Page 48 of Spiral
He chuckles sarcastically as a smirk creeps across his lips – an eerie sight in the dark.
“Oh, I have no problem staying away from you, Anderson.”
What the hell does that mean?
“He’s a fucking prick, dude,” Jonah groans from his spot on the couch, an icepack over his eyes to help cure his hangover headache. “He’s hated you ever since you got captain and he didn’t. And clearly that chick Natalia can’t take rejection.”
“It’s not like I voted for myself,” I retort, my tone sharp. “Besides, who would want Watson as a captain? He told me last night that, if it were him, he would’ve ratted you out about the Heisman. He’s a dick.”
“No arguments here,” Jonah replies, waving a hand to indicate his indifference.
“I still can’t believe he tried to hit Georgia. She’s like, so small. That dude’s gonna end up in prison.” Danny doesn’t look up from the latest episode of Jujitsu Kaisha, though his face is twisted in disgust.
“Georgia can never know about that.”
“What? Dude, you haven’t told her?” Jonah sits up on the couch abruptly, the icepack falling into his lap.
“And make her think that being around me is gonna get her killed? No. Besides, I told Watson if he ever gets near her, he’s dead.”
“You shouldn’t lie to women,” Danny remarks softly, eyes still glued to the TV.
“It’s not lying, I just didn’t give her Watson’s exact motivations. She thinks it was an accident – and I want to keep it that way.”
28 | Georgia
“HEY, EL?” I ask, knocking on the half-open door to her bedroom.
It's been nearly two weeks since she’s been home. She spent our recent fall break back home in Houston, and we'd barely talked the whole time. She’d invited me to go with her, but I figured my living in her parent’s house for nearly all of high school was intrusion enough. Besides, I could use a little alone time.
I lived with Patrick practically since the start of college – and Eleanor’s family before that. My lack of independence can be a bit of a sore subject for me. I mean, I never even got to get a driver’s license. Eleanor has never made me feel bad about that, or like a burden. But it doesn’t mean I don’t still feel that way sometimes.
“What’s up, Georgie?” she asks, looking up from her book.
“Nothing, really. I’ve just missed you. A lot.”
She smiles at me softly and pats the bed beside her.
“I’ve missed you, too. Come over here – I wanna know all about what you did over break.”
I sit down on the edge of the twin bed, leaning my head against her shoulder.
“I didn’t do much. A lot of thinking.”
“About that night with Henry?” she asks, smirking. “I never got a text back when I asked for all the details – did he seriously streak? Because of some dare?”
“It wasn’t really a dare. They have something called the ‘punishment wheel’ that they have to spin if they break the house rules.”
“God, men.” She rolls her eyes as she places a dog ear in the top corner of her book page.
“I know right.”
I sigh and allow her room to fill up with comfortable silence. Nobody makes me feel more at home than Eleanor. I mean, living with her was the first moment of peace I’d ever had in my life. When I lived with my mom, she was always in and out of jail, or on the streets – I could go days at a time having no idea where she was. But Eleanor was always there, always a constant. Like a sister.
A few minutes pass before Eleanor asks me what’s wrong. She isn’t wondering if something is upsetting me, she already knows something is. She can always tell.
“I just don’t know what to do.” I raise my thumbnail to my lips to bite it. “I think Henry really likes me. But… I’m scared.”
She turns to face me, her expression calm.