Back at the Start (02)

"Shh, Elena, I'm taking notes," Soph says quickly while scribbling.

Soph's response surprises me, and actually makes me feel bad for Elena. I lean over to Elena and whisper back, "Sorry, Soph's in get-into-college mode. Hi. Welcome to our group."

I shrug at Elena's response, not wanting to throw Soph under the bus completely even if I find her sudden dedication to academics a little annoying myself. "Hey, GPA is a thing, right?"

Elena goes on to ask about Axel and I press my lips together, remembering how he totally blew off my flirty text before. I'm still kinda pissed about it, but Kastor flirting with me helped at least. "He...looked pretty bad, to be honest. But his mom was taking him to the hospital, so I'm sure he'll be fine." Thank gods JS wasn't there, or she'd be old and there'd be a lot of unanswered questions going around.

"Oh?" I answer with surprise. "I thought you weren't into him like that?"

I hesitate, scribbling down a couple of mostly nonsensical notes while I buy myself time to consider how to respond. I'm still kinda pissed at Axel, but also feel bad for Elena, and also do feel pretty bad about the guys getting beat up at lunch because of me still.

Finally, I look over at her and whisper, "I'm pretty sure you get to decide who's a rebound guy and who's not. And you don't need a rebound guy, you know."

I press my lips together, considering my next words carefully. "Well...if you're going to have a rebound guy, don't make it Axel. He actually cares about you. But if you want to skip the rebound guy and go for something real, stick with Axel. He's a good one." Even if he does sometimes miss the target on flirty, saucy, harmless texting.

Elena is thoughtful and quiet for long enough that Ms. Korsgren's lesson bleeds through. She's talking about MyPlate Power Foods with a PowerPoint that looks like it's dictated by a state board or something - with lots of fresh-faced and inclusive faces eating healthy. Soph is scribbling on her fourth page of notes while most of the class is glancing at their phones. Skylar's chatting with JS, but she's trying not to show interest. You know her, though, it's killing her not to soak up his attention. Will is giving Chloe a back rub.

When I realize that Elena’s not going to respond any time soon, I let my gaze drift over the class. I pause momentarily to watch JS and Skylar. I really, really hope I didn’t just make JS play "hard to get" and make her even more enticing to him. I need to get Preethi on his radar stat.

I don’t want to be weirdly staring though, so I continue glancing around until…oh Will. Really?

I barely even think about it before I pull out my phone and text him:
Seriously? Back rubs in class? Desperate much?

Watching Will’s hand slide off Chloe’s back to check that text…it’s like it’s in slow motion. Frell, am I actually daydreaming about those hands on my back? Will’s hands?!

But I can’t bring myself to answer his text with an outright no either.

Instead, I send back:
Hah, please. Even YOU couldn’t flirt your way over here in the middle of class for that. Ms. K would send you back to your seat like the sad little boy you are.

I glance back at Will for a moment before turning my attention to Chloe. Part of me wants to accept this outright, just to see if he'll actually make good on the back massage offer, but more of me likes the idea of making Chloe a pawn in our little game.

"You can tell Will I'm not that easy."