Aria Matthews is in love with her best friend, Lucas Miller. It is the best kept secret since Area 51 and she knows she would take it to the grave. But things start changing in her senior year of high school when another of her friends takes it upon...
"Alright everyone, pens down. Time's up," Mrs. Lane announced. The quiz was done and I was feeling smug about the fact that I had done quite well, not to brag. I'd had a bit of foreboding because Luke had not talked to me or texted me at all after school the previous day, claiming he needed to study. But that ominous feeling was long gone. No way would he score more than me. I was at the top of my game, thank you very much.
I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. Our desks were separated today but he still sat about an arm's distance from me.
His posture was hunched, as he stared down at his paper. He had stopped writing but was nervously biting the back of his pen. Triumphant in my inevitable victory, I hid my grin as Mrs. Lane started collecting the quiz papers and started daydreaming of his lean muscular body in a pink frilly skirt. Maybe I could fish out a matching pink blouse from Venus' closet too.
After Mrs. Lane had collected all the papers and had dismissed us, I turned to Luke. "So, how did you do?"
"As well as can be expected," Luke said, shrugging. We left the classroom, walking to our lockers.
"Are you mentally prepared to lose then?"
"Hold your horses, Doll. Let Mrs. L be the judge of that."
"Wait, why do you look so tired?" I asked, standing before him so he had to stop walking. His eyes were hooded, dark bags like bruises under his eyes.
"Coz I've been working hard," he said in a matter-of-fact voice. "Especially since I needed to beat you."
I grinned at him. "Oh, we'll see about that."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Hey Yasmeen!"
She stopped but did not turn around, her body stiff. It was the end of the school day and I was just about to hitch a ride with Ana when I spotted her. Telling Ana to go on without me, I hurried after Yasmeen. I had no idea how long this would take but I really needed to talk to her.
"Are you okay?" I asked, when I reached her.
"Yes, of course." Her go-away-and-leave-me-alone voice was not going to deter me. Not today.
I stared at her, trying to decide how best to approach this. "What happened that day?"
She sighed, avoiding my eyes. "Nothing happened, okay Aria? Please, just leave me alone."
I blocked her path, but my resolve began to melt at the look of trepidation on her face. "Why won't you let me help you?"
"Because you can't!" Her words were pleading but her eyes kept searching for something. I realized she was probably looking for Nathan and his cronies. Did they mess with her every day?
"How are you getting home?" I needed to change tactics to get through to her.
"Uh- I'll walk?"
"Great. I'll walk with you. My house is this way too. You don't even have to talk to me if you don't want to." My house was over a mile away but even my lazy bum would walk that much if it would help someone out.
