Chapter 18 #2
“Yes, Ma’am,” I said to Mrs. Carr. I found it ironic that her last name was Carr when she taught automotive shop class. It was like she was destined from the day she was born to work with engines.
“Alright! Let’s get to work. I want to see how far you’ve come by the end of class. We will be moving on to you each having a car to work on in the next few weeks.” Mrs. Carr clapped her hands, and the shop erupted in noise.
“Cutting it a little close there, Davies. Almost a tarnish on that perfect record,” Theo said. Theo’s baiting always led me down the rabbit hole of trying to compete with him. It was annoying and entertaining at the same time. “How did you avoid a skip mark?”
I put my bag down on my workbench and narrowed my eyes as I scrutinized Theo. “How do you know that?”
“I have my ways,” he said, slowly pulling off his glasses.
There was a jolt as he lifted his eyes to mine.
Without his glasses, it was like I was staring into Blake’s eyes all over again.
Their hair was different, and the way they spoke was different, but their facial features and gestures were insanely identical.
Of course, my heart triple-timed, and I wanted to kick my ass for the uncontrollable reaction.
“I’m sure you do. Helps when you have unlimited funds to pay someone off,” I said, and Theo’s lip turned up.
“You mean how you and your boyfriend didn’t get suspended for doing this to my face?” Axel growled from the bay across from mine.
“Nash is not my boyfriend, and you got what you deserved,” I said, shooting daggers at him with my eyes. I’d never been so happy to see a bruised or swollen face as I was when I saw Axel after the classroom incident. It made the community service almost worth it…almost.
“You better watch your back, Davies. I was being nice to you before, but I have no reason to now,” Axel said, and I shivered as I stared into his angry eyes. The key with a bully was to never look like what they said bothered you. I rolled out my shoulders and didn’t look away.
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, it fucking is,” he growled.
“That better not be a threat.” Theo had picked up a large wrench, and even though his face was passive, there was a deadliness under the surface I’d never seen from him before.
Theo was like me, a bookworm who loved the study hall, his coffee, top grades, and using your intellect over your fists, but right now, I was staring at a totally different Theo.
He spun the wrench around in his hand slowly, his eyes never leaving Axel.
“Whatever. Nash and all of you who run with him have it coming. You’ll fall off your pedestals, and when you do, I’ll be there laughing,” Axel said, glaring at Theo before turning his back and getting to work on his project.
I didn’t know what anyone saw in him. His teammates acted like they loved him, and half the cheerleaders were all over the football team, but I didn’t see a single redeeming quality in Axel or most of the other guys.
They were obnoxious. Never mind whatever family dynamic was between Axel and Nash, their personalities alone would never have made them friends.
“How is your Russian coming,” Theo asked, finally turning away from Axel.
“It’s terrible,” I said honestly. “I wish I had the option to start taking multiple languages sooner. I’m working on improving my Spanish mark as well.”
Theo laid the wrench down as I stepped into my coveralls and zipped up.
“Are you conceding that I can do something better than you?”
I snorted. “Not in a million years. You just had the advantage of an earlier start. I’ll catch you, and then I’ll surpass you.”
“I bet you will.” He smiled and nodded toward the catalog of cars we’d all been given to choose from for our final project. “You know what car you’re going to work on?”
I hadn’t had the time to go through it properly, but the 1965 Shelby GT Mustang was calling my name.
It was from the most complicated section.
The motor wasn’t working. It needed extra bodywork and had interior tears in the leather.
It was a big ask, and I didn’t know if I could get it done, but I’d always loved the car, and if we wanted to, we got to keep our projects afterward.
I could picture it painted a pretty blue with white racing stripes.
“The Shelby,” I said, and Theo smirked.
“I knew it. I already told Carr I want the 1967 Chevy Camaro z/28,” he said, and I laughed. It was the most complex final project of all of them. I should’ve known he’d tackle that one. “What, no comment?”
“Nope, I guess I’ll just have to make sure that mine is so beautiful that it’s undeniably the highest mark in the class.”
“You wish.”
“Have you talked to Blake since the other day?” Why did I ask that? I was trying to put separation between myself and Blake. This was not going to help.
“Not much. He has been very tight-lipped, but he spoke to Nash and Myles, so I guess I should be happy about that,” Theo said.
It was so rare to hear emotion in his voice that I was taken aback by the sadness that lingered in his tone.
He never lifted his eyes from the sparkplug he was cleaning, but I could still tell that he was sad. “Do you know what’s going on with him?”
I swallowed and picked up the socket wrench. “I know enough, but I’ll tell you what I told Myles. It’s not my place to say anything, but I’m happy you didn’t tell your mum and dad.”
“I’m letting him off this once. Blake knows if it happens again, then he needs to tell them.” I looked over my shoulder at Theo, and he shrugged. “Maybe that’s why he doesn’t trust me, but it’s for the best. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something serious happened.”
We fell into silence as we took apart our small engines.
I was halfway through dismantling mine when the bell rang, and it jerked me out of my deep thoughts and focus.
Holy hell, that time went fast. I glanced at Theo’s workspace, and he had six more pieces off and labeled on the floor.
Ugh, he really was annoying, but I loved the challenge.
I needed to come early next week for class and see if I could get a little more in before he got started.
Now for two fun-filled hours of dealing with Nash. I really wasn’t looking forward to this.