shock over the feel of my tongue in her mouth. I wouldn’t mind finding out.
Allie knows nothing of my inner struggle and she’s starting to look impatient. Her eyes are saying ‘What the fuck is wrong with you?’ She’s offering me an entire night. Complete with a hot tub and an adult-free party house.
“Sorry, but I’ve got a lot going on this weekend.”
“Fine.” She straights up and now her cheeks are slightly flushed. “If you change your mind, my cell number’s in the student directory.”
“Got it.”
She doesn’t hang around any longer. I watch her stalk back to her table and hear Kent chuckle beside me.
“She practically served it to you on a platter, Beltran.”
“I told you. I’m working all weekend.”
“And you can’t take a few hours off to go get your dick serviced?” A light bulb goes off in his head. “Have you got something else going on?”
“No, I don’t have anything else going on.”
“Liar. Does she live in Devil Valley?”
“Sure, Kent. She lives in Devil Valley.” I say this just to shut him up. “It’s nothing.”
Kent is now distracted because Trina has just walked into the cafeteria. And she’s with Camden. Trina leans closer to hear whatever her friend is saying and then breaks into peals of laughter. I wouldn’t have guessed that Camden is capable of making a joke.
Kent waves to his girlfriend. Her smile broadens and she hurries right over so the two of them can stand in the middle of the cafeteria and suck face. Camden has followed rather awkwardly and she looks around as if she’s embarrassed while Kent gets his hands all over Trina. I wonder what that’s like, to have someone you’ve likely fucked a thousand times and can’t wait to fuck again. I wonder what it’s like to have a girl you can’t get enough of.
Camden’s eyes meet mine and I notice that her eyes are not blue like I thought they were. They are more grayish green. She holds my stare for a few additional seconds and I know enough about girls to understand that she enjoys looking at me. Finally she tears her eyes away and bites her lower lip, like she’s been caught doing something she shouldn’t.
The bell rings, activating everyone in sight except for Kent and Trina, who are too busy boning through their clothes to pay attention. I gather all my crap, drop off my tray and head to class. Camden must have run out of the room a split second after the bell sounded because I don’t see her anywhere. My next class is math and she’s not in that class. That’s too bad. I’m kind of in the mood to stare at her and remember all the filthy thoughts that rolled through my head after I saw her panties.
There’s a quiz today that totally slipped my mind but I was halfway paying attention during the lectures all week and I’m good at math so it’s not hard. I’m about to pass my paper forward when I catch sight of two words and freeze. My mind must have been on vacation for a few seconds when I scrawled my name at the top of the paper.
BENNET DREXLER.
The ballpoint pen I used is black ink. There is no way to erase it. And if I scribble over the name to block it out that would just make a big mess and call more attention to the mistake. I can’t believe I’ve committed such a huge blunder after all this time. I’ve let my guard down too much. I’ve screwed up.
“BEN!” Mr. Pertino bellows my name. He resembles a bullfrog on his best day and right now he’s become a furious bullfrog with a bright pink face, blinking at me in disbelief as I rip my quiz paper into tiny pieces.
Heads swivel around to stare at me. A few of them snicker.
“Sorry.” I sweep the pieces into my palm and stand up. “There was a spider on my paper.”
“A spider?”
“Afraid so.” This makes no sense to anyone in the room. “Can I get another copy? I know the answers. It would only take me a minute to write them down.”
Mr. Pertino frowns. In this class I’m a decent student and I don’t usually cause trouble. Still, tearing up a quiz comes across as a dick move and Black Mountain Academy doesn’t have much patience for dick moves.
“No, young man. You may not have another copy. You may take your garbage to the trash can and you may also