The Styles Brothers

Chapter Twelve: Worth It

I walked into fifth period, waved goodbye to Amanda, and made my way to the back. Harry was gazing out the window, chin in hand.

"Daydreaming about Jo?" I teased, nudging him. He simply smiled. "You really like her, don't you?" I asked again, opening up my book.

"Yeah." He replied. "Yeah, I think I do."

I felt the involuntary female pang of jealousy, but it was greatly overshadowed by happiness. Harry was so cold and volatile, I was glad he had found someone to balance that out with someone like Jo.

As Burton lectured in the front of the room and drew mindless equations on the chalkboard, I doodled on a blank page of my notebook.. Harry's hand came to hover over the page and we ended up playing a very competitive round of tic-tac-toe.

"Damn it," I muttered, losing for the fourth time.

"There's a secret," Harry told me, motioning to his neat X's. "If you can take three corners, you'll either win or tie."

"Huh," I said, and we went again. This time, I won.

"Yes!" I cheered rather loudly, and everyone turned to glare, including Burton. I ducked down in my seat, shaking with silent laughter.

After the bell, Harry escorted me to Art where James met me at the door. I gave him a shy smile, and he put a hand on my back as we moved to our seats.

The blonde girl that sat next to James glared at me, and I maturely stuck my tongue out at her before taking my my seat. The boy next to me was asleep again, but woke at the sound of my books hitting the desk.

I realized he was one of Clayton's groupies, and he gave me a wide smile. I had to admit, he was pretty darn cute, with black hair and hazel eyes.

"Hi, I'm Drew. And you're beautiful," he winked.

James growled lowly in my head.

"Actually, I'm Elena," I responded, before turning my attention away from him and to my art folder.

Throughout the class, James kept mentally commenting on Nelson's erratic behavior. I broke into peals of laughter every now and then, earning odd looks from everyone in the room.

"Can you shut up?" The blonde girl behind me- Annalise, as she introduced herself rather loudly to James- hissed after a particularly hilarious comment.

"Leave her alone," James snarled in a voice that was very much unlike his usual gentleness. Annalise seemed shocked but simply huffed and ducked her head.

When sixth period finally ended, I swept out of class eagerly with James on my tail. We made our way over to the Ferraris, and I pulled out my keys, seeing my car waiting for me. I hadn't driven it in days, and I was almost certain I was having withdrawals.

"Where do you think you're going?" Said a voice in my ear as a strong arm slunk around my waist, restricting me from going any further.

"Trying to get to my car," I struggled against James' muscular forearm as I clicked the unlock button. I was so close...

"Nope," Harry's voice chimed in as he swept my legs off the ground. James caught my upper body before I ate the dust.

"Hey!" I cried, wildly flailing for my BMW, which I was being dragged further away from by the second.

"Come on, stop fighting. You've got to go to work with one of us so we can watch you," Harry said as they deposited me in the back seat. I folded my arms crossly and gazed sadly at my car.

"Oh, don't look so sad," Harry teased. "I'll bake you something."

"You bake?" I asked incredulously, the longing for my freedom momentarily forgotten.