Page 99 of I Don't Need Your Protection

My heart doesn’t sink as much as I thought it would.Actually, seeing him work the crowd and not look for me causes my insides to fill with irritation. If he was sick, I would have been by his side as much as I could. It’s obvious he doesn’t care about me. Did he ever? Was I just a shiny new toy to him? Or was he in on Clarissa’s prank? Trick the new girl into thinking the popular guy was into her and then humiliate her?

I decide not to give him any attention and add to the conversation with my friends. I can feel Caleb watching me. My mind travels to the times he held me in his arms, or when he brushed his warm lips over my face. And of course how he saved me from the rain.

That’s the kind of person I should be thinking about, not Warner. That’s the kind of person who has a good heart.

Warner will never be the guy Caleb is. I actually thought he was a good person? A kind person? That he cared about me?

How could I have been blind all this time?

When there are ten minutes before first bell, my friends and I figure we’d better get to class to avoid the daily morning stampede of students leaving the dining hall.

“Nelson!” a voice calls in the distance.

Turning around, I spot Warner waving at me. I internally roll my eyes and continue toward the exit of the dining hall.

“Wait up!” Warner rushes to catch up to me. “Didn’t you hear me calling you?”

I focus my attention on him, not hiding my annoyed expression. “Hey, Warner,” I say in a bored voice.

He grins. “Did you hear we aced our project? Pretty cool,huh?”

“I guess.”

He holds his smile. “Yep.” He starts to talk about something else, but I cut him off.

“Didn’t you get my texts yesterday?”

His mouth snaps shut and his eyebrows knit. “Oh, yeah. I didn’t have a chance to respond. Was pretty busy.”

“Too busy to visit the sick? You did know I was sick, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, so?”

I keep my gaze on him for a bit. “Well, the decent thing would have been to see how I was doing. Or at the minimum, text me.”

He shrugs. “Like I said, I was busy. But hey, you’re fine now.” He grins again.

“Did you even care?”

His forehead furrows. “People get sick all the time. Why are you making such a big deal about it?” He groans. “Don’t tell me you’re the clingy kind. Ihateclingy girls.”

“Clingy? Wanting my um…friend to visit me when I was sick makes meclingy?”

By now, many kids are watching us, including my friends who are a few feet away, and Caleb. I can sense him ready to act if things get messy.

Warner also notices the crowd because he laughs loudly, crossing his arms over his chest. “I have a life outside of you, you know. You’re not the only thing on my mind.”

“Oh, I know that. You probably have halfthe female population on your mind all the time.”

He beams. “You know it.”

I roll my eyes. “Just so you know, we’re done.”

“Done?”

“Yeah. You and I are no longer…whatever we were.”

He bursts out laughing. “What? Did you think we were boyfriend and girlfriend?”