Page 6 of Room to Breathe

“He lives on my street. Cody Pratchett. He’s a senior.”

“Well, if you see him later, you can return the gesture,” I said.

“I think the original gesture was for me,” Beau said.

“Well, the return gesture can be fromus, then.”

“I’ll pass on the message,” Harper said.

“I thought he was cute,” Ava said. “Along with the message they’re giving him, tell him I say hi.”

“He nearly knocked me over,” I responded.

“That added points.” She laughed.

“You’re a brat,” I said.

Caroline opened the door to the building. The bell was about to ring, so the halls were packed. Beau reached into his back pocket and pulled out his flash cards.

He passed them over to me. “You might want to eat these, let them assimilate. It’s the only way you’ll score better than me on this test.”

I narrowed my eyes at him and dropped them into the nearest trash can. “The info has already been assimilated. I don’t need extra help to beat you.”

He gave me a teasing smile. When we got our scores back two days later, he’d beaten me by two percentage points. I’d have to study twice as hard next time.

Chapter 3

Now

Beau’s hard eyes gave mea once-over, from the shaggy haircut I’d gotten a couple of weeks ago, to the chunky black strip behind my ear I’d dyed at home myself a month ago that stood out dark against my light brown hair, and all the way down to the puddle of toilet water surrounding my foot. He didn’t seem confused by that, only disgusted. My chin still throbbed from hitting it on the windowsill, but I resisted the urge to touch it.

Without a word, he turned toward the door. I let a smug smile come onto my face and leaned against the wall to see how his big brain was going to handle this snag in his plan. I didn’t want to be stuck in here with Beau Eubanks, but if I had to be, I was going to enjoy watching him realize he was stuck in here with me.

He tugged on the handle. It didn’t move. He twisted the lock. It turned in place. His head whipped toward the brick on the floor. He was probably reading the sign above it. Then he tried the handle again. Finally he plucked out his AirPods, pocketed them, and turned around.

“What did you do?” he asked.

“Oh,Idid this?” I said with an exaggerated eye roll.

“I don’t see anyone else here,” he said.

Was he serious? “I broke the lock, brought a brick here, made a sign that is obviously at least a month old, and have been camping in the teachers’ bathroom waiting for, what…you?”

“It’s possible.”

“Even if I wanted to see you, which I don’t, why would I think you’d be in the teachers’ bathroom?” My eyes went to the counter he’d been at minutes ago and I saw what he’d deposited there: a jar of mints. I let out a loud laugh. “You brought the teachers mints? Did you leave snacks in their lounge? Tidy up their mess? You really will do anything to make sure you lock down spot number one at school, won’t you? I bet your mommy is so proud.”

“Notanything,” he said, arms crossed. “That’s you.”

“You know nothing, Beau,” I snapped, anger flaring in my chest.

He looked around. “Then whatareyou doing here? Vandalizing the place?”

I was still holding the pen in my grip and I couldn’t deny that, yes, I had been using it to vandalize. “Thinking about picking the lock.”

“You can’t pick a lock from the inside.”

“Thank goodness you showed up to tell me that. Had you heard me yelling for you to hold the door, we’d already be out of here.”