“What’s up, bestie?” Bryce plops down beside me.
My eyes pop open. Relax session is officially over. I hold my hand over my eyes to block out the sun. “Not much, Bunny. You?”
I take a protein bar and a sandwich out of my backpack, tear the seam down the center of the bar, and take a bite.
Bryce removes a brown paper bag from his backpack and pours the contents onto the ground. It’s the complete opposite of the sushi he ate yesterday. “Let’s see what Mother has packed her favorite son today.”
I glance at the green packaged granola bar, a sleeve of orange crackers smeared with yellow cheese, a squished sandwich, and a browning banana. “Are you sure you’re the favorite child?”
“I’m her only child. So, yes, I am her favorite.”
“Uh-huh.” I pick up his squished sandwich. “What happened to sushi rolls and wasabi?”
“That was courtesy of our housekeeper, Josie.” He points to the bagged lunch. “This is courtesy of my stepmom, Clara. I don’t want to hurt her feelings by telling her I’d much rather have sushi rolls instead of a flattened PB and J. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good PB and J, but it doesn’t take the place of sushi.”
“I hear ya.” I take another bite of my unsquished sandwich. “Where’s Eden?”
“She had to do some work for the debate club, chess tournament, or some other club she runs. So, it’s just you and me today.” He bounces his eyebrows.
I toss the corner of my crust at him. “Shut up and eat your squished PB and J.”
He laughs. “Did you know she’s the chancellor’s daughter?”
“Eden?”
“Yeah. That’s the reason she attends Monarch University, because of his position.”
Interesting. I contemplate my next question, then decide there’s no right or wrong way to ask, so I blurt it out. “What’s up with Venom? I mean, why are they so popular? What do they have that nobody else does?”
Bryce peels his gooey sandwich out of the folded plastic bag. The jelly seeped through the bread, staining it purple. “Those guys are like gods around here. They’ve been friends forever. Like, since grade school. Well, at least Edge and Kade, the guy with piercings and tattoos. And by the way, he’s wicked smart—like genius worthy.”
He’s in my psychology class, not a brainiac class, but wicked smart, huh? “What about Edge?” I push, dying for more information.
Bryce swallows his bite of sandwich, then picks up his juice box and takes a swig. He has the perfect lunch for a six-year-old. “Edge is Ledger Hunt. His dad is some big-time business mogul with his hands in anything that can make him money.” He pauses to make a face and glances over his shoulder to see if anyone is listening. Then he continues when he decides the coast is clear. “I’ve only met Edge’s old man once at school in the office. Mr. Hunt and the chancellor are really close.”
I’m soaking up every detail. Who knew Bryce was so in the know?
He points an orange cracker in my direction. “But the weird thing is, Eden says she’s never seen them together outside of school, but they’re supposedly best friends. It doesn’t make sense, right?” He doesn’t expect an answer, which is good because I don’t know what to say except to agree with him. Searching for a napkin and not finding one, he starts to use his scarf before I hand him one. He wipes the crumbs from his fingers. Shaking his head, he says, “Something doesn’t jive, but it’s not for me to pry into.”
Not caring what the chancellor or Edge’s dad do in their free time, I swallow a bite of the tasteless turkey sandwich and try to curve the conversation back to the guy who has been a pain in the ass since the second I stepped foot on campus. “What else do you know about Edge?”
Bryce throws out a mocking right punch. “He’s really into MMA stuff.”
Now we’re getting somewhere. Keep him talking.“Really? How into it? Does he compete?” Damn, that sounded a little too enthusiastic.
He holds up his hands. “Whoa, girl. You just kicked it up a gear.”
I shrug, trying to shift down my excitement. “Sorry. It’s just something I’m interested in.”
“Anyway,” he says, “I think so. I’ve only heard bits of conversation about it, though. It’s all a foreign language to me. I don’t know shit about that stuff.”
Wanting more answers on the subject but not wanting to make it more obvious than I already have, I switch my questioning to a different topic. “So, he and Brielle are like a couple?”
Bryce almost chokes on the granola bar. He waves his hand in the air, his finger oscillating back and forth.
I slap him on the back. “You all right?”
He nods, inhaling a deep breath. I hand him his juice box. He slurps it until its emptiness echoes off its thin cardboard walls. “I’m okay. Thanks for saving me.”
