Page 21 of We Shouldn't Be Together
Getting back into my constricting regular uniform is a complete drag. A drag that weighs me down through my first few classes. Seriously, isn’t there a school where sports are the most important thing and academics are electives you can take if you want, but it’s not really encouraged?
At least the button-down shirt and blazer hide any signs of my stitches. Now, I just need to avoid anyone on the football team barging me into a locker. And to avoid the inevitable right hook I’d have to follow through with. That all sounds like ways to tear my stitches and lose the car I’ve been dreaming about for months.
Right before fourth period, I change over my books at my locker. I have chemistry next, and that textbook is way too heavy to lug around with my other junk.
Before I close my locker door, I hear cackling coming from the right. My muscles seize as I view Tabitha Jones and Camila Garcia falling over each other in hideous laughter.
Tabitha taps Camila’s arm and nods in a direction for her friend to follow her gaze. “It’s beyond freakish,” Tabitha means to whisper, but I hear it as clear as day.
My jaw strains as I grit my teeth. I follow where they’re looking, and my gut drops when my eyes land on my best friend, Jamie.
“Oh my gosh, Tabby,” Camila’s voice booms, “you’re so right. I mean, why do they let that thing walk around in a skirt? It hurts my eyes. Like, it actually offends me as a woman.”
My brow furrows and I turn to the girls, squinting to work out what the heck they’re trying to say.
Camila clocks me, and she sucks in a breath, and then turns on the balls of her feet. She gives Tabitha an exaggerated grin. “Yeah, like, what were you saying?”
Tabitha points to her chest, almost startled. “M-me?”
“Oh my gosh, Tabby,” Camila dramatizes every syllable. “You were just non-stop bashing this girl.”
“Well, umm, obviously it hurts my brain why she’s even at this school,” Tabitha says in a softer tone than her friend. When Camila gives her an encouraging look, Tabitha inhales a breath, flicks her gaze at Jamie, and pops her hip. “I mean,wehave a right to be at this school.”
“What the heck are you talking about?” I snap.
Tabitha jumps, noticing me for the first time.
Camila laughs, sliding close to her friend. “Didn’t you know your friend is a derelict scholarship kid?”
“Derelict?“ The word is slimy on my tongue.
Camila laughs harder, the corners of her mouth curling in triumph.
Do these girls really think they just schooled me on Jamie’s scholarship?
The girls shut their lockers, sauntering away with ugly, pointed stares at Jamie on their way past. Jamie, on the other hand, stands there frozen.
“James,” I call out, marching toward her.
“I… I…” she utters, staring at where the evil witches were standing.
I grab her forearm and yank her to the side of the hallway and toward my open locker.
Once she’s leaning against my neighbor’s locker, she groans, rubbing her thumb between her eyebrows. “What’s wrong with me?”
“With you?” I spit and then hurl a thumb over my shoulder. “Those girls are the ones who need their heads examined.”
She lowers her thumb and deadpans at me. “What would I have said if one of the guys were saying that stuff to me?”
I shrug. “I dunno. You’d probably punch their lights out.”
“Exactly.” She slumps, and her frown causes an ache in my chest. “Freaking girls! I can’t get a word out when it’s a stupid girl trash-talking me.”
“That was a bit more than trash talk,” I say, bracing myself. “How often are they gunning for you?”
Jamie pushes off the locker and waves off the question.
“James?”
