Ever After (East Raven Academy Book 1)(16)

I smile.

One good thing about this is that I will know he likes me for me, and not for my family connections.

I pull my phone out of my back pocket, unlock it, and hand it to him so he can program his number. He does, and even takes a selfie with my phone, and hands it back. I look at his contact and see his picture.

He’s so cute.

“I texted myself from your phone,” Brooks says. “Because I don’t want to spend the next few days waiting for you to text me.”

“You don’t look like the kind of guy who ever has to wait for a text from a girl,” I say, then put my arm over my eyes. “Can you just pretend I didn’t say that?”

He touches my arm, so I move it away. “No. Because that pretty much made my day. I never, ever want to forget that you said that.”

Why me?

“I didn’t even ask if you have a boyfriend. I mean, you’re really pretty, so you probably do,” he says. “But I really hope you don’t. But I don’t want to make him mad by texting you.”

“No boyfriend,” I say, grinning like an idiot. Why do I have to make it so obvious that I’m attracted to this guy?

“Phoenix! Bae! What up?” An arm goes around me and I look over at Jason. Of course it’s Jason. He removes his arm as he looks at Brooks who is standing in front of me. “What are you doing here?”

“Party crashing,” Brooks answers, and then winks at me.

“You need to leave. Now,” Jason says.

Brooks doesn’t at all seem affected by the threat. He just looks at me.

“I’ll see you soon,” he says.

I don’t say anything back as he walks off. He stops to grab his friend Reed.

Jason turns towards me, making me focus my attention on him instead of Brooks.

“He’s bad news, Phoenix,” he tells me.

“Why?” I ask. “What’d he do?”

“He goes to West Raven.”

“So?”

“They’re our rivals,” Jason says. “Trust me, you do not want to fraternize with the enemy.”

“Oh, my gosh. What is this? West Side Story? It’s ridiculous. He was cool. I think I want to be his friend,” I say.

“Don’t,” he says. “Promise me.”

I can tell he’s not going to let this one go.

“Okay,” I say. Even though I have no intentions of following through on the promise.

Jason is obviously satisfied with my answer, because he walks off, leaving me there alone. I get up and start walking around, looking for people I know. I’m really disappointed that Jason ran Brooks off.

As I walk past the boat dock I see a couple making out.

The dock is old. Like, really old, and in need of some major repairs. Honestly, I’d be scared it would break. But even if I wasn’t scared of falling through the rotted wood, I would be scared of getting a splinter, but that doesn’t seem to faze the couple at all.

Wait.

Is that Emma?

Uh... and Bryce.

Gross.

“I see they made up,” a voice says behind me.

I turn around and see Estaine standing there. “Unfortunately. Or maybe fortunately, for me. I guess this means she won’t come to my dorm room crying tonight.”

“I wouldn’t count on that,” Estaine says. “The night is still young.”

I roll my eyes. “Great.”

“Don’t tell me you’re already sick of them,” he says. “You just got here. I’ve been listening to their drama for the past two years.”

“I think I’m getting why Teagan didn’t room with Emma,” I say.

“They roomed together freshman year and became best friends,” Estaine says. “But then the drama started with Bryce. Emma and Bryce broke up for the summer, after freshman year, and Emma promised Teagan that she was done with Bryce. So, they roomed together. But Emma got back with Bryce, and the whole year was... well, a lot of crying. So, Teagan refused to room with Emma this year.”

“I don’t blame her,” I say. “I’m so glad they didn’t stick me in a room with Emma.”

“No kidding,” Estaine says.

“Hey, so, do you know a guy name Brooks, from West Raven?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he answers, not looking too happy. “Why?”

“He was here earlier,” I say. “I didn’t even know there was a West Raven Academy. But he was talking to me, and Jason totally flipped out about it.”

“West Raven Academy isn’t a bad school, but they’re our rivals. I have a few friends who go there, and we pretend to hate each other at the games. It’s kind of fun,” Estaine says. “But Brooks... he’s bad news. You should stay away from him.”

“Why? I mean, what did he do?” I ask.

“Just stay away from him,” he says, but doesn’t answer my question.

“Okay,” I say.

Still, I can’t help but wonder what Brooks did that was so bad.

And honestly, I’m not going to stay away from him.





Monday, August 21

We can fly to Vegas after school.





My alarm goes off before five that morning, because, apparently, Uncle Matty and Jake want to torture me every day, even on my first day of school. But, I’ll take waking up early over them being my constant shadow. Besides, it would be hard to explain to my friends why I suddenly have a bodyguard.