Page 68 of Exchange of Heart

‘I mean it, Corey. My life isn’t a game. I did my best with your family, now you need to do the same.’

Corey held four fingers in the air. ‘Scouts honour.’

What the fuck kind of anti-promise was that?

‘Nora, my little chicken pie, is that you?’ Mum’s voice floated down the hallway.

I flung my jacket over the black couch, kicked my shoes into the corner, and gestured for Corey to do the same.

‘Hi, Mum,’ he called down the hall, then turned to me and lowered his voice. ‘This is weird. Calling someone else Mum.’

‘Tell me about it. My stomach and chest were all wrong the other night – and I mean more than physically.’

‘Chicken pie.’ Oliver appeared from the living room and wrapped his arms around Corey’s stiff body.

‘We missed you last Sunday.’ Rowan wasn’t far behind him.

Despite being two years younger than me, they caged Corey between their tall skeleton frames and ruffled black hair. I couldn’t even catch a glimpse of Corey’s face, likely scrunched in disgust.

‘Get off me,’ he barked.

He wriggled out and obviously located the scar on Rowan’s cheek because he asked, ‘How’d your exam go?’

Before he could answer, Rowan’s identical womb-mate flung his arm over Corey’s shoulder.

‘I think we’d like to be introduced to your friend first,’ Oliver evaluated me with his hazel eyes.

Corey took a few steps closer to me and reached for his non-existent comfort hat. ‘Oh, right. This is Corey. A friend from class.’

‘Wait, Corey? The Corey?’

Oh shit. Corey raised a suspicious eyebrow at me.

‘I thought Nora would bury you in a ditch, not bring you to dinner,’ Oliver continued.

‘Let’s not start this again.’ I slapped my hand over my mouth, remembering I looked like Corey.

‘She called you… What was it again?’ He tapped his chin. ‘An entitled rich assh—’

‘Woah, I’m not!’ I yelled over him, raising my palms to stop him talking.

Corey smirked at me, and I winced. At least it wasn’t news to him that I hadn’t liked him since our first day. Now, though, his aggravating quirks dissolved because there was another side to him. A side where he wasn’t an entitled nepo baby, a side where he hid his fears of trying to please his dysfunctional father.

‘Apparently you brag about your job.’ Oliver grinned in delight. ‘Oh, and you stole the seat she wanted.’

‘Stole the seat I wanted?’ Corey scratched his head of long black hair.

‘That’s what you said. The seat at the front, and he blocks your view.’ Rowan joined in now, delighted by our discomfort.

I stared at Corey, trying to convey the seat was a minor thing – though at the time it really bugged me. All those small problems that mean nothing now.

‘I didn’t do it on purpose. If she’d told me, I’d have switched, but it’s time to put the past in the past and all.’ I laughed hoping we could move on from this confronting exchange before they blurted anything more in front of Corey.

‘You speak like Nora. The past is in the past,’ Rowan laughed.

‘Actually,’ Corey said with my soft voice. ‘He probably wouldn’t have. I scowled when he told the teacher his job, and it pissed him off enough that he wanted to prove himself to me. He hates disappointing people and was desperate to show what he knew, he just went about it in a ridiculous way.’ He gave me a pained look and laughed, ‘Really, really ridiculous.’

I stared at him in disbelief. I’d never even considered anything like that when I’d decided to hate him. To me, he was nothing more than an arrogant braggart. A head of expensive curls wafting in an expensive peppermint fragrance. For him, he’d probably trudged around under the watchful eye of his hateful father all day, pummelled by criticism until he became an empty shell. Then he’d walked into class and had a stranger immediately judge him and make him feel worthless again. My opinion melted. He needed to know he wasn’t a disappointment. Not to me. Not anymore.