Cross My Heart by Katie Klein

Author:Katie Klein
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-03-14T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

I’m responding to Blake’s morning text message, yawning, when . . .

“Good morning, Sunshine,” a low voice whispers in my ear.

A series of tingles race up and down my spine. I flip my phone shut, forgetting to press send, remembering a moment too late.

“No thanks to you,” I say quietly, so no one will hear. I grab my calculus book. “When I finally got to bed,” I continue, “it was like, three-thirty in the morning. My alarm goes off at six-thirty. That means if I fell asleep right away, I’m running on three hours of sleep. And I’m gonna be honest with you: I didn’t fall asleep right away.”

Parker leans into the locker beside me, adjusts his backpack on his shoulder, then runs his fingers through his hair. “Yeah, well, you didn’t have a ten-minute walk or a twenty-minute drive home,” he says, voice barely above a whisper. “I’m running on two hours. If I fell asleep right away.” Traces of darkness linger beneath his lower lashes, adding to his perpetual shroud of mystery. At least I have the luxury of concealer to hide my midnight escapades.

“We should’ve just stayed up,” I muse.

He smiles wryly. “Scandalous.”

I notice, as I hoist my bag over my shoulder, a few people around us are staring, not so subtly. The group of girls down the way? Craning their necks in our direction. The couple navigating the halls with their hands in each other’s back pockets? Slowing considerably as they pass, turning their heads to keep their eyes on us. There are others, too. Gawking. Whispering. Faces eager with curiosity. It’s like some huge, irrelevant newsflash that is, in my opinion, hardly worth spreading: Parker Whalen is talking to Jaden McEntyre in the hallway. Big Deal. Apparently I’m the only one who feels this way.

I inhale, ignoring the ogling. “I feel sorry for everyone around me, because by lunchtime . . . it’s over. I’m going to be a total beyotch.”

Parker laughs at this. “I doubt that.”

“Don’t,” I say seriously.

“There’s no way Jaden McEntyre gets bitchy in public. That’s just not happening.”

“Believe it, because it happens.”

“Not in public. You might go home and yell into your pillow or freak out in the mirror, but you don’t lose your cool in front of people, even if you have come dangerously close.”

I roll my eyes. “I hate how you think you know me,” I grumble, touching the Harvard crest before shutting my locker door.

“Yeah, well, give me fair warning if you really plan to go postal on someone today, because I’d pay to see it.”

“If you’re lucky you’ll be on the receiving end,” I threaten. “Oh, that reminds me. Here: take this.” I hold out my purse, not thinking. Parker stares at the little black number for a moment. “It’s just for a second,” I assure him. He slowly reaches out to take it from me. I slide my bag off my shoulder and unzip it. It takes some digging, but I finally find what I’m searching for.

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