NO!
Sliding the paper across his table, I turned around. I tried to ignore both of them the rest of the period. It was easy to ignore Chay. It was like he wasn’t there. He didn’t hold my hand, he didn’t speak, and he didn’t look at me.
It wasn’t as easy to ignore Xavier. He kicked the bottom of my chair a half a dozen times, chuckling each time I refused to look at him. I could picture him laughing in my mind. His eyes sparkly, his dimple deep in his cheek, and his full lips turned up at the corners.
Stop thinking about him!
Finally, the torture was over. Standing, I gathered my things, shoving them in my bag. I swung the strap over my shoulder. Xavier reached out to take it, but Chay brushed his hand away.
“I’ve got it.” He took my messenger bag and walked out the door.
“Kinda in a bad mood today,” Xavier said, a lazy smile on his lips.
“Mind your own business,” I snapped.
“I am,” he said so close to my ear that my hair moved and my heart fluttered—damn it to hades and back.
***
I didn’t talk to Chay after that. He dropped my bag next to my seat in calculus and walked to his desk. After calculus, he asked Muriel to carry it for me. He didn’t say anything to me.
“What’s up with him?” Muriel asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t think he really feels that great. He should have stayed home.” I took my books. “I can carry them.”
I walked to history alone. Well, not exactly. Xavier was behind me. Until we figured out Abaddon’s plan, we used the buddy system.
“Hey,” Jen said when I passed her room. She fell in step with me. “How’s your side?”
“Great. Feels great,” I answered, still distracted by Chay.
She looked around. “Where’s Chay? He’s not walking with you today?”
“No. He doesn’t feel good.” I didn’t offer any other information.
She looked at me, her brows furrowed. “Huh.”
After history, Xavier and I walked Jen to her next class before we walked on to ours. I had every class with him but two. We walked together from class to class the rest of the day, laughing and joking. I had to admit he was easy to be around when I wasn’t having fantasies about kissing him—which were growing more and more frequent, especially with Chay’s mood not improving. He didn’t walk me to any of my classes that day, which was totally out of character for him.
Chay didn’t show up for lunch either. He had a make-up exam in calculus. I sat with the group at our usual table. Xavier sat next to me, his thigh brushing mine every time he moved, sending jolts of adrenaline zinging through my bloodstream.
Is this normal when someone’s in love? Aren’t I supposed to be immune to other guys? Because I’m most definitely not immune to Xavier. Worse, he knows it. Ugh, I’m a horrible, horrible girlfriend.
Xavier seemed to go out of his way to touch me. A brush of his hand when he’d reach for something, his fingertips trailing across the skin on the back of my neck when he’d place my bag on the back of the chair, and his hand bumping into mine when we’d walk side by side to our next class. With every touch, every innocent—or not so innocent—brush against me, my body went into overdrive. My heart raced and my breathing nearly stopped—tingling in places that I thought were only reserved for Chay’s touch.
I hate feeling this way. I’m with Chay. I love Chay. I want to be with Xavier… whoa, where did that come from? That’s not right. I want to be with Chay.
***
I stood at my locker, looking inside.
What am I supposed to get again?
My mind was toast. I was worrying about Chay and his ever-changing moods.
Geez, I’m a wreck. I can’t even remember why I’m at my locker.
“Hey.” He moved beside me and rested his hand lightly on the small of my back. “What are you doing standing here all alone?”
I looked up at Xavier and smiled. “Nothing,” I answered, trying to ignore his hand on the small of my back, slipping lower than it needed to. “I was just on my way to English. I stopped by my locker to get… something.” I shut the door with a click, spinning the tumbler on the combination lock.
“I’ll walk with you.” He grabbed my bag off my shoulder and swung it over his. We walked down the locker-lined hallway. The blue and gold lockers reflected off the buffed tiled floors. The heels of my boots clip-clopped as I kept in step with him. It was the only sound in the nearly deserted hall, most students having already gone to class. “Here you go,” Xavier said when we reached the door to my English class.
I peered into the classroom. Seeing Chay sitting in his seat watching me, I smiled. He didn’t smile back.