Page 47 of Delayed Penalty

“All right. That’s enough for tonight. Some of us have school early tomorrow.” She runs her hand overFlora’s head, smiling down at her. “Good night, little flower.”

Flora sighs. “Good night, Just Quinn.”

Quinn rises from the bed, and I scramble away, tucking myself into my bedroom just as she closes Flora’s door with a softsnick. I watch through the crack in mine as she leans against the wood, exhaling heavily like she’s exhausted from the day, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she was between moving and everything else.

But there’s something else to the sigh, like she’s relieved almost. I move to ask her if everything’s okay, but she beats me to it.

“You did it, Quinn,” she says to herself. “You survived day one, and you didn’t die, you didn’t mess up, and you’re not on the verge of being homeless, so you did it. Now, don’t fuck this up just because he slipped up and kissed you earlier and you want him to do it again. Got it?”

She nods, answering herself like a completely crazy person. But that’s not the part that gets me. It’s what she said.

She wants me to kiss her again.

And fuck if I don’t want to too.

CHAPTER 10

SERPENTS SINGLES GROUP CHAT

Lawson: HAYESY. Why’d you run away after praccy today? I had questions!

Keller: Probably because he’s tired of looking at your ugly mug.

Lawson: My mug is NOT ugly. Rory thinks I’m hot.

Keller: Your mom thinks I’m hot.

Locke: Oh god.

Fox: Here we go.

Lawson: Actually, just this morning, my mom told me she’s looking forward to this season but maintains that you, Kells, should have been tradedover the summer.

Keller: Weird. Because she told me this morning that she wished she had swallowed.

Locke: OH FUCK.

Fox: Damn. He WENT there.

Hayes: Shit, I think even I might have to dip out of this one.

Hutch: Dude.

Keller: Holy shit. I think I might have actually gotten Lawson to shut the fuck up.

Lawson: Oh, don’t worry. I’m still here. Just trying to figure out which of your legs I should break. Which one are you more partial to, left or right?

Keller: Please. Like you could ever get close enough to hurt me. I’m too fast for you.

Lawson: Yeah, right. We all know I’m the fastest one.

Keller: Bullshit.

Lawson: Want to bet? Race tomorrow?

Fox: I feel like I’m back in elementary school right now, two idiots seeing who is the fastest on the playground.

Hutch: You definitely have the idiots part right.

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