I leaned back so I could look up at him. He didn’t need to make anything right. But I’m glad he wanted to take care of me. “Maybe if you could just kind of rub your hand up and down my back and remind me to breathe?” I tried not to wince. It was exactly what James had done. I hoped Matt didn’t remember.
He dropped his forehead to mine. “I can do that,” he said, his cinnamon scent surrounding me. “How often do you get them?”
I sighed. “Just when Isabella scares me.”
“So a lot then?” he said with a laugh.
I gently hit his arm.
“We should probably get to class,” Matt said. “We don’t want to piss off Mr. Hill.”
No we do not. “One sec.” I opened my locker and grabbed my entrepreneurial studies book. I usually looked forward to class to see Matt but dreaded it because of Mr. Hill. But Mr. Hill had actually been a little nicer to me recently. He hadn’t made me read out loud in ages. The last time he’d called me out at all was when I was dancing too close to Rob at homecoming. I wanted to think it was because he was friends with my uncle. But maybe me suddenly having tons of money played a role too.
We made our way to class with my hand in his. It was the first time I’d been to class with him like this. It was only several weeks ago that I stared at the back of his head and daydreamed. And now we were engaged. Engaged. That hadn’t really sunk in yet. I’m freaking engaged to Matthew Caldwell.
“No way,” Matt said when I went to my normal seat. “Sit next to me.”
“Won’t Rob be mad that I stole his seat?”
Matt shrugged. “Yeah, I don’t really care what the hell he thinks. You’re sitting with me.” He pulled the desk slightly closer to his and I laughed.
Rob walked in right when I sat down.
He smiled at me and stopped right next to his old desk. “Did you seriously steal my seat, Sanders?”
“I can move…”
“I’m just messing with you,” he said with a wink. “If it were anyone else, I’d complain. But now I just get to stare at you during class, so it’s a win-win for me.” He sat down in my old seat and whistled. “Yeah, this is a great view.”
Matt turned around. “I swear to God…”
“Did you hear something, Sanders?” Rob asked. “It sounds like there’s a really high-pitched little girl complaining about something, but I don’t see anyone…”
“Can’t you guys just kiss and make up already?” I asked.
Rob laughed.
Matt didn’t.
“I knew you were funny,” Rob said. “One of the many reasons why I think we’d make a much better couple. Isn’t dating the high school football star a little cliché? Soccer’s a much sexier sport, Sanders. It has international appeal. We could travel the globe together.” He gave me another flirtatious wink.
Was he trying to start a fight?
“If you haven’t noticed the ring on her finger, she’s mine, dipshit,” Matt said.
“I don’t know…yesterday when we were hanging out she said it was just a promise ring. As far as I’m concerned, promises are just declarations that are begging to be broken. What do you say, Sanders? Meet me in the treehouse at midnight?”
Yeah, he was definitely trying to start a fight. Somewhere in all that ridiculousness were fighting words. And I needed to put a stop to it right now because Matt looked like he was about to strangle Rob. “I’m happy with Matt,” I said. “Which I made clear yesterday. So I won’t be meeting you in your treehouse. And also like I said yesterday…I’d appreciate it if you stopped flirting with me. I know you’re just trying to get under Matt’s skin.”
Rob put his elbows on his desk and leaned forward. “I love a girl who knows how to take control.”
“Is there a problem back there?” Mr. Hill asked.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit. He was going to make me read out loud for the entire period. I could feel myself sinking in my seat.
“No? Great. May I continue then?”
“Of course, Mr. Hill,” Rob said.
Mr. Hill squinted at him and then cleared his throat. “Very well.”
So he’s not going to punish me? Thank God. Just as I started to breathe a little easier, Mr. Hill started talking again.
“As you know from the syllabus, there is no midterm per se in this class. But I will need a status update on your projects. I expect them by the end of the week.”
Oh, crap. How were we supposed to finish our group project when Rob and Matt were fighting? James had given us a pretty good head start on the website. But we still had to figure out exactly what was going to make our fitness site unique.
I glanced over at Matt. He was staring at the board, but it didn’t look like he was paying attention at all.
I needed to make sure he knew I was all in with him. I didn’t want him to have any more doubts. I picked up my pen and jotted him a note:
How do you think your parents would feel about me moving in until Isabella goes off to college? Or more importantly…how would you feel about that? Would you get sick of me after a year?
I tore out the sheet from my notebook, made sure Mr. Hill wasn’t looking, and slid it onto Matt’s desk.
He read it and a smile spread across his face. “Are you serious?” he whispered.
“My dad said it was okay,” I whispered back. “If it’s okay with your parents, I mean.”
“I don’t think they’d mind at all. My mom already loves you.”
I smiled.
“And what about you?” I whispered. “You want me to stay?”
“Are you kidding? Of course I do.”
“I’m not going to ask again,” Mr. Hill said. “Is there a problem back there?”
“Sorry, Mr. Hill,” Matt said. “It was all me.”
“Great, Mr. Caldwell. Then how about you pick up on page 107 then? Second paragraph down.”
Matt gave me a small smile and then opened up his book and started reading. And reading. And reading. He seemed to take the punishment a lot better than me. Where I stumbled over the words, he read them perfectly.