Page 23 of Sweet Oblivion

Steve nodded, his gaze flashing back to Aya before he steered the head of school back down the hallway after a much-subdued Lord.

Aya rose and grabbed her bag from my arm.

“I’m heading to the loo,” she said.

“You okay?” I asked her. “Your butt—”

“Is fine,” she said. She glanced around at the dispersing crowd. “That was way too much excitement for my first day.”

“Meet me at the school office,” I said. I looked behind her at Hugh. He’d done his best to protect Aya, so I’d give him another chance. “You, too.”

He fell into step beside me as Aya trotted off toward the bathroom.

“You stay away from her,” I grunted as soon as Aya was out of earshot.

Hugh blinked to focus on me. “She invited me to sit with her at lunch,” he said. “Me and Naomi—you know, my girlfriend.”

“I don’t want you near Aya,” I said. “And do not look down her shirt again, you skeez.”

“That just…they were right…” He cleared his throat. “I love Naomi. But Aya is nice, both in personality and to look at.”

“That’s the problem. She’s new and she’s nice, and I…”

I stopped. Never, never admit when you want something, Nash. That was my mother’s best advice. Or at least the mantra she liked to drape over me. If you do, people will use it as leverage, use it against you.

“You what?” Hugh asked.

“That’s why I invited her to sit with me,” I muttered, avoiding his eyes. I’d nearly broken the rule for a girl.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you and Aya at your table.”

Hugh entered the office while I gritted my teeth, cupping my aching side. Suddenly nothing was going right today. I yanked the door wide and stomped inside.

Steve and the staff assumed my bad attitude was because of the fight Lord started, and I didn’t bother to correct them. Nor did I register Lord’s dismissal from Holyoke. From what I remembered, in a vague, underwater-type of way, Lord never said anything. The punk just disappeared from the school, whisked away like the filth he was. Instead, I focused on listing all the reasons I couldn’t give in to the attraction between Aya and me. Why I didn’t want it.

Then she walked into the headmaster’s office, and the tension drained from my muscles and my head.

I was so totally fucked.

As we walked back to class, late, I asked Aya to sit with me at lunch. She blushed and dropped her eyes.

“I said I’d sit with Hugh since he tried to keep me from hitting the floor when the ‘Prescott shit’ started causing problems.”

I smiled. Her imitation of Steve was spot on.

“Plus,” Aya said, no longer meeting my gaze, “I thought maybe we could hit pause.”

“Why?” I stopped walking and leaned against a row of blue lockers. She wanted to talk, so we’d talk.

She stared down at the ends of her hair, as if mesmerized by them. “I’m not sure about what you did back there…to Lord. Was that necessary?”

“So necessary,” I said on a sigh.

She looked up and met my gaze.

“And long overdue.” I waved my hand. “Everyone is going to be happy about Lord leaving. Except maybe Lindsay.”

She glanced around, but no one was out here in the hallway. Her shoulders slowly relaxed. “Well, I’m still sitting with Hugh and Naomi. I promised.”

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