Ever After (East Raven Academy Book 1)(48)

“Scoot over,” Estaine says to me.

I do, and put the pillow behind my head so I can sit up slightly as he sits beside me.

“What movie do you want to watch?” he asks.

“Why don’t we watch a TV show?”

“What TV show do you want to watch?”

“It’s been forever since I watched Smallville,” I say. “And, in case you didn’t know, I love Superman.”

“We can do Smallville,” he says, smiling at me. “Did I ever tell you that you are the coolest chick, ever? Because you are.”

“Thanks. I think,” I say.

He gets up and goes through something in his dresser drawers. I laugh when he pulls out the complete ten series discs of Smallville.

“You like Smallville enough that you brought the entire series with you to school?” I ask.

He nods.

“I own it on digital,” I say. “Okay, but if we start this, you have to promise not to watch it with anybody else. This can be our thing.”

“Okay,” he says. “Every Sunday afternoon.”

“Okay,” I say.

Estaine and I have a thing.

As he pops in the disc, I can’t help but wonder if Brooks would be jealous. I mean, he’s already acted so jealous towards Estaine.

Would I be jealous if he was hanging out with a girl this afternoon?

To be honest, I don’t know. I don’t think I would. But, maybe. I won’t know until I’m in that situation.

I hear my phone vibrate on Estaine’s nightstand and I figure it’s Brooks, but I choose to ignore it as the episode starts. I’ll text him later tonight, because even if I do decide that I want Brooks to be my boyfriend, I don’t want to be one of those girls whose whole life revolves around a guy. I’m stronger than that.

Plus, I do not want to be like Emma.

Heck, Emma doesn’t want to be like Emma.

I know Emma doesn’t want to be in the relationship she’s in, but it’s hard. She loved Bryce, and she literally can’t get away from him at school. I think it’s good that they’re both choosing to go to different colleges, because it will help them. Distance is what those two desperately need.

Or to date other people.

Well, it sounds like Bryce is dating lots of other people.

I put my head over on Estaine’s shoulder as we watch the show, just because it’s comfortable there. He puts his arm around me, and I’m thinking that I just fit there perfectly.

“This is nice,” he says quietly.

“It is.”

Really nice.

In a way, Estaine reminds me of Charlie. Not in the brotherly sense, because that is not the case. It’s just... I’m so comfortable with Estaine. Even though I just met him, I feel like I can be myself around him and I feel like I can tell him anything.

I already have told him everything. He knows the truth about who I am, and nobody else in the school knows. Not Teagan. Not even Brooks. Though, to be fair, I haven’t got to spend as much time with Brooks, because he goes to West Raven.

About thirty minutes into the show, Estaine gets a call. Our pizza is here. He pauses the show and goes to grab our pizza. He says we can eat on the bed, but I insist we eat on the floor. I can’t stand for there to be crumbs in the bed. It’s, like, my number one pet peeve in life. When I told him that, he laughed and told me I was weird, which I already knew.

I have no idea what is going on with Estaine and me, but what I do know is that I enjoy hanging out with him.

I’m glad I told him the truth.





Monday, August 28





Something happened.





I wake up in an extra-good mood, which is weird for a Monday morning.

Yesterday, I hung out in Estaine’s dorm until curfew. Thankfully, I was not late. So, no more added detention.

At least I get to do detention with Estaine. It won’t be so bad with him.

Today, I am wearing a white fitted shirt that says, ‘Hello Monday You Jerk.’

The dress code at this school is weird.

All the girls have to wear skirts, which is normal for private schools. The skirts have to be black, khaki, or plaid. Since I hate khaki, I own a ton of black and plaid skirts. But we can wear whatever t-shirts with sayings on them.

The skirt lengths are weird though. We follow the fingertip rule, which means some of the girls wear their skirts really short. But the guys at school can’t wear shorts any shorter than their knees. Shouldn’t both girls and guys have the same rule on the length of their clothes?

I put my Converse on and see Teagan shaking her head at me.

“What?” I ask.

“Every day, I spend an hour getting ready and you throw on the first thing you can grab, and you still look cuter than me,” she says.

Teagan is pretty.

Way prettier than me.

“You’re crazy,” I say.

“The guys here like you.”

“Only because they didn’t see me go through puberty, like they did you,” I say.

“Valid point,” she says.

“And guys here like you, too.”

“Not the one I want to like me.”

“Who?” I ask.

“That’s not important,” she says.