Bitten (Once Bitten, Twice Shy #1)(7)
As it was, Mr. Jeffers was in the midst of explaining how the British government had formed the thirteen colonies – something Katherine had heard a dozen times before – when it happened. A neatly folded piece of notebook paper was placed atop her desk.
She looked questioningly at the girl who had put it there – Beth Sanders – who, in turn, gestured across the small, clustered classroom, until her finger was pointing directly at one Brad Thompson.
Brad was perhaps the most popular boy in the entirety of Middletown High. Like Katherine, he was only a junior, but he was both the quarterback of the football team and the point guard of the basketball team.
In addition to his prowess in sports, he was also considered to be very good looking. He was tall and muscled with dirty blonde hair and supposedly irresistible blue eyes. That thought made Katherine reflect briefly on the intense eyes of her dream wolf. And she couldn’t help but think that in comparison, Brad’s eyes were rather dull. Said eyes suddenly caught her staring, and Katherine quickly looked away.
Crinkling her forehead in confusion, she wondering why Brad Thompson of all people was sending her secret letters in class. She hesitantly unfolded the paper note. Are you okay? Mallory told me what happened.
Now she was even more baffled.
Why did Brad care? He was Mallory’s boyfriend – had been since junior high – and the blonde had undoubtedly told him many nasty stories about Katherine.
Like how she had stolen her favorite marker from her in third grade or something equally stupid.
Not wanting to give Mallory any more reason to dislike her, she wisely chose to ignore the random note. Unfortunately, she couldn’t escape fast enough when the bell signaling the end of class rang.
“Katherine!”
She winced at the loud call, but had no choice but to slow her fast pace to allow Brad to catch up. There’s no way she could have pretended to not have heard that. “Hey, did you get my note?”
He had obviously seen that she had. Katherine sighed, hugging her history book closer to her chest. “Yes, and thank you for your concern, but as you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”
“Are you sure?” he asked imploringly. “Mallory made what happened sound really bad, like, I don’t know, your eyes had been clawed out or something.”
Katherine fought the urge to roll her supposedly clawed out eyes. “Nope. Both still here and accounted for.”
Brad laughed a little at that, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “Yeah, I can see that.”
Either not noticing or choosing to ignore the brunette’s obvious discomfort, Brad trailed her all the way to her locker. He seemed nervous for some reason. Maybe because Katherine was refusing to make eye contact with him. But she didn’t want to encourage him, she reasoned with herself.
“So, uh, Katherine,” Brad began when it became clear she wasn’t going to say anything more on the subject. He was leaning against the locker next to hers as she put away her books and grabbed her lunch money – stubbornly ignoring the object on the locker’s top shelf as she did so. “I know that we don’t really know each other all that well, but, uh, do you want to sit with me and my friends at lunch today?”
She was surprised at the strange request, but recovered quickly and responded in a firm voice. “Look Brad, I’m sure you’re a nice guy and all, but you’re Mallory’s boyfriend and, no offense, but I have no desire to make my life any more difficult than it already is.”
Brad looked a little uncomfortable at the mention of the blonde girl. “Actually, uh, Mallory and I broke up this weekend.”
Katherine couldn't say she was shocked. Brad and Mallory had been dating for years, but their relationship had been notoriously on-again-and-off-again.
At least now she knew why the popular boy was talking to her. Everyone in the school knew that she and Mallory didn’t get along and what better way to get the blonde girl fuming with anger than to ask Katherine to sit with him at lunch? Well, too bad for Brad that she had better things to do than be a pawn in some immature bid for revenge.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Katherine eventually replied, her tone still unyielding, “but I don’t think it’s a good idea to upset her and I’m sure we both know that me sitting with you at lunch would do just that.”
Brad looked genuinely surprised at those implications. “But that’s not-”
Katherine interrupted him before he could say anymore. “I’ve got to go. I’m meeting up with Abby and I’m sure she’s wondering where I am.”
Refusing to let Brad get another word in, Katherine hurried down the hallway, leaving the boy to watch her as she left, completely flabbergasted at what had just occurred.
Katherine told Abby what had happened as soon as they found a secluded area in the cafeteria where they could privately eat their lunches. Abby was astonished to say the least and had instantly demanded why she hadn’t taken Brad up on his offer. “Have you gone ‘round the bend?” she asked hysterically. “Refusing Brad is, like, committing social suicide. He’s the Edward Cullen of Middletown High.”
Katherine couldn’t help but be entertained by her friend’s antics, but quickly explained herself nonetheless. “No amount of popularity is worth Mallory’s scorn. She already hates me. I can only imagine what she’d do if she thought I was moving in on her ex-boyfriend.” She rolled her eyes, emphasizing the silliness of that notion.