Page 17 of The Charade

He nodded. "I figured as much. I noticed you and your sister's pins yesterday at dinner."

"You noticed our pins?"

Wow, way to state the obvious, Ava.

A slight smirk lifted his lips. "I'm quite observant."

And because I seemed to be on a quest to make Carter Hastings think I was truly an idiot, I said, "You were so enamored with your book during dinner yesterday that I wouldn't blame you if you forgot we were even at your table."

A hint of a smile graced his soft pink lips. "Looks like I wasn't the only observant person at the table yesterday."

And when he winked at me, my heart had the gall to skip a beat.

But I told it to stop because my heart was just being stupid, fluttering over someone like Carter. Just because he may be the world's most beautiful human being didn't mean I needed to care about him. I was pretty sure he already cared about himself enough from his all-too arrogant vibe.

Deciding to get down to business, I glanced around me to make sure no one was listening. "I assume you know why our teacher had me sit by you?"

He shrugged his broad shoulders. "Because you and math aren't exactly on the best of terms at the moment?" he said in a low voice so others wouldn't overhear.

"I guess that's one way to put it," I said, even though admitting my flaw to this guy who had an air of perfection about him wasn't exactly doing my pride any favors.

Just then, a girl I'd never seen in person before but knew more about than I'd care to admit walked into the room. The girl who Scarlett had warned me would be coming to this school.

"Ah, Miss Cardoso," Mrs. Simmons said when the supermodel strolled in. "So glad you could join us."

Sofia Cardoso, who somehow made the same exact uniform I was wearing look like it belonged on the runway, tipped her head to our instructor and said, "Sorry I'm late. I had my schedule mixed up."

"Just take your seat next to Miss McCall." Mrs. Simmons nodded to a girl with curly blonde hair on the front row. "We were just about to get started, so you haven't missed anything important yet."

Sofia moved to take the seat the teacher had indicated, but before sitting, her gaze dropped down to Carter for a long moment.

Carter sat up a little straighter. But as I watched the two, I noticed that he seemed to refuse to look in the Brazilian beauty's direction. Instead, his blue-eyed gaze was intent on the whiteboard ahead, as if the notes our teacher had written up there were suddenly the most interesting things in the world.

As if she understood that Carter was refusing to give her the time of day, Sofia shrugged as she sat next to the girl our teacher had called Miss McCall.

As Mrs. Simmons welcomed the rest of the class back for the new year, my mind drifted off to wonder what exactly had happened between Carter and Sofia. Because whatever it was, he clearly wasn't ready to be friends with his ex-girlfriend yet.

6

Carter

Okay.So far, so good.

Just two minutes left and I’ll have successfully made it through my first class with Sofia.

She'd walked into our math class after the bell, which wasn’t typical for her. Back when we were dating last year, she, like me, had always liked to be on time for things.

But something had seemed off when she came in this morning. She still looked as put-together and beautiful as she always did—her uniform freshly pressed, her dark hair slicked back into the high ponytail that showed off her elegant neck.

I couldn't put my finger on what was different exactly, but there just was a different energy about her when she walked in.

Less confidence, maybe?

Though I wouldn't know why. She was more famous than my dad was—and my dad was the seventh richest person in the United States.

And she was dating a viscount the last time I checked.

Was it wrong of me to hope that she'd walked into our class with her tail between her legs because she regretted the way she'd dumped me?

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