Page 16 of Little Devil

“Why?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” he deadpans. “Maybe because you told him you were gonna steal his girlfriend in front of half the fucking school.”

I laugh at that, still tugging on the knot around my neck while I follow him inside. “You have to admit that was kinda funny.”

“It wasn’t funny.”

It was, but whatever.

He walks me to my locker and I unlock it with the combination his mom gave me at breakfast this morning. She didn’t look very happy with me and my appearance, but instead of going off on me like I expected her to, she kept her judgy little opinion to herself and handed me my schedule, warning me to behave myself or else.

I’m really not looking forward to finding out whatever or else means.

Kian appears at my side and I bump his fist, chuckling when he wraps his arm around my neck and walks me to class. “You sure you’re not gay, Xander Reid?”

“Positive.”

“Shame,” he teases, reaching up to run a hand through my hair. “I’d look hot as fuck with your dick in my ass.”

“Kian,” Travis growls, making him jump.

“What?”

“Get off him.”

“Jealous much?” he jokes, earning himself yet another glare from my usually chill cousin.

I frown at the obvious tension between them and round the corner, damn near tripping over my own feet when I spot Jordyn James walking through the double doors at the other end of the hall. She’s wearing a white button down tucked neatly into a black and white checkered skirt, her Lakewood Academy tie wrapped perfectly around her neck in a way that makes me wanna pull on it. Her heels echo against the tiled floor while she walks through the parted crowd with her eyes on her phone, doing a helluva good job to ignore the eyes following her every move. Most of the students lingering on the sidelines are all pointing and whispering shit with their heads in close, but the princess pretends not to notice, discreetly rolling her eyes when Sienna scurries to keep up with her.

“Dude, will you quit staring at her?” Travis whispers, knocking my elbow with his when I refuse to take my eyes off her. “It’s creepy.”

He’s probably right, but I can’t help it.

Something about her just calls to me in a way I’ve never experienced before.

She looks so put together and fake and trapped and so fucking hot I can’t stand it.

She looks like mine.

“JJ, wait!” Noah calls, pulling me from my thoughts.

She stops to open her locker and he glares at Sienna, effectively dismissing her without a word. She moves to stand beside Travis and Kian and Noah leans in to say something to Jordyn, not noticing the way her tiny little hands curl into fists around her books. She looks like she wants to go off on him, and fuck, I wish she would, but instead of punching him in the mouth, she forces that stupid smile and says something I can’t hear, then she side steps him and walks into class without looking back. Noah’s eyes immediately hit mine and he locks his jaw, glaring again when he catches the look on my face.

“The fuck are you staring at, freak?” he bites out, loud enough for all to hear.

“You’ve got lip gloss on your mouth,” I inform him, stepping closer to bump his shoulder with mine. “Clean it up, asshole.”

Penelope walks around the corner wearing the same fucking shade of cherry red and I walk into first period, winking at Jordyn when I catch her standing just inside the door with her head turned over her shoulder and her mouth parted. Her brows pull in and she moves her eyes over my disheveled uniform, shaking her head at me with a small smile on her lips – a real fucking smile – before taking her seat at the back of the class. I hide my grin and move for the teacher’s desk, finding a hot brunette woman in her mid to late twenties with her thin glasses perched on the edge of her nose.

“Hi, I’m–”

“Xander Reid, the principal’s nephew,” she finishes for me, not looking up while she scribbles something on her notepad. “Can you be trusted to sit with your cousin without disrupting my class?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She nods and rips the paper off, handing it to me with a tip of her chin. “Sit down and turn to page thirty one.”

I frown and move to take the empty seat beside Travis, laughing lightly when I realize she’s just given me a lunch hour detention slip. “You’re kidding, right?”

---