Empire High Elite (Empire High #2) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,16
A discount on drugs? Because Felix stopped selling. Mason must realize that. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I took another bite of lettuce.
Mason put his elbows on the table and leaned forward. I couldn’t help but think that somewhere out there, someone would have fainted at the sight of such a brash disregard for etiquette. “Of course you do,” he said. “Everyone knows that you and Felix are…close.”
The word “close” was laced in innuendo. It felt like my lettuce went down the wrong pipe and I started coughing. I swallowed a huge gulp of water and tried to ignore Matt’s angry gaze. “We’re not that close,” I said as soon as I could speak again.
“Great, you met Mason,” Isabella said.
For a second I thought she was saving me from the awkward conversation. But then she opened her mouth again.
“And speaking of close, this is Matt,” she said. “We’re super close.” She said the word the same way Mason had. “And I think you two have a class together, right?”
I looked up at Matt. The intensity from his gaze was gone. He nodded. “Yup.” He didn’t offer anything else.
Everyone at the table was quiet.
James was kind to me. Rob was his usual funny self. Mason was…at least interested in talking to me. But that one simple yup hurt more than I wanted to admit. A few hours ago he’d asked me to be his girlfriend. And now he couldn’t even look at me? I wasn’t sure if I was cut out for a secret relationship.
“The other night when Matt and I were hanging out…he told me that you two and Rob have a group project together,” said Isabella. “It’ll be so fun now that we can all just hang out and work on it at my place. Sorry…our place.” She smiled at me with all her sweet insincerity.
They were hanging out together the other night? As in one of the nights he’d come over to my uncle’s apartment to hold me while I cried myself to sleep? Had he held her too? Right before he held me? I tried to take a deep breath. “Yup,” I said, mimicking my brooding silent boyfriend who was a fantastic actor. So fantastic that it stung. So fantastic that I wanted to cry. So fantastic that I hated him in that moment.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said hang out. Because you’re not friends with any of them. It’s just a group project that you were forced to do together. That’s what Matt told me the other night when we were hanging out just the two of us alone in my room. Right, Matt?”
He didn’t respond. He just sat there and stared at her. Her. Not me. I tried to swallow down the hurt.
“What the hell, Matt?” Rob asked. “We both know that’s not…”
“Rob, no one cares what sarcastic thing you have to say,” Isabella said. “So keep it to yourself, yes?”
“Fuck off, troll,” he said.
She ignored him and turned to me. “Speaking of things that don’t belong to you.”
“No one was speaking of that,” Mason said with a laugh.
She glared at him and then back at me. “Speaking of things that don’t belong to you,” she repeated. “I need my blazer back. Right now,” she added when I didn’t respond.
“What?” I didn’t have a spare. Her dad said I could wear this one today. “The only other one I have is back at Kennedy’s house. And I’ll get in trouble if I’m not wearing it.”
“Yeah, but I got a spot on mine.” She pointed to absolutely nothing on one of her lapels. “You can’t expect me to walk around like this all day.”
I shook my head. “I don’t see anything.”
“Oh.” She laughed. “That’s right. I’m sorry. It was actually on yours.” She lifted the milk off her tray and poured it down the front of my blazer before I even realized what she was about to do.
“What the hell?” James yelled as he shifted me out of the way. But he was too late. The front of my blazer was soaked. I was too shocked to say a word. But I heard Matt’s silence loud and clear. And I felt James’ arms around me when it should have been Matt’s. Matt was the one that was supposed to defend me. He was supposed to be on my side. I was supposed to be able to rely on him.
I stood up, letting James’ arms fall from my waist. I looked down at my borrowed blazer.