Page 23 of The Flirty Forward

“Well, at least they’re not mad,” Brielle says dryly from next to me. She sighs wearily. “Why don’t you go home, Stephanie? You don’t need to stay here for this.”

“Are you going home with Aiden?”

She nods. “Yeah, he said they won’t be much longer. Thanks for bringing me here, Steph.”

“Of course. I would tell you I’m sorry, but—” I smile, trying to lighten the mood.

“But you’re not allowed to,” she finishes. She hugs me. “Love you.”

“Love you too.” I make my way out of the building feeling worn out. I’m glad it’s the weekend. I’m looking forward to having time to do what I love to do in my free time—writing.

The drive home is forever long, and I fight to stay awake the entire way. I’m so thankful when I finally pull into my driveway, though I stare out the windshield for a few minutes before I finally drag myself inside. I warm up soup out of a can for dinner and crash in bed earlier than I normally would on a weekend night, but I can’t find it in myself to care.

The weekend passes both too quickly and too slowly; but I do get some good writing time in, so I feel good about that. Before I’m ready, I find myself back at school on Monday morning. When I pull into the parking lot, I’m shocked to see two police cars. I find my parking spot carefully. As soon as I climb out of the car, an officer walks over to me. “Miss Winston?” I nod. “I’m going to accompany you to the door to make sure you get there safely.”

“Thank you,” I manage to say as I walk next to the intimidating officer. There’s only a small gathering this morning, and they keep their distance as we get close. I find myself incredibly thankful for the escort. “Thank you,” I tell him again when I get to the front door.

“I heard about what happened on Friday. I’m sorry that happened. We’ll have officers on duty the next few days making sure it doesn’t happen again.”

I nod, dumbfounded. He walks away, and I enter the building. “Did you get a police escort too?” Brielle asks, showing up out of thin air.

“Good morning to you too.” I glance back outside again. “That’s crazy. Aiden must have been so upset.” When I turn back around, Brielle is grinning like a maniac. “Tone it down; that’s blinding this early in the morning.”

“It wasn’t Aiden,” she says.

“What wasn’t Aiden?” I ask, confused.

“The police officers, the extra security.”

“The school hired them?” I ask in surprise.

She stops and looks at me. “Are you genuinely trying to be obtuse?”

“Isn’t that like an angle or something?”

She rolls her eyes. “It was Sebastian,” she says in exasperation.

Her words give me pause. “Sebastian hired the officers?”

She grins. “Yep.”

“Huh.” I start walking down the hallway to my classroom.

“Huh? That's all you have to say about the fact that the man hired police officers for you?” Brielle asks as she hurries to keep up with me.

“He must have felt guilty after all. Good. He should.”

Brielle stops for a moment and stares at me. “Well, yeah he should because it’s his fault that we’re in the mess we’re in. But still. Don’t you think that’s something?”

“It’s something,” I say, not willing to get into it with her. I know she likes Sebastian; he’s friends with Aiden. And he’s not going anywhere in her life, so she needs to be okay with him. I, on the other hand, do not need to be.

“Oh, and how come you didn’t tell me you were going to the game tomorrow night?” She turns to me, eyes wide. “Sebastian said you’re sitting with his family.”

“Sebastian needs to learn to keep his mouth shut.” The words just pop out. “But yeah, I’m going to the game tomorrow night.” I grimace. “And I’m sitting with his family.”

“How did he get you to agree with that? You can’t stand him.”

“I know.” I shake my head. “Chloe.”

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