EVIL QUEEN - Rebel Hart Page 0,84
believe that was true, but I wasn’t so sure. If anything, I knew how conniving Connor could be.
There was something that curbed the darkness of Brayden’s lack of supervision, though. Cherri was present for the finals. Several members of The Royal Court reported seeing her in their classes in the little bits of time we had between classes to check our phones and used the bathroom, and at least in the one class Cherri and I had together, she appeared to legitimately be trying. How she was managing the course material after skipping class nearly all semester, I wasn’t sure, but even the teachers seemed to be shocked at her presence.
The students of whatever class you were in during the lunch hour were the ones with whom you ate, and the food was delivered directly to your class to prevent cheating. The only other member of The Royal Court in my class during lunch was Kyle. As soon as lunch was delivered, he made his way over to my desk and sat down. His eyes were certainly a bit wearier, and I was wondering how much he’d talk to me about Brayden if I asked. Kyle and I had been friends since before Nathan even conceived The Royal Court, so it was oddly nice and calming to have a one-on-one meal with him.
“We should probably all get together tonight, huh?” Kyle offered. “I feel weird being separated from everyone all day. Do you think they would all go for dinner?”
“Yeah, I think it’s a good idea. It’ll be nice to relax and have some good food. If we go to Colette’s mom’s place, she’ll let us drink wine.”
“Oh, that’s a good idea. I’ll send a text.” He typed on his phone, and I heard the message notification as he sent the message to our group feed, but I didn’t bother to check it. “There. Everyone will see it when they can, and we can figure out the specifics after school.”
“Hey,” I started. “Can I ask you a question that you totally don’t have to answer?”
“Okay,” he said, tilting his head to the side.
“So, I have kind of gathered that Brayden maybe has feelings for Nathan, and I get the sense that you figured that out too.”
Kyle rolled his eyes. “Ah. Busted.”
“So prom was what?”
“Nathan was going through so much, and he was trying to fix things with you and make things right with Cherri, and he didn’t need Brayden in the mix, muddying things up. Plus, Nathan is obviously straight, and I just felt bad having to watch Brayden go down that road. I thought I could maybe serve as a distraction for him and put both him and Nathan in a better spot.” He took a sip of his juice. “Can I admit something to you, though?”
I smiled. “You like him?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know why. It really was supposed to just be something to get them through the rest of this year, but then I started to really get into it. All of a sudden, I’m dreaming about him and can’t get him off my mind, and all this shit with him and what’s going on with Nathan’s family keeps me up at night. I’m terrified that he’s going to get hurt.”
“So why don’t you say something?” I asked.
“I mean, it’s pretty obvious that he’s not into it the way I am.”
“I don’t know,” I replied. “I think it could be less black and white than you think.”
“Maybe once all of this is all over, once there’s less mud to swim through, I’ll tell him how I feel.”
I tilted my head to the side as I imagined it. “Though, if I can be honest, I feel like you guys would be a weird couple. Not bad, necessarily, but weird.”
“Whose fault is that? You all paired up and left us alone! Flirting spreads, you know? You all made cuffing season look real good.”
I laughed. “Sorry, not sorry.”
“Man, it doesn’t really feel like it’s been eight years since we met, does it?” he mused.
“Eight years?” I thought back and realized that it was true. It had been eight years ago when we met. “Wow. No, it doesn’t.”
“Do you remember how excited he was when we first all went to play basketball together?” Kyle asked.
I smiled, remembering the wide, dopey smile on Nathan’s face as he ran at me with a basketball in hand, screaming at me that he was going to show me his jump shot. “He was