Page 37 of Those Heartless Boys

I groan and turn back to the cafeteria line, telling the food servers what I want. At the end of the line, I hold my student ID up, so they can take the meal off my plan. Lucas is right behind me as I turn to find a seat.

“Come on,” he says when I go to sit at a vacant table. He motions toward the doors at the far end of the cafeteria that lead to a sitting area. “Let’s sit outside.”

Lucas is an enigma to me. I’ve read so many books in my short years of life. Books that have every type of person you can imagine, yet I can’t quite make him out. He’s the quiet one, but not really. He can be an asshole. He’s pulled the “You’re mine” bullshit just like Stone did, but from him, it didn’t sound as bad as when Stone said it. It seemed like something else entirely.

“Well, I—”

A girl bumps into my shoulder and the pizza on my plate slides. I try to save it, but she hits me again, “Oh, sorry.” The plate and the tray hit the floor, clattering over the tile, silencing the room for a second before the closest table bursts out laughing. Lo and behold, Meghan is front and center, giggling into her friend’s shoulder.

“I didn’t see you there,” the girl says. She bats her eyes at the seething hunk next to me. “I couldn’t keep my eyes off Lucas here.”

Lucas rolls his eyes, and the girl smirks like this is all a part of a mating ritual. She trails her fingers up and over his shoulder while Meghan watches, sticking her chin in the air and glaring at me. The girl, who is one of Meghan’s cheerleader friends from high school, flicks her gaze over to the table, and it erupts again. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out this was all pre-planned.

“Wow. You went to school with these bitches?” Lucas asks.

The girl, Lucille, rears back. She fights for control over her astonished smile. “Bitches? I think you may have mistaken me for someone else.”

“No, what you’re mistaken about is that you think I have the temperament to sit here and watch you fawn all over me.”

Behind the girl, Wyatt strides toward our group. My cheeks blaze. We already have the attention of the entire room, but Wyatt’s appearance only makes it worse. I bend over to pick up the mess on the floor since it certainly isn’t any of the cafeteria workers’ responsibility. Plus, it’ll hide my flaming cheeks.

“Maybe you can find a clue somewhere down there,” Lucille mocks. She kicks my silverware back toward me.

“Stand. Up.” Lucas growls the words like he’s having a hard time restraining himself.

When I glance up, Wyatt’s wearing a huge smile. He places his hands on Lucille’s shoulders. When she jumps and looks back at him, she automatically melts into his touch like he’s just made her whole day. See? The guys in Clary are severely limited. I don’t fault her reaction to them, but I loathe that they belittle me to get their attention. “Hey,” she says, batting her eyelashes again.

His smile thins, and her mouth drops into a pout. He moves around her, gesturing toward the floor. “I see you dropped your tray.”

“It’s not mine,” she says. “It’s Blue’s Clues’.”

Lucas steps up to her. With their height difference, she has to tip her head back. “Say that again.” His voice is a warning if I’ve ever heard one. A skitter crawls up my spine.

She smiles. “You guys are fucking with me, right?” She looks around, her gaze landing on all of us, even her table of cronies.

Lucas grabs my hand and pulls me to a standing position while Wyatt places his hands on his hips, tipping his head down low, so he can give her his cowboy stare. “Did no one ever teach you that it’s the worst kind of shame to be someone’s bitch?” he asks, tipping his head in Meghan’s direction.

Meghan stands. She wobbles on the short heels she has on and then takes short little steps to greet us. She has on a short, jean skirt, her makeup meticulously done. “What’s going on here?”

“What’s going on here,” Lucas says, “Is that you’re so transparent, you’re practically glass. If you even want Stone to look at you again, I suggest you tell your little friend here to pick up Dakota’s tray and walk her little ass over to the line to get her another one.”

I start to slink away, but Lucas holds my hand tightly. Meghan’s jaw ticks. “Listen,” she says, lowering her voice. “I know you guys are new, but—”

“What a mess,” a cold voice says from behind me. Stone’s presence pricks my skin. “Care to tell me what I’ve missed?”

Meghan puts her manicured hand on her hip, tossing her hair over her shoulders. “Blue’s Clues walked into my friend.”

Stone smirks. He comes up on the other side of me before placing his hand on my shoulder. “Dakota, are you okay?”

Everyone in the lunchroom looks on. They would be looking anyway because of Wyatt, Stone, and Lucas, but right now, there’s a line being drawn. Meghan and her high school bitches on one side, and the most significant thing to happen to Clary for a long time on the other.

With the way Meghan and Lucille stare at the guys, they think they have this in the bag. They think the hot guys will just realize how stupid they’re being and suddenly remember I’m the social pariah here, not them.

Stone moves in front of me. He has the same hard face as this morning when he told me he disabled my truck. I don’t trust him. Not at all. If it weren’t for Lucas’s steady hand in mine, I probably would’ve shriveled away by now.

“I’m fine,” I say, putting more confidence in my voice than I usually do. “Lucille was just going to replace my food that she knocked over. An accident, of course.”

Stone’s gaze twinkles. He clearly loves this shit. He’s in control, and he has the spotlight. It’s a Jacobs’s wet dream.

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