Page 51 of More Than Chemical
“You did?”
“Yeah, and it looks like you finished yours too.” I started digging through my backpack.
“When have you ever finished the physics homework by yourself?” Jay hung his arm over the back of Priya’s chair.
I slipped the piece of paper out and waved it in the air. “There’s a first time for everything.”
“Not for physics homework.” He squinted at me, his mouth in a straight line. “It’s Dallas, isn’t it?”
I wrinkled my nose.
“You did the homework with him.” Jay made a clicking sound with his tongue. “He’s the bad boy, isn’t he?”
I continued to stay silent, now glancing over my work.
“So is that the way it’s going to be now? You’re one of his floozies?”
“Floozy?” I put my homework down. “Are you a grandma?”
“‘Floozy’is a word.”
“A stupid word. Besides, I’m not a floozy. We’re just hanging out.”
“Are you also hanging out with that girl in the hoodie who Sandra was talking about this morning?” Jay snickered. “Like a threesome?”
I unwound my scarf and threw it at him.
He ducked, but the fabric landed across the top of his head.
I wished it weren’t soft and fuzzy. I wished it were a rock. A gigantic piece of granite. “Please stop being so ridiculous.”
He pulled it off and tossed it onto my bed. “I’m not. Dallas is smoking hot. You’ll have to beat people off to keep him to yourself, causing you even more anxiety.”
Smirking, I went into my closet. But then I paused before I took off my jacket.Wait a second.
I backed out of the closet. “Did you just say that Dallas is hot?”
Jay’s face went gray.
“You did. I heard you say it.”
He shrugged. “So what? It’s not like you don’t think other girls are hot.”
I shifted my weight. “I’ve thought girls were pretty or attractive, sure, but I don’t think I’ve ever thought they were ‘smoking hot.’”
“Whatever, forget it,” he said. “My point is that history doesn’t favor you and you’re going to get hurt.” Jay sealed his mouth shut.
“But I won’t.” Because I wasn’t going to fall in love with Dallas. We’d established the ground rules. “Besides, last year I had the hundred-year flood of hurts and survived, so even if another flood happens again, it won’t be as bad.”
His eyes sparkled. “Did you know that a one-hundred-year flood doesn’t mean that it occurs only once every one-hundred years? I think statistically there’s a sixty percent chance of another hundred-year flood occurring in the same period.”
I closed my eyes. “Jay.”
“What?”
“Please stop being such a dork.”
“Was that too nerdy?” He widened his smile.
