Page 12 of Offside Attraction

I push the door open and step inside.

The chatter dies instantly.

Every head turns.

If I cared about attention, I’d be nervous. Embarrassed. Self-conscious.

Instead, I’m irritated.

I ignore the stares—most of them from girls already biting their lips and flipping their hair, giving me looks I’ve seen before—and walk toward an empty seat near the middle of the room.

I pull the chair back—

And someone shoves it forward again.

“Sorry,” a guy says, leaning across the desk. “Someone’s sitting there.”

I look up.

Jock. Big. Loud. The kind who thinks muscles equal authority.

I grab the chair and yank it back anyway.

He straightens, stands up, squaring his shoulders, matching my glare. I feel the attention shift in the room, eyes locking onto us. But there’s one stare I feel more than the rest—dark, burning into my back.

I don’t have to turn around to know it’s him.

“Do I look like I give a fuck?” I ask calmly, lifting a brow like I’m genuinely curious.

I sit, sliding my backpack onto the hook beside the desk.

“So you’re the tough new kid, huh?” the jock says, still standing, looming like he expects me to flinch.

“Let it go, Brian.”

The voice is familiar.

I turn, unsurprised to find Hayes Griffin standing beside my desk, looking down at me. He sounds the same—only deeper now. Rougher.

Sexier.

There’s something in his eyes I still can’t read.

His friends hover behind him, his girlfriend clinging to his arm like a status symbol. Hayes looks untouchable. Like the world bends slightly in his favor.

And it does.

Private parking spot. Donor parents. The way people watch him like he’s something sacred. Girls would kill to be where his girlfriend stands. Half the school would sell their souls just to have him notice them.

It’s always been like this.

Everyone loves Hayes Griffin.

“You’re the new kid,” his girlfriend says, eyes raking over me. “You look hotter than I imagined.”

Something sharp flashes through Hayes’s eyes.

Jealousy.