Page 4 of Between Never and Forever
“Close enough.” She grins and bumps me back.
I don’t acknowledge the other things she said. No point in denying it. My mother doesn’t hide how she feels about Savannah. No one does, really.
“It’s so weird you have two first names, you know?” Savannah says, changing the subject. “Your parents should have mixed it up and gave you a last name as a first name for balance. Havin’ two first names is probably why you’re such a weenie.”
“Cooper isn’t a first name,” I grumble.
“Is too.”
She’s such a brat.
“Yeah, well, at least my first name and last name start with different letters,” I say back with a roll of my eyes. “Name alliteration is so lame.”
Savannah huffs a laugh and bumps me again, then rests her head back on the bus seat and closes her eyes. Her black lashes cast shadows over the light purple circles under them. She probably didn’t sleep last night. She doesn’t sleep most nights. She says she can’t relax in her house, and that’s why she’s always out roaming around. It’s why my mother thinks she’s bad news. Sav hates being home.
I still wish she wouldn’t go to The Pit, though.
* * *
Savannah slaps her math book onto the lunch table with a thud, then drops down on the seat across from me.
She doesn’t say anything as she reaches over and takes half my sandwich, but she moves slowly, like she’s giving me a chance to snatch it back. I don’t. She’s the reason I cut it in half to begin with.
She takes a bite and chews, staring silently out the window of the cafeteria. Her messy brown hair is falling into her face, but I can still tell her eyebrows are scrunched up. She does this a lot. Gets quiet and kinda sad looking. On instinct I scan her arms, but she’s wearing long sleeves, and my stomach drops. It’s almost 90 degrees today. I don’t like what that means.
I give her shoe a nudge under the table.
“What did you get on the math homework?” I ask her, trying to draw her attention to me. It works, and her mouth tips into a proud half-smile.
“C minus.”
I roll my eyes. Savannah and her Cs.
“I got an A.”
Savannah scoffs and puts her half-eaten half of my sandwich back on my napkin.
“Did you do the history study guide?”
My shoulders tighten. I screw up my lips before I can school my face into something less ashamed. She catches it immediately.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“Yeah, I did it.” I shrug. “But I don’t have it.”
“Why not?”
I shrug again, but my eyes flick to a table across the cafeteria. Savannah’s gaze follows, and when she sees who I’m looking at, her brow furrows.
“Connor Lawson is a douche. He messin’ with you again?” I shrug a third time. “He took your study guide?”
I bring my eyes to my lunch and don’t answer.
“Jesus, Levi.” Savannah growls. “You gotta stand up to him. He’s never gonna leave you alone if you keep bein’ such a weenie.”
I scowl at her.
“Youtake my homework all the time.”
