Page 33 of Tell Me Softly

The seats in the back were taken, so I had to sit in the front row.

Mr. Gomez was telling us how to calculate a matrix.

I guess he’d heard I was screwing up lately, because he wouldn’t stop asking me questions.

He even made me go up to the board and do an exercise.

And I’m not going to lie—I was completely lost. Math had never been my strong point, and I had barely studied at all this year.

Dad was right: I was slacking. I wasn’t thinking about my future.

“Kamila, this needs a lot of work,” Gomez said when he saw me struggling. “If you want to keep that GPA up, you’re going to need to do better than this.”

I couldn’t believe he’d said that in front of the whole class. Some of the kids there looked back and forth, surprised; others laughed, while others smiled and looked down into their laps, embarrassed for me. It was just as I’d thought. Secretly, everyone wanted me to fall.

And since school had started that year, I had the feeling I’d taken a nosedive.

“Girl, what’s up?” Ellie asked later when I was coming out of history class. Thankfully, Mr. Stow had at least agreed to let me do a project on Anastasia.

“Nothing. I’m just distracted,” I said, walking with her to her locker so she could grab a new pen. Her old one had blown up on her in class, and she had blue ink all over her white shirt.

“Jesus, this is a disaster,” she said. “It looks like a Smurf took a piss on me.” I laughed. “Did you hear about Danny?”

I had been looking at my phone, at Taylor’s message, which I still hadn’t answered. We needed to talk about our biology project, but the thought of it gave me chills. I asked Ellie, “What did he do now?”

“Him, nothing… It’s his parents. They just donated twenty grand to the school.”

“What?”

“You heard me. So magically the principal’s given him a second chance, and he’s back on the team. He’ll be playing against Falls Church.”

I leaned back against the lockers and sighed, indignant. “No way!”

“Yes way,” Ellie said and pointed to the other end of the hall, where Danny was standing and smiling ear to ear, spinning a basketball on one finger. He loved that stupid trick. I couldn’t stop myself from walking up to him and slapping the ball so hard it bounced to the other end of the hall.

“Hey!” he shouted, but when we saw it was me, his look of surprise gave way to gloating. “Ah, it’s you. Guess you heard the news?”

“What, that you’re a dickhead? I already knew that.”

He was such a jerk, and what happened was so unfair. A guy who tries to assault people, gets in fights, comes in drunk, ignores his teachers, and he just gets away with it that easily?

“Jeez, I can literally smell the hate coming off of you,” he said, not even trying to conceal his satisfaction.

“I’m about to tell the truth about what you did to me in the parking lot that day,” I said and watched his expression change. “Don’t you dare try and play with me.”

“Kami, your threats are meaningless.” He stepped closer to me, then bent over so no one would hear. “Or do you really think people are going to believe the daughter of the biggest embezzler in Carsville’s history?”

I shoved him. How dare he call my father a crook? He stumbled backward, to my surprise. Either I was stronger than I thought or he was weaker. “Don’t you dare talk about my father.”

“Or what? What are you going to do? It doesn’t matter anyway. Everyone’s going to find out soon enough.”

What the hell? How did Danny know about the problems at my father’s company?

I felt someone come up behind me. Two hands wrapped around my forearms. As soon as I breathed in, I could tell who it was by his scent alone.

“What did I tell you I’d do if I saw you near her?” Taylor said in a tone of controlled rage.

Danny looked up at Taylor. I was scared there would be another fight. I worried everyone was right: the only thing I knew how to do was cause trouble.

“Nice try, Taylor, but you’re not going to suck me in.

” Danny stepped back, raising his hands.

“I’m back on the team now, and I’m not willing to risk getting kicked off again.

Especially not over her.” He sneered at me.

Taylor tried to push me aside to wipe that ugly look off Danny’s face, but I grabbed him and held him back.

“You might be on the team,” Taylor said, “but that doesn’t mean you’ll make it onto the court. My brother’s the coach, and he chooses who goes out and who stays on the bench.”

Danny grimaced just as the bell rang and we all walked our separate ways. Finally, I looked at Taylor. He was more handsome than ever: his light brown hair, sexily neglected, his blue eyes still tense, his short-sleeved shirt hugging his biceps…

“You didn’t answer my message,” he said, seeming pissed and unconcerned with whether he made it to his next class on time. After looking at the ground for a second to regain my equilibrium after that assault on my hormones, I told him, “Mom took my phone away, remember? I’m in trouble.”

He didn’t seem convinced.

“Are we going to talk about what happened yesterday, or are you going to keep on avoiding me?”

I looked around. The hall was nearly empty.

“We’ll talk tonight at the motel, OK?” As I said this, I felt like I was reaching a point of no return. He nodded, but he looked hypnotized, staring at my lips, not into my eyes.

“I put together the proposal for our project yesterday. You can look it over if you want, otherwise I’ll just drop it off in Ms. Denell’s mailbox.”

I nodded, grateful. I had completely spaced on it.

“I trust you. Just turn it in.” I forced a smile. “Thanks for taking care of it.”

“No worries. See you around.”

I watched him walk away, took a deep breath, and headed to philosophy class.

“You’re late, Miss Hamilton,” the teacher said. I apologized and sat in the front row. Focus, Kamila , I told myself.