All-American Princess - Maggie Dallen Page 0,32

him and his family. I stared down at the closed notebook on my desk as a memory took hold and refused to let go.

The sounds and smells of Frank MacMillan’s hospital room came back to me like they always did. Like it was a memory from last week and not eight years ago.

Brandon had found him unconscious in the bathroom on Christmas Eve.

My mom had taken me to the hospital to help support Brandon. But what I’d found when I’d walked into that hospital room…

I gripped the desk so tightly my knuckles turned white.

I wouldn’t touch that mental landmine. Not now, and maybe not ever. That was in the past. What mattered now was keeping Brandon safe.

I glared over in Lila’s direction instead, but she wasn’t looking at me.

Of course she wasn’t, she wasn’t here for me.

But as much as I tried to ignore the age-old memories, I couldn’t forget the emotions. They threatened to choke me now as they came rearing back. Guilt, fear, confusion.

And then there were Mrs. MacMillan’s words. The glassy-eyed look as she’d gripped my shoulders with her thin, cold fingers. He only has you now, Jack. You have to look out for Brandon. He needs you.

I’d met her eyes and nodded. “Yes, ma’am.” Those two words had sealed my fate. At least, that was how it felt. An understanding had passed between us.

From that point on, Brandon had become my responsibility, mine to protect just as surely as if he were my little brother.

After my mother passed away and his mother started inviting me over for home-cooked meals and gifting me hand-knitted sweaters… well, by that point, our understanding had been solidified. We were family, linked together forever.

When the bell rang and everyone raced to their first class, I waited in the hallway. It wasn’t a giant school, but it was her first day.

Sure enough, she hovered in the doorway, frowning down at the course schedule in her hand. A group of girls walked past her and giggled, not even bothering to hide their whispers at the new girl’s expense.

I would not feel sorry for her.

Nope.

I wouldn’t do it.

But when her nose scrunched up in confusion and I caught her looking at the room number on the door we’d just walked out of and then craning her neck to see which way the numbers led, I couldn’t stop myself. I walked over and snatched the paper out of her hand.

“Hey,” she said, frowning up at me. “What are you doing?”

I didn’t answer immediately because I was too busy scanning her course load. “AP English?”

When I looked down at her, she had one brow arched and her lips were pursed. There was the ice queen I knew and hated.

Much as I despised her and everything she represented—not to mention every reason she was here in town—I had this overwhelming urge to ruffle those perfect feathers. To rile her up and expose the real Lila. I wanted to see her blush and watch those icy blue eyes warm with anger... and passion.

My blood pounded in my veins at the thought of the last time I’d seen that heated look in her eyes. At the dazed way she’d looked up at me as the physical attraction between us bubbled over. At the way her lips had looked so perfectly swollen from kissing, at the way—

“Are you going to help me or not?” She nodded toward the sheet in my hand, and a couple of students walking past me jostled me out of my reverie.

“This way,” I said, already leading the way. “You’ll be happy to know that Brandon is in AP English as well.”

Her lips sort of hitched to the side in a barely perceptible smile, grudging and fleeting.

I stopped, ignoring the complaints of the students whose path I’d just blocked. “Of course. You’re in his class on purpose.”

She didn’t insult me by trying to deny it.

She didn’t rush to explain herself either. Crossing her arms over her chest, she met my gaze evenly. “Are you going to show me the way, or aren’t you?”

I made no move to continue. Part of me wanted answers. Part of me wanted to know why she was here, and why it was so important to her to get Brandon on this show, and why she’d lied about who she was, and…

I had questions. Lots of questions. But mainly I wanted to see her again, and not in the middle of a crowded hallway. I wanted to talk to her and understand