Page 58 of Crew
He knew I'd had dinner with my brother, then stayed home, but I only said, "I did my own thing last night."
He gave me the slightest of winks.
That told me all I needed to know. One of the guys had asked him to ask me. He'd decided to play along instead of telling them it was none of their business.
"You missed an epic party." One of the guys leaned forward, his hand resting on the table just a few feet from my books.
I looked at it, then to Jordan, and he shrugged again.
"I'll catch the next one."
"Yeah. You better." His friend decided to join in. He was nodding and smiling. "It was awesome. Best party of the year." He and his buddy grinned at each other. "For now."
"Yeah," one of the guys grunted.
I shot Jordan a look.
He had covered his mouth. He kept silently laughing as the teacher stood to start the lesson. The two guys turned around, but I punched Jordan in the arm.
A girl gasped.
I knew people were watching.
Jordan still had his head down, and I leaned close to him. "Thanks for that."
He sat up, wiping a hand over his mouth. His laughter had subsided, slightly.
"Come on. They like you. It's cute."
Cute. I winced.
I did angry. I did hostile, violent. I did fucked-up.
I didn't do cute.
I was sitting at a table in the library for study hall when Cross walked in. He pulled his hood down over his face.
Oh yeah. He was still hung over.
"Mr. Shaw." Mr. Penski's voice boomed across the library. "What are you doing in here?"
Cross slowed, raising his head so Penski could see his face better. A slight cocky swagger came out, and he held up a piece of paper. "I'm transferring seventh period, Mr. Penski."
"Uh-huh." A scoff of disbelief. Mr. Penski took the piece of paper. His frown moved from Cross to me. "If there's trouble..."
He let the threat go unsaid, but Cross nodded and headed my way.
He sat across from me, glancing over his shoulder.
Mr. Penski and the librarian were both watching.
I understood why.
If something happened to one of us, the other would jump in to help. It could get messy, and it had at times. The recent brawl at Manny's was evidence of that, but this was study hall. And we were in the library. Chances of anything happening were slim to none.
"You switched?" I asked. He'd come to school fifth period, showing up during lunch.
"Ryerson's been cocking off in Latin this week. Getting worse than it was before. Figured it was better if I wasn't in there."
