Page 17 of Sinful as They Come
“What the fuck did I tell you about making all that noise?” Dad grumbled above me.
***
My head felt heavy on the desk. My eyes felt heavy too. I probably got maybe one hour of sleep and I was starting to wonder if it would have been easier to just stay up all night instead of trying to force myself out of bed.
I had tried to get some sleep, but no matter what angle I attempted, that throbbing pain in my shoulder managed to feel worse. Just before school I had put some ice on it, and that helped a little, but I knew I’d be feeling the ache for a good week or so.
All I wanted was some sleep. Maybe I’d skip next period and just sleep in my truck for a couple hours since doing it in English was gonna be impossible, because someone kept fucking tapping at my bruised shoulder, their finger practically jamming into my skin through the thin material of my flannel shirt. Over and over and over again. Looking up, my eyes rolled when I saw Holly fucking Sutton standing in front of me with that look on her face that she always seemed to have when she saw me. Lips pressed together into a little scowl and one eyebrow raised, she shook her head.
“What?” I mumbled up at her.
She had one hand on her hip, the other grasping at a piece of paper. “You shouldn’t sleep in class.”
I scoffed. “Fuck off.” I put my head back down, but a second later, her stupid little finger was tapping away at my shoulder again. “What? What do you want?” I looked up at her, eyes narrowing.
“We have a quiz.” Holding a piece of paper in front of her, she gave it a little shake, her pink nails all bright under the lights of the room. “If you paid attention in class at all, you’d know that. And if you did your homework, then you’ll have no issue passing said quiz. I have a feeling that you didn’t do said homework. So, good luck. You’ll need it.”
Slamming the paper to my desk, I watched her spin around in her stupid fucking heels that looked impractical as all hell as she handed out the rest of the quizzes. The day had barely started and she was already mouthing off at me. I had actually tried to pay attention. Sort of. But last night didn’t exactly give me a chance to do any of the shit I was meant to be focusing on, and that lovely fight with my old man had been the cherry on top.Andhe ate my leftover spaghetti, so I was hungry on top of being tired and inpain.
“You guys know the drill,” Mrs. Edwards announced at the front of the room. “Eyes on your own paper. You have until the bell to finish. Put your hand up if something doesn’t make sense. Good luck!”
Eyebrows raised, I scanned the sheet of paper Holly had shoved in front of me. Not a goddamn thing made sense, but at least the quiz had a multiple choice section, so if luck was on my side I could fluke it and get a few right. I lazily went through the questions, which all sounded like they were purposefully made to confuse me, because I had no idea what the hell was going on.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Holly flick her long hair over her shoulder, and Christ, I could smell that goddamn lavender shampoo she always seemed to use. It blended in with that sugary, sweet perfume that she wore. I watched her for a second, her head down, the soft sound of her pen hitting the paper in my ears. She was writing fast, and I had no doubt in my mind that Little Miss Perfect had doneherhomework.
That goddamn ticking sound of the clock was getting on my nerves, but at least time was going by fast, because when I looked up at the clock, I saw that I only had to deal with twenty more minutes of class.ThenI could get some sleep. I bullshitted my way through the questions that weren’t multiple choice. Mrs. Edwards had always been a little nice to me, so maybe she’d appreciate my creativity.
But then there was a sudden, loud thumping coming from the hallway. Someone was running hard and fast, their screams all shrill. I was pretty sure a second person had joined in judging by all the yells.
Mrs. Edwards groaned, hands on the desk as she pushed herself up. “I will trust all of you to keep your eyes on your own quizzes. All of you.” Huffing, she made her way to the door, sticking her head out. “Hey! I see you! Don’t think I don’t see you!” Turning back around, she pointed a finger at us. “Do not cheat.” Then she sped out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
I was about to just give up on the stupid quiz altogether when my eyes found Holly once again. Paper flipped over and placed at the corner of thedesk, she was twirling some of her hair with one finger.
My boot kicked softly at one of the back legs of her chair. “Hey,” I whispered at her.
She did nothing. Said nothing. But I knew she had heard me, her slender shoulders getting all tensed up.
“Hey,” I tried again.
Still, she stayed quiet. But we had about fifteen minutes left of class and maybe five more minutes without Mrs. Edwards, and I was going to use that time to my advantage. I kept kicking at her chair, again and again, annoying her the same way she had annoyed me when she looked at me with that little prissy look on her face at the start of class.
“I know you can hear me, Pom Poms,” I muttered, giving her chair another kick.
Finally, she turned her head that little bit, just enough so that I could see the side of her face. “Can I help you?” she whispered harshly.
“You’re finished, right?”
“Excuse me?”
“You finished your quiz?”
“Why do you care?”
Reaching over my desk, I quickly snatched her quiz away from her, enjoying the scandalized gasp that left her lips as she spun right around to face me. If you weren’t cheating, you weren’t trying. I eyed her quiz, her writing all neat and perfect, not a single word crossed out. And that made her the perfect person to copy off of, because I also got to piss her off in the process.
“Give me my quiz back!” Shoving her hands forward, she kept trying to snatch the paper from me, but I kept a firm hand on top of the sheet, holding it secure against the desk.
“Just gimme a minute with it.”
