I stiffened the moment Brett slid into the chair next me, Richard's accusations still whirling around in my mind. Go to that angry place. Go to that angry place.
But he shifted ever so slightly, sending a current of his scent toward me. I breathed him in and crumbled. Who was I kidding? Brett was like one of those addictions that needed its own twelve step program. The first step was admitting you have a problem.
Hi, my name is Alexis Wyndham, and I have the hots for the quarterback.
I could just imagine a chorus full of girls from this high school answering back, "Hi, Alexis."
At least I wasn't alone with infatuation.
Because that's all it really could be, anyway. The Queen Bitch and the Football King had no business being together. It might trigger some space-time continuum implosion.
Mr. DePaul dimmed the lights and started another PowerPoint presentation, his voice wry with an undercurrent of resentment. "I think this topic belongs in your Econ curriculum, but I was allowed to give you the safe sex lecture only if I agreed to give the following talk about the costs involved in raising a child. I suppose it's the school board's hope that once you see how expensive real kids are, you'll wait until you have a stable job before having any."
I only half listened as he droned on and on about things like diapers and saving for college. It was stuff my parents worried about, not me. Just one more reason to keep my legs crossed. If I don't give up my V card, I won't have to worry about having a real baby strapped to my chest and screaming at all hours of the night while deducting from my book budget.
The lecture was just coming to an end when Mr. DePaul went to his desk and clicked something. My computer pinged, announcing the arrival of a new email in my school account.
"If you check your inboxes, you'll find tonight's assignment," Mr. DePaul said in such a way, I almost expected him to roll his eyes. "Consider this just a taste of family budgeting."
I opened the attachment in the email and scanned the instructions. "Diapers? Formula?"
"Yeah, those things add up." Brett remained so nonchalant about it, I wondered if he'd even read the assignment until he added, "So, you want to meet up at Safeway after school and knock it out?"
"I'm actually done with school for the day."
"So am I." He slung his backpack over his shoulder and jerked his head toward the door. "Want to meet me there in fifteen minutes?"
Oh, crap. It was one thing to be seen with him at school. At least it was all under the confines of this class. But out of the classroom? And in a place where I'd be in danger of exposing my go-to stress eats by stocking up on Cheetos and mocha fudge ripple ice cream.
"Yoo-hoo? Lexi?" Brett asked, waving his hand in front of my face.
"Don't call me that." I slammed my laptop closed and stuffed it in my back. "I'll meet you there so we can get this over with as quickly as possible."
"See you there." He waved and walked to where Summer was waiting for him by the door.
Shit! How much of our conversation had she overheard? I just hoped she wouldn't insist on tagging along. If she did, I'd let Brett complete this assignment on his own. I had a daily bullshit limit, and he'd already reached it this morning.
*******
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