Chapter 2
Chapter
Two
FRANKIE
A ll the way to Mathieu’s place—well his host family’s home—Coop prodded at me. “Who are we picking up?”
“I told you,” I said, attempting to stay patient.
Irritation raked through me at the doubt in his frown.
“We’re picking up my boyfriend, so get ready to sit in the backseat.
” At least the distance gave the air conditioner time to cool the vehicle down.
It was already hot as hell outside and the humidity wasn’t helping.
“Since when do you have a boyfriend?” Oh, look, Coop’s smartass sobered up as he frowned at me. “I haven’t seen any guys hanging out at your place.”
“I’m not going to comment on the idea of you ‘watching’ my place for who might be coming or going.” Acid burned on my tongue. There was just so much more I wanted to say. Rachel Manning all but slapped sense into me the past spring as our junior year wound down.
The guys all had girlfriends, dates, and sex. Lots of sex. Sex I’d heard about. Sex I’d found myself imagining based on some of their comments. And… more than once I’d had to listen to their complaints about said girlfriends. Girls who were all supposedly my friends before they hooked up with them.
On some level, I think that hurt more than finding out the guys had chased off anyone from asking me out. They’d made me “untouchable.”
Ass. Holes.
My temper threatened to boil over once more and I swallowed it. Stuffed it down deep. I’d taken off the day school ended to visit a friend in San Antonio. Thankfully, Jennifer didn’t mind and her parents were happy to let me crash there for a couple of weeks.
It was far away from everything and everyone.
During my time there… I met Mathieu. He’d been playing tourist and his French accent was a dead giveaway that he wasn’t local.
Even more, he was working on his English and I wasn’t bad at French, so I ended up playing tourist with him and his host family.
“Frankie,” Coop said, a bit of a snap in his voice. Oh, I’d been thinking about San Antonio and wrestling with my temper.
“What?” I might have snapped back, then sucked in a deep breath and blew it out as I flexed my hands on the steering wheel. The word “sorry” stuck to my tongue. Mitigating moods was something I was good at, I preferred to soothe ruffled feathers and smooth out all the jagged bits.
Before.
I preferred to do that before.
Before I found out that they cut me off from a chance to be happy like they were.
Before I found out they made a rule for me. A rule they clearly didn’t follow.
Before I found out just how much that hurt.
So no, I wouldn’t apologize.
“I have a lot on my mind, Coop,” I told him. “First day of school. I need to walk my schedule…”
“Yeah,” he said, and I swore his tone softened. “I’ll walk it with you if you want. Then we can head to the caf…”
“I’m fine to walk it with Mathieu. It’s his first day too and he doesn’t know the layout of the school.”
Then we were on the street where the host family lived. A little thrill curved through the aggravation Coop had left scraping through me. I hated being angry with my best friends. Hated it because they were supposed to be my best friends and that betrayal was not one I’d seen coming.
“There really is a guy.” All the animation drained out of Coop’s voice.
“Yeah,” I told him as I pulled up to the curb. “Be nice.”
“Be nice?”
“Yes,” I ordered. “And get in the back.”
Protest flooded his expression but Mathieu glanced at him before he reached for the rear door behind me.
“Hey,” I told him. “Coop can move.”
“It’s fine,” Mathieu said, the rich smoothness of his accent rolled over me. “I’m Mathieu,” he introduced himself and offered Coop a hand. Coop had twisted in the seat. Expressionless, he stared at Mathieu.
My heart fisted in my chest, but then Coop seemed to summon a tight smile. He gripped his hand and shook it. “Coop.”
“Ah, the kindergarten friend.” Mathieu chuckled. “Frankie has mentioned you.”
“Yeah,” Coop said slowly, elongating the syllable. “She hasn’t said a word about you.”
I glared at Coop but Mathieu continued to smile. “That is because she has been spending her time with me instead of talking about me.”
His jaw dropped, but I cut in before Coop could respond. “Yes, this is Coop. That’s Mathieu and now, we need to get to school. You got your schedule printed out last night alright?” I’d walked him through it on the phone because it was late and he hadn’t realized he needed to print his own.
“I did—though I don’t think we’ll have as many classes together as I would have liked.”
We’d gone over my schedule.
“That happens,” Coop said. “Frankie’s in a lot of advanced classes.” The absolute lack of lightness in his tone was a tell-tale sign he was pissed. Too bad. Maybe he should have believed me.
“We’ll figure it out,” I told him. “You ready for your first day?”
Real excitement began to invade me again. Mathieu grinned. “I am very ready, mon chou.” He waited until I’d turned the car around to head toward the school before he continued in French, “Are you well?”
“Oui,” I told him, with a glance to the rearview mirror. Hopefully he would take the answer at that. I had confessed some about my so-called friends and the crap they’d pulled. He found it kind of charming but also seemed to understand my dislike.
“Great,” Coop mutters. “He speaks French.”
“I’m sorry?” Mathieu said from the back and Coop had pulled out his phone.
“Nothing.”
I rolled my eyes. Despite having to go an extra few blocks to pick up Mathieu, we made it to school with plenty of time.
I’d paid for a parking spot for senior year.
It was near the drama and music halls. While I didn’t have classes in those halls, my spot was less than 25 feet from the doors, which meant I get inside out of the heat faster.
Win-win in my book.
Coop helped me get the sunscreen up in the windshield and then he was out. Mathieu opened my door for me and he already had my backpack.
“Thank you,” I told him.
“You’re welcome,” he murmured before he dipped his head and brushed his lips to mine. Another thrill went through me that I didn’t get to really enjoy before the door slammed on the other side of the car.
Mathieu actually chuckled as he lifted his head and I could feel the burn in my cheeks.
“Shut up,” I muttered but I couldn’t stop my grin.
“You are beautiful when you blush.” Then he wrapped an arm around my shoulders as I locked the car and I turned to find Coop staring at us. Boy did he look pissed.
That killed some of my good mood, but I just lifted my chin. I practically dared him to say something. Finally, he said, “You want to walk your schedule?”
“I was planning on it.”
“Well, then,” Coop continued giving me a tight-lipped smile. “Let’s introduce Frenchy to the school.”
“He has a name,” I reminded him as Coop led the way.
“I heard,” Coop said, then flicked a look at Mathieu. “But I think Frenchy fits.”
Mathieu gave me a gentle squeeze and I sighed.
“The guys are waiting for us in the caf, so we can introduce Frenchy after the tour.”
My stomach plummeted. At least Coop was trying to be nice. I wasn’t one hundred percent positive about the rest of the guys.