Make My Move (Hannaford Prep #5) - J. Bree Page 0,31

usual useless worksheets, designed to help the plebs pick which song they’ll sing, and then giggles like she’s flirting when I smile at her. I do it to distract her away from Lips because it’s clear to me the Mounty is either about to puke or have a full-blown panic attack. Avery scoffs and rolls her eyes at me, but I’m determined to keep her away from the Mounty.

I can’t undo how I treated her last year, but I can make amends.

The sweating gets worse and worse as Miss Umber continues talking, “The concert will be held at the end of the school year; choir students will sing in front of the entire school. Then the musicians will perform. So I hope you all take this very seriously, as always the majority of your mark will be determined by your performance. No exceptions. If you’re not there, you’re not passing this class.”

Fuck.

She’s really fucking panicking. Avery notices it, but only after the warm-ups start and Lips whispers in her ear again.

I glance at them both but I can’t hear a thing they’re saying so I focus on distracting the entire class away from whatever the hell is going on with her.

When Miss Umber notices that they’re not joining in, I kick it up a notch and flirt mercilessly with her until she forgets why she ever walked over to our group.

I try to plan out what I can say to Lips when the class is over but anything I can come up with will be a giant red flag to Avery and my ears are still ringing from the last lecture I got from her. When the class finishes, I walk them out to their next class.

As I turn to leave them there, Lips hands me the iPod and I nod back to her.

We communicate better with lyrics than with words.

I find out why Lips was looking so fucking rattled after class when I get back to my room to find Harley and Ash in a fucking raging argument.

At first I think it’s over last night, that maybe Ash didn’t enjoy his little joy drive with the Mounty and things are only going to get worse, but no.

No, this is about Joey and his bullshit again.

Fuck.

“You can’t go there by yourself; he’s going to have at least ten guys with him. Do you really think you can take them all on at once?” Ash snarls, derision dripping from his tone, and I wince.

I’ve seen enough of these arguments in my time to know how this is going to go. I’ll be breaking the two of them up in no time and getting my ribs broken in a hot fucking second.

I throw my bag down on the ground and pull my blazer off so my arms aren’t restricted, ready to dive in, but Harley’s words bring me up short.

“Lips went to Haven to help Avery but she also went for you. Now she’s going to the party to deal with Joey too and if I try to stop her, she’ll just figure out how to go without me. If I don’t go with her and have her back, I’m no fucking better than any of the rest of these assholes here. She’s had our backs, even when we fucking hated her. I’m going. Deal with it.”

And that’s the end of that.

Chapter Eleven

Harley

There’s no way Ash can talk me out of going to Joey’s little party with Lips.

I shower in the girls’ bathroom just so I can leave my shit there and have an excuse to come back up with the Mounty afterward. When she opens the door to me, dressed for comfort but with her hair pulled back and makeup on, I'm even more fucking smug with my decision.

She’s unbelievably hot.

Her face is softer now she's not a bag of bones anymore, and she’s gone from striking, to fucking gorgeous. Every time I look at her I feel like the air has been knocked out of my lungs and it’s getting harder and harder to play it cool around her.

I’m pretty fucking sure everyone knows I’m fucking panting after her too now.

Tonight is the goddamn night. No matter what, I’m not leaving here without making a move.

My entire body is buzzing as I lean on the wall while Lips locks up, angling my body into her and enjoying the sight of her shivering at how close I am. Fuck, I want her. I want her so fucking bad, it’s kind of