Adler | The Aces of St.Sinclair BOOK 1.

Excuses | A TWENTY ONE

"So," started Will. "What are you going to do to sort things out with Esme Ivanov?"

"Who?" questioned Garren.

"The lesbian with the ugly cardigan," said Ben.

"Oh, her. Nothing."

"What?"

"He said-"

"I heard him, Ben," Will intervened. "What do you mean nothing? Ms. Shepherd told you to sort it or else she will."

"Yes, so I'll leave it to her. I've got better things to do with my time."

Will sighed. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Um, guys."

The three boys directed their heads to me. Despite it appearing they were too engrossed in conversation to recall my presence, I hadn't felt nonexistent or forgotten. Perhaps it was from their gazes that looked so attentive. "Not that I'm not enjoying listening to your riveting discussion, but I've got a class I was meant to be in five minutes ago."

Granted, I could've ignored Garren's voice when he called me out, seeking to have 'a word'. He wouldn't have known if I was pretending, I was a good six metres away. Except here I was, roaming the halls and unintentionally being tardy.

"Yes thank you, Stevie. Let's move on to something actually relevant; why aren't you taking the advanced classes?"

I rolled my eyes. "Really? This again?"

"Don't roll your eyes. This a serious issue."

"How?" questioned Will.

"Because since you two are too slow, I've been stuck sitting behind that fatty and seeing those rolls of sausages burdened to keep his head up. If she'd been attending since the beginning, I could've been spared from that torture."

"Oh, so you want me there as a shield," I derived.

"Of course that's not the only reason, Stevie."

"Really? Cause that's what it sounded like to me too."

"Shut up Ben," Garren hissed. "Stevie I'm just saying-

"No, no no. I completely understand. To think you've had to endure the distress of seeing a little neck fat for so long- gosh, I'm amazed you're still standing."

"Stevie."

"If His Majesty will excuse me, I need to get going." I turned on my heels, starting to linguistics.

I caught a chuckle from Will followed by a sarcastic remark to his leader saying, "You definitely had her convinced there," right before hasty footsteps advancing my way emerged.

I bit back the gleeful smile threatening to spread at the sound of Garren hurrying over. Okay, I wasn't really mad but it was fun to see him think so. I quickened my stride just by a fraction, the steps behind me followed along. I resisted the temptation to sneak a glance, only halting when he sped up to block my path.

I hid as much amusement from my expression as possible. "What?"

"I wasn't done," he insisted. "Look, you need to understand I'm a little pissed by all this."

"By all what?"

"You. I had assumed you were a transfer student because well, it shocked me that I hadn't noticed you earlier."

It was impossible to not expose my surprise at that.

"I mean, you were right here the whole time. What did I miss not to see that?" Garren's tone visibly perplexed by it and it's a new but fascinating sight. "You're partly to blame too."