“It looks good.” I felt my cheeks heat up as my gaze devoured him.
Tobias laughed. “Okay, I’m glad I wore it now.”
For a moment he dazzled me so much that I was unaware of anyone else. But awareness returned pretty quickly. Glancing around the school grounds, I checked nervously to see if anyone had noticed Tobias holding my hand. So many of the kids around us were younger and thus could give a rat’s arse.
Then I caught sight of one of Heather’s minions, staring at us with her mouth open wide enough to shoot peanuts into it. Tobias must have noticed, too, because he gripped my hand tighter. “Ready for this?”
I looked up at him and nodded. “A little nervous but ready.”
He held the door open for me and we strode into the school, then came to a stop at the stairwell. “I’ll see you in Spanish.”
I smiled and moved to walk away but he didn’t let go of my hand. Instead he tugged me to him and pressed a soft kiss to my lips. The kiss made me blush to the roots of my hair and Tobias chuckled. Rolling my eyes, I playfully shoved him away. “See you later, you egomaniac.”
His laughter followed me down the corridor, filling me with confidence. We could do this. We could get through this first day no matter what it brought. And I was saying this as someone who hated attention as much as Steph needed it.
For the first time in a long while I was eager to see my friends in form class, hurrying over to the table where they were already waiting for me. Vicki smiled brightly at the sight of me just like she used to, and I gave thanks that for once the pieces of my life were fitting somewhat well together. It could be better, obviously, i.e. my parents and Stevie, but who needed perfect when I had a boyfriend and best friends?
It was still so weird to say that word. Boyfriend.
Boy. Friend.
Boyfriend.
Boyfriend!
Okay, I needed to stop.
“So I hear you have a boyfriend, Comet,” Steph teased as soon as I sat down.
I snorted. “You sound like my great aunt Mildred, if I had a great aunt Mildred.”
Steph eyed me in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“You’re relieved. That I’m off the shelf. Spinster no more.”
More confusion.
I sighed. “You thought I’d never get a boyfriend.”
“Not true,” she argued immediately. “I thought you were perfectly capable of getting a boyfriend. I just didn’t think you wanted one.”
“Not just one.” Vicki nudged me, grinning from ear to ear. “The one. Tobias King.”
“Well, just be careful, Comet,” Steph said with all the wisdom of someone three months younger than me. “King is a little bit of a player.”
Annoyed and trying not to be, I shrugged. “You don’t know him.”
“Uh, he’s in my P.E. class.”
Vicki and I shared a look, and I pinched my lips together to stop myself from bursting into laughter.
The giddiness and laughter was somewhat squished when the bell rang for second period that morning. Tobias had made it to Spanish before me so all we could do was make eye contact across the room and smile at each other. I decided I’d never get tired of his smile.
Or the butterflies it let loose in my belly.
After class Tobias threaded his fingers through mine and he walked me to biology. That was when the giddiness was taken over by the nervousness as our classmates started to take notice of us. I squirmed, hating that feeling of being under a microscope. For most of my life I’d gotten by under the radar. The only time I’d been caught like a bug under a glass had been when Heather set out to make my life miserable. Thankfully, it hadn’t lasted long, but for those few months I’d dreaded school.
I received another sweet kiss on the lips before he left me in the doorway to biology and I almost walked into the doorjamb as I dreamily turned from watching him stride off. Hoping my cheeks weren’t blazing, I hurried to my pod and got out my jotters.
“Psst.”
“Psst!”
I frowned and glanced over my shoulder in the direction of the noise.
Jayla Hancock, a girl in the year above me, was staring at me incredulously. “Are you and Tobias King...like...dating? For real?”
Jayla Hancock had never paid me one whit of attention until now. She was best friends with Jess Reed.
Oh dear.
I nodded stiffly, returning my gaze to my books, but not before I caught her stunned expression and the gasp of surprise from the girls at her pod.
Their scandalized whispering made me want to dive under the counter and hide.
“Really?”
I looked up at my neighbor, Wendy Shen. Wendy and I were perfect pod buddies. We both talked very little and we took our schooling very seriously. “Excuse me?”
“You’re going out with King?”
I was shocked she even knew who he was, let alone seemed delighted at the prospect of my dating him. “Yes.”
Wendy grinned, her dark eyes bright. “Nice one. He’s hot.”
Her comment was so unexpected that I burst into laughter. Holy crap. You would have thought I’d just started dating a famous person!
* * *
The battle with myself to see the funny side of everyone gossiping about me and Tobias lost ground as I walked to the library for my free period. I’d dawdled a little in the girls’ bathroom before it, so by the time I’d started making my way there the halls had emptied out again.
When I saw Stevie turn the corner at the bottom of the corridor I was walking down, my steps faltered. It was different seeing him now, for many reasons, one of which was not having Tobias at my side.
Stevie froze for a second when he saw me and then he started to stride with determination toward me. For some reason a flash of warning heat scored up the back of my neck and I gasped as suddenly Stevie put his bruised face inches from mine.
Angry green eyes burned. “Ye tell anyone whit I said aboot ma mum or dad or any o’ the shit I spewed when I thought ye were ma pal, ye’ll regret it. Alana and the lasses want tae gun for ye. Dinnae give them a reason.”
I was so in shock by the sudden threat I just stared at him.
He pushed me back into the wall and slammed the space above my head with the palm of his hand, making me flinch in fear. “Understood?”
I nodded quickly, my breathing becoming rapid, wondering how things had escalated so badly in the wrong direction between us. “Stevie—”
“Just keep yer mouth shut. Ye’ve done enough. Ever since King started being friends with ye everything got screwed. They moved oot. Mum got sick. And now ma best pal has deserted me. Aw fur you.” He gave me a look of disgust and then pushed away from me. My body shuddered as I struggled to get my breathing back to normal.
Stevie’s eyes flickered over me, the anger in them seeming to waver for a moment. He screwed up his face and scrubbed a hand over his head. “Fuck!” he bit out as he hurried away from me.
I glanced either way down the hall but there was no one there to witness what had happened. Trembling, jittery, feeling sick to my stomach, I hurried toward the library and to the safety of others. Stevie was... That hadn’t been my friend back there. My friend would never have frightened me like that.
He needed help.
But if I told anyone, an adult, Stevie would end up in so much trouble and with his mother being sick, it was the last thing that family needed. I didn’t know what to do.
There was no way I was telling Tobias.
Tobias would more than likely punch him for frightening me like that.
Plus there was the fact that Alana Miller would come after me if I told on Stevie. She and Stevie had something casual but long-term going on between them. She was a scrappy girl, always on the defensive about something. I knew two of her brothers were in prison, and the entire family had a reputation in town for being aggressive and dangerous. They were constantly in fights with other families. She was raised rough and tough and didn’t seem to know any other way. Since the school year had begun, I knew of at least two physical fights she’d gotten into. One of them was with a boy.
So even though I stewed over Stevie and fought with myself on what to do, I didn’t mention our encounter to Tobias in English class. It was easy to let it slide to the back of my mind, because by fourth period everyone was buzzing about us dating.