Page 59 of The Prom Queen Project
“Try three.”
“I’m going to kick all of your asses.” Dani smirked. “So, don’t even bother trying.”
“Actually, Clarke,” Elliot piped up. “Maybe we could study for our AP Lit exam?”
My fingers twitched as I nearly dropped the sandwich I was eating out of my hands. Andrew and Dani had the same reaction as we all gawked at him, dumbfounded by the words that left his mouth.
“Study?” Andrew muttered. “The fuck?”
“Are you running a fever or something?” Dani asked as she pressed the back of her hand against Elliot’s forehead, causing him to swat it away promptly.
“Who are you, and what have you done with my boyfriend?”
“Chill, it’s not that deep. I just can’t afford to flunk her class, okay?”
Andrew cocked his brow. “Weren’t you yelled at yesterday for playing your Steam Deck in class?”
“Yeah, but that was Geography. Who gives a shit about which state is south of Kentucky?”
“Elliot.” I tugged at his arm. “We don’t have t—”
“I want to.”
Sucking in air, I placed my hand on top of his. “Okay.”
“Okay.”
“No,” Andrew cried out in annoyance while flinging his arms in the air. “Not okay! You both suck.”
My amusement grew as I watched him puff out his lower lip and recline back in his seat. The muscles in my jaw tensed as I clamped my mouth shut, trying to resist the urge to laugh in his stupid face. Dani shrugged, supporting herself on the table with one elbow, while casting a brief look at Andrew.
“Guess I’ll just have to settle for kicking your ass.”
Andrew hastily crammed several Oreos into his mouth, muttering quietly. The conversation quickly shifted from one topic to the next with their words filtering through my ears, in one and out the other. My gaze was trained on the tray of untouched food in front of me. My stomach churned, but I couldn’t bring myself to eat anything. I was far too focused on why Elliot wanted to study for AP Lit tonight. It was just so out of character for him.
Did his friends do something to piss him off?
Was it simply an excuse to hang out with me?
Did he actually just want to study?
After the whole ‘date night’ thing at the Honeycomb Café, the boundaries in our relationship were beginning to blur.
But I didnothave a crush on Elliot Keller.
I gnawed at my inner cheek.
Sure, he was objectively attractive, annoyingly funny, and occasionally charming, but there was no way I’d ever fall forhim. But, then why did the thought of us hanging out cause my stomach to do cartwheels?
My leg seemed to have a mind of its own as it began to bounce uncontrollably, causing Elliot to place his palm on my thigh, caressing the denim with his thumb. His eyes were still locked onto Dani’s, but despite that, he still somehow noticed my discomfort. Thank God he couldn’t read my mind, though.
If only I could read his.
I glanced up at him, watching as he spoke incoherently with a smile on his face.
For the rest of lunch, I mostly sat in silence, listening to discussions about video games and how Dani almost won theFortnitechampionship. Just another game I knew nothing about, and I was counting my lucky stars that Andrew didn’t hound me with a million questions about battle royales or dropping from the bus…whatever the hell that meant.
Even after lunch, my mind was still stuck on Elliot. The day slowly trudged along, and by the time I reached art class, it felt even slower. I no longer sat with Meredith or Kendra meaning I was now forced to be sandwiched between the bodies of two strangers as my brain was plagued with an immeasurable number of thoughts, all things ranging from the book I just read, to the winter pep rally, and then circling back around to none other than Elliot Keller. It was complete agony to be trapped in my own mind with not even a book to dull my hyper-fixations, but it wasn’t like I could whip out a three-hundred-page novel in art class.
