“Hello,” Jase said as he settled down beside me in psych. “How are you feeling today?”
I gave him an amused look as he stretched out his legs and leaned back in his chair.
I sighed then and looked forward.
“How are you feeling?” he asked me again.
“I’m fine.” It was a lie. I was in pain still.
“You tell your sister?”
“In so many words.”
His lashes lowered immediately with his dark smile.
I sat up straighter then. “Hey.”
“Hmm?”
“Where were you planning on taking me?” I questioned then. “Before we went to the hospital?”
“I was taking you somewhere before the hospital?” he said then.
I glanced over at him to find him smiling. “Uhm… yes. You got pulled over.”
His smile widened. “I did?”
Irritation crawled through me. “Yes, and they rerouted you to the hospital. The police did.”
“I think you’re imagining things, Emma,” he said then.
I lowered my lashes despite the heat crawling through me—angry heat. “Why do you do this?”
“Do what?”
“Gaslight me,” I said then, “make me feel like I’m going insane.”
“Gaslighting you?” he said then, smirking as he tipped his head to the side. “Do you know how crazy that sounds?”
I glared as the bell rattled the classroom.
“Alright, class!” teacher said. “Test today! Put everything away. No phone, no calculators. Everything.”
The classroom shuffled as they started rotating to the familiar testing environment.
“Oh,” Lizzy said in the back of the class, “I suddenly feel so dizzy. Can I go to the nurse?”
I glanced back at her in amusement.
“Nice try, Swells,” our psych teacher said. “Get out a pencil.”
She grumbled in annoyance and listened.
I looked over at Jase then, deciding to spare him one last glance to see if he was smirking at her in amusement like I was.
But his eyes were on me.
I stilled, breaths cutting. “What?”
He just lowered his lashes, still smirking. “You look so cute when you smile.”
I then looked forward, cheeks burning a bright red.
He just set his cheek in his hand, admiring me.
You should smile more often, the voice in my head said again.
I stilled once more, glancing over at him. “How are you doing that?”
He kept his cheek in his hand. “Doing what?”
My veins filled with cold. “Cut it out, Jase.”
His smile only darkened.
I looked back forward again, cheeks burning a bright red.
From anger, fear, or embarrassment? I didn’t know.
“Go out with me tonight,” he said suddenly.
“No,” I said immediately.
He kept his cheek in his hand. “Why not?”
“I don’t trust you.”
“I can convince you to trust me.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re not good for me,” I stated then.
He smiled slightly. “I can convince you otherwise.”
“You’re a monster,” I stated then.
“I can change your mind.”
I just stared back down at the table as my psych teacher started passing out tests. “You make me nervous.”
“I can be nice,” he said then.
“HA!” I said too loudly. “Don’t make me laugh.”
“I can,” he said then, now looking slightly serious, although I sensed a smile behind it. “I can prove it to you.”
“I don’t go out with secretive men.”
“You are now,” he said then, smirking. “I’ll pick you up after school.”
I just sighed, closing my eyes tightly.
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