Surviving the McLane Boys ('On Hold Still...')

Chapter 35

“Did you know that the letter ‘H’ and ‘J’ are right next to each other on the keyboard?”

I raise an eyebrow at Jake as I shift my bag from one shoulder to the other, “Really?”

He nods, “It’s destiny. We were meant to be together.”

I laugh, wrapping my arms around him in a hug as we make our way down the street, “If you’re trying to be romantic, you’re failing – miserably.”

“What if I’m trying to be sexy?” he wiggles his eyebrows at me.

“Then I’m going to slap you.”

He lets out a woeful sigh, “Why am I still with my violent girlfriend?”

I bite his arm for that, “Because I’m sexy.”

He looks down at me, “Did you just bite me?” he asks incredulously.

I smile ahead, “Maybe.”

“Man, I’m in a screwed up relationship.”

“And don’t you love it.” I laugh.

He rolls his eyes and I notice a blush rising to his cheeks as he turns his head away, “Walk faster or we’re going to be late.”

“You shouldn’t be complaining when you’re the one who insisted on walking.” I shoot back, nudging him.

“I already told you, my bike broke down.” He whines.

“Then why didn’t we just get a ride to school with everyone else?”

His arms slide slowly around my waist and he pulls me to him, kissing me square on the mouth, “Well I wouldn’t be able to do something like that, would I?”

I push away from him, my own cheeks reddening now, “I guess not.”

We walk on in a comfortable silence, our moods lifting more and more with each step.

Maddy and Mitch meet us as we walk into school and I can sense their impatience to know what happened after I left them.

To tell you the truth there isn’t much to tell. Jake hadn’t asked me anything else about Matt and had stopped himself from broaching any subjects to do with him. My weird behaviour when he’d first appeared went unasked and he was generally pretty quiet on the subject.

I let Jake give a simple explanation about who Matt was to the older McLane’s but other than that no one knew anything else. I’d also gotten started on that letter thing that Mitch had suggested and I told her that as we parted from Jake to go to our lockers.

Maddy sticks around to hear the gossip. “He sounds jealous to me.” She says after I’ve finished telling them about our conversation back from her house. “He’s going all territorial alpha on you.”

I shut my locker, “You did not just call me territory.”

“Watch out, he’ll probably bite you or something.” She replies with a wink.

I give Maddy a WTF look, completely freaked out with where her mind’s going.

Mitch laughs as she shuts her own, “She’s got a point though, Hailey. He’s scared about your mysterious relationship with Matt.”

“It’s not that mysterious.” I mumble, walking towards our homeroom.

“Well, he doesn’t know all the details, so he’s bound to feel… insecure.” And with those parting words, Maddy flounces off to her own homeroom.

“She’s right.” Mitch says with a shrug as we walk into our classroom, “He’s obviously tres  jelly.”

I roll my eyes as we sit down at our desks, “First Maddy classifies me as an area which belongs to my boyfriend who is apparently going to bite me and then you say ‘trays jelly’ of all things.”

“It’s another way to say jealous. I’m pretty sure it’s French.” She sniffs. Her eyes suddenly bulge out of her head, “Oooh, who’s the eye-candy?”

I slap Mitch over the head, “You’ve got a boyfriend! Get a gri– No. Way.”

What are the chances that Matt’s on exchange at our school and just walked into our homeroom? Well, apparently it’s pretty high.

He hasn’t seen me so I pull the hood of my jacket over my head and grab the groovy glasses Mitch claims to be fashionable from off of her head, “Mitch!” I hiss, “Give me your geography book!”

She passes it over confusedly and I snatch it from her, “What’s up with you?”

“That’s Matt!” I hiss again, setting the book up in front of my face before crouching behind it.

“’Morning class!” Mr O says as he walks in.

“Um, excuse me…” his accent sticks out like a sore thumb and immediately all attention is directed towards my ex-best friend. “I’m kind of lost…”