Page 7 of Always Love You More

I take a step toward him. “You want me to beat your ass?”

“Oh, like you could,” he answers as everyone’s eyes ping pong between us.

I raise an eyebrow, and he stares back at me, squaring up and bouncing on his feet. He throws an uppercut, making a swooshing noise, and says, “Come and get me.”

Licking back a smile, I shake my head. “You’re such an idiot.”

He barrels toward me, throwing his arm around my neck and ruffling my hair. “You love me.”

If anyone else did that to me, they’d be flat on their back right now, with my fist in their face. But he’s right; I do love him, and he’s the only one who gets away with messing with me like this.

We grew up more like brothers than cousins, since we’re so close in age. I’m only two months older, so we’ve been in the same grade all through school. We even had the same kindergarten class.

I push him off me as he looks toward the school.

“Gotta get to class,” he says. “We have that lab today.”

I have science first period, and the only good thing about the class is that Billy has it, too. Although, it doesn’t really matter since he isn’t my lab partner anymore.

The teacher gave us assigned seats at the beginning of the year, putting us all in alphabetical order, meaning me and Billy were paired up next to each other.

We were partners for the first few weeks until we got a little carried away with the Bunsen burner and were moved to opposite sides of the room.

Now, I’m paired with a girl who’s a bit of a goody-goody. She’s all right, but I catch her watching me a lot. I don’t know if it’s ’cause she’s scared or she has a crush. Either way, it’s been working out fine for me since she makes it real easy to copy off her tests, and she does most of the work on the labs.

After walking into the classroom, I slide into my chair, letting my head come down to rest against my arm while I wait for the rest of the kids to show up.

A few minutes later, I hear shuffling next to me and squint my eyes open to see the girl settle in beside me. She flashes a small smile, and I let my eyes close again.

I stiffen when I feel a hand tap my arm before I bolt upright and snatch it, blinking the room into focus. Realizing it’s just my lab partner, I drop her wrist, blowing out a breath.

“S-sorry,” the girl stutters. “You fell asleep, and I didn’t want Mrs. Campbell to give you another detention.”

I try to soften my face and nod. “Thanks.”

She quickly turns back to the worksheet in front of her then slides it over to me. “I’m on step three.”

The rest of the class drags by as we work through the lab. By the time the bell rings, I’m already ready for this day to be over.

I manage to make it to my last class without falling asleep again, but the teacher could be speaking another language for all I know. I haven’t heard one thing that’s come out of his mouth since I sat down here an hour ago. My body is all locked up, thinking about going to the garage this afternoon.

What’s he gonna have for me today?

“What about you, Jameson?”

“Huh?”

Mr. Roberts purses his lips. “What did you think the ending of the book symbolized?”

I look up at the copy ofLord of the Fliesin his hand. “I don’t—”

“Did you finish the book?” he interrupts.

When I don’t answer, he lets out a sigh. “How far did you get?”

I haven’t even opened the thing.

He watches me like I’m not worth the effort, and after a minute of waiting for me to respond, he moves on to someone else.