Temporarily Mine

7

JOSEPHINE

"Josephine," Scarlett, my school dance coach, calls. "Get lower on the second count, your booty needs to be an inch from your ankles. You're the most flexible person in here, don't go half ass on me." She claps and moves to the next group.

My friend Ava looks at me sticking her tongue out as she rolls her eyes making me laugh.

Scarlett is a stickler for perfection, but it's good. It's what I want, so I like when she calls me out if I'm being lazy. Today, though, I'm so exhausted I almost wish she wouldn't.

Thankfully, it's only a forty-five-minute practice we squeeze in a few days a week before school begins, and it passes quickly.

I rinse in the showers and get ready as fast as I can and then meet Cassie and the girls in the parking lot.

Kathrine  hands me an iced coffee the second I approach.

"You're a lifesaver, thank you."

"Yep." Kathrine  spins back to her car, pulling out a stack of lanyards with keycards hanging from the ends, little shot glasses clipped on as well, and waves them around.

"My dad brought these home last night!" she squeals. "I added the shot glasses, obviously, but check it out! We'll have separate rooms, each of ours is adjoining so we can open the middle doors if we want, but Felix is totally sleeping in mine, so that door will not be opened often." She gives a Cheshire Cat grin. "Unless someone wants to see what I've taught him--"

"Okay, enough of that." I laugh. "Keep your door locked, please."

"And maybe leave your TV on," Mandy suggests, making me laugh harder.

Kathrine  glares at her a second but then laughs with us. "Yeah, maybe I should. I'll be drinking so, things could get a little extra, but anyway, jerks, we're all set to head out first thing in the morning! I'll hand the cards out there as people start arriving, but ours and a couple others are in a separate baggy with our names on them."

"Sounds good." I nod, I assume she explained all this to the girls last night.

"What time did your mom show?" Cassie asks me.

I consider lying, but in case someone saw and mentions it, I admit, "She didn't. Hero actually drove me home."

"Say what?" Mandy slides up, ready for some gossip.

"Literally a ride, practically silent."

"It's happening!" she sing-songs, but I walk away, leaving them there laughing.

"Bye, assholes. See you at lunch."

When I woke up this morning, having accidentally fallen asleep the night before, I expected a text from Andrew to be waiting for me on my phone, but there wasn't one.

Turned out, while I fell asleep, he changed his mind.

I walk into leadership expecting him to talk to me about last night, but we end up working on different projects, so the chance never comes, and the day quickly rolls on from there.

In chemistry, Mr. Brady passes out a quick, three question pop quiz the second we walk in. It only takes five minutes of class time and then we're off for another 'bonding session', this time in the library.

Hero, of course, moves quicker than me and is around the corner before I'm even fully out of the classroom, which would have been perfect if Andrew hung back, but he made it down the hall before me, too.

Now I'm left with no choice but to search for Hero and sit wherever he chose.

I walk through the double doors of the large, brick building, my footsteps slowing when I spot Sandra sitting on the edge of the check-out desk, Andrew leaning against it right beside her.