Page 31 of Filthy Elites

“Sorry. I was distracted.”

His gaze travels past my head. “I can see why. I wouldn’t worry though. Sloane has been after Jason since I can remember. If he wanted to date her, he would have already.”

“Why are you telling me? I don’t care who he dates.”

He smiles knowingly. “Sure you don’t. Anyway, gotta go.”

It doesn’t occur to me until he leaves that he’s acting as if he doesn’t know that I hung out with Justice on Saturday. I’m sure if he knew, he wouldn’t be friendly toward me. How did Jason find out about it so fast?

Like a dumbass, I look again in his direction, but he’s gone.

ChapterFourteen

Nicola/Isabelle

Jason misses Spanish,and of course I wonder if he went somewhere with Sloane. The idea irritates me beyond reason. The silver lining on the situation is that, because I’m obsessing about Jason, I don’t have another panic attack in class.

During the rest of the day, I keep looking over my shoulder, waiting for Jason to spring up from a corner and do something nasty. He doesn’t, and I don’t get a glimpse of him anywhere until it’s time for music with Mrs. Simpson.

My excitement is diminished severely knowing that I have to play with him. And worst of all, my attempt to find a violin online yesterday was an epic failure, so all I have is the ridiculous rainbow explosion Jason got me. I can already picture the mocking looks I’ll get from Sloane.

I wonder what she’d do if she knew Jason kissed me on Friday. I don’t think she’d be happy, even if she also knew he abandoned me soon after.

Ah hell, why did I think about that kiss when I’m a second away from stepping into Mrs. Simpson’s class?

I find Jason sitting next to Sloane and, once again, I feel a twinge of jealousy.Fuck. These stupid ass reactions must stop. I’m getting all bent out of shape because of one kiss? I confess, it was hot, but everything that happened after should have reset my brain to when I met him.

Jason is a jerk who’s determined to make my life miserable. I shouldn’t care that his kiss set me ablaze.

“Ah, good afternoon, Ms. Devlin,” Mrs. Simpson says. “I see that you got your instrument.”

“I got a violin, but it’s definitely notmyinstrument.”

“Oh?” She raises an eyebrow.

I make a show of taking the colorful violin out. “A gift from Jason. I didn’t know he had a sense of humor.”

Her jaw drops. “Well, that’s something, for sure.”

“The sound is crap, but I can make do until I buy a proper violin,” I continue.

“I’m sure you can. Well, take a seat and let’s commence.”

I’m happy that I manage to cross the classroom without looking in Jason’s direction. But I can feel his hard stare burning a hole through my face. Is he angry that I didn’t acknowledge his presence, or that I told Mrs. Simpson I’d buy a new violin?

God, why do I care?

During most of the lesson we practice one piece as a group. It’s not until there are only ten minutes left in class that Mrs. Simpson discusses my duet with Jason. She wants us to play Tchaikovsky’sRomeo and Juliet Fantasy Overturebecause it’s powerful and romantic. I don’t know why she thinks that’s a good idea. Plus, there isn’t a duet in that piece, only a solo. If Tchaikovsky wanted the solo to be a duet, he would have composed it as such. It’s official, the woman is insane.

Standing now in the middle of the room with Jason, it’s impossible to not look at him. His gaze is dark as he listens to Mrs. Simpson explain her idea to us. Is he hating her choice as much as I am? I don’t have time to figure out his thoughts, because the bell rings, ending the class. I have to hurry to get to my next one, since it’s on the other side of the building.

I’m putting my things away hastily when Jason steps next to me.

“We need to practice, or we’ll crash and burn,” he tells me.

“And we can’t have that, can we? What will your mother say?”

He narrows his eyes. “Careful, Nicola. Don’t get cocky now.”

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