GUTTER GIRL

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Jace

I was going to shit swords if I didn't find my notebook. Like, right now.

My heart hammered as I tore every last thing from my black Under Armour backpack. I'd already tossed my entire locker to the floor, too, looking for it.

I'd been in fifth period, Computer Coding, and I'd grabbed—

"Oh shit!" I'd run into McKenna Storm before my class. Our bags dumped out. "Son of a mother—"

"Dude!" Kyle Walker rammed into me and I spun around.

The star running back looked down at me, his eyes wide. "Redecorating?" He gestured to the mess I'd made on the floor.

"Shut up." I started gathering all my crap and throwing it into my locker. I needed to get that notebook. What if she opened it? What if she realized it was mine?

She couldn't—it didn't have my name on it. Only my Scribbles username. Shit. That thing had my Kingdom of Swords stuff in it. At this moment I was cursing myself for not using a Google Doc or something, but I'd gotten hacked once and couldn't chance anyone ever finding out I was WriteEmHard on Scribbles.

Writing fantasy romance novels. My friends, especially my football teammates, would give me so much shit. Seriously, they'd never let me live it down.

So it was old school notebooks and index cards. I never should have brought my stuff to school. I wanted to work on a scene today during study hall, but... Shit! I needed to get that thing back.

"...right?" Kyle flicked my ear.
"Dude!" I shoved him off.
Kyle shook out his messy blond hair and tied it back into a man bun like he always did. I swear to God a girl swooned behind him. He actually could be the cover model of a book with his ice-blue eyes, perfect face, perfect hair. Get it together, Rovers—stop scoping your friend as a potential cover model.

What was wrong with me? Must be all the stock photos I was scrolling through last night with another Scribbles author. They'd needed major help designing a new cover for one of their stories, which meant finding the perfect model.

"I'm late." I plowed by him.
"So are you coming?"
"Yeah, sure," I said, hustling down the hallway. I had no idea what I'd just agreed to, but whatever.

If I remembered correctly, McKenna's locker was one hall down and to the left, only a few away from Kyle's, and he'd just headed off in the opposite direction, so he wouldn't be there. Hopefully McKenna would be. What if she figured it out? Shit. And told someone.

"Hey, Jace!" Xavier Franklin, our Twin River High baseball catcher, yelled as I bolted by him. He stood by his locker talking to Landon, Victoria, and Mia, who gave me a quick wave but didn't say anything. That was fine. I needed to hurry the hell up.

McKenna wasn't at her locker. "Shit." I tried the handle, but of course it was locked. Leaving my hand on it, I glanced around. I'd seen her in the language arts hallway before while I headed to Spanish.

What would I say if I found her, anyway? If she'd opened it, she'd have to know it was mine, since we'd run into each other before last period. Hopefully she would keep it a secret. I blew by a few people waving at me, wishing me luck for this Friday's football game, but I didn't stop.

I had to catch up with her. I rounded the corner to my classroom, then sped by it. Three doors down was where the literature classes were held. Weaving through people, I made it with about thirty seconds to spare before the final bell would ring.

I peeked in the first class. She wasn't there. The second and third weren't lucky for me, either.

Shit. It was a long shot finding her in this freaking huge school. I'd have to get to her locker ASAP after class.