Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 112951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Shay Coleman wasn’t just the big guy on campus. He was a big fucking deal. He was loved beyond being loved. I heard enough about him from Gage, from Gage’s friends, from even the rumors in my dorm when I would walk down the hallway that I didn’t have to know him personally to know just how adored he was. It was an odd reality, but it was what it was.
There were people openly watching him, and there were others who were more discreet, but they were still watching. What happened here could set the gossip mills spinning.
I knew that was a drawback, and he could set the tone for my entire year. If the high school harassment was going to start here, it could come from him.
Flashbacks from last year flooded my mind, and I couldn’t take it.
Feeling a chill down my spine, I grabbed my bag and tossed it to the empty seat two down in my row.
His eyebrows rose.
Then everyone who was just watching him was watching me.
A sudden hush came over the people closest to us.
I grabbed my books and phone and then I stood. I moved right in front of him, and he stood there, holding his own books in front of him. Dumping the bag onto the floor, I plopped back down. Then I sat, and I stared straight ahead.
He didn’t move. I knew he was looking at me.
My eyes flickered to the right, and I saw confusion written all over a girl’s face. She bit her lip, her eyes skirting from me to Shay until I felt him move past me.
My shoulders dropped and I relaxed until I heard him say, “Linde, switch seats with me.”
I closed my eyes.
The offensive lineman didn’t argue. He grabbed his things and moved, sitting behind where I had been.
Shay Coleman sat behind me, and I sucked in my breath.
This guy shouldn’t bother me, I tried telling myself. I knew of him, but I didn’t actually know him. I had never talked to him. He had never hit on me or called me a bitch after I turned him down. He hadn’t dated me and then slept with one of my best friends behind my back.
There was no reason for this instant loathing, but it was there.
I tried to force a calming breath out. Maybe there was no reason for my alarms to be going off. Maybe no one noticed? They just thought I was weird, which I was, but maybe it wasn’t as noticeable as I thought—but nope.
He leaned forward and whispered, his breath teasing my neck, “Checkmate.” I heard his soft and low laughter.
I would sit in the front the next time. I made my mind up. He’d stay in the back with his friends. I could move. It wouldn’t be a big deal.
Our professor announced, “I hope you enjoy where you sat today, because these are your permanent seating arrangements.”
I expelled a sudden and not-so-quiet groan. That had been a bad joke.
Just like this freaking group project now.
The only place I could turn was where he was.
I had an irrational hope that he had pulled into the group on my right. That would make sense, but no. When I remained there, the only one not in a group and still sitting forward in my seat, I heard him say, “You can join us, Clarke.”
Clarke.
He said my last name as if we were friends.
But I was the friendless loser in that classroom.
Resigned, I grabbed the edge of my chair and began moving it around. The other four guys were in a separate group. Shay was pulled in as well, along with Linde, a girl who sat across from me, and another girl, too. Both of the girls started at the mention of my name, and I felt their curiosity right away.
One was dressed in a tan sweater and skinny jeans. Her hair was piled high in a messy bun, and if she had told me she was a sorority girl, I wouldn’t have been surprised.
I was stereotyping, and I felt bad for that, but I swear that she had the look.
The other girl was less flashy but dressed similar to the first girl. Skinny jeans and a white sweater instead of tan. Her dark hair hung loose. Both wore natural-looking makeup, light pink lipstick, and eye shadow. The first was beautiful, but the second girl’s eyes were a little too wide for her face to put her in the same category.
I skimmed a look over at Linde. He had a round face with laugh lines creased by his mouth and eyes. I’d heard him laugh enough over the past two weeks to know they were there for a reason. He was large, built like an ox, and whenever I looked at him, I was hit with the urge to hug him like a teddy bear.