Page 13 of I Hate You More

We were standing in the way of other kids trying to get to the food line, so I gave him a small smile and started to step away. “Well, I guess I’ll see you around, Luke. Sorry again for trying to take you out on your first day at Fairview.”

His smile turned into a grin. “You can take me out any day.”

I tilted my head and furrowed my brow. Was he flirting with me? “I’ll remember that,” I said before giving him another brief smile and making my escape.

My usual table wasn’t far from where the accident had occurred, and my friends were all looking in my direction, watching as I approached. There was amusement in their eyes, and even Miles, who normally spent his lunches with his nose in a textbook, was struggling to withhold a grin. His wavy brown hair was as uncontrollable as always, and as I drew nearer, I saw there was an open science textbook on the table in front of him. I guess he’d had his nose in a book after all. He’d still managed to draw himself away from it long enough to watch my humiliation.

“You guys saw,” I said, huffing out a defeated breath as I took a seat next to Miles and gave Mia and Tessa an accusing look.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Miles said with a wink.

“It was like watching a car crash, and none of us could tear our eyes away,” Tessa added.

I stole one of Tessa’s fries from her tray and threw it at her face. She laughed as she tried to bat it out of the air with a waving hand. “You guys suck.”

“It wasn’t all that bad,” Tessa said between chuckles. “So what if the new guy found out the hard way that you need to stay at least a meter away from Ally Lockwood at all times. At least you didn’t cover anyone in milkshake this time.”

I groaned and placed my head in my hands. “I swear I’m cursed.” The fact it wasn’t the first time I’d taken someone out with my food tray was even more embarrassing. I really wished Tessa hadn’t reminded me.

“You’re not cursed,” Mia said. “He didn’t look even slightly upset. In fact, it looked like he was flirting with you.”

I slowly lifted my head out of my hands to look at her. She was giving me an encouraging smile as she nodded at me. “I think he might be into you.”

I scoffed and shook my head. “He was just being friendly.”

“If he was just being friendly, then why is he still looking at you?” Tessa asked.

I glanced over my shoulder and flushed when I saw Luke watching me from across the room. He was sitting at a table with my brother and my nemesis, of all people. But he wasn’t the only one watching me. Chase was also looking in my direction, and for a moment, I couldn’t see any of the usual contempt he held toward me flaring in his eyes. As soon as I caught him watching though, he looked away.

“Luke’s sitting at my brother’s table?” I asked, turning back to my friends.

“Yeah, because Jenna’s already got her eye on him.” Mia snorted. “She swooped in and escorted him over there the moment you turned your back on him.”

“But that doesn’t mean he wants to dateher,” Tessa said. “I think you guys would make the cutest couple.”

“Definitely,” Mia agreed. “You should go steal him before Jenna gets a chance.”

I shook my head. Tessa just wanted me to start dating, no matter who the guy was. Meanwhile, Mia’s motives probably stemmed from her enjoyment of disrupting the status quo.

“You guys are crazy. We’ve only spoken, like, three words to each other, there’s no way he’s interested in me like that. And even if he was, there’s no way we could date—not with my dad. I’m not allowed to date until college, remember?”

“Which is so unfair,” Mia said.

I shrugged. “Dad’s convinced I’ll be too distracted if I get a boyfriend and won’t get into college. It’s a miracle he lets me hang out with you guys on weekends and doesn’t have me chained to my desk so I can study.”

“It’s not like you have to tell him you’re dating,” Tessa said. “He’s never around, and we’d totally cover for you.” Cora had given me pretty much the same advice. I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that my bestie and an eighty-year-old were both encouraging me to sneak behind my dad’s back. It was probably a sign that I was far too much of a stickler for his rules.

“Even if I wanted to try and secretly date,which I don’t, my dad’s got a sixth sense for these things,” I replied. “He always manages to find out. Last year, I went to the movies with Ben all the way in Charleston, and Dad somehow found out. I was grounded for a month, and I still can’t look Ben in the eye after Dad ‘had words’ with him. Can you imagine what he’d do if I ever got a boyfriend?”

Tessa let out a sigh. “You’re right, we’d never see you again, and he’d probably kill the poor guy.”

“Probably,” I agreed. I glanced over my shoulder in Luke’s direction once more. He was turned toward my brother, chatting happily among the popular crowd. It was only his first day at Fairview, and already, he’d accomplished something that I would never achieve—he fit in.

I had my three amazing friends, but I always felt awkward talking with the rest of the kids in our class. I would never be popular like my brother, but I’d accepted that a long time ago.

As I watched the boys, I noticed that Chase didn’t look his usual composed self. In fact, he almost seemed bothered by all the attention the new guy was getting. I smiled. All the girls at their table were completely focused on Luke. They were all leaning toward him and hanging off his every word. They had a new target to pursue, and Chase must have hated they weren’t all watching him. He was no longer the hottest commodity in school, and the idea that he wouldn’t have girls throwing themselves at him with the same vigor as he was used to gave me untold pleasure.

I was smiling broadly as I turned back to my friends. “Looks like Chase is old news,” I said. “His Chasers only have eyes for Luke.”

---