Page 64 of Love Is…?
Her expression must have said as much because Jayde’s lips parted and Tessa couldn’t look away.
“Are you going to taste it?” Jayde asked, her voice soft and flirty.
“Right. Yes.” Tessa encircled the top of the straw with her lips and sucked the cold drink into her mouth, then immediately let go and pressed on the top of her head. “Ow! Brain freeze!” She shoved the cup at Jayde. “It’s an Antarctic shipping disaster.”
Jayde grinned.
Grace, having returned from knocking down all the pins, leant over the small barrier separating the lanes. “Brain freezes are the worst!” She pointed at the animated cartoon character dancing on the score screen above their area, and punched the air. “I’m a rock star! Rap-dancing koalas for my strike!”
Hira nodded emphatically. “Totally.”
Then, Tessa found her gaze drifting to Jayde again, who’d stood for her turn, and was clutching the ball at the starting dot on the wooden floor. She watched the way Jayde’s bum cheeks lifted as she walked towards the line, as she angled her leg when she released the ball, as she stood, hands on hips, staring down the lane seemingly willing the pins to fall over by themselves.
She was so caught up with those observations that she nearly missed Justin’s subtle movement as he slid something from his pocket and tucked it under his thigh. She narrowed her eyes and waited a moment. There it was. The quick glance, the kind that suggested nefarious activities.
Jayde returned to her seat. “What?”
Tessa leaned into Jayde’s shoulder. “I don’t know, but I think I just saw Justin with a phone and I’ve got a weird feeling.”
Jayde kept contact with Tessa’s shoulder but surreptitiously glanced over at the teenager. “Michael’s right next to him. Surely he would have seen Justin do something.”
“That’s my weird feeling.”
Then Justin slid his hand under the outside of his thigh and pushed at something so it ended up between his legs. He reached down and picked it up, hiding it so that it was difficult to make out the object’s shape.
“Yep. That is a phone,” Jayde growled.
Tessa hissed. Everyone had agreed to the no-phones request. Except Justin, apparently. Tessa flicked her eyes to Michael, who was looking away almost deliberately. She couldn’t be sure. It didn’t matter because, before she could make a move, Jaydewas up, around the barrier, and over to the vacant seat next to Justin. Hira and Grace were visiting their friends in the next lane, so it looked very much like Jayde was simply having an amicable chat with the boys while they waited. Michael’s eyes were fixed on the score screen above him. It was an attempt at nonchalance but whoever was teaching the school’s drama club needed retraining because Michael’s version of casual indifference was dreadful. He definitely knew what Justin’s intention was. That initial gut feeling became alarm bells. The problem was that she couldn’t prove anything. The other problem was that she couldn’t stop Grace from seeing Michael. It wasn’t her place as a chaperone or even as a friend. Tessa would simply have to be more aware of Michael-might-be-a-shit vibrations where Grace was concerned.
Tessa’s leg jiggled nervously, as she stared at Jayde leaning into Justin’s space. Jayde was tense, back ramrod straight, fingers gripping her knee caps as if she needed to anchor them somewhere.
Justin’s eyes rounded as he stared at Jayde, her face close to his, then he nodded frantically, and passed over his phone as if it was on fire. Jayde stood, subtly pocketed the device, patted Justin’s shoulder, then strolled back to her seat.
Tessa turned square on. “What did you say to him? What are you going to do with his phone?”
Jayde’s lips were a thin line. “He’ll get his phone back when he leaves. I’m not going to keep it.” She bared her teeth. “I am so angry. Did you notice Michael pretending to ignore everything going on beside him even though most people would’ve loved the drama? Interesting.” She raised her eyebrows, and Tessa nodded.
“Back to Justin.” Jayde tilted her chin at Hira’s boyfriend. “Firstly, I used his full name as it always seems to scare the living daylights out of kids when you do that. Then I told him Iwas completely aware that the nearly thirty-thousand dollars his father pays every year just so lovely Justin can attend Rawson Boys Grammar is claimed as a ministerial expense from the public tax portfolio and if Justin didn’t hand over his phone, I’d expose that interesting fact to the good citizens of not only Victoria but all of Australia, via every media platform, which means that his father would be dragged through the gutter press, and he’d have to resign from government, meaning that Justin would have to find another, much less expensive, school.”
Tessa blinked. “How on earth did you know all that?”
“I asked Grace for her guest list and, using a number of morally grey sources, I researched each of the kids, including the MTC students, in case exactly this situation arose.”
Tessa gaped. What an incredibly thoughtful thing to do. She just about swooned, then remembered the reason for Jayde needing to gallop across the seating area with her sword raised.
“Are you going to tell Grace and Hira?”
Jayde hummed. “I thought about it, but I don’t think I will. Yes, Justin was about to do a shitty thing. Social media, for sure, but I think I put the fear of God into him. Michael was bound to have heard most of it, so he’s probably crapping his pants as well. So, I think we’ll keep it to ourselves.” She looked at Tessa, eyebrows raised in question.
Tessa slipped her hand into the crook of Jayde’s arm. “I agree.” She glared at Justin, who was staring at the bowling ball in his lap. He obviously needed something to hold on to now that his phone had been confiscated.
The night continuedfor another two hours with shouts of delight from all three lanes as people scored strikes, and laughedat the celebratory dances that became more elaborate as each lane tried to outdo each other.
However, while she joined in the antics, Tessa kept an eye on Justin and Michael, and scanned across to the next lane over so she could spy on the other boys.
“I think Justin was the only one,” Jayde murmured in her ear as they stood waiting to return their shoes. Her body was nearly flush with Tessa’s, their cheeks lightly touching.
Tessa’s breath hitched. “I think you’re right.” Then she stepped back and gazed into Jayde’s eyes. “Yes,” she said, her hands hovering near Jayde’s hips, wanting to touch down. She wondered what she was actually agreeing to.