“Ok, then.”
“Great.”
“Should I come to you or… You wanna…”
“I’ll come to Dad’s office, and we can… uh… go from there.”
“When are we going to stop being so awkward?” He smiled again.
“One day, maybe?”
The bell rang.
“Shit.” I frowned. “I gotta…”
“Yeah. You better go.”
“See you in a bit.”
I walked as quickly as I could to my classroom without breaking out into a full-blown sprint. As I started to round the corner to the math and science hallway, I glanced back. Jax was still there watching me.
By the time I took the next ten steps to my classroom door, my heart was practically beating out of my chest.
“You’re late.” Denny Jones called out loudly as I set the paper down on my desk.
Before I could answer, Amber Garland’s hand shot straight up in the air.
“Amber?”
“Was that really Jax Mason?”
“It was.” I sighed, knowing and accepting the fact that my class was about to glide off the rails. Small town equals gossip.
“Do you know him? Would he sign my baseball card?” Nick laughed. He was the class clown but smart enough that he could get away with it.
“I do know him, and I’m sure that if you asked him nicely the next time you saw him, he would say yes.”
“Will you ask him? I mean, you know him.” Nick smiled.
I chuckled and leaned against my desk.
“Why is he here?” Amber asked quickly. This time following the lead of her other classmates, her hand didn’t shoot up in the air as it usually did. She was a good kid and reminded me of myself at that age. She always had the answers and didn’t mind letting it be known. The other kids called her a brown-noser or a know it all. I’m sure they did to me, too, back in the day. I just had Jax always around, so no one dared to ever call me anything to my face. Jax wouldn’t have stood for it.
“Well, as you all know, my dad, Coach Criss is retiring at the end of the week. Jax is here because he and Coach Criss are very close. As you all know, he went to high school here and has said that if it weren’t for my dad, he wouldn’t have ever had the success he’s had. So he’s here to give a speech for his coach.”
“We’re you good friends?” Jacob asked loudly. “Or did you just go to school together?”
“Jax was my best friend.”
“How come we didn’t know you were so cool? That’s kick ass.” Jacob smirked. He was a basketball player and had become one of the most popular kids in his year.
“That would be kickbuttin my classroom, please, Jacob. Now, we have a test tomorrow. So, I’ll tell you what. We can either – and you can all vote by a show of hands on what you choose. We can keep talking about Jax Mason and hope you don’t fail the test tomorrow, or we can have a review.” My brain was so fucking jumbled. Even the thought of having to go over abstract algebra, which they were all doing ok with since this was an AP class, was not high on my to do list. “Or you can have a peer review session? Pull some desks together in small groups, and I’ll be here to help if you have any questions.”
Amber’s hand shot up. “I would vote for C. A peer review sounds like we could all get the help we need on whatever we’re having a hard time with.”
“Ah… Does anyone else agree with Amber?” Everyone’s hands shot up except for Jacob’s and Nick’s. “Nick, what would you choose?”
“I’d like to know more about Jax. He’s a major superstar.” Nick laughed.
