Page 22 of Unexpected Prejudice

I nodded. “Yeah.”

After I gave him the answer he wanted, he stood still and watched me. “I knew I could count on you to help me out.” He tilted his head. “Again, I’m happy I was able to help you this time. Let me know when you need to pay those loan sharks again.” He gave me another pat on the shoulder before leaving me alone with our new, unwritten contract.

It wasn’t ideal, but I was willing to do it if getting information on kids I barely knew would help me pay my debts. Moreover, it gave me a reason to stay close to Shay-Lee. He needed my help, and that felt really fucking good.

Levi

“Don’t you think it’s odd how almost every ball thrown was aimed at us?” Jessie asked as we both took off our clothes to go and shower.

“Actually, no, Jessie. I don’t find it odd at all,” I said, thinking about the horror known as high school dodgeball, which we’d had to endure for the past hour. I hated sports, but P.E. was a whole new level of hatred.

“Interesting,” he mumbled, and I tried hard not to laugh because he really did find it interesting. I didn’t want to ruin his moment by telling him they targeted us on purpose, so I let him go wild with speculation until we were dried and dressed after showering.

“I think I finally decided what to do with my hair for tonight,” Jessie said as we left the locker room and made our way to biology, our last class on Friday.

“Really? What did you decide on?”

“Well, I got this new hair spray, and I plan to make some volume here—” He started to demonstrate his ideas when, all of a sudden, Jordan popped up beside us.

“Hey, guys.” His voice sounded a little breathy, probably because he’d run to catch up to us.

“Jordy!” Jessie’s smile grew. “I was just telling Levi what I want to do with my hair tonight.”

“Tonight?” he asked, his eyes darting between us.

“Yeah, there’s a party tonight.”

“Oh, so you heard about it.” He grabbed the strap of his backpack, hanging over his right shoulder. “I was just about to invite you myself.” A shy smile spread across his face, and I noticed that the bruises from last week had started to fade. They still had a nasty shade of purple, but the black eye was almost completely gone.

“You were?” I asked, questioning his motives for wanting to invite us to a party.

“Yeah, I mean, why not?” Jordan shrugged.

“Why yes?”

Jordan’s forehead creased, and he looked taken aback.

I twisted my lips. “I was joking. Well, sort of.”

He forced a smile. “Oh, sorry. It’s kind of hard to tell when you’re joking.”

“What?” Jessie gasped. “It is not. Levi is hilarious. He always makes me laugh.”

Well, Jessie, you’re probably the only one on this planet who finds me funny.

“So… I’ll see you tonight? You have the details and everything?” Jordan politely moved on with the conversation.

“Yeah, Miles already told us. We’ll go with him,” I answered and noticed how surprised Jordan seemed at the mention of Miles’s name.

“Miles?”

“You don’t know him?” Jessie asked. “He has a horse and an attitude and looks a little bit like a prince. Oh, and he’s French.”

God bless you, Jessie, and your descriptive ability.

“Yeah, I know who Miles is. Everyone knows who he is. But how come you’re going together?”

Jessie jumped again. “Because of Andrei. He and Miles are dating now.”