Page 15 of I Hate You More

I scrunched up my nose. “Please tell me you’re not talking about my brother.”

Her cheeks paled at my comment, and she stammered out her reply. “More like Harrison Ford. Obviously.”

“Yeah, obviously.” She was totally talking about my brother. Unfortunately for Tessa, my dad was just as strict with Shane as he was with me. He wasn’t allowed to date before college because he was on track for a big football scholarship, and dad said he couldn’t afford to take his eye off the game. I don’t think Shane really cared about Dad’s rule though. My brother was completely oblivious to anything that didn’t involve football, and that included girls.

Tessa hiked her bag up on her shoulder and glanced down the corridor, unable to meet my eyes. “So, where are Mia and Miles?” she asked, all too keen to change the conversation now that Shane had been brought up.

“I think Mia said they’ll meet us at your car.”

“Perfect,” she replied, linking arms with me before she started to lead me down the corridor toward the school entrance. “Did you drive here today?”

I shook my head. “Shane has practice so I figured I’d catch a ride with you after school.” I shared a car with my brother, but since he was the golden child, he pretty much had free rein over it.

“Oh, did you now?” Tessa replied.

“Well, I just assumed you’d want to be a good friend and wouldn’t subject me to walking home.” Our house was only a thirty-minute walk from school, but it was an unpleasant walk that mostly traipsed along the highway with zero shade from the sun or shelter from the rain.

“You could have asked your new roomie,” Tessa suggested, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Yeah, I can imagine that would go down real well.”

Tessa shrugged. “It’s not the worst suggestion though. Chase has a really nice car, and you both live in the same place now.”

“Yeah, but the nice car is just compensating for a bad personality, and I thought you were about to fix the whole living situation.”

“We’ll see,” she said with a knowing smile.

When Tessa’s car came into view, we could see Mia sitting on the hood. Miles was leaning against the side door with his eyes downcast on a textbook he was reading. Neither of them was talking, and Mia looked bored as she tapped her fingers against the hood of the car. Her eyes lit with relief when she saw us coming toward her.

“Finally,” she said, as she popped off the hood. “You guys took forever.”

“The bell only rang five minutes ago,” I protested.

“Like I said,forever,” Mia replied. “Miles is being thoroughly boring.”

“Miles can hear you,” he said, his eyes still glued to his textbook. He took a few moments to quickly skim over the rest of the page he was on before he closed the book and looked up at us. “And now I’m all yours.”

Mia shook her head at him. “You’re such a nerd.”

He grinned widely in response. “Thanks.”

“Of course, you took that as a compliment,” she laughed.

“How is that not a compliment? A nerd is someone smart and dedicated to school.” The confusion in Miles’ eyes was kind of endearing.

“I think she means you’retoodedicated to school,” Tessa said before unlocking the car so we could all pile in.

“I still don’t see the problem with that,” Miles grumbled as he climbed into the back seat with Mia.

As soon as the engine was on, Tessa’s music came blasting through the speakers. I wasn’t even sure if there was a volume switch, as Tessa only ever drove with music pumping from the speakers at full blast.

As we pulled out of the school parking lot, I caught sight of Chase heading toward his car. Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t alone. Jenna was at his side, struggling to keep her hands off him. She was chatting at a million miles per second, but Chase’s gaze was distant, and he didn’t seem to be reciprocating her attention. He was nodding in a disinterested manner as she talked, and I highly doubted he would have been able to repeat anything she’d said.

Chase had always been moody and withdrawn, but he seemed even more detached today, and I wondered what had made him so grumpy. As if sensing my gaze, Chase glanced in my direction. Our eyes met, and the corner of his lip lifted slightly, like he’d gained a point in our little war by catching me watching him.

I frowned and quickly turned away, mentally chastising myself for looking at him at all. I really didn’t need to give the guy any more ammunition than he already had against me.

“You all right, Ally?” Tessa asked, having to raise her voice to be heard over the blaring music.

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