Chapter 31
Josephine
She hides her smirk behind her hand, then shields her face from view completely when I give her a look.
We aren’t the only two not paying attention.
“She’s Crusade’s girl. Swear it. I saw her get out of his G in the parking lot this morning.”
I stiffen and side-eye Hunter. The scowl on her face tells me she heard them, too.
“Nah, I heard she’s dating the nerd. What’s his name? Kevin?”
I whip my head around and shoot daggers at the two asshats running their faceholes. Jocks, from the look of it, but obviously not football players. Because they wouldn’t dare.
“Really?” I deadpan.
The guy with the shaved head nudges his buddy while smirking and maintaining eye contact with me. “I heard she’s hooking up with all of them.”
“Oh, hell no…” Hunter hisses, spinning around in her seat.
She scoffs when she sees who’s behind us.
“Figures,” she whispers dismissively. “You two just love to run your mouths, don’t you?”
I glance over at my friend while trying to make it look like I’m still listening to Hinkley as he writes out the Wheel of Fortune categories with a streaky, dried-out marker.
“You know them?” I ask under my breath.
“Unfortunately,” Hunter quips, not so quietly.
“Brody and Warren,” she tells me, throwing another glare over her shoulder at the meatheads. “Club rugby players. Because they didn’t make the LCU football team.” She bares her teeth and offers them a saccharine smile.
“You’re lucky we know better than to mess with Greedy’s sister,” the other guy growls.
Hunter rolls her eyes. “He’s not my brother. And even if he was, do you really think he’s the one you should be concerned with? You’re sitting back there talking shit about my friend who got a ride to campus with Crusade. Wake up, ding-dong, or Decker and his boys will catch you by surprise.”
“Excuse me!”
My attention snaps to the front of the room again, where Professor Hinkley is scowling, his hands turned up in outrage.
Or at least as much outrage as a professor in his midfifties can muster while talking about a game show.
“Do you four have more important things to do than earn credit for today’s class? ”
I press my lips together and shake my head. Hunter doesn’t make a peep, either. One of the dummies behind us says something under his breath about game shows, but I doubt it reaches the front of the room.
“As I was saying…” Hinkley turns back around, focused on the course material again as he writes out definitions for sentential and predicate logic.
Two minutes pass, then Hunter is sliding a folded-up piece of paper across my desk.
I bite back a smile. She could have easily texted me. Or waited four more minutes for class to end.
I unfold the grid paper and scan her note.
Okay… but seriously. Select all that apply.
Check boxes are drawn out below her pretty handwriting, with names next to each box.
Locke
Kylian
Kendrick
Decker
I examine the paper, then peek over at my friend. She’s watching me out of the corner of her eye and biting on the end of her pen.
Glancing back to ensure the rugby players are focused elsewhere, I fill in the note.
A question mark for Locke. A checkmark for Kylian. An X for Kendrick. And several deep, dark lines striking out Crusade’s name. I refold the note, pass it back, and watch her face as she opens it.
With her tongue in her cheek, she quirks one eyebrow at me.
“Never Crusade,” I mouth, inspiring a silent snort that she covers with her hand.
A minute later, we’re all packing up. I hold back, not interested in bumping into the rugby players in the hall and having to continue that conversation.
“Let’s get going before one of your boyfriends catches us,” Hunter teases as she scoots to the end of the aisle. “We have places to be and cereal to buy.”
I shush her as she practically skips down the wide steps of the lecture hall.