Letterman Jacket

11 / fifty-five days before

The ink of the yellow highlighter spilled across the words in my biology textbook as my hand glided smoothly along the texture of the paper. The noise of the cafeteria made it hard to concentrate, and none of the words seemed to register in my head no matter how many times I colored them yellow.

"You know, you're never going to understand the anatomy of a male human body until you've actually seen one—which I doubt that you have."

Glancing up, my eyes were met with a pair of bright green ones, shining with humor and amusement as he took in my expression. I bit my tongue to keep a snarky remark from coming out my mouth as Nico took the seat across from me, taking a huge bite from the apple he was holding and leaning back against the seat. "The pictures are enough, thanks."

He shrugged, lips curling upwards. "Nothing beats the experience of touring it, but hey, your loss."

"I'm sure you would love to do that with yourself, Nico. What are you even doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with your squad of jocks and cheerleaders?"

I stole a sideways glance at the said table on one side of the cafeteria, where Faust's group of friends—Paula Fernandez, Colton Shaw, Cameron Connors, Grayson Delaney, Derrick Olsen and JJ Ford—were laughing and goofing around like they always were, except this time, a pair of icy blues were locked in my direction.

I had to look away before I started blushing.

"I just thought I should keep my biology partner company," Nico answered, finishing the last of his apple. "And to let her know that Shrek called. He wants his face back."

I knew it was only to taunt me, and that I was better off ignoring him, yet I closed the textbook with a loud snap. "Look, buddy. If you have a problem with me, kindly write it in a piece of paper, put it in an envelope, and shove it down your throat because I swear—"

Cutting myself off, I took a deep breath while Nico tilted his head to the side with a smirk playing on his lips. "You swear, what?"

He was doing this to rile me up, and it was working, damn it.

"You have a problem with my sister, Romero?"

Theo Simmons stood six foot tall over our table with his arms crossed over his chest, one eyebrow raised. I hadn't even realized he'd gotten up from his table on the opposite end of the cafeteria from Faust's and had started walking towards us.

This was our first interaction in four days, and I had to resist the urge to smile at his overprotectiveness.

Nico shook his head as strands of black hair fell across his eyes. "You can get over your little bro instincts, Simmons. I was just wondering if she was free Friday night."

"What?" Theo and I said in unison, anger evident from his tone and surprise in mine.

Did he not just insult me directly in my face for weeks? Nico Romero was quite possibly the most infuriating boy I had ever had the misfortune to meet.

He smiled, unfazed. "What? Do I have to go to you first before asking Thea?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Faust standing up and making his way towards our table, effectively causing heads to turn to the center of attention. I cursed under my breath—I didn't need this kind of drama, and I already had one alpha male hungry for blood against a guy who was supposedly asking me out. No need for another.

Theo's eyes narrowed. "Careful, Romero. I'm still your captain."

"Co-captain," Faust's low voice corrected, lips pressed to a thin line. "And we're not in the court, Theo. The rest of the team isn't inferior to what you think is your title of supremacy."