Page 11 of Zero Chance

“Great,” Keene cut in as he squeezed between the two of them, purposely separating them so he could drop his pile of books heavily and noisily onto the counter right in front of me.His eyebrows lifted as if in a dare as he looked at me, letting me know he was returning them to be checked in.

I coughed and swatted at the sudden cloud of dust that swirled up around me, and he grinned evilly before turning pointedly away from me to face Xander and put his back to Alec.

“You can help me study for my anatomy and physiology test.”Winking at her, he leaned close to add in a husky voice, “I’d really like to brush up on those…erogenous zones.”

“Oh, brother,” Xander muttered with a roll of her eyes.She was clearlynotfond of Keene.“I’ll pass.”

Her excellent taste in character for not falling for his flirty ways was just another reason why I jealously hated her.I mean, why couldn’tIbe turned off by scummy come-on lines like that?

Because something was seriously wrong with me, that’s why.

“Geez, man, behave,” Alec grumbled to Keene as he playfully shoved Keene out from between him and Xander with a groan.“Can you not be a total perv for, like, two seconds?”

Xander laughed as Keene stumbled away from them.

But Keene wasn’t deterred.Catching himself nimbly, he straightened and plucked at the front of his shirt as if smoothing something Alec had wrinkled before he countered, “Behave?What’s the fun inthat?”

Returning to the counter, on the other side of Xander this time—away from Alec—he jumped up to sit on the ledge and swung his legs as he produced an apple from who-knows-where.

Sinking his teeth into it, he smirked as if winning that round.

“Do you mind?”I asked, lifting my brows threateningly as I glanced pointedly from his face to the counter he was sitting on.

But the damn man just snickered at me.“Not at all,” he answered before he took another bite as if to taunt me.

Ugh.I rolled my eyes, which caused him to muffle out a “mph” sound from a full mouth and motion toward the pile of books he’d just given me.He waited to swallow before adding, “Don’t forget to check those in.I don’t want to get a late fee just because youforgot.”

“Hey!”Xander whirled to scowl at him.“Don’t be mean to Frankie.I will legit hurt you.”

Keene coughed and sputtered at the demand, choking on whatever he’d just swallowed before he pounded on his own chest and asked from watering eyes, “Whatdid you just call her?”

“Frankie,” she said as if that should be obvious.“You know…because she’s WaverlyFrank.”

“Hey, I didn’t know your last name was Frank,” Alec said in surprise, turning to address me for probably the first time in my life.“Any relation to Anne?”

Keene scoffed.“Right.Seeing as Anne Frank’s whole family died in the holocaust, except for her father Otto, who didn’t get remarried again until he was in his sixties, I would say that’s a totally legitimate question, dumbass.”

“Wow,Frankie,” Alec answered, sending Keene an annoyed frown.“Thanks so much for answering.”

While Keene merely shrugged and turned back to his apple, sinking his teeth into it, Xander shook her head and wrinkled her nose at him.“How in the world do you know so much about Anne Frank’s family?”

“Because I’m smart like that,” Keene answered, paying more attention to his apple than her.

And sadly, he was right.

Keene Dugger was a friggin’ genius.He didn’t usually flaunt his IQ, though, which was strange in itself since he liked to flaunt everything else.Sometimes, I swear, he acted like an idiot just to hide how smart he really was.

My mom had been the guidance counselor at the high school he’d attended, and she’d mentioned his name at the dinner table on more than one occasion.Usually, it was to complain about some of the wild stunts he’d pulled to get into trouble, like getting caught in a janitor’s closet with a girl or pouring syrup on the doorknob to the principal’s office.But she could never deny just how brilliant his mind was.

He’d actually been set to become the valedictorian of his graduating class.But after my mother had mentioned that fact to him, he’d suddenly started tanking a few courses.She still swears to this day he’d made sure his GPA dropped on purpose just so his best friend, Alec—who actually cared about the position—could be the valedictorian instead.

“By the way,” Xander spoke up, nailing Keene with an irritated glower while I started to check in Keene’s books.

This time, his choice of reading material was about afterlife communication.

Keene checked out a lot of occultist, supernatural stuff.It was very curious since the topic didn’t seem to complement his happy-go-lucky, why-think-about-death-or-the-afterlife, life-is-great, score-with-as-many-girls-as-he-could disposition.

“Could you please inform theloudindividual who stayed over in your room last night,” Xander was saying to him, “notto drink from the juice carton in the fridge with the big red X on it the next time she comes over?She took the last of my Green Machine, and I didn’t get any breakfast.”

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