It also made no difference to a group of fearless girls who came up and started flirting with me. My focus wasn’t on the girls though, and I barely said two words to them as I continued to try and find Teagan amongst the crowd.

I began to wonder if I’d missed her when she finally walked out through the large double doors of the school. She rolled her eyes as she caught sight of the crowd surrounding me and wove her way around it as she made her way toward the parking lot.

I pressed forward, rushing after her, not bothering to say goodbye to the girls who had been chattering at my side. It was pretty clear they’d only stood with me to get a couple of photos. Not one of them had tried to actually talk with me, other than to say meaningless platitudes.

I weaved my way through the remaining groups of kids who had lingered to take my picture, but they all seemed to lose interest now they could see I was leaving. Once I was clear of them, I jogged to catch up with Teagan.

“Going somewhere?” I asked, as I fell into step with her.

“Yes, we have our project to do now.” She didn’t look at me as she walked.

“I know and I was waiting for you.”

She scoffed.

“What?”

She didn’t look like she was going to respond, but it seemed she couldn’t resist. “Waiting for me, or trying to score a date?”

“I wasn’t trying to get a date with those girls,” I replied. “They approached me.”

“You didn’t seem to be complaining.”

I frowned as I looked at her. “Are you jealous?”

This brought a genuine laugh out of her. “You think I’m jealous?” She continued laughing to herself as she shook her head, and I very much got the picture that she wasn’t the least bit interested in me.

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