Page 41 of Tangled Rose

Chapter 22

Wednesday starts out in a blur. I’ve been to Mrs. Harden’s English 12 and now we’re struggling through Government 12 with Mr. Harrigan. Every single class I’m enrolled in is with Beau and friends—which wouldn’t be bad, except Mandy is hovering everywhere, it seems. And the more I see the ugly looks she gives me, the more I’m irritated. But I’ll be damned if I let her control me. I’ll figure out how to get her to back off eventually.

Beau, sitting at the table behind the one I’m sharing with Max, pokes me in the side with his pen. “Hey,” he whispers, “has there been any nastiness from anyone this morning?”

I glance at the teacher tapping away on the laptop at his desk. Probably checking his fucking email. I turn around to face Beau, my brow furrowing. “What are you talking about?”

He shrugs, trying to look innocent. “You know, like anyone throwing any of that Thorn crap in your direction? Or Mandy and her friends giving you shit?”

I narrow my eyes. He’s done something. I don’t know what, but it definitely seems like he wants to know if it worked. I huff out a breath. “No. Not a word. Mandy is definitely watching me, but that’s whatever. She can fuck off. I’ll talk to Coach Hall today at our pre-season meeting after school. I have no problem letting her know that Mandy’s making threats for no good reason.”

“Hey. When did I become no good reason?” Beau puts his hand over his heart, pretending to be wounded.

I roll my eyes. “You have a massive ego. You know what I mean.”

“I do know. I just couldn’t resist teasing you.” He winks at me.

Max nudges me from the chair beside me. “Do you need a ride home today?”

“Crap. I have a meeting after school—pre-season stuff.”

Beau puts his hand on my back to get my attention. “If you’re still around at the end of football practice, you can ride with me, obviously. Not sure your meeting will go that long, though.”

“Probably not, right? Shit.” Agh. So frustrating not to have my own wheels or a license.

Max shrugs. “I could swing back for you if you need me to. Gimme your phone. I’ll put in my deets.”

Beau playfully rolls his eyes. “Max. He’s every girl’s best friend.”

“You fucking know it.” Max winks at him.

“Wait a sec. You’re distracting me.” I shake my finger at them. “I want to know what you did to make everyone shut up about me.”

Beau shrugs. “Easy. We’re OG Roses. We don’t put up with shit. Not from anyone. Not anymore.” His jaw tenses. “I figured people would know better after what happened when Alora, Carter, and Shayne fucked with Daphne and Micah, but no.”

“You keep forgetting I don’t know everything about everyone around here. What happened to them?”

Max grins. “Those morons got expelled. No more Rosehaven Academy for them.”

Beau sighs. “We put word out this morning that people need to rearrange their thinking if they were planning on messing with you.”

I snort. “Are you fucking kidding? And that shit works?”

“Probably.” He smirks. “It’s a good sign that no one has bothered you today. We’ll see how long it lasts before someone does something stupid.”

At the end of class, I scoop my stuff into my book bag. Beau side-eyes me. “You’re not going to go run off somewhere today, are you?”

“Nope.” I stand up. “Just need to pee. You go ahead to lunch. I’ll catch up with you. Save me a seat.”

He catches my chin, dropping a kiss to my lips. “I can do that. And I’ll get extra food, so don’t worry about going through the line. Just come find us.”

* * *

When I leave the bathroom a few minutes later, the hallways are eerily empty. I thought it was pretty wild that they have a full hour for lunch here at Rosehaven, but it makes sense if the entire student body is in that huge lunch room all at once. It’s pretty cool, because at my old school, it was always a toss-up if you’d have your lunch period with any of your friends. And there’s nothing worse than having no one to eat with.

And now, I think I do actually have friends to eat with. Things are looking up.

Rounding a corner, I realize I’ve gotten myself lost on the way to the lunchroom. Damn big school. All the hallways look alike. It doesn’t help that I haven’t gotten a chance to go anywhere on my own yet—I’ve constantly been with either Beau or Aria—so it’s no wonder I’m lost. I take a right and then a left, then stop in the middle of the hallway. I shouldn’t have left my book bag in my locker. There’s a map of the school in my notebook.

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