Boarding with the Bad Boy [COMPLETE + BONUS published edition]

The Date

Friday sneaks up on me, and by the time I make my way to math, I still haven't come up with any kind of viable excuse to bail on my date with Jared tonight. Worse, Jill and Spencer fully support my using him as a distraction from Sam. When I brought it up at lunch the two of them had high fived, claiming that Sam has been alternately avoiding and glaring at me from a distance because he's jealous. Their genius advice? Keep it up until he's able to admit his feelings for me.

"Excited for tonight?" Jared leans forward on his desk, resting on his elbows. His face is much too close to mine.

"Yeah," I say, but it comes out strained. I force a cheerful smile on my face as Sam crosses to his seat, slamming his body into it and dropping his bag to the ground loudly.

"Mr. Evans," Ms. Antony reprimands from the front of the room.

"Sorry," Sam mutters, pulling out his math book.

Thankfully, Jared drops back in his seat as Ms. Antony moves to the whiteboard and begins a lecture on partial fractions. I feel Sam watching me throughout class, but every time I shift my eyes to him, he's either staring straight ahead or scribbling madly in his notebook. I start to think I'm imagining things.

Fifty minutes later, the final bell of the day goes off. I start collecting my stuff, but Jared traps me at my desk, standing in the space I need to get out of the room.

"I'll swing by your room at 6, right?"

"You're asking me?" I tease. "I thought this was your date."

Jared laughs, looking a little confused. "Yeah," he says, "I'll come get you at 6. Wear a dress. I wanna see those sexy legs of yours." He grins sort of sloppily at me before sliding his book bag over his shoulder and leaving the room.

I sigh and finish shoving things into my backpack. No way I'm wearing a dress tonight. You can't do anything in a dress. I'm starting to wish I had been a little more focused on getting out of this thing.

Ten minutes before six, I'm trekking across campus as fast as Jill's stupid shoes will let me go. I told her about the dress thing and she worked damn hard to get me to go for it ("Think about Sam's face when he sees you in a skirt and heels!"), but eventually my stubborn 'charm' won out and we settled on my favorite pair of skinny jeans and a semi-dressy top. She forced the shoes on me last minute, holding my Converse hostage by the mouth of her dog, Bea. I love Bea, but she'd eat my worn Chucks in the time it'd take me to chase her down the stairs, and their imminent death wasn't worth it. So now I'm hobbling across the quad like a dinosaur in a pair of wedges that will give me blisters at any moment. I'm not in a good mood.

It gets worse when I burst through the door of my room, already a little sweaty and disheveled. Sam's standing in the middle of it, and he's not alone. He's wrapped around a girl, his lips buried in her neck. I make a terrible sound, something between a scream and a gasp, and they both look up at me in surprise. Though I don't think Sam really is surprised, is he? He knew Jared was coming to get me around this time.

I try to tell myself that he's playing the same game I am, but it's damn hard to do when he has his hands on Beth Armstrong's ass and she's smiling the smuggest fucking smile I've ever seen.

"Hey Logan." Even her voice is smug. I square my shoulders and fight to keep my face passive.

"What's up, Beth?"

"Your roommate invited me to a party tonight, but thought we could have a little fun beforehand." She giggles, running her hands over Sam's chest. My eyes follow her movements without my permission and I have to force myself to look at the ceiling, praying I don't do anything rash.