I knew that. I wasn’t fucking stupid. I might make some not-so-smart decisions, but that didn’t make me an idiot.
“Then calm down,” Vaughn repeated.
I glared. I had half a mind to lunge over this table and strangle him—if I caught him off-guard, surely I could take him out—but it was at that moment Jaz decided to arrive, sitting beside Vaughn.
Jaz appeared tired, as if she’d been up all night. Her normally giddy demeanor was nowhere to be seen today, in its place a morose, solemn girl who was a stranger.
We’d been through so much, and she was going to let Archer’s mother’s death affect her like this? Come on. She was stronger than that.
The table was quiet for a while, none of us eating. None of us making a sound. The cafeteria was loud with other voices, the rumors flying as to what had happened to Archer’s mother. Suicide? Murder? Some were even talking about his father, as if his father, behind bars, had hired a contract killer to take her out so Archer could focus on helping to get him out.
Stupid, I know, but apparently loads of money did not make you automatically intelligent.
Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore: “How long is he going to stay with you?”
Jaz sighed, shooting me a look with those amber eyes, wordlessly telling me she’d had enough of my shit already. Well, too bad for her, but I had a lot more shit packed away for an occasion just like this. “Why does it matter, Dante?”
Uh, I think the better question there would be: when wouldn’t it matter?
“Archer’s mom is dead,” Jaz added. “Cut him some slack, will you?”
“My mom is dead, too—and I don’t see you inviting me to stay with you.” My mom died of a drug overdose years ago, but the background of her death didn’t matter.
“He doesn’t have anyone else.” She looked at me hard, daring me to say something else, to try to argue with her. Archer living with her was a topic she would not back down from, I knew. So what if it had been her mother’s idea? Jaz was clearly more than okay with it.
Fuck. I just couldn’t let it go.
I grumbled something under my breath, choosing not to outright respond to that. During the rest of lunch, Jaz and Vaughn were pretty quiet. I let my mind wander. Why talk to Jaz when clearly talking with her would do nothing? If I wanted something to change, I had to go to the man in question himself.
Archer fucking Vega.
The rest of the day passed slowly. It was as if time itself knew I wanted to talk to Archer, so it did its damnedest to be as slow as possible. Annoying, to say the least. If ever there was an afternoon when time itself should speed up, it was today.
By the time the last bell rang to signal the end of the final period of the day, I practically flew out of the classroom. I knew where his locker was. I’d gotten my stalker on when it came to Archer a while ago; I knew more about him than I was willing to admit. I guess Vaughn’s habits rubbed off on me, but whether that was a good or a bad thing… I guess we’ll never know.
I made it to his locker before him, and I leaned my back on it, waiting. The prick had come to school today, even though anyone else would’ve taken the day off. If his mother had meant so much to him, why the hell would he want to come to school the next day? It didn’t make sense. If it were me, I would’ve milked the fuck out of it.
But, then again, I went to a high school where kids tended to just drop out when they didn’t care enough to stay, so maybe I couldn’t really compare our situations.
I stared at the crowd of students walking in the halls, and the moment I spotted the face of the one I wanted to talk to, I perked up.
Archer immediately saw me, a frown gracing his lips when he spotted me leaning against his locker. His blonde hair wasn’t styled today; it just hung over his forehead like spaghetti. He wore a hoodie and jeans; not the typical Midpark style, but if I had to guess, I’d say he didn’t care too much.
He stopped when he stood before me, pretty bold for a guy who was supposedly drowning in grief for