“Frankie,” Coop said, a bit of a snap in his voice. Oh, I’d been thinking about San Antonio and wrestling with my temper.
“What?” I might have snapped back, then sucked in a deep breath and blew it out as I flexed my hands on the steering wheel. The word “sorry” stuck to my tongue. Mitigating moods was something I was good at, I preferred to soothe ruffled feathers and smooth out all the jagged bits.
Before.
I preferred to do that before.
Before I found out that they cut me off from a chance to be happy like they were.
Before I found out they made a rule for me. A rule they clearly didn’t follow.
Before I found out just how much that hurt.
So no, I wouldn’t apologize.
“I have a lot on my mind, Coop,” I told him. “First day of school. I need to walk my schedule…”
“Yeah,” he said, and I swore his tone softened. “I’ll walk it with you if you want. Then we can head to the caf…”
“I’m fine to walk it with Mathieu. It’s his first day too and he doesn’t know the layout of the school.”
Then we were on the street where the host family lived. A little thrill curved through the aggravation Coop had left scraping through me. I hated being angry with my best friends. Hated it because they were supposed to be my best friends and that betrayal was not one I’d seen coming.
“There really is a guy.” All the animation drained out of Coop’s voice.
“Yeah,” I told him as I pulled up to the curb. “Be nice.”
“Benice?”
“Yes,” I ordered. “And get in the back.”
Protest flooded his expression but Mathieu glanced at him before he reached for the rear door behind me.
“Hey,” I told him. “Coop can move.”
“It’s fine,” Mathieu said, the rich smoothness of his accent rolled over me. “I’m Mathieu,” he introduced himself and offered Coop a hand. Coop had twisted in the seat. Expressionless, he stared at Mathieu.
My heart fisted in my chest, but then Coop seemed to summon a tight smile. He gripped his hand and shook it. “Coop.”
“Ah, the kindergarten friend.” Mathieu chuckled. “Frankie has mentioned you.”
“Yeah,” Coop said slowly, elongating the syllable. “She hasn’t said a word about you.”
I glared at Coop but Mathieu continued to smile. “That is because she has been spending her time with me instead of talking about me.”
His jaw dropped, but I cut in before Coop could respond. “Yes, this is Coop. That’s Mathieu and now, we need to get to school. You got your schedule printed out last night alright?” I’d walked him through it on the phone because it was late and he hadn’t realized he needed to print his own.
“I did—though I don’t think we’ll have as many classes together as I would have liked.”
We’d gone over my schedule.
“That happens,” Coop said. “Frankie’s in a lot of advanced classes.” The absolute lack of lightness in his tone was a tell-tale sign he was pissed. Too bad. Maybe he should have believed me.
“We’ll figure it out,” I told him. “You ready for your first day?”
Real excitement began to invade me again. Mathieu grinned. “I am very ready,mon chou.”He waited until I’d turned the car around to head toward the school before he continued in French, “Are you well?”
“Oui,” I told him, with a glance to the rearview mirror. Hopefully he would take the answer at that. I had confessed some about my so-called friends and the crap they’d pulled. He found it kind of charming but also seemed to understand my dislike.
