Page 4 of Her Wicked Knights
"I had a good summer." She smiles. "Busy, but good. Audrey,"
She turns to look over her shoulder at the new girl, who's been chatting with her boyfriend. When she hears her name, Audrey steps right up to Marley's side and looks down her nose at me with a flicker of a smile.
"This is Tripp." Marley says, gesturing toward me for her new friend. "Tripp, this is Audrey. She's new, but we've spent the last month practically inseparable. Audrey, Tripp has been my best friend since I was five."
"Cute." Audrey says in a tone of voice that assures me she doesn't think it's cute at all. She twists a lock of hair around her finger, making it clear that there's no point in holding my hand out for her to shake. She looks at me with enough disdain I can already tell she's not gonna play nice.
"Jake." I nod at my friend, who's been more distant than ever since he started dating Marley. I'm pretty sure he knows, no matter how hard he tries to act like he doesn't, that he swooped in and took the girl that every one of us wanted for ourselves. It's why he's been cagey with us.
"What's up, Tripp? Had a good summer?"
"It was fine." I tell him, wishing I could sink into the ground and disappear from this misery altogether. "Yours?"
"Good." He musters a smile and then turns to say something to Audrey as Marley focuses on me again. "What's your schedule like this year? Do we have any classes together?"
God, I fucking hope so.
I reach for my phone, tapping on the screen that will bring up my course list again. "Marsh, Fawn, Cantori, LeGrand, lunch, and Newman."
"You have LeGrand for fourth? English?"
"Yeah," I roll my eyes.
I've heard LeGrand is a bore, that she prattles on about symbolism that authors probably didn't even use intentionally.
"I have that too!" Marley grins. "Actually, it seems like we'll have the last three hours of the day together." She bumps my arm with a conspiratorial smile that makes one of my own form on my lips. "I've got Newman last, too."
"Oh, me too." Audrey chimes in, despite the fact she's not looking at her phone. "That's history, right?"
"Trigonometry." I correct her, appraising her face.
It's wrong to judge a book by the cover, but nothing about her crop top and crossed arms indicates that she has any interestin something like math. In fact, her eyes look like they glaze over a bit the second I mention it. Then again, maybe that's just because I'm talking, and she clearly has no interest in me.
"Same thing," Audrey shrugs. "Ooh, speaking of, we'd better get going. I want a front row seat in Marsh's class. I've heard he's hot."
"Who said that?" Jake grumbles, matching my energy for once.
Marley laughs, swatting her new friend playfully. "I said he waseasy on the eyes." Marley shrugs unapologetically at her boyfriend. "Oh, come on, I know what you said about Miss Montague last year. Freak."
Jake's cheeks go pink, and he swallows, properly chastised despite Marley's amusement.
"Freak, hmm?" Audrey rakes her eyes over Jake, as if looking for the evidence to back that up. "I'm not buying it."
"Not buying what?" Rev asks, slinging an arm around Marley's shoulder effortlessly. He does everything effortlessly, as if it's really so easy for him, to be that close to her but not have her, to touch her in such innocent ways.
"Now that's a freak." Audrey giggles, batting her lashes at Rev and intensifying my immediate dislike of her. Rev grins at her appreciatively before turning it on me.
"Nice hat."
I dip my chin to hide the way that compliment makes me feel, but when I look back up, he's grinning knowingly.
Damn him.
"We were just debating whether Jakey here was a freak like Marley seems to think." Audrey explains. "I don't see it. The mayor's son? Come on, what's the worst thing you've ever done?"
Jake clears his throat, looking uncomfortable as Colton joins us, glaring at him. If anyone was more upset than me about Jaketaking Marley off the market, it's Colton. He doesn't even try to hide it.
"Probably the Principal's cat, right, Jake?"
