Page 38 of I Don’t Need Your Protection (Harrington Bay Academy #1)

Addie

Sophie, Carly, Raven, and I head for the dining hall on Tuesday morning. I’m feeling nearly one hundred percent and am ready to go back to school.

Caleb follows us a few feet away, lost in the crowd of students. I don’t see him, but I feel him. Weeks ago, I used to roll my eyes that he kept shadowing me, but now I like that he’s so close.

My friends and I get our food and sit down at our table.

As we eat, there’s a commotion when the popular kids enter the dining hall.

My eyes latch onto Warner. He’s surrounded by a crowd, smiling at the attention he loves so much.

I wait for him to look at me, but he doesn’t.

He hasn’t texted me at all the past day, even though I contacted him a few times.

I really thought he’d visit me, but it seems he had other plans.

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. I hate clingy girls.”

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

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 half the 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?”

A few of his friends, including Clarissa and her minions, chuckle.

“ No . I thought we were getting close, but that was my mistake. Why did you even start with me if you had no intention of it going anywhere?”

Is that why he never kissed me? It was all a game?

“Well, you’re the new girl,” he says. “No one touches the new girl before I do. It’s like a rule.”

I just stare at him. “You’re a disgusting pig.”

He shrugs. “Maybe.”

I’m so tempted to take someone’s drink and splash it on his face like I’ve seen many women on TV and in the movies do.

But I have a feeling that will get me in trouble.

So with a glare, I say, “Don’t ever come near me again.

” I spin around on my heels and march out of the dining hall. My friends rush after me.

I make my way to my locker and lean on the door, releasing a heavy breath. “That sucked.”

Sophie and Carly wrap their arms around me while Raven pats my hand. “Will you be okay?” Sophie asks.

I let out another breath. “I’m not even sad about it. I’m angry. Ticked off. What in the world did I see in that guy?”

“We knew he was a player,” Raven says. “But we wanted to give him a chance to prove otherwise because he seemed nice. He had us all fooled.”

Carly makes a face. “He’s the kind of guy who sweet-talks you and then hurts you. Jerk.”

“Mega jerk,” Sophie adds. “I’m so sorry, Addie.”

It’s odd that I don’t feel even a bit of pain. It’s anger, but it’s also relief. I’m glad he showed his true colors before I got hurt. I can’t imagine getting even closer to him and then him hurting me.

Caleb makes his way toward me and my friends. My eyes widen because he’s coming close, but he stops at his locker, which is near mine, and opens the door.

“Are you all right?” he asks, keeping his gaze on his books.

It warms my heart that he cares so much. “I’m fine. I’m good. To heck with him. He’s not the guy I thought he was. There are more decent guys out there. Guys who are sweet and kind and caring, even if they don’t show it often.”

If he knows I’m referring to him, he doesn’t make it obvious. He just nods. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out the way you planned. But now you can put all of this behind you.” He turns to me. “And have fun with your friends.”

“Aren’t you going to tell me ‘I told you so?’ You didn’t trust that guy from the start.”

He pretends to fiddle around with his books to not arouse suspicion. “There was just something about him that rubbed me the wrong way. I thought he was a danger to you, but it turns out it wasn’t in the way I thought.”

Right. Instead of harming me physically, he did so emotionally. Or at least he tried to. I’m totally over him. He’s like a blip in my life.

“I should focus less on boys, right?” I say to Caleb with a crooked smile. That’s what he told me for weeks. I suppose he was right.

His eyes search mine in this intense way that makes me feel like he can read my soul. It’s kind of like he’s sending a message, but I have no clue what it means.

Then he shuts his locker and walks away.