had Maddox’s attention while the boys stared at me with obvious interest.
None have made a move though.
Riley said I was Maddox’s trophy. Nobody would dare to approach me. The moment he laid eyes on me, I became untouchable to the rest of Berkshire Academy.
Ha, lucky me.
Riley snapped her fingers at my face, causing me to flinch. She smiled sweetly. “Ignore them, Lila.”
I hummed in response before taking another bite of my cold pizza.
“So, haunted house and then sleepover?” Riley asked again.
“Okay, I like that idea. I’m not a big fan of haunted houses though.”
“I’ll hold your hand. It’ll be romantic! Me and you, walking through the dark. I’ll protect you from the bad guys.” She cooed, like a romance hero – way too dramatic.
“Funny. Very funny. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were into pussies.”
She paused, looking thoughtful for a moment. “I kissed a girl once. A few years ago. It was a dare, and I liked it. She had really soft lips, and she said I was a good kisser. Wanna find out?”
When she leaned across the table, puckering her lips up, I let out a small laugh. “Um no. Stay away from me, Riley.”
“I’m disappointed,” she said with a cute pout.
Riley’s gaze landed behind my shoulder again, before she blushed and quickly looked away. “Okay, that’s it. What’s going on?”
“What?” She feigned innocence, batting her long lashes at me.
I half-looked over my shoulder before facing her again. “Him. You keep looking at him and blushing. What’s up?”
“Nothing.” She was too quick with the denial. I called bullshit.
“Riley, who is he?”
I saw the moment she gave in. Her eyes softened, and she chewed on her bottom lip. “That’s Grayson.”
“And?” I kicked her under the table, demanding more answers.
“I heard some whispers in the hallway. They weren’t really nice. He was bullied a bit last week. Jasper and his friends were being assholes, but Grayson just ignored them and walked away. Apparently, he was living on the streets for a while before he was recently adopted by a famous lawyer and his wife. They can’t have kids. We don’t know much about him yet, but he’s in two of my classes.”
I looked over my shoulder again, finally taking a good look at Grayson who was sitting at the far end of the cafeteria in a corner by himself. “I didn’t know you were into nerds.”
Grayson wore a black pair of glasses perched on his nose, and he was reading a book. I could see the appeal and definitely understood why he caught Riley’s eye.
“He’s a nerd, but did you see him? He’s hot with a capital H O T. But he’s kinda moody. He doesn’t really talk to anyone. Typical loner. But he’s smart and we bumped into each other last week. Remember the bruises on my knees? Yeah, Grayson took me to the infirmary after I fell down, and he noticed my knees bleeding.”
Aha… I remembered that incident. I had found Riley in the infirmary; she was alone, but now that I remembered – she had been blushing heavily and was a stuttering mess.
“Well, at least he’s not an asshole.”
Riley let out a dreamy sigh. “He’s sweet. Except he barely spared me a glance. I said hi to him a few times, and he just…ignored me. Apparently, he doesn’t like when people talk to him.”
“I didn’t think the nerdy ones were your type…”
The last boy Riley dated was a jock and an asshole. After Jasper, it made sense why she’d swear off all the guys like him.
“Fine, I’ll confess my secret. I like nerds. There’s just something attractive about them.”
I couldn’t deny that Grayson was indeed appealing to the eye.
“Hot and moody nerds, you mean.”
Riley popped a piece of mint gum into her mouth. She looked over my shoulder again, where her new crush was sitting. “Exactly,” she chirped.
I quirked up an eyebrow at her. “Grayson, specifically.”
“Yeah. Too bad he won’t even look at me.” The pout was evident in her voice.
“Is that why you wore extra makeup today, curled your hair, and rolled your skirt higher?”
I already knew the answer, but I still wanted to hear it from her.
A nervous laugh bubbled out of her, and she twirled a lock of hair around her finger. “You noticed that?”
My sweet friend. Gripping her hand over the table, I gave her a small, comforting squeeze. “Just be yourself, Riley. If he likes you, you’ll know.”
She let out a sigh, her eyes moving to Grayson one last time before