Page 24 of Sweetheart

"Come on, Sam's stupid hot—"

"He is pretty fine."

"—and Brisa's a babe too. I heard she's the one who broke up with him."

"I heard he was crying earlier at his locker."

"What?" I exclaimed, and the two glanced at me. "I mean, really? Is that true?"

"Yeah, I saw him a second ago," Alexandria said, leaning a bit closer. "Poor guy. I didn't see actual tears, but hedefinitely looked sad and kinda pissed."

"Of course, he's pissed!" Grayson threwhishands into the air. "Brisa was his true love, andshe's already moved on. I heard she was just shoving it in his face too."

"So cold," I said.

"So cold," Alexandria agreed.

"I didn't think she was like that."

"Me either," Grayson put in. "But there must've been a reason she broke up with him."

I shrugged. "I heard it was a mutual breakup."

He shot me a pitying look. "Whoever told you that was either misinformed or intentionally fooling themselves."

"Yeah," Alexandria said before I could argue that I'd heard it directly from Sam himself, "that doesn't even sound right."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because breakups are never mutual."

Grayson was nodding. "It's true, Scarlett. With a forever couple like Bam,it's always the same. One person does the breaking; the other person is left pining."

"Always thought Sam would be the breaker in that scenario," Alexandria said.

"Me too," Grayson said. "ButI guess you never know."

"I should go," I said with a wave. "See you guys later."

As I weaved through the crowded hallway, I had one goal.Get to Sam as quickly as possible and assess the situationfor myself.I thought there might've been amisunderstanding—I mean, Sam told me the breakup was mutual—or maybe even a bit of exaggeration on Grayson and Alexandria's part—like me, they loved a good piece of gossip. But what I saw when I finally got to Sam's locker made mefreeze.

It was worse than I thought.

The scene was exactly as Alexandria had described.

Sam was on one side of the hall, his six-foot-three frame leaningback against his locker. He would've looked like a fantasy come to life—or at least my fantasy—if it wasn't for the tightness in his shoulders or the dark scowl on his face. Actually, strike that. Thescowl only made him look hotter.It was like that with some guys. Unfortunately. Pissed or not,Sam Bishop was, as always, stunning.His dark hair and light gray-blue eyes were an arresting combination.

Those eyes were currently locked on the two people across the hall.

Brisa's arms were wrapped around the neck of another guy. Even from the back, I recognized him as Cooper Hollingsworth.My mind spit out everything I knew abouthimin five seconds flat.Football player. Class treasurer.Decent student (though word on the street was he paid his sister to do his homework).Member of the popular crowd but not a complete jerk. I knew that last to be true because I'd seen Cooper, more than once, walking his dog.Anyone who was a dog lover couldn't be all bad.Admittedly, it wasn't much.But I'd never seen him hanging out with Brisa. I didn't even thinkthey knew each other.

As Cooper pulled Brisa closer, attaching his lips to her neck, she let out a tinkling laugh.

Then again, maybe they did.

When I looked to Sam, I noticed the slight tightening of his jaw.

Yep, he was definitely pissed and pining.

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