Page 58 of The Rebel
My lower lip quivered but now it was from shock and while I thought the tingling was from poor circulation, it apparently wasn’t. Because from Jade’s take-charge, slightly intimidating vibe, my whole body was pulsing in a very pleasant way. In a very thrilling way.
Gabby seemed to have gone mute, but Scott’s mouth twitched as he started to speak. “Yeah, we—”
But Jade shut him down. “I don’t wanna hear it, Trumpet Boy.”Trumpet Boy?My heart raced wildly. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to steal my friend away.” He pulled me closer and my head naturally tilted onto his shoulder. “C’mon, Valencia.”
And in a daze, I was whisked away from the group.
But a minute after rescuing me, Jade was jumping down my throat. “What was all that about?” he growled. My head whipped up off of his shoulder and I found his flashing green eyes gazing down at me. “I thought you were gonna kill your friend!”
The intensity of his eyes was spell-binding, the gem-like facets of color distracting me from basic comprehension.
“Valencia, I thought you were about to start a fight!” Jade clinched me by the upper arms, gently prodding me back to reality. And then it all came flooding back.
“They were saying stuff about Paris,” I said, my lungs barely coping. “Laughing because he lost his match.”
“That’s not cool,” Jade said. “But neither is starting a fight.”
“I wasn’t going to hit her,” I said, vigorously shaking my head in a bid to convince him, “she’s supposed to be my best friend.”
“Yeah, I know. But I can’t have my new roommate being arrested for grievous bodily harm.” Jade tugged me, his hand easily slipping into mine. Like this was the most normal thing in the world. “Or murder,” he said with a wink.
“I swear I wasn’t going to hurt her. But she made me so angry, they both did. I don’t understand why Gabby’s acting like this.”
“She just started dating Trumpet Boy, didn’t she?” Jade said, his hand still firmly entwined with mine.
I nodded, my chin quivering but this time in laughter. “Why do you call him Trumpet Boy?”
“Because he plays the trumpet, and he’s good at tooting his own horn.”
I frowned, wondering how Jade knew anything about Scott. “What do you mean? Scott used to be cool. Well, I thought he was.”
Jade scoffed in obvious disagreement. “Your Trumpet Boy was trying to convince Principal Portman that his new band should play at assembly next week. Apparently they haven’t played in public before or in front of anyone for that matter, but he thinks they deserve to be on stage. Like we wanna be guinea pigs for his squawking.”
I giggled, though I felt sick to my stomach knowing how I’d once crushed on Scott. “Gabby’s in that band, but they’ve only been together for about a week.”
“Exactly,” Jade said, rolling his eyes. “He thinks he’s some sort of musical maestro, but hey...” His voice softened, full of compassion, “...I’m sorry about your friendship.”
“So am I,” I said, the pain of Gabby’s disloyalty suddenly hitting me. “Lucky you were there.”
“Yeah, you’d probably be banned from Snow Park if I hadn’t stepped in,” Jade said.
“Yeah, thanks,” I muttered, embarrassed by my inability to control myself, “you seem to be making a habit of bailing me out.”
Jade shrugged, his smile carefree. “I’m not complaining.”
My heart raced and it felt like every sweat gland was secreting buckets, yet Jade didn’t release my hand. In fact, he gave it a firm, possessive tug, and said, “I’m not leaving you with them.”
“Yeah, but aren’t you here with Ollie and your friends? I don’t wanna—”
“Relax,” Jade said as he winked at me again, making me all fluttery and weak. “Not everything has to be a battle, Valencia.”
“Yeah, but I came with my friends.”
“Chill,” Jade said with a laugh, and he squeezed my hand and leaned closer, his whisper sending a flutter up my spine, three little words that felt like a rocket smashing through my chest, “I got you.”
Chapter 16
JADE
