I can tell he’s being cordial from his body language, but I see his eyes wander over here. Once our eyes meet, he gives me an eye roll over her head with a sly smile, and I grin back to let him know I feel the same way.

When it comes to RTS, I wish I could erase her from his life. I know that is exactly how he feels about Casey, so I tolerate her because she is in his circle of friends, in his band, in his life. Still, punching her is one of the single best decisions I have ever made.

The second warning bell rings, snapping me back to reality.

“Let’s go,” Shane says, pulling me back.

“Bye.” I mouth to Todd.

I see RTS follow his gaze. The look on her face when her eyes land on me is priceless. It’s worth the detention I’m probably going to get for being late.

“Young love,” Shane says, shaking his head as if he’s a hundred years old.

“Oh, please, you’re one to talk. Speaking of, where’s Johnny?”

“He had a meeting with Coach W. or something, but he has our lunch.”

“Nice.”

“And lucky you. You have me in your homeroom. This year is looking up for you, Ash.”

“Way to jinx it, Shaney.” I give him a wink.

Chapter 3: After School

ASHLEY

I’m waiting at the gate by the locker room for Todd to come out after practice. It’s amazing how quickly you fall right back into a routine.

“Hey, Ash.”

I turn to see Gretchen walking up to join me. She looks perfect, as always. She just had an hour and a half of cheerleading practice, and I swear there isn’t a piece of her perfectly straight blonde hair out of place as her ponytail swings behind her. I’m exhausted just from watching other people practice, but she still has a bounce in her step. She even walks cheerily, which is insane.

“Hey, Gretch. Waiting for Ryan?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Todd,” I say with a smile.

“I’m glad you guys got back together.”

I can’t help the smile that forms on my lips at the thought of this summer. “Me, too.”

“There you are.”

Just hearing her grating voice sends shivers down my spine.

“Why are you wasting your time talking to her?” RTS glares at me as she walks up to meet Gretchen.

Wow. So I see our friendship has moved to the next level, and she’s no longer trying to hide her hatred for me. I guess that is a good thing; it will save a lot of time.

“Hi, Rebecca. Glad to see your nose made a full recovery—well, almost. It’s just a tad bit crooked.” I give her the same glare back. I’m done taking her crap.

She drops her bag and squeezes her hands together into fists at her side. “You want to go, Taylor? I’ll do this right here.”

Gretchen’s face drops with shock. Then she looks back and forth between me and Rebecca. “Don’t do this, Rebecca.”

RTS’s eyes stay locked on mine. “I’m done with this bitch.”

“Wow. So that’s how you want to play it? I’m the bitch?” The words pour out of me while I stay zoned in on her and only her.

“You broke my nose, so yeah, I’d say the word fits.” She steps closer to me, and somewhere mentally, I make the decision that I am not backing down. I step closer to her without even thinking.

“You lied to my boyfriend. We broke up because of you and your stupid lies. You deserved everything you got, and I’m ready to go again if that’s what you want.” My face is inches from hers now. All I can see is her mousy brown hair, her boring brown eyes, and her bland features staring me down.

I squeeze my hand into such a tight fist I feel my nails dig into my skin, but I don’t care about anything except shutting her up. Permanently.

I pull my arm back, but the face changes. Now the eyes are blue, and the hair is blonde, but it’s too late. I’m already mid-swing. A hand comes up to stop mine and then she turns to grab Rebecca, but RTS is too fast, and she can’t stop herself. Her fist connects with the side of Gretchen’s cheek. Shit. She clocked Gretchen hard.

I see RTS’s expression fill with shock as soon as realization settles in. She just punched her best friend. Hard. A best friend she shouldn’t even have.

“I’m so sorry, Gretch. Oh, my God. Gretchen, are you okay?” RTS screeches.

I can’t seem to form words. I’m in shock at the beauty of this irony. Not that I wanted Gretchen to get hurt, but I love that her horrible human of a supposed best friend just punched her when she was trying to hit me.

Gretchen is cradling her cheek with her hand, putting on a brave face, but tears are welling up in her eyes, and I know she’s in pain. It all happened so fast I didn’t even realize what was happening until it was too late.

When I notice RTS opening and closing the fist that just made contact with Gretchen’s cheek, I gesture toward her action with my head. “Hurts, doesn’t it?” I give her a wicked smile.

“You bitch,” she says as she tries to leap past Gretch.

“What is going on here?” I hear Ryan’s voice from behind me.

I turn to see him, Todd, and Johnny all walking up behind us with their workout bags. They are freshly showered, their hair still wet. My heart skips a beat at the way Todd’s is hanging down in front of his bright blue eyes.

RTS freezes mid-step. None of us say anything. I feel Todd’s hand brush against my elbow, and I know he’s now behind me.

“Gretch, what is going on?” Ryan glances back and forth between all of us girls.

The rest of the guys are standing there like statues, waiting for a response. I try not to smile at how comical they look with their frozen shocked expressions.

Gretchen looks back and forth between us, her cheek already bright red. I know she doesn’t know what to say.

“It’s nothing,” she finally says with a forced smile.

“It doesn’t look like nothing. What happened to your face?” he asks, gently brushing his thumb over her cheek.

She gives a nervous laugh. “Well …”

“It was just a misunderstanding. Right, Rebecca?” I cut in, glaring at RTS.

She’s so caught off guard I don’t know if she even comprehends anything that has happened in the last five minutes. My question seems to have snapped her out of her daze for a second.

“Uh … right.”

I pulled that one from deep memory. Brian’s excuse came in handy. The word misunderstanding isn’t exactly a lie, and besides, it’s really none of the boys’ business, so why get them involved when this is between me and RTS, and now Gretchen, I guess.

“Riiight,” Ryan says, not buying it for a second.

“What’s up, guy—” Brian stops mid-sentence, realizing something is off as he joins us.

“Go get ice from Doc, Bri,” Ryan says as he intertwines his fingers with Gretchen’s.

“It’s okay. I’m good.”

Ryan lifts her chin so he can get a better look at her cheek. “Gretch, you need ice.” He glances back at Brian.

“It’s cool. I’ll get it. Doc is still in there; I was just talking to him.” Brian jogs back to the locker room.

“What the hell happened?” I hear Todd’s voice from behind me. Why can’t they just take “misunderstanding” and go?

“Your girlfriend is a bitch,” RTS says to Todd, and I feel his body tense.

“Stop it, Rebecca.” Gretchen whips around. “Are you seriously still going there?”

RTS looks like she just got slapped. “Well, it’s true,” she says with a shrug.

“Enough, Rebecca. It’s enough!” Gretchen shouts in her face, making this all feel even more surreal. I can’t believe Gretch is sticking up for me.

“Wow, Ash, I may have underestimated you all these years.” Brian gives me a sly smile as he hands over the bag of ice.

“I didn’t hit her, Brian.” I smile back.

He raises his eyebrows. “Watch out, Rebecca. She’s got a bad-ass right hook, but I guess you already know that,” Brian continues to push the issue, and I kind of love him in this moment.