Page 20 of Love Notes

“What are you doing?” I asked, feigning annoyance. Even if the world were ending, I would never admit that deep down, I was actually kind of glad to have a real partner. Even if it was Carson.

“You’re welcome.” He grinned.

I placed one hand on my hip. “Like I need your help.”

“At least you won’t have to do all the work alone,” Carson said. “And if there’s one thing I’m good at, Shorty, it’s chemistry.” He wiggled his brows, earning him an eye roll.

Behind us, we heard a couple of kids snicker, followed by a wad of paper whacking me in the back. Turning, I glanced around the room, but everyone was laser-focused on their experiment, all eyes on their table, except for Tasha who met my gaze quickly before glancing away again.

Frowning, I unraveled the ball of paper. Inside was a rather crude rendition of a girl strangling someone. I had no doubts about who the two people were supposed to be.

From over my shoulder, Carson snatched the paper away. I expected him to laugh, but instead, he whipped around to the sound of Tasha and her partner’s laughter and barked out, “Knock it off, guys.” Then he strode over to the trash can and threw it inside.

When he returned, I avoided his eye. “Um, thanks.”

“People haven’t been bugging you about that, have they?”

“No,” I lied, mostly because other than Tasha’s rather defunct art skills, Macky was the only one to pick on me and being mean was just a part of who he was.

“Good,” he said. “Because if they were, they’d have to answer to me.”

Then he pointed to our lab sheets and started on our experiment.

Chapter 10

CARSON

MylungsburnedasI flipped and propelled myself off the wall of the pool. Muscles screaming, my heart pumped as my hands sliced through the water, kicking my legs and stretching my arms, urging my body to move faster than ever before, my mind numb like it always was when I raced. It was the one thing I could count on to ease my stress and calm my mind, and since it was the last swim of the day, I pushed with everything I had.

The water brightened when I neared the end of my lane, and before I knew it, the concrete wall came into my watery vision once more. At just the right moment, I slapped a hand on the pool ledge, then popped out of the water and tore my goggles off my head. My lungs sucked in oxygen as I glanced at the clock.Not bad.

I smirked as I pushed myself up and out of the pool, where Coach offered me a conspiratorial smile while the others finished their lap. “Aiming to break more records?”

“You know it,” I said, bending over and gripping my thighs. I finished catching my breath while a certain smart-mouthed, blue-eyed beauty entered my thoughts, but I shook her off, not yet ready to focus on the enigma that was Mia Randalls.

Once the last person tagged in, Coach blew the whistle and dismissed us with the reminder of tomorrow’s meet.

Heading for the locker room, I quickly changed and grabbed my things, opting to shower at home and saying little to my fellow swim team on the way out. I had too much on my mind. Namely Mia and the mocking note someone sent her in class about losing her shit in gym.

The last thing I wanted was to be the cause of any undue distress for her at school. And though she said she was fine, I sensed she wasn’t. Just like I knew I’d be the last person she’d tell even if she weren’t. Which meant there was only one person who would know if the unfortunate event at school had caused her any problems.

I hurried home and headed straight for my room, pausing outside of Ethan’s closed door on my way, listening for evidence Mia might be there in the way I sometimes did when she was. You know, only to ensure she wasn’t plotting my demise or planning to poison my protein shake. Certainly not because I was eavesdropping.

Quite frankly, her presence was pure torture. Because it meant having to hear the muffled sound of her voice through the walls. Witness the familiar peel of her laughter at one of Ethan’s lame jokes. Catch the scent of her perfume in the hall. Most of all, it left me wondering what she was doing with my brother behind closed doors. I mean, did my parents not worry at all about the amount of unsupervised alone time they received? They may be friends and supposedly nothing more, but the expression “friends with benefits” existed for a reason. Because IT WAS A THING.

When I heard nothing, not even a peep, I rapped on the door, then pushed it open without waiting for an invitation. It took a lot for me to approach Ethan with concerns about Mia. To say I might harbor some feelings of resentment—certainly not jealousy—toward him because of their relationship was pretty accurate.

Ethan sat propped up on his bed, phone in hand, as his thumbs flew over the screen. He barely even bothered to look up as he asked, “What’s up?”

I leaned against the doorjamb and crossed my arms over my chest. “Hey, Mia’s not getting teased about the incident at school, is she?”

“What incident?”

“You know, the choking one?” My hands moved to my throat, where I mimed getting strangled.

His gaze finally flickered to mine, and he lowered his phone. “Not that I’m aware of. Why? Did something happen to make you think that?” he asked, his tone suspicious.

Satisfied, I shrugged. “Nah. It was nothing. Forget it.”

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