"Excuse me if I have standards." Her eyes narrowed on Lesa. "Unlike some."
"I have standards." Lesa faced me, a slight grin on her face. "But around here, you kind of have to lower them."
I started to laugh.
And then Daemon walked into class. I sunk in my seat, biting my lip. "Oh God." Wisely, both girls stopped talking. I picked up my pen, pretending to be engrossed in the notes I'd taken yesterday. Turned out, I hadn't taken many notes, so I wrote the date on my notebook very slowly.
Daemon took the seat behind me, and my stomach jumped clear into my throat. I was going to vomit. Right here, in class, in front -
He poked me in the back with his pen.
I froze. Him and that goddamn pen. The poke came again, this time with a little force behind it. I swung around, eyes narrowed.
"What?"
Daemon smiled.
Everyone around us was staring. It was like a repeat of lunch. I bet they were wondering if I was going to dump my backpack on his head.
Depending on what he said, there was a good chance it could happen. I doubted I'd get away with it this time, though.
Tipping his chin down, he stared at me through his wickedly long lashes. "You owe me a new shirt."
My jaw hit the back of my chair.
"Come to find out," he continued softly,
"spaghetti sauce doesn't always come out of clothes."
Somehow I found my ability to speak. "I'm sure you have enough shirts."
"I do, but that was my favorite."
"You have a favorite shirt?" I arched a brow.
"And I also think you ruined Ash's favorite shirt, too." He started to grin again, flashing a deep dimple in one cheek.
"Well, I'm sure you were there to comfort her during such a traumatic situation."
"I'm not sure she'll recover," he replied.
I rolled my eyes, knowing I should apologize for what I'd done, but I couldn't find it in me. Yeah, I was becoming a terrible person.
I started to turn around.
"You owe me. Again."
I stared at him for a long moment. The warning bell rang, but it seemed far away. My chest lurched. "I don't owe you anything," I said, low enough for only us to hear.
"I have to disagree." Leaning closer, he tipped the edge of his desk down. There were only a few inches between our mouths. Totally inappropriate amount of space, really, since we were in class, and he had a girl on his lap yesterday. "You're nothing like I expected."
"What did you expect?" I was sort of turned on by the fact I had surprised him. Weird. My eyes dropped to his poetic lips. Such a waste of a mouth.
"You and I have to talk."
"We have nothing to talk about." His gaze dropped, and the air suddenly felt steamy. Unbearable. "Yes," he said, voice low,
"we do. Tonight."
Part of me wanted to tell him to forget the whole talking thing, but I gritted my teeth and nodded. We did need to talk if at least for me to tell him we shouldn't ever talk again. I wanted to find the nice Katy he'd had gagged and put in the corner.
The teacher cleared his throat. Blinking tightly, I saw that we had the entire class transfixed. Flushing to the roots of my hair, I turned around and gripped the edges of my desk.
Class began, but the heat in the air was still there, coating my skin in anticipation. I could feel Daemon behind me, his eyes on me. I didn't dare move. Not until Lesa stretched beside me and dropped a folded note on my desk.
Before the teacher could catch on, I opened the note and slid it under my book. When he turned back to the chalkboard, I lifted the edge of my textbook.
Holy Hawt Chemistry, Batman!
I looked over at her, shaking my head. But there was a fluttering deep in my chest, a breathlessness that shouldn't be there. I didn't like him. He was a jerk. Moody. But there had been brief moments that I'd spent with him -
like a nanosecond - when I thought I might have seen the real Daemon. At least a b etter Daemon. And that part made me curious. And the other side, the jerky one, yeah, that part didn't make me curious.
It sort of excited me.
Chapter 14
I tried paying attention in my classes, but my mind was on Daemon and what he wanted to talk to me about tonight. Thankfully, I only had to muscle through half a day before it was time