Page 11 of Love Me Steadfast
I navigate to the class page and click it open. “This one.”
William is silent.
“We’ll go through each question you missed.” I point out the other info required on the form but it just makes William’s scowl darken.
He adjusts his hat. “How long is that gonna take?”
I could fire back a snarky remark about how sitting around talking about it certainly isn’t speeding things up, but the last thing I want is to scare him into charging for the door.
“Let’s get started, and if you need a break, just ask.”
He huffs a sigh. “Fine.”
By the time we get halfway through the corrections, I have a feeling Will’s history struggles aren’t from lack of interest because we get into a very heated debate about the plight of mid-1800’s textile workers, who were mostly women and children. His typing skills need work, he’s a slow reader, and though he doesn’t fidget a lot, his attention is as shifty as the sand dunes on Mars.
“Break time?” I ask after an hour.
He scrubs his face and adjusts his hat. “Yeah, be right back.”
While he slips through the library doors, I take a long sip of my water, then decide to visit the restroom. I’m in the stall minding my own business when I get company.
“He should have been done by now,” a girl complains.
“That grubby little band dork better not be stalling,” another girl says.
My cheeks burn. They’re talking aboutme. What’s worse is I place the voice—it’s Tori and her flyer bestie Sierra.
“Bet she can hardly wait to go home and get herself off after rubbing thighs with William.”
My mouth drops open in shock.Rude.
The other girl laughs. “Or maybe that’s you, hmm?”
“Fuck off.” There’s a click from a lipstick or maybe a compact.
“So why hasn’t he asked you to HoCo yet?”
“Patience, Feyre Darling.”
The door thumps shut. I exhale the breath trapped in my lungs.
Anger flushes my chest. Did Tori really have to insult me and quote from one of my favorite books? And here I thought she didn’t read.
Back at the table, William is waiting. Do I detect a smear of pink lipstick on his jawline when I settle in next to him?
It’s not as if I think a guy like William would be into me. A tiny part of me hoped we could at least be friends, but not if he’s hanging out with girls like Tori.
I tried to warn him, but he didn’t listen. It’s obvious William’s exceptional talent and good looks are going to take him places, and he’ll be surrounded by people eager to surf his wake. But if he doesn’t start paying attention to things that actually matter, history tests will be the least of his problems.
Chapter Five
CHARLOTTE (NOW)
I waketo the wind in the trees and thepingof pinecones bouncing off the metal roof. I slept with my window cracked open, but I must be out of practice because my sleep was interrupted several times by thewhooshof swaying branches and the patter of raindrops.
As a kid, I loved the rain. The way it smells. The sudden violence of our mountain storms. How they wash everything clean.
In Seattle, it rains all the time. Mostly, it smells of wet concrete.
