Cara snorted with amusement and Julia rolled her eyes at his mocking tone. He was kidding, obviously. Everyone knew that Suzie was a sweetheart. A petite little thing, she was quiet and kept to herself.
Harmless.
Luke shook his head, clearly enjoying his joke. He was the only one. “I’m serious.” He wagged the neck of his beer bottle in Joel’s direction. “Never trust the quiet ones.”
He was kidding. We all knew he was kidding.
All except for Joel. He pointed a finger at Luke like he’d just said something of note and hadn’t just been spewing hot air like he was prone to do. “He’s right.”
Luke froze mid-sip. “I am?”
“Dude, you’re so right. Suzie’s had it in for me ever since that stupid slideshow,” Joel said.
We all stared at him with varying degrees of horror.
“Suzie?” Cara said. “Little Suzie Bryers has it in for you?”
Joel stiffened at the mockery that was clear in her voice but he refused to back down. He looked around him. “Dude,” he said.
It was unclear who he was referring to.
“Dude, she’s crazy, I swear to God.” He pointed again at Luke. “You know it. You saw her at the party, shrieking like a banshee at that brother of hers.”
We all looked to Luke and he held his hands up. “Uh…”
I glared at him. Seriously? Of all the times to not have a comeback.
Luke looked from me to Joel, his eyes widening. “All I saw was a sibling spat, man. That definitely doesn’t mean she did…” He waved a hand toward the phones assembled on the counter. “That doesn’t mean she did that.”
“Of course she didn’t,” Julia said.
But it appeared it was too late for common sense. Joel was fired up and this time he had a target. He was shaking his head, his big bushy brows furrowed in concentration. “You guys don’t know her like I do.”
“You know her really well, huh?” Luke said, his voice flat.
Once again, Luke’s sarcasm went undetected by Joel.
“Dude, she’s always on her computer over there,” he said. “I live next door, I know.”
Cara had moved over to her cheerleader friends and they moved aside on the couch to make room for her. “Ugh,” she said in disgust. “Stalker much?”
Joel shot her a glare. “It’s not like I’m trying to watch her. They have a lot of windows.”
I exchanged a look with Luke. Should someone point out that having windows didn’t automatically mean you had to look inside?
He gave his head a little shake. This was clearly an issue to take up with him at another time. He was still sputtering about how she was always on her laptop, how she was a computer nerd. How she ran the computer science club.
“All of which is hard evidence that she is, in fact, a nerd,” Luke concluded.
The girls laughed but Joel was still worked up. “Seriously, I think it’s her, bro. The girl’s nuts.”
I went over to him and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Let it go, man. Just…let it go.”
Joel’s eyes met mine and one thing was clear.
He was definitely not letting this go.
He backed away from me, heading toward the back deck where a group of girls were hanging out with a case of wine coolers. “I’ll let you handle it,” he said. “For now.”
He stopped with his hand on the handle. “But if you can’t handle it, I’m taking over.”
I nodded. Fair enough. It was the best I could hope for really.
I took a deep breath as I watched him go. Now I just had to figure out who was behind this ridiculous GeekBook site and talk them into taking it down.
Simple, right?
Yeah, not really. I was one of the people being mocked on that site so clearly I wasn’t friends with this guy…or girl.
But I knew someone who was.
Chapter Thirteen
Margo
Jason sank down into the seat across from me. I looked up and immediately frowned at his intense expression.
“No cupcake?” I joked. Or at least, I tried to joke. I wasn’t in a great mood myself after a morning in the guidance counselor’s office trying to figure out last-ditch efforts to make me look more well-rounded.
How thoroughly depressing to spend your whole life devoted to mastering a skill only to find that you were supposed to be mastering all the skills. While also volunteering. And tutoring. And interning at law offices.
Okay, maybe not all at once, but that was the general gist I got from Mr. Murkowski. It was a war out there and the only way to win was to be the most well-rounded and the most successful and the most charming and the most—
“We need to talk.” Jason’s firm and surprisingly not charming voice broke into my thoughts.
One more look at his lips pressed thin into a flat line and the serious look in his eyes and it was clear…this couldn’t be good.
I sighed as I shut the book I’d been reading. “What is it?”
“I think we have a problem.”
I stared at him for a second because…really? Couldn’t I get through one freakin’ day without some sort of drama? “What problem?”
Before he could answer I caught sight of the tutoring advisor making the rounds. Great. The last thing I needed was to be caught slacking during my last week of punishment.
“Book,” I snapped, nodding toward the closed book sitting in front of him. “Open it.”
He hesitated and it was clear he was still thinking about this problem that we had to discuss. I leaned over the table and lowered my voice. “I need you to at least make it look like you’re trying or I’ll be the one getting in trouble here. Remember?”
He gave a little grimace and mumbled an apology as he opened his book.
The reminder of the unfairness of our current situation did nothing for my already terrible mood. “So?” I asked as he bent his head and pretended to read. “What’s the problem?”
He glanced up without lifting his head. “GeekBook.”
I blinked, steeling my features so he couldn’t see the impact that one ridiculous word had on me. My heart pounded in my chest and my stomach sank, but my face, I was happy to report, didn’t change at all. I was a blank slate.
Perhaps too blank. One of his brows lifted ever so slightly. “Don’t pretend you don’t know about it.”
I pursed my lips. That was exactly what I’d been hoping to do. In fact, ever since Matt had shown me his epically bad idea called GeekBook I’d been doing my very best to pretend it didn’t exist. That was easier said than done when the site seemed to have taken on a life of its own. At least, among my friends and friendly acquaintances.
How quickly it caught on was a testament to how frustrated my fellow nerds were with the status quo. I supposed I should have expected it. After weeks of being the victim of the popular crowd’s #GeeksGoneWild campaign, it was little wonder they’d been eager to find a means of revenge.
Jason arched both brows now. He was waiting patiently for me to say something, to react in some way.
I refused. In my mind I was pleading the fifth.
He let out a little huff of exasperation and gave up the ruse that he was actually studying. I glanced over and saw the advisor moving on, turning down another aisle so we were safe to talk quietly.
“Margo, I thought you would be a voice of reason here.”
I blinked at him, oddly stung by the note of disappointment in his voice. I shrugged. “What do you want me to do about it?” He sighed again and my guilt turned to irritation. “I don’t recall you stepping in and taking a stand when the tables were turned.”
He met my gaze evenly. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should have stepped in before, but I’m asking you to help me now.”
“Why now?” I asked.
He studied me for a minute. “Have you seen the site?”
I lifted on shoulder. “Once or twice.”
“Have you seen it today?”
I held my hands out palms up. “No phone until the end of the week, remember?”
He slid his across the table. “Take a look.”
I didn’t really want to but I also didn’t really have a choice. To not look was just plain cowardly.
Two seconds later I found myself wishing I was a coward. “This is…awful.”
“Yeah,” he said.
I scanned through the photos, most of which I’d already seen, but it was the comments that had my stomach turning with disgust. This wasn’t Matt and Suzie—I knew their handles and I knew they wouldn’t be this cruel even if I didn’t. But thanks to the anonymity of fake profiles, years’ worth of resentment and anger were coming out in ways that made my skin crawl. Popular girls were being body-shamed and the guys were being torn apart for their low levels of intellect. The attacks were vicious and personal, the kind of insults that could only come from fellow students who’d known these people since kindergarten.
I sighed as tears pricked the back of my eyes. How had it come to this? How could a group who’d once been friends be turning on each other like gladiators in the coliseum, ready to tear one another apart in a battle to the death?
Maybe I was a tad melodramatic, but in my defense, I had been living and breathing ancient Roman history with Jason this week so, you know…it was slightly relevant.
“You’re probably right,” Jason said slowly as I swallowed down the emotions that had formed a lump in my throat. “I should have stepped in sooner and put an end to this, but if this keeps escalating…”
I looked up at him and nodded because I got it. My worst fears were coming to pass and this site was only adding fuel to the fire.
My advisor headed back our way and we turned our attention back to the books spread out before us though I don’t think either of us was really able to concentrate, not even when I was asking him practice questions. Beneath all the history talk was a silent conversation filled with unspoken questions that I didn’t know the answers to.
When our time was up and we were gathering our things, I turned to Jason. “What do you suggest we do?”
He gave me a lopsided smile that made my belly clench. “I don’t know,” he said. “I was sort of hoping you’d know.”
“What,” I teased. “Just because I’m the geek here?”
“You are pretty smart,” he said in a low voice, his tone cajoling and sweet and utterly, heart-stoppingly charming. Between the low gravelly voice and the lopsided smile and that intense gaze, one might even think he was flirting.
“Man, you must really need my help.” I shifted my bag over my shoulder. “Okay, I’ll tell you what would help.” I leaned forward and lowered my voice as if letting him in on a secret. “Tell Joel to apologize.”
He met my gaze and held it but I heard his quiet exhale, the one that said it was a lost cause.
“Come on, Jason, we all know he was the one who submitted that awful photo, which is what sparked all this in the first place.”
“He says he didn’t,” Jason pointed out.
“Did he outright say that?” I shook my head. “Even if he did deny it—of course he wouldn’t admit to it. He’d be in just as much trouble as me and Suzie.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah. Maybe you’re right.”
Of course I was right. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Joel was the idiot behind the photo and if he’d admit to it and apologize, it would at least be a first step.
His eyes held mine and I couldn’t look away from the warmth there, from the sincerity and the kindness and the way he was just so dang sexy when he was serious. “Joel thinks it’s Suzie.”
I blinked, his words jarring me out of a ridiculous moment of infatuation that crept back as if I’d never gotten over my childhood crush after all. Oh hell. Now was so not the time to be swooning over the star quarterback.
I took a deep breath and tried to focus on his words. I shook my head. Nope, still didn’t make sense. “Joel thinks Suzie submitted that photo to the slideshow? He’s even more of an idiot than I’d thought.”
Jason’s lips hitched up on one side. “Joel thinks Suzie created GeekBook.”
I widened my eyes in surprise and more than a little horror. If Joel thought Suzie was attacking him…
Jason gave a little nod. “He wants revenge.”
I shook my head quickly but stopped myself before I could say anything rash. I mean, if I said she didn’t do it, Jason would figure out that I knew exactly who did. And while Joel might be pissed at Suzie, he was a big dude who was a jerk but wouldn’t dare to physically harm a girl. Even the dumb jock knew better than to hit girls.
But if he found out it was Matt? My stomach gave a sickening jolt. Joel would have no problem beating the crap out of a guy, even if that guy was roughly half his size and built like a beanpole.
Jason watched me closely. I took a deep breath and straightened my shoulders. “You’re right,” I said. “We need to do something.”
He nodded. “What do you say we call a truce?”
I arched my brows. “Us? Like you and me?”
His lips curved up and his eyes did that crinkly thing that I loved so much. “Yeah, us. You and me. What do you say?”
I had no idea why him talking about us made me feel winded like I’d just run a mile.
“We were friends once, remember?” he said, his voice lowering to the point that this conversation suddenly felt intimate.
“I remember.”
“Let’s be friends again,” he continued. “Maybe if you and I can put aside our differences, it’ll spread.”
“Trickle-down harmony?” I suggested.
His sudden full-blown smile set off a burst of heat. “Exactly.”
I had to turn away because my insides were rioting over that smile. My stomach seemed to think it should be doing backflips while all the blood in my body rushed to my cheeks.
I shoved open the doors and walked out into the hallway, with Jason following behind me. He had football practice and I had band practice, which meant we were going in opposite directions. I knew this but I still stalled in front of the doors, waiting for…something. I didn’t know what because my mind refused to work properly, and my body was still recovering from that smile, and my heart… Well, my heart was off in fantasy land, apparently.
Stupid crush. All it took was one epic smile and a flirty tone for all the old feelings to come back.
This tutoring thing was the worst.
Even as I told myself that my heart was racing with excitement because…us. Somehow him talking about us as if there was an us was all my heart needed to hear to think that it stood a chance, to think that anything had really changed.
It hadn’t. Logically, I knew this. But I noticed that he wasn’t making any move to walk away from me either and we were stuck standing there, hovering in the hallway as students heading to afterschool programs passed up with curious looks.
“So, what do you think?” he asked.
I nodded, because honestly I didn’t have a better idea. “I’ll see what I can do about getting the site down,” I said.
“And I’ll talk to Joel,” he offered. “Try to get him to back off Suzie.” He winced. “I don’t know if I can get him to apologize though.”
I shrugged. “And I highly doubt I’ll get anyone to apologize for posting on GeekBook.”
He gave me a small smile. “Fair enough.”
I looked past him and saw Joel and a few other football guys heading in our direction, followed closely by a gaggle of cheerleaders. That was my cue to head in the opposite direction.
I stuck a hand out. “Okay, so should we shake on this new truce, or what?”
He looked down at my hand and then back up to my eyes, his smile never faltering. “Get over here.”
And then, just like that, like it was the most normal thing in the world, he pulled me in for a hug.
Except, it wasn’t just a hug. Or at least, to my addled formerly infatuated
mind, it didn’t seem like just a hug. He held me too close and it lasted too long. Even when I attempted to pull back he held on a little longer.
Long enough for his friends to reach us.
“What are you doing?” I whispered.
I felt his laughter. “Relax, Margo. Friends hug, right?”
Right. Friends. This was a friendly hug. I could do that. I let myself relax into it like this was just another friendly hug with Matt. Except that Matt did not feel like this. I’d never once become unbearably aware of my skin or my hands or how good Matt’s body felt fitted next to mine. I’d definitely never had to overcome the urge to turn my head, just slightly so that our lips might brush.
I’d also never ever sniffed Matt like I was some sort of creeper or a junkie who needed another fix. Dang, what on earth had this guy done to me?
I pushed away and this time he let me go, but only a few inches. His arms were still lightly wrapped around my waist as he dropped his head to talk softly into my ear. “I’m glad we’re on the same team, Margo.”
I laughed as I looked up at him. “Team, huh? Leave it to the quarterback to use a sports analogy.”
His smile made breathing difficult. Or maybe it was the fact that his hands had settled on my waist, his thumbs dangerously close to the aforementioned pooch, I might add.
A pooch he thinks is cute. And touchable. Don’t forget touchable.
Oh, there was no way on earth I’d forget that particular conversation. I knew without a doubt that when I was old and senile, I’d still be telling the story of how Jason Connolly had called me a goddess.
“What would you call us?”
I cleared my throat. What would I call us? “Uh, I guess I’d say we were partners.”
His eyes were warm and, dare I say it—tender. I held my breath because even though the voices of his stupid friends were getting louder and I knew I should go, I couldn’t walk away.
This felt like something. Like a moment.
“Well then,” he said quietly. “I’m glad we’re partners again.”
Again.
I liked that. A nod to our former friendship and the fact that maybe, just maybe, we could be friends again.
Love at First Fight: Geeks Gone Wild #1 Page 11