Page 140 of The Surprise Play

But what if he gets bored of me?

What if he gets drafted and leaves me? Which he totally will.

He’ll be away, and I’ll be out of sight, out of mind.

“Whatever is going on in that brain of yours, can you please just stop it?” he says, bringing my attention back to him. “I’m yours, baby. You’ve got to believe that.”

“I just don’t understand it,” I mumble.

“What?” He leans closer, and I shake my head.

“Nothing.” Desperate to get out of this hellishly awkward conversation, I lightly peck his lips.

He grins. “Did you just kiss me in public?”

“Maybe.” I feel the heat rising in my cheeks and wrinkle my nose.

He laughs and grabs my face, kissing me soundly before pulling back and brushing his nose over mine. “Maybe we should skip our first class of the day and?—”

“No.” I lightly push him back. “We are not missing class just because you’re horny. And besides, I…” Dropping my voice, I whisper, “I got my period this morning, so…” My cheeks flush red yet again. I no doubt look like a raspberry as I admit this to him, but he takes it with ease.

“Oh, bummer. How bad do you get them?” He stands tall, taking my hand and threading our fingers together.

“A little painful, but nothing a few Tylenol can’t counter.”

“That’s good. My poor sister used to get the worst cramps. In fact, her periods were so bad she had to go on the pill.”

I raise my eyebrows, wondering if his sister would want me to know that.

But Wily keeps going, telling me about Blake’s heinous periods and how he learned to duck and cover through the worst of them.

“It was like navigating a minefield. She’d go from tantrums to tears to hysterical laughter within minutes. I swear, I had to mentally suit up once a month. She finally went on the pill when she was sixteen, and it gave us all a chance to breathe and not worry for our lives so much.” His emphatic look makes me giggle, and I squeeze his hand. He’s a good big brother, I can tell.

The way he talks about Blake makes me think they’re close, and I can’t help asking what it was like growing up with a sibling.

He continues to tell me stories as we amble slowly to my first class, and it distracts me from the Jade encounter this morning. When it’s finally time to go our separate ways, I let him kiss me again and don’t regret it until an hour later when I leave my class and bump into Jade and Kelsey, who have obviously been waiting for me.

Shit.

Jade’s long nails dig into my arm when she grabs me,getting in my face and hissing, “You’re his girlfriend now?”

“I… I…” Fear chokes me out as she pulls me along the pathway, seething in my ear.

“You told me you were just his tutor, but now he’s off the market.”

“Because of you?” Kelsey scoffs. Her scorn is potent and burns the back of my throat. “What a joke. Are you paying him or something?”

“With what money?” Jade spits. “Seriously. Are you stupid?” She shakes my arm, her nails digging in that much deeper. I can feel her talons through my jacket.

I wince and try to wrangle out of her hold, but her grip is like a dog bite, cinching my arm.

“I told you to stay away from him.”

“You can’t tell me what to do,” I reply so softly it’s barely audible.

“There has got to be an ulterior motive here,” Kelsey says to Jade. “There’s no way he’d be into a girl like her. Something else is going on.”

I frown at the pair of them as they discuss my love life like it’s some big conspiracy.