Page 5 of Sinful as They Come
“I see you two are already going at it!” she said with an amused smile. “And the school year has only just started. This should be entertaining.”
I blinked at her slowly. “That’s not the word I would use.”
“And since you and Mr. Westbrook are so talkative this morning, how about one of you answer the question the rest of the class were discussing?” Mrs. Edwards continued. “Mr. Westbrook, how about you?”
I turned around and grinned, my eyes zeroing in on Sawyer. This was gonna be good.
“Sure,” he mumbled, glancing over at Mrs. Edwards. “What was it? Someone couldn’t keep their mouth shut so I couldn’t hear you.”
I just narrowed my eyes at him.
“What is the importance of intertextuality in writing?” the woman asked.
“I dunno,” Sawyer said with a little too much confidence. “To… personify shit.”
But before Mrs. Edwards could correct him, I decided to take the reins, making sure to look right at Sawyer as I spoke. “Actually, intertextuality in writing is important because it’s a good way for authors to show how other texts have influenced them. A lot of authors take inspiration from other pieces. Sometimes they use them in their writing to emphasize their own points.” The smile I gave Sawyer was the fakest one I could manage.
“Exactly! Thank you!” Mrs. Edwards said. “Mr. Westbrook, please don’t swear in my class again. Did you understand Holly’s answer?”
“Loud and clear,” Sawyer answered with a scowl, his voice monotone.
Rolling my eyes at him, I turned back around, excited to not look at his green eyes anymore. English class was going to be Hell if I had to sit in front of Sawyer all year, but there wasn’t much I could do about that. I just stared at Mrs. Edwards as she wrote down some points on the bored.
“I see you still love running that big mouth of yours, huh?” he asked with a chuckle. “Think I’m gonna have a lot of fun sittin’ behind you this year, princess.”
Of course he couldn’t help himself. He needed to have the last word. I did my best to keep my composure. Next year I would be free of him. I’dbe in college. I’d be in my dream school. I’d be studying journalism.I’d be at Columbia, far away from Sawyer Westbrook.
I didn’t bother to look back at Sawyer. He didn’t deserve my attention.
Chapter 2
SAWYER
“What the fuck were you thinking?” was the first thing I said to my cousin. My words were a little muffled, a cigarette loosely hanging between my lips. Yes, it was a bad habit. But I had no plans on quitting.
“What do you mean?” He frowned.
I offered him a cigarette which he declined, and then I leaned back up against the brick wall that none of the teachers ever seemed to care about. It was my usual spot; I had told Brodie about it earlier when I gave him a quick tour in the morning.
It wasourspot now that Brodie was gonna be hanging around thanks to his parents splitting up. His mom and dad were both planning on moving in with their new partners – both of which Brodie didn’t get along with. He felt like he didn’t have any real place to stay.
Our dads were brothers, and me and Brodie had always been close, so I offered him the spare room at my trailer. It was an offer he quickly took. Despite my dad being an asshole, he had no problem taking in his brother’s kid. Me though? He couldn’t wait to get rid of me.
“Working with that spoiled fuckin’ brat,” I said.
“Who?”
“Pom poms? Big mouth? Daddy’s maxed out credit card?”
Brodie’s eyes widened. “Wait, Holly? Nah, she’s cool.”
I couldn’t help but scoff. He didn’t know her like I did. He didn’t know our history. I attempted to like Holly once upon a time, but that veryquickly didn’t work out. And I held grudges. I didn’t care how long ago it was or what someone had done to smooth things over. Nah. I wasn’t like that. I didn’t just not forgive people, though; I didn’t forget either.
Blowing out some smoke, I gave my head a shake. “I can’t believe you actually joined her dumb, little club.”
“You shouldn’t have mentioned the school paper if you didn’t want me to join!” Brodie said.
“If I knew you’d do it, I never would have mentioned it. Also, I specifically told younotto join. It was a warning.”
