How To Rule Your High School

Chapter 28: Madison Makes a Move

Care to share where you were after school today?

I snorted as I read the text, my phone buzzing to life next to my half-finished math homework. Dakota clearly hadn't wasted any time telling Ethan about my fact-finding mission. I tried to ignore Ethan's text for as long as possible, but when I read the same sentence of the same word problem three times over I knew I had to address it.

Caught up on the local gossip at the Beanery

I waited, staring at the screen. Ethan's reply bubble popped up, then disappeared. A few seconds later it popped up again.

Stormed a meeting sounds more like it

I made a face at my phone, throwing it onto my bed so I could focus on the stupid word problem. As I read it over again, sketching out the geometry on my scrap paper, I wondered with annoyance when I'd ever have to calculate the wind speed based on how fast a plane made its return journey. Not my job, Mr Grant, not my job.

My phone started buzzing in earnest this time and I groaned as I pushed away from my desk. I stalked over to my bed and stared down at it, letting it ring through to voicemail. It went silent once again, only to buzz to life a few seconds later as Ethan called me back. I let that one go through to voicemail again, satisfied that I'd stirred him up enough.

I thought you trusted me.

The text came through when I'd finally finished the sheet of math problems and was happily ensconced in an episode of the Kardashians before bed. I couldn't help but grit my teeth as the list of reasons for me to not trust Ethan started multiplying in my head. Dakota's actions had confirmed what the A's had told me at the Beanery - there was definitely something up between Dakota and Ethan. She had tried too hard to be nonchalant, but the whole falling off the step stool thing had busted her veneer of indifference. If there was one thing I'd learned as an A, it was how to tell when you've pushed someone's buttons. Talking about kissing Ethan had pushed Dakota's buttons more than anything an A had ever thrown her way. Ethan accusing me of not trusting him was the cherry on top of the entire day. He had to realize I wasn't stupid enough to take that bait at face value.

I gnashed my teeth as my fingers hovered over the keyboard. I wanted to give him a good solid text lashing, but I knew that the second I started typing, the reply bubble would pop up on his screen. Clearly my lack of response had him bothered, as evidenced by the missed calls, and I debated whether replying or maintaining my silence would bother him more. After the roller coaster he'd taken me on today, I finally decided that he didn't deserve the decency of a reply.

I chucked my phone away again, the text burning in my mind. Trust him, I scoffed, like hell that would happen. The warm fuzzies I'd felt that afternoon when I thought about him had turned into a pit in my stomach. Had he meant a single thing that he'd said? Or was this all a game to him? Did he really refuse to switch lab partners because he thought I had to work it out with Tyler? Or was it because he and Dakota were a thing?

More importantly, how on Earth was I going to address this tomorrow? Did I want to be with Ethan after all this drama? Did I really have any choice? Did I have any friends left besides him? Because I sure as heck wasn't going back to Tyler and Courtney after their stunt today.

Switching off my phone when Ethan tried to call again, I lay awake in bed, staring at the ceiling as I racked my mind to come up with a plan. Two things had become clear to me as I pondered my day: the first was that there was definitely something fishy going on between Ethan and Dakota. The second was that I cared - a lot. And that was probably the most unnerving. Whether it was because Ethan had become more desirable since someone else wanted him, because I felt like I was losing him to that someone else, or because I had genuinely started to fall for him, I had no idea. My head and my heart were a garbled mess of emotions, especially when they replayed my lunchtime conversation.