Heart for Three

11

Ava

A car door slammed somewhere outside and my eyes flew open.

After talking to my mom on the phone for hours last night, I must have fallen asleep doing homework. The papers crumpled under my weight as I rolled over and a few fluttered to the ground from my movement.

One glance at the clock and my heart dropped into my stomach. I'd slept through my alarm.

"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit." I muttered to myself, scrambling to climb out of bed. I grabbed a pair of shorts and a t-shirt out of my dresser, quickly throwing them on as I ran into the bathroom and hurriedly brushed my teeth.

I glanced out the window, noticing that Lily's car was gone. I wondered if she had tried to offer me a ride again, and if I'd slept through her knocking.

My feet thundered on the stairs as I rushed down them, throwing my book bag over my shoulder. I jammed my glasses onto my face, not having time to deal with my contacts.

"Bye Zoey!" I yelled, slamming the door behind me.

"Dammit, I need a car." I thought angrily as I ran down the block. The bus stop for the shuttle was two more blocks over, and I still had two minutes to make it there.

I skidded to a stop as I reached the sign for my bus. My chest heaved and I leaned forward, placing my hands on my knees as I tried to catch my breath. There were a few other students still waiting there as well and I huffed in relief.

I had just pulled out my phone to text Brandon when the bus pulled up.
We climbed in single file and I found an empty seat toward the back.

The bus was quiet as it lurched forward. Every now and then someone would yawn or stretch, still tired at this early hour.

The two girls in the seat behind me were whispering to each other, and in the silence of the sleepy bus, I couldn't help but overhear their conversation. My ears perked up when I heard a certain name being muttered.

"Jax totally ditched us last night." The one whined.

I sat up straighter in my seat, leaning back slightly to catch the others reply.

"Really? Are you sure you got the right time?"

I feigned a stretch, glancing back to put faces to their voices.

"For scientific purposes." I told myself.

A pretty, petite blonde shook her head at her friend, annoyance clear on her face.

"Yea, I'm sure. He wouldn't answer our texts and kept denying our calls. Eventually his phone just went straight to voicemail."

I pressed my lips together, suppressing the smile that threatened to grow on my face.

"Stupid." I thought to myself. So what if he blew off the chance to have a threesome? I shouldn't be happy about that. I repeated the promise I had made to myself yesterday. Jax Hadley didn't matter to me, he had no effect on me. And I definitely had no interest in him whatsoever.

The bus pulled up to the school and I happily got off, away from the reminder of the guy who may or may not have made an appearance in my dreams last night.

After buying my breakfast, I found my friends sitting in the cafeteria where I had met them yesterday and huffed as I sat down next to Maci.

"Whoa, Ava, I'm diggin' the bed head." Dean said, wiggling his eyebrows at me. "And the glasses? You've got a real sexy librarian vibe goin' on." A very unladylike snort left my mouth and I ran a hand through my mess of hair. My fingers snagged on a tangle and I winced.