I turn on my combat boot to hurry out of her office and the counseling center as fast as I can. The bell rings when I hit the hallway. I pull out my phone to text Cade.
Me – The damn counselor called me in.
Cade isn’t obsessed with his phone, but he is obsessed with information, and his phone gives him direct access to that.
Big Bro – Did you get in trouble?
I sigh as I jog up the steps to my next class.
Me – Not completely, but I do have to stay after school. Louise said she’d pick you up, but I’m sure she’ll send a car. I won’t be too late, but I need to work on chemistry. When I get home, we’ll hang out.
I don’t tell him Louise has a meeting with our counselor and his teachers tomorrow. I’m not sure there’s much more he hates than meetings about him. If he finds out, he’ll lose it.
Big Bro – Fix your grades, Rissa.
Cade might be in a program to make sure he’s not struggling socially, but he’s brilliant. His grades are always stellar.
Me – I’ve gotta go. See you later.
I stuff my phone in the deep pocket of my cardigan. I’m about to do the same with my new tutoring schedule when something catches my eye at the top of it. I smooth out the wrinkled paper.
Levi Hollingsworth.
What?
We moved to BFE Virginia on New Year’s Day. Mrs. Bradley was right—I’ve been here long enough to screw up my Chem grade something bad. I eat lunch with Cade every day, and my only friend is the child genius I sit next to in trigonometry.
Fine, Mason is not a child. He’s a freshman—even though he seems younger than fourteen. However old he is, he’s damn smart since he breezed through every math class I’ve ever hated, and did it before he officially started high school. I think he feels sorry for me since I’m new. Either that, or he pities me since I’m barely hanging onto a C in trig. Whatever it is, he’s nice, so I’m calling him my only friend in Virginia.
Even so…
I know who Levi Hollingsworth is.
Everyone knows who Levi Hollingsworth is.
He’s only the hottest guy in school.
But he’s not hot the way most guys are. Levi is different.
He’s a jock, but I overheard at lunch he’s also in the running for valedictorian.
He also doesn’t beg for attention. He just gets it everywhere he goes.
He’s not quiet, he’s stoic.
He’s not cagey, he’s mysterious.
He’s definitely not social. If I were to look up aloof in the thesaurus, Levi Hollingsworth would be its number one synonym.
And I know all of this because I have a vagina and twenty-twenty vision. I also pass him in the hall everyday between second and third periods. I can further support my theory that he’s all that because he eats lunch two tables over from where Cade likes to sit, and I have to try really hard not to stare at him because the last thing I need is everyone in the Commonwealth knowing I’m a freak.
I’ll keep that secret as long as possible, thank you very much.
This is why I know that Levi is a man among boys—tall and broad with a full head of dark wavy hair. I’ve wondered more than once, or maybe twenty times, what color his eyes are. I’ve never been close enough to tell.
But that’s all about to change.
Today.
After school.
At the library.
In a fucking study room!
“Carissa Collins?”
My head pops up, and I fist the paper in my sweaty hand. “Sorry. Yes, I’m here. What? I mean, did you ask me something? Sorry.”
I wonder if these teachers are immune to idiot teenagers. Ms. Riley doesn’t look surprised I was daydreaming and gets back to her agenda. “Let’s turn to where we left off yesterday in Hamlet.”
I think I might be sick, and it has nothing to do with Shakespeare.
I have two hours to prepare.
Or run away.
I’m thinking the latter is a better bet.
I’m not sure how I can do that when my mom wouldn’t let me bring my car from Phoenix. I’m stuck with Louise’s driver or the bus. And who wants to ride the school bus their junior year?
I grab my book and open it to where we left off yesterday. I didn’t review what we went over last night because Cade was in the mood to rearrange his room so it would look like his old one back home. By the time he felt good about it, it was late, and all I wanted to do was watch shit TV.
I stare at Shakespeare’s words, and despite lit being my favorite subject, I don’t comprehend any of them. Not a single one. All I can think about is chemistry hell, and how I’ll finally get to quit wondering what color Levi’s eyes are.
2
MY MISSION
Levi
“Sorry, man. I’ve got a tutoring gig in five minutes. I’ll catch you next time.”
“You and your service hours. Some of us barely passed the SAT with a high enough score to get into a shitty college. Your perfection makes me want to puke in your shiny, new Jeep after a field party.” Jack is the goalie on our varsity lacrosse team, and there are days I think he’s been hit over the head too many times with a stick. He slams his locker shut and turns to me. “But that’ll never happen since you refuse to be my DD. Wait—they should give you service hours for being my damn DD. We’d both benefit, and you’d be making the world a safer place.”
I tip my head and glare at him before turning to leave. I’ve known him forever. There’s a fifty-fifty chance he’s serious. “You’re a fucking idiot.”
His stride falls into a steady tempo next to mine. “I know you love me, Hollingsworth. There’s no need to try and hate me for who I am. The bully bromance might work with some guys, but I’m not like them—I see through those walls you’ve built around yourself. You’re hurting inside, and you’re taking it out on me.”
I roll my eyes and don’t even bother glancing at him. “Is your mom still forcing you to watch Hallmark movies?”
“She wants me to get in touch with my sensitive side.” When I hear the shit-eating grin in his tone, I look over. I’m not wrong, but along with the fucking grin, he brings his hand up and makes the universal sign for jacking off. “It’s amazing what my imagination can do to a goody-two shoes who runs a stationary shop in small-town Vermont. You should try it. It’s hot. Might help you release some of that pent-up, negative energy rolling off you. I can actually feel it. I worry about your aura.”
“My aura is just fine, Jackie.”
“See, that’s what I’m talking about. We have a history. We’ve been tight since we were shitting our pants together. It’s why I accept you for who you are—the high-maintenance, wounded hero who needs saving.” He grabs my biceps and stops us in the crowded hall as teenagers of all shapes and sizes move around us, trying to escape after a long Monday. We’re an island of rushing hormones. “Let me save you, Levi. You’ve got your scholarship locked up, signed and sealed. You tied down the mid-fielder position for Johns-fucking-Hopkins University. You’ll soon be dripping in national championship jewels. But we have half a semester left before the universe tries to tear us apart like an abusive ex-husband at the eighty-percent mark. Let me save you from your boring-ass self before you die a tragic death of normalcy.”