I gulp.
Neither is good, but if I have to choose, I’d rather sit behind him than next to him.
Because let’s face it … even though he looked sexy as hell, I’m nowhere near ready to get that close to someone like him. Someone who clearly knows how to seduce girls with a single smile. Not me. I won’t fall for the trap.
That’s what I tell myself as I quietly sit down behind him and grab my books without drawing too much attention to myself. I used to like it but not anymore. I just want to be the silent girl, the one no one notices, the one no one really knows. Because it sure as hell beats being the girl everybody is talking about.
“Hey,” the girl beside me whispers, “I’m Melanie, but call me Mel.”
“Hi, Mel.” I smile at her, hoping to make a good impression even though I’m terrible at them. “Nice to meet you.”
“Your intro was so short,” she says. “But don’t mind the boys, they’re just messing with you.”
“I won’t,” I reply. “Got those at my old school too. I’ve learned that lesson long ago.”
She smiles. “Why’d you leave? If you don’t mind me asking?”
My heart skips a beat and images of Bobby and me in his room flash through my mind, but I quickly push them away. “My dad had a new job somewhere else.”
“Figured it was something like that,” she says. “What does he do?”
Shit. Now I gotta make up even more lies.
“He’s a CEO.” Well, it’s the truth. He just never switched jobs, but she doesn’t need to know exactly where he works. “Got a better offer elsewhere, so here we are.” I smile it off like it’s the most unimportant shit ever.
“Well, I’m glad you made the switch. I think you’ll fit right in here,” she says, whatever that means. “If you want, I can help you get on track with the assignments. We’re currently reading Shakespeare.”
“Sure,” I reply. Even though I’ve read almost all of his work, I don’t mind her thinking she can help because she might just be my next friend at this school. And I definitely need more friends at this school than just my cousin.
“You sure you wanna do that, new girl?”
I smelled his scent before he even turned around in his seat, but my God … that voice is just as low and husky as I imagined it being.
“Shut up,” Melanie barks at him.
“That’s the kind of girl she is,” he says, raising his brow.
“No one asked you a damn thing,” Melanie says, and she boldly slams her books onto her table.
“No … she doesn’t have to,” he says, and he’s looking straight at me now with those same seductive green eyes that almost make my heart stop.
“Hi,” he says.
“Um … hi,” I mutter back.
I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I’m normally never like this, and I always know what to say. But the minute he turned around, I forgot every single word I wanted to say.
“I didn’t quite catch your name. What was it again?” he muses.
“Monica,” I reply.
“Monica,” he repeats in such a salacious way that it makes the hairs on my skin stand up. “Nice.”
Did he just approve … of my name? Wow.
“Cole Travis,” he says, licking his lip. “But I bet you already knew that.”
“Ughh,” Mel grunts, rolling her eyes so far they almost end up in the back of her head. “You’re so full of yourself.”
“Says the girl who immediately jumps on the new girl like a shark on fresh bait,” he quips.
“I am not,” she retorts. “I’m just trying to be friendly, that’s all.”
“I don’t mind,” I interject, laughing a little to ease the tension.
His eyes narrow. “So … you don’t know anyone here?”
I shake my head. “Not yet, anyway.” Is this his way of inviting me to get to know him? Because I may or may not take him up on that offer. I shouldn’t, but a guy like him would be hard to deny.
“My cousin goes to this school, that’s about it,” I explain.
His eyes narrow for a second. “Interesting.”
Then he turns around again. Just like that, without saying another word. Weird.
“Ignore him, he’s always looking for trouble,” Mel says.
“Ignore her, she’s trying to stir up shit,” he retorts without even looking back at us.
It feels super awkward to be in the middle of this fight. “Did you two …?”
Her eyes widen, and she looks as if she’s seen a ghost. “Oh no, God no, I would never,” she says. Leaning forward, she beckons me to do the same. When I do, she whispers, “He’s a player. He uses girls and treats them like trash. I’d stay the hell away from him if I were you.”
“You’re talking shit about me again, aren’t you, Melanie?” Cole turns around again.
“Guys,” the teacher interrupts us, and we all quickly focus on our books. “Stop talking, please. Open your books to page eleven and read the first paragraph.”
While staring at her book, Mel darts glances my way, and she starts penning something down on a piece of paper. Then she chucks it onto my table.
I pick it up and make sure the teacher isn’t watching before opening it. It’s her phone number with some text underneath that reads: Add me.
After mouthing, “Thanks,” I quickly grab my phone, but right as I’m about to punch in the numbers, the note is snatched out from underneath my nose.
It’s him. “You don’t need this.”
“Hey!”
He spins around in his seat again, right as the teacher looks up at me, and says, “Eyes on the book, please!”
With a frown, I lower my eyes, but I won’t let Cole get away with this so easily. “Give it back.”
When he doesn’t respond, I tap on his back.
“What do you want?” He’s playing me now.
I sigh. Whatever he thinks he’s doing, I’m not playing this game. “Give. It. Back.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He glances at me over his shoulder with that same aloof gaze, but instead of being seductive, it’s now infuriating as hell. Or maybe both. Definitely both, goddammit.
“Yeah, you do. Stop playing around,” I reply.
“I’m not playing, but I can. You wanna hear it?” he says with a devilish smirk on his face. “We have band practice at four.”
I frown and try not to look excited because a tiny part of my heart just did a little jump, but I have to ignore it. He’s the kind of guy you’d steer the hell clear from after going through what I went through.
“I could give this back after you’ve watched us practice …” He flaunts the tiny paper between two fingers, casually flicking it back and forth like a pen. “Or I could keep it.”
I try to snatch it out of his hand, but he immediately retracts and gives me a coy smile. “Nuh-uh, that wasn’t part of the deal.”
“I don’t make deals, especially not with boys.”
He raises a brow. “What do you have against boys?”