Page 40 of Losing the Rhythm

“You can use our lockers in the meantime,” Justin said.

“The secretary gave me a new one to use.”

“They’ll just do it again,” Justin said. “If you keep your stuff with ours, they won’t touch it. They wouldn’t risk it.”

He had a point.

“We’ll also help you replace any notes you’re missing.”

“You don’t have to—”

Toby made a loud alarm buzzer type of sound, crossing his arms in front of him like I made some kind of mistake. “Don’t even finish that sentence. We’re doing it, and you’ll graciously accept our shitty hand-written notes with a thank you.”

“Exactly as he said. We’re helping you, so just get to your next class safely. I really want to walk you there.” Justin frowned hard. “Make sure you get there in one piece.”

I snorted. “I’m not going to get mauled on my way to class. And Toby will be with me.”

“That’s right.” Toby wrapped his arm around me and tucked me into his side. “I’m more than capable of taking care of her.” He made a shooing motion with his hand. “Off to class with you.”

Justin glared at him briefly before rolling his eyes. “Take care of her.” Justin patted my shoulder before pushing through the crowd and disappearing.

“Onward, shall we.” He kept his arm around my shoulders, and I appreciated it. It felt like an extra layer of protection.

I reached up and rested my hand on his wrist, needing to touch him a bit more. “Onward,” I mumbled.

Toby took that as permission to lead us toward physics class. Where no doubt, Bryan was going to have choice words to say once he heard about what happened.

I did talk Toby into stopping by my locker first. I wanted to make sure to grab anything that was salvageable. While I was digging around with the janitor there with a bin to dump my stuff in, giggles grabbed my attention.

Toby wasn’t far off, but he was distracted as he chatted with some others. He didn’t notice, but I definitely did and had a keen idea of who did this.

There were two girls smirking my way, with some of the soccer team around them. The brunette didn’t cower when our eyes met, instead, one of her eyebrows rose higher in a challenge. I straightened from crouching on the floor and turned to her. I almost wanted to walk across the hallway and confront her, and she seemed like she’d be happy if I did.

“All set?” the janitor asked. He was an older man with a scruffy jaw and glasses covering sharp blue eyes.

“Yeah. Everything else can be thrown away.”

The janitor nodded and took over while I went to Toby.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yeah.” I tilted my head to the side. “Don’t be noticeable, but who are they?”

He briefly looked that way without turning his head then back at me. “India is the brunette, and the dark-haired girl is Trinity. They’re two peas in a pod.”

I bet they were.

“India is Kyler’s cousin. He’s the one standing to her right. Those two are pretty close too. Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” I mumbled, not sure what to do with that.

“Cadence.”

“Toby.”

Toby’s jaw tightened before he blew out a breath. “Fine, let’s get to class before Bryan sends a SWAT squad after us.”

“He would too,” I said, drawing a chuckle out of Toby as he led us to class. I glanced back at them, meeting India’s gaze again. She laughed and rolled her eyes before turning and saying something to the boy who was probably her cousin.

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