Reason and Romance (River Valley Book 1) (4 page)

BOOK: Reason and Romance (River Valley Book 1)
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“You’re right, I don’t really care for that girl’s attitude,” she said to Alex. “If she’s the best you can do, it doesn’t say much about your judgment.”

Now that was definitely a pause. She would have said it was the verbal equivalent of cars screeching to a halt. All right, maybe that was taking the metaphor too far, but she hadn’t imagined the shock she now saw in people’s faces. Apparently she’d violated the greatest commandment.

Thou Shalt Always Accept Alex Montgomery As Thy Savior.

A corner of Alex’s mouth tipped. Like other people, he’d glanced away from her, but now his eyes never left her face. “I could say the same about your boyfriend, but we’ll call it a draw. Mandy and I have an understanding.”

For now.

That last part hung in the air, unspoken, but all the same it was there. Even though Mandy was currently hanging off his arm, he’d never returned her kisses or caresses. Oh yes, Adrian could practically see the shadow of an hourglass hovering above Mandy’s head. It was just a matter of weeks.

A frown set in between Adrian’s eyes, one that she could feel.
Jason
hadn’t returned her kisses during his brief visit. Well, that wasn’t technically true. He’d kissed her and he’d even suggested they pop over to her room before he left for the airport, but she’d demurred because it would have been the height of rudeness to sneak out of the party for a quickie. Jason hadn’t been happy about that …

“Yeah!” Mandy Fitzpatrick said. Glaring at Adrian, she gripped Alex tighter. “What, you jealous or something?”

All thoughts of Jason vanished. “I’m not arguing with you. It’s an exercise in futility. Good luck, and I mean that sincerely.”

Mandy’s brow furrowed as Adrian made her escape. “Alex, what did she mean?” she said, tugging on his shirt.

Even though Adrian didn’t turn around, she could still hear his response. “It’s just a guess, but I’m pretty sure she said you’re stupid,” he said.

Mandy’s screech hurried her inside the school. A bit of deafness was setting in, or was that a pounding headache? Either way, it was the same thing. Adrian mentally shrugged her shoulders. It was a good thing that she hadn’t planned on hanging out with Alex and his posse. Now she had eleven minutes to get to Advanced Placement English.

The school was a confusing maze of endless hallways and classrooms. She’d memorized the school map last night, but somehow she’d ended up in what looked like the locker area for freshmen. Sighing, she retraced her steps until she found the math section. From there, she stumbled onto the English wing. The posters of famous writers and poets were plastered all over the walls, so this was it.

Her heart beating hard, she scanned the classroom numbers until she found the right one. Squaring her shoulders, she pushed the door open and went inside. Still plenty of seats unclaimed, so she picked the one in the corner. It gave her a strategic view of the door, the teacher’s desk, and the view outside.

She took a fresh notebook out of her bag and opened to the first page. Her pencil was already sharpened, her folders all labeled. It was a bit of a joke in the family how everyone was so organized, Nicky being the lone exception.

Alex sauntered into the classroom just a couple minutes before the bell. There was that collective response, one that was predictable by now, but it never failed to amaze Adrian how girls straightened in their seats and pretended they weren’t primping. The guys greeted him with “hey man” and “how ya doing?” even though they’d seen him outside. When would this constant adoration of Alex stop? As far as she could tell, he hadn’t really done anything to earn it.

The teacher entered with a cup of coffee in hand and a pile of papers tucked in the crook of his arm. Nodding a greeting to the students, he went straight to his desk and started taking attendance right away.

“Abdullah al-Hassan,” he called out. Even before Abdullah answered, the teacher marked him present and said the next name. He evidently knew most of them, so this was a mere formality. “Philippa Atherton.”

Then it came, the moment that Adrian had dreaded. “Marissa Blake?” the teacher said.

She raised her hand. “I’d rather be called Adrian, sir. That’s my middle name.”

It was one of her sore spots. Marissa was a beautiful name, but not when one’s mother, the first Marissa, had died in a car accident driving with a man explicitly
not
her husband. She’d died when Adrian was only seven, but even so, Adrian couldn’t stop wincing whenever someone called her Marissa. She’d instantly known they were mentally comparing her to her mother. Oh, they didn’t say it aloud, but it had been there in their eyes. Even here, they would—

No one knew about her mother here.

Her lips parted in surprise. She hadn’t thought about that angle, but that part was true, wasn’t it? Her father had probably told his fiancée, but Adrian doubted the kids at her new school knew. Here, they judged her on the merits of being related to
Alex
instead.

The teacher was speaking again. “I don’t think I’ve seen you here before. Did you just transfer?”

“Yes sir. I moved from Chicago.”

“Big city.” He glanced at his attendance list, and Adrian thought that was the end of it, but his attention snapped back to her. “Wait. Are you related to Alex Montgomery?”

She willed herself not to let her surprise show. The kids here had acted as if Alex had significant social status, but now she had actual proof. Even the teacher had heard of her.

“I will be,” she said.

The man’s face darkened. It was a change so perceptible that Adrian was startled once again. He drew himself up straight.

“Maybe you aren’t aware, but I have my students sit in alphabetical order. That seat up here is yours.” He pointed to a seat in the front row, the one right before his desk. It was empty because everyone had sequestered in the back.

Her eyes narrowed. “Yes sir.”

Just another reason to dislike her ‘stepbrother’, she thought bitterly as she gathered her things. Who knew what Alex had done to make the teacher hate him so? Whatever it was, it was exactly why the teacher hated her now.

Even after she’d sat down, the teacher didn’t let it go. “It’s customary for new students to introduce themselves to the class, Marissa.”

Marissa.

She gritted her teeth. Hadn’t she stated she preferred to be called Adrian? Even as she opened her mouth to protest, she saw how small the teacher’s eyes were, and she knew it would do no good.

“Yes sir.” She turned around in her seat. “My name is—”

“Stand up, so everyone can see you.”

Her face felt hot, but thank God, no one would ever know because she never blushed easily. It was a useless talent usually, but here, it was her saving grace. She rose to her full height and stood next to the teacher. It gave her a small satisfaction to realize she was taller than him.

They were all watching her.

Everywhere Adrian looked, she saw guarded expressions. She’d seen most of them outside, hanging near Alex. And even if they hadn’t been there, self-preservation united these students. No one wanted to associate with the girl who’d insulted Alex Montgomery’s on-and-off girlfriend and who’d drawn the teacher’s ire.

Alex had his head tipped back. Even from here, Adrian saw amusement in his eyes. He was the only one smiling, and that made things worse.

“Hello. I’m Adrian Blake, and I’ve just moved here from Chicago. As you already know, I will be Alex Montgomery’s stepsister.” Now she put on a smile that felt natural. “I usually like English. But I hate English when it’s mauled by small-minded teachers who abuse their positions because it’s how they get off. Thank you.”

Someone barked out a laugh before burying his head in his arms. One of the female students, a pretty Asian girl, exchanged incredulous glances with an Asian guy as if confirming they’d heard what she’d just said. Even Alex’s friends looked surprised, but in the end, they all stared at the teacher.

The man quivered from head to toe. That was the only way to describe what was happening to him. “Detention,” he snarled.

“Yes sir.” She lifted her chin. “I’d like some fries too.”

“Detention for one week.”

“Yes sir. Are you going to make it two?”

“Are you mocking me, Ms. Blake?”

“That would be pretty hard to do, sir, when you’re doing a good job, yourself.”

More gasps and more snorts of laughter from the students. They’d abandoned the pretense they weren’t amused.

The teacher stomped toward her. His face was so dark that Adrian almost feared for his health, but he just pointed to the door.

“Dean’s office,” he spat, still trembling. Even his finger bobbed up and down in the air. “Consider yourself an honored guest of the detention room for a month. I want a ten-page essay about why insubordination is not allowed, on my desk tomorrow. I look forward to teaching you, Ms. Blake.”

Adrian grabbed her things. “I look forward to being taught by a man who is so threatened by his students that he has to resort to bullying.”

She walked out of the room with people’s whispers filling her ears.

Once she was outside in the hallway, she closed her eyes and sagged against a locker. “Oh my God,” she whispered. What had just happened back in that room? She had never talked back to her teachers in Chicago. Never.

The last half hour flashed in her mind like a film projector. The gauntlet of harassment she’d faced from Mandy Fitzpatrick, Quentin Maxwell, and now this teacher. Had she been too harsh, too confrontational? Sure, she’d mouthed off to the teacher, but it wasn’t her fault he hated her just because he hated Alex.

Unhappy, Adrian trudged to the main office. One of the secretaries directed her to one of the deans’ offices. Apparently the deans dealt with disciplinary problems while the principal dealt with administrative problems.

A guy was already sitting outside Dean Efken’s office. His spiky hair extended a full three inches, his light brown hair dark from so much hairspray. The sweet incense smell emanating from his blue shirt and khaki shorts told Adrian why he was here, but since he beamed at her, she smiled back. It was quite possibly the only nice smile she’d had today.

“What’re you in for?” he said.

“I talked back to an English teacher.” She took the seat opposite from him. He seemed decent, but she didn’t want to reek of incense. “What did you do?”

“They think I smoke.” He glanced around cagily, even though the hallway was empty. He sketched a smoking motion. “Well, you know.”

“Yeah, I figured.”

“You’re new, aren’t you? I’m Travis Cates. What’s your name?”

“Adrian.”

Those blue eyes fixed on her. “Huh. You don’t look like a guy. Don’t think there’s anybody here with that name …” His voice trailed off. “Oh. Adrian Blake?”

Resigned, she nodded. “Yes. Alex Montgomery’s soon-to-be stepsister.”

“Dude!” He bolted upright, his head bouncing off against the wall. “Ow! Ow! It hit me! Montgomery’s stepsister … shit.”

And that was the last word he said.

A dull, burning sensation settled in behind her eyes. Not tears, just pure exhaustion. Great, now even the school’s undesirables ostracized her too.

The dean still hadn’t seen her when the bell rang. He just stuck his head outside his office and told her and Travis to go, so she left for AP Spanish and then Economics. Both classes passed without incident, and she began to relax. Even gym wasn’t bad.

Lunch, however, was the real test. Her nerves thrummed when she entered the cafeteria. Silence didn’t ensue, nor did people throw tomatoes at her, but all the same, she knew they’d noticed her. It was there in the averted glances, the excited whispers. Some of them weren’t bothering to keep their voices down.

The “Did you hear what she said to Mr. Melbourne?” and “Did you hear what she said to Mandy?” comments trailed after her as she stalked through the cafeteria.

Head high, Adrian. Shoulders straight.

There was a glass door in the back that led to the outside. This was the one she wanted, then. No way in hell was she going to embarrass herself by sitting with other students. She wasn’t that pathetic. And besides, if they all worshipped Alex, she wanted nothing to do with them anyway.

The Arizona sun boiled her the second she stepped outside. Just yet another reason to hate this freaking state. She took her cell phone out of her bag and scrolled down to Jason’s number. He was still in class, so she texted him instead.

CALL ME. PLEASE.

She’d just finished sending the message when the One True Savior and Lord waltzed outside with his disciples and hangers-on. It was like a concentric circle, she reflected, with every succeeding circle larger than the previous.

Mandy Fitzpatrick’s voice was louder than the rest. “So … sweetie, I was thinking we could have, like, this totally awesome party this weekend. Something different from the usual parties …”

Adrian rooted through her bag. Once she’d found her earbuds, she jammed them in. Now that it was quiet, she poked at her lunch. She’d packed hers, but the sandwich was limp from the heat. Gross. She leaned against the brick wall. Maybe she should just go back inside—

A shadow fell over her. She lifted her eyes, only to see Mandy pouting at her. The girl had a death grip on Alex’s arm, her lethal nails digging in, and for an irrelevant moment, Adrian wondered if he had body armor.

Since Mandy wasn’t going anywhere, Adrian pulled an earbud out. “Yes?”

“Don’t have any friends to sit with?” Mandy said. She nudged Adrian’s bag with her sandal. “Aw, isn’t that sad?”

Adrian ignored her. She scanned the group behind the girl. They were watching her intently, as cats watch mouse-holes, but they were also watching Alex. His attitude toward her would decide her social position and subsequently their reactions. So far, Alex was just offering her an inscrutable tight-lipped smile.

She could still hear his voice.
“You’re on your own from here on out …”

Mandy was saying something, but Adrian kept staring at him. None of his friends had showed her any respect today. A teacher had picked on her because of her association with him. Now Alex’s on-and-off girlfriend was harassing her. Hell, even the school undesirables were too scared to talk to her. Surely, it had to get better … no. She’d made herself too notorious on the first day of school. This would last until graduation.

BOOK: Reason and Romance (River Valley Book 1)
8.87Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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