Page 15 of Turn of the Tides

There was no way I’d be able to work with him. I’d do the project myself and let him get the credit for it if that got me out of having to partner with him. Even with all my other work piled on top, it was still better than being stuck in his presence for however long the stupid assignment took.

By the time the last class of the day ended I was feeling good about my plan. It was the perfect solution, really. I didn’t like Beau and he sure as hell didn’t like me, so I bet he’d be thrilled to find out I was willing to do all the work for him if it meant we didn’t have to spend time together.

I headed for my locker to get everything I’d need to do the Spanish assignment on my own, stuffing my backpack so full that it was going to be a pain to carry, but I wasn’t one of the lucky kids whose parents had the money to buy them a new car the moment they turned sixteen.

Colbie caught up with me just as I slammed my locker shut and heaved my backpack on. “Jeez, you’re going to give yourself scoliosis or something.”

I snorted as I hefted the straps up higher, trying to get the bag settled in just the right place that it wouldn’t be impossible to carry on my walk home. “Comes with the territory, I guess.”

She blew a raspberry past her lips as she fell in step beside me. “Maybe if you’re a certified genius taking a bazillion AP classes. But not when you’re a normal, middle of the line student like the rest of us.”

I laughed and shook my head. She wasn’t wrong about my class load, but I didn’t take so many advanced classes and extracurricular activities because I was a genius. I took them because it was the only way I could hope to get a scholarship, and that was the only way I’d be able to attend college without incurring a ton of debt. As hard as my folks worked, they couldn’t afford to put me through a university.

I’d been busting my butt for years to get as many grants and scholarships as I possibly could, but each one felt like a competition. I didn’t realize it at first, but it eventually came out that a lot of the ones I’d lost out on were because Beau had gotten them, and I was convinced he’d done it on purpose, applying for the same grants as me as just another one of his sick little games.

It wasn’t like he needed them. His parents had more money than mine would ever know what to do with, and I was sure he was going to receive a football scholarship to any college he wanted. He basically had a first-class ticket to anywhere he wanted to go, so I didn’t understand why he couldn’t leave the academic stuff to those of us who needed it, the students less... athletically inclined. That was the nicest way I could think to describe my complete lack of coordination in pretty much every sport on the planet.

And that was just another bone of contention where Beau was concerned. I had to study my ass off to get straight As, but he didn’t seem to have that problem at all. He’d been on the honor roll every year since the seventh grade. He was part of the National Honor Society,andsumma cum laude. All of that, and I’d hardly ever seen him crack a book. It wasn’t fair!

We pushed through the glass doors and stepped out into the crisp, breezy spring day. The muscles in my neck were already cramping, and I could feel knots forming between my shoulder blades, but I gritted my teeth and carried on. Fortunately, we didn’t live too far from the school.

The parking lot was emptying quickly, but there were a few stragglers still lingering, students still visiting with their friends or the person they were dating. And of course, one of the kids still lingering had to be Beau.

My heart began to beat faster at the sight of him pressed up against a gleaming black Jeep Wrangler with Larissa latched onto his face.

Colbie spotted them just seconds after I did. “Eww.” She scrunched her face up in disgust as the two of them practically dry-humped in the middle of the parking lot. “They don’t have any shame, do they?”

I let out a huff and rolled my eyes as I discreetly picked up the pace. “Don’t worry. I’m sure they’ll break up for the millionth time soon enough.”

She snorted out a laugh. “True. Talk about a toxic relationship. Those two fight and break up at least twice a week.”

My chest sank on a breath of relief just as we passed by the Jeep. Unfortunately, that breath came too soon, because before I could make my escape, Beau’s deep voice called out, “Yo, Bubbles.” I froze in place, momentarily thrown before turning stiffly to face him. At some point, he’d pushed Larissa away, andI now had his full attention. He jerked his chin toward the Jeep and ordered, “Get in.”

My jaw fell open, hanging in the wind at the same time Colbie and Larissa both squeaked, “What?”

Chapter Eight

BEAU

Past

I sensedher before she’d even walked out of the school. It had been like that since she moved to our little po-dunk town back in middle school. I would have been lying if I said I hadn’t been watching for her. Then again, the freaking girl had my attention every time she entered a room. Even if I didn’t want to notice her.

We didn’t hang with the same people, have the same friends, or have a damn thing in common, as a matter of fact. She was a goody two shoes all the way through. The girl never got in trouble because she wouldn’t even bend a rule, let alone break it. She did extra credit work just for the hell of it and spent most of her time with her nose stuck in a book. She wore a smile almost constantly, polite to pretty much everyone to the point that I was surprised the sun didn’t shine out of her butt.

She was the opposite of me in every way, but there was something about her that drew me to her from the moment she and her folks rolled into town. I could still remember thefirst time I saw her walking through town, smiling at everyone with that bright, rosy smile of hers. I was barely twelve, but I remembered thinking I wanted that smile for myself and feeling frustrated that I couldn’t have it.

I started to call her Bubbles because of her bubbly personality, but the name stuck because, well, it just fit her perfectly. There was also the added fact that she couldn’t stand it. I was sure it said something about me that I got off on screwing with her, but I didn’t care. The fact she was so damn polite with everyone else, but wouldn’t hesitate to go head-to-head with me made me almost feel special.

Man, I was really screwed up.

She and her friend Colbie were laughing as they hit the sidewalk in front of the school. My gaze dragged right along with her, like it was being pulled on a leash, watching closely enough that I didn’t miss the way she kept tugging at the straps of her overflowing backpack. The damn thing looked like it was packed with bricks and couldn’t possibly be comfortable.

Annoyance clawed through me when I tried pulling away from the death grip Larissa had on me only to have her latch on tighter.

“Come on, Beau,” she said in that whiny voice that always made me roll my eyes. “Why don’t we go back to my place?” She bounced on the toes of her flip-flops as she batted her eyes. “My parents won’t be home forhours.”

I blew out a breath and pushed her back for the second time. She’d latched onto me the moment I got to my Jeep and held on with the strength of a freaking anaconda. “Told you already, I have shit to do.”