Page 109 of Love Me in the Dark

“This is my new friend, Harley. She’s new here so make her feel welcome.” Slade’s tone wasn’t one of a nice introduction. Itwas one of a demand. He was ordering the curly haired guy to be nice to me.

His muddy brown eyes pinched at the corners. “I’m Josh. Let me know if anyone give you a hard time.”

Slade’s eyes sliced to mine. “If anyone gives you a hard time, you come to me. Not him.”

Damn. Who was this guy? His entire attitude changed once we rounded the corner. I wasn’t sure why the other students only stared before, but to this group he was a god. I wasn’t sure what I’d got myself caught up in being seen with Slade. Maybe it was a good thing or… yeah it was bad if I went by all the female eyes that were aimed at me with daggers coming out of them. They didn’t need to worry though. I’d be out of here in no time and in the small amount of time I’d be here, Slade would only be the annoying guy who followed me on my runs like a crazed stalker.

I tried to put distance between me and Slade, but he wasn’t having any of it as we walked, and every single person greeted him. I kept my gaze straight ahead and pretended like I knew where I was going. I would need to find an alternative way to get to this class because there was no way in hell, I was coming down this hall again.

“Hey,” a sly voice came from my other side. An arm wrapped around my waist and pulled into the stranger’s side.

“Back the fuck off, Rogers,” Slade gritted out as he maneuvered me back by his side.

“Damn boy, I didn’t know she was your plaything. My bad,” he laughed, holding his hands up.

Oh no. There was no way I was going to let that stand. Even if I was only going be here for two months. Pushing myself close, I was only an inch away as I glared up at him. “I’m no one’s plaything.”

“Let’s go.” Slade’s arm around my waist as he pulled me back from killing his friend.

Turning in his hold, I poked him in the chest. “And who gave you the right to manhandle me because it certainly wasn’t me.”

Slide backed off. His dark brows pulled down. “You know, I?— “

“I don’t know shit, but until I invite you keep your hands to yourself.”

“So that means you are going to invite me to touch you?” He smirked and half the people in the hallway laughed.

“Don’t bet on it.” I whirled away and headed down the hall without looking back. It didn’t matter that I didn’t know where I was going. It was my first day and I should be allowed to be late. Why was this school so damn big anyway? It was at least double the size of my high school.

“Hey,” his voice was softer than I’d ever heard it. “Don’t be like that. I was just playing around.”

“Yeah, I realize that. It was at my own expense.” Pulling out my schedule, I looked at the room number I needed and the room numbers around us and saw I was nowhere near where I needed to be. “If you want to be helpful show me where I need to be.” I swear they needed ten minutes between each class just to allow students to get where they needed to be.

“Sure.” He nodded in my peripherally.

We didn’t speak for the next couple of minutes as everyone gawked and greeted him. I kept a blank expression on my face not letting on how much I hated the attention. The girls already hated me for the simple fact that I had Slade by my side, and the guys leered at me like I was the next image in their spank bank. As long as they didn’t tell me about it, I didn’t give a shit.

“Are you like the captain of the football team or something?” I asked when he stopped outside a door that read 425.

His dirty yet captivating eyes darkened as he looked down at me. His entire body went stiff before he relaxed against thewall, but he wasn’t fooling me. Something had happened there. “I was. The season’s over.”

“That explains a lot.” I patted him on the arm. “Well, thanks for walking me to class. This place is like a damn maze. The room numbers are all over the place.” There was no rhyme or reason to the way the rooms were numbered or at least I couldn’t see it.

I stepped inside the classroom and all eyes were on me. This was what I hated. I was the freak who appeared five months into the school year. Everyone already had established relationships.

An older man with very little gray hair on his head, but plenty coming out of his nose and ears smiled at me as he looked at me over the rim of his glasses. I handed over my schedule and let him look it over.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Blake. Please take a seat at any of the free desks.

I took back my schedule that he’d marked on, and turned to find a seat only to find one seat vacant and it was the one directly in front of Slade. What were the odds?

Why did we have to have this class together? It was already one I wasn’t excited about and now with him in here, I’d be dreading it. Science classes were so not my thing. Anything where I had to dissect any once living thing was not in my wheelhouse. At least the teacher seemed nice.

Mr. Brown stood up in front of the class and started writing on the board. I pulled out a notebook prepared to write notes and hope the class went by without event.

“As you can all see, we have a new student with us today. I’m not going to embarrass Ms. Blake by making her come up here in front of you all. Instead, we’re going to change up our lab partners for the rest of the year and no you won’t be picking.”

At least if we weren’t picking, Slade couldn’t pick me. Thank god for small miracles. My thoughts drifted to this morningwhen I asked my mom for money for lunch and the way she sneered at me as if I asked her to give me a pint of her blood.