Page 45 of Friend
Chapter Ten
Cold
The next day passed by in a haze while my ever-growing list of things to do added up in my head. Now that we were going to prom, I had to prepare.
But what did people even do for prom? Did I need to give her flowers?
Bianca was such a pain about flowers though. She knew the meaning of each and every one, which meant I had to research floral language before I accidently bought something too insulting or too romantic.
Botanists.
I could just ask Bryce, but that would be humiliating.
Finally, we were in our last class, physical education, once again. And that too, was going fine, unless I was counting the way Cory Moore had been glaring at me since lunch break.
“You asshole.” Cory appeared to grow tired of the glaring, and he moved beside me. It was the perfect moment for a confrontation, as the instructors were busy with the girl’s side. “What did you say to her?”
I could only assume that he was referring to Bianca, but I could be wrong. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Brosnan turned me down, Abernathy.” Cory muttered under his breath as he grabbed my arm. “I know you did something. We had a good thing going, why did you have to ruin it?”
“She turned you down becauseI’mtaking her—it has nothing to do with you.” I pinched the skin on the top of his hand and pulled him off me. “Besides, you’ve treated her like shit for years. What did you expect?” I opened my mouth to continue, but my words suddenly caught in my throat.
I hadn’t really been paying attention to him before. But now that I was, I couldn’t ignore his flushed skin and the almost fevered look in his eyes.
“What’s wrong with you?” I asked him.
“I threw them out,” he muttered, looking away. I could barely hear him. “So she’d give me a chance.”
What the hell? I didn’t think he’d actually do it!
Besides, why was he even telling me? I wasn’t supposed to know about his issues. “What are you talking about?”
“I know you were there,” Cory muttered, swaying slightly.
“That’s good,” I somehow managed to speak through my surprise. But if he’d known, why didn’t he say anything? How did theybothknow?
I thought I was better at sleuthing than that.
“I guess.” Although I was also almost certain you weren’t supposed to stop steroids cold turkey. But he knew what he was doing… right?
Even more importantly, “But weren’t you just going after her as a joke?”
“Maybe…” He stumbled back, and, reflectively, I caught his arm, keeping him upright. “I’m gonna puke.”
Disgustingly, I felt concern for him. He hadn’t been entirely terrible over the last few days. I was starting to feel a little guilty for hating him.
And it was a serious thing for a werewolf to feel sick.
“Shit,” I mumbled. The rest of the class was beginning to give us curious looks—including an equally discerning expression from Drew—and I was suddenly filled with the strangest need to help my mortal enemy.
“Come on,” I grumbled, throwing his arm around my shoulders. “I can’t believe you’d juststoplike that!” I half-chastised him while glancing around the room. While he was slightly taller, it was only a slight struggle to control his dead-weight. Still…
No one moved to help—in fact, the rest of our class was giving us a wide berth. They probably assumed we were about to kill each other again. Besides that, Adrian was absent today, but Drew, the meek wolf, was still around.
I held his gaze, daring him to run away.
“Come help me,” I ordered. This washisfriend, why was I stuck holding him?
