Our eyes hold for a beat before I step toward her. I reach out, ready to take her cheek in my hand, to connect with her in some way, but her body tenses and it's like she puts up an impenetrable wall between us.
My hand drops to my side and my shoulders slump. "Ken—"
"Don't," she snaps. "We've got nothing to talk about."
My chin drops at her cold words. She makes the most of my shock and takes off. Her arm brushes mine as she passes, but even in my state, I still feel that spark of electricity when we touch.
"Mr. Jagger. Shall we?" Vager says, breaking through the silence and the blood that's rushing past my ears at her dismissal.
Regretfully, I follow him to his office and fall down onto one of the seats. I haven’t been in here since the day we started. Shit, that seems like a million years ago now.
"I expected better from you, Conner," Vager reprimands as he lowers to his chair, rests his elbows on his huge mahogany desk, and steeples his fingers.
"Well, then maybe you don't know me very well."
He reaches out and slides a piece of paper in front of him.
"Your teachers seem to have a good impression of you." His eyes flick over the paper. "And your GPA is impressive."
"Thanks," I mutter, not really all that interested in hearing about my performance. I know all this shit. People might not think it when they look at me, but I work fucking hard for it.
"Have you mailed your college applications?"
Those envelopes still sitting on my desk taunt me even from here.
"No, not yet."
"Why not? The deadline is approaching."
"I'm aware."
"Where are you hoping to go?"
"I'm sorry, is this meant to be a guidance counselor meeting or an ass-ripping for skipping yesterday?"
"Uh..." He hesitates, his eyebrows almost hitting his hairline. "I like to think of it as more of a reality check."
"With all due respect, I know all about reality. We shouldn't have skipped yesterday, I'm aware. But Lylah got her claws into someone I care about, and my loyalties lie with Kennedy. Always."
"Understood. Keep a close eye on her. She needs to fit in here, not paint a target on her back. I don't want to have to go to your un—” he corrects himself, “father and tell him that I'm no longer able to help."
My brow rises. Is he threatening to go against James Jagger? I might not know all that much about our illusive father yet, but I do know that he's not a man you say no to.
"Kenny will fit in just fine. You just need to keep your zoo animals in order. Cage them, maybe. Are we done? Only, I don't want to be late to class. Got to keep that GPA up, right?" I smirk at him as I push to stand and back toward the door.
"We are. Send those applications, Conner. I know it's a big step. But you'll regret it if you miss the deadline and have to fight for a place. Despite some obvious things since you started here, any college would be lucky to have you."
I tilt my chin, the only thing I'm willing to give him to show I heard his words before spinning on my heels and marching toward statistics.
Kenny and I don't have many classes together, so the only time I get to see her is at lunch or in the few minutes we get as we move between subjects.
Each time I spot her across the hallway, her head is down as if she's trying to vanish into the crowd. I have no idea if she's trying to hide from me or just everyone, but all she's achieving is pissing me off.
"I need you to do something for me," I bark at Christian, the IT nerd who’s done Ace’s and Cole’s dirty work in the past. As predicted, he’s sitting at a computer during lunch.
"Great," he mutters under his breath, but I catch it.
"Careful, or I won't make it worth your while."
"What do you need?"
"Kennedy Lowe's schedule."
"That it?"
"Yeah."
In only minutes he's printing it out for me.
"Appreciate it, man." I slap him on the shoulder, probably a little harder than he was expecting, before stalking out of the room, staring down at the piece of paper and discovering where she's going to be last period.
I slip out of my class a little early. Thankfully, my teacher doesn't even bat an eyelid, other than to look slightly terrified of me as I march toward her.
I know Ace, Cole, and I have a rep around here, but I can't help thinking that it's a little over the top, for me especially. I haven’t exactly lived a life on the edge. I've saved most of the drama for Ace and Cole. My indiscretions don't go much further than occasionally getting high, and fighting. That doesn't mean I'm not as capable as them though.
I'm standing directly opposite her classroom door with my back and foot resting on the wall behind me. A few kids emerge. A couple bother to look up, but most just ignore my existence—fine by me.
I spot her head behind the crowd, and just like earlier, she's staring at the floor, hoping to become invisible. It won't work though, especially with me. I'll always see her.
"K," I say, stepping up to her and stopping her exit. She pauses, her shoulders dropping in defeat, but she should realize that it'll take more than that to get rid of me.
She looks up slightly, her gaze running up my body as if she's committing it to memory before her tired eyes meet mine.
Kenny sighs. "Excuse me," she whispers, stepping around me but not getting very far before I reach for her.
I hold her stare, silently begging her not to do this, not to shut me out and send me away again.
Most of yesterday was so incredible. I had my girl back again, but then I fucked up. I shouldn't have kissed her. I knew that even as I was doing it, but my pull to her, as ever, was too strong. It was why I had to back away when she chose Warren over me. I couldn't just hang around and watch him with the girl I always thought should have been mine.
"K, please. Don't do this."
"Will you get out of the fucking way?" someone from behind her barks, and it's not until then that I realize we're totally blocking the doorway.
Reaching out, I wrap my hand around her forearm and tug her out of the way. She doesn't see it coming and stumbles in front of me until she crashes into my chest.
Steadying her, I wrap my arm around her waist, pressing her into me tighter. My temperature spikes a few notches at having the length of her body pressed up against mine, but I only get to enjoy it for a second or two, because the moment she comes back to herself, she tenses and fights to get out of my hold.
"Get off me," she barks, slamming her palms down on my chest.
"K, chill out."
"No, I will not fucking chill out. Get off me," she repeats, her voice lower and more threatening than before. Not that I could ever find anything about her scary... well, maybe aside from how she's the only girl who's ever had the ability to shatter me.
So maybe I should be scared of her. Terrified, actually.
Unable to do anything but what she demands, I reluctantly release her. "Are you..."
"I need to go," she says, spinning to get away from me.
"I just want to talk," I call, racing after her.