Something There

Chapter Thirty-Two

Songs for this chapter:
• Fools - Madison Beer

Chapter Thirty-Two:

"Five . . . four . . . three . . . two—"

Jasmine's countdown is cut off by the shrill sound of the bell ringing.

It's Friday, more specifically the last day of school before Christmas break. Jasmine has been counting down until the bell all English period, and I began counting how many times Jordan flicked her in the arm for it.

"Great timing," Bryce mocks, patting Jasmine on the back as he slings his backpack over one shoulder.

"You're such an asshole," she puffs, and Bryce winks at her before turning on his heel and heading straight out of the room.

Jasmine rolls her eyes at me and I give her a helpless shrug, scurrying after Bryce.

When he catches me following him, he stops in place to wait for me. I smile at this, and when we're side by side, he wraps his arm around my shoulders, making me feel short as always.

"What are you doing for Christmas?" I ask him as we walk together towards the lockers.

He pulls me closer to his side as we snake through a vast crowd of excited students, but his arm drops from around me when we find ourselves standing directly in front of our lockers.

I reach to twist open my lock as Bryce does the same, answering, "I'm not sure. My dad and I will probably just stay in and do nothing all day."

"You guys don't have any traditions or anything?" I ask, popping my locker door open and shoving all my binders inside, then retrieving my jacket.

Bryce shakes his head at me. "Nah. My dad almost invited my grandfather to fly down though, but I managed to convince him otherwise," Bryce tells me, pulling his sweatshirt down over his head, causing his shirt to ride up a tad bit.

This exposes a few inches of his abs, and I have to pry my eyes away.

God, Lexi. You're such a creep.

"You don't get along well with your grandpa?" I ask, and Bryce laughs a little.

"He's a character. You'll see what I mean if you ever meet him someday. He thinks my music career is a waste of time, and he also hates speaking English so we usually spend the majority of the time arguing in Arabic," he says, and I bite my lip as I listen to him.

"I'm sorry to hear that," I say, and he shakes his head at me.

Raising one of his hands to tuck my hair behind my ear, he bends down a little so his face is closer to mine.

"You always have so much sympathy to give. Why's that?" he asks me, his voice low and quiet.

I gulp hard at the close proximity, but I don't get a chance to answer him before there's a harsh tug on my arm.

I spin around to find my brother beside me.

"Can we hurry up and get out of here? I really hate this place and now that we're off for almost two weeks, I want out," he tells me, and I chuckle, watching as Bryce straightens out his back, tucking his hands into his pockets.

"Don't be such an ass, Charles," Bryce comments, walking past us and heading right down the stairs.

"That's rich, coming from you," Charlie replies, following Bryce and dragging me along with him.

I'm a little mad that I didn't get to say goodbye to any of my friends before we don't see each other for awhile, but it will have to do seeing as my brother is barely paying me any attention.