I tapped my fingers against my jeans. “Spill, Emma. What’s eating you lately?”

Before she could answer, thunder rumbled and lightning struck in a loud bam! outside the building. “What was that?” she shrieked, sliding in closer to me.

“A thunderstorm,” I said, pulling away, not in the mood for drama. “Happens all the time, Emma. Nothing to freak out about. Just another day…”

My voice dropped off, and my stomach sank so fast it made me queasy. I fell back against the locker, my mouth dry as sandpaper.

Today.

February 7.

The day my mother killed herself.

And somehow I’d forgotten? I shook my head, disgusted with myself.

“Cuba?” Emma asked. “What’s wrong with you?” She got up in my face, her overpowering perfume making my nausea spike.

“Nothing. Just tired,” I said. “Give me a minute.” I pinched the bridge of my nose and inhaled sharply, sucking in fresh air as she moved away.

No wonder I’d been operating in a weird kind of fog. No wonder I’d broken my stand-off and looked at Dovey.

A long whistle came from my left side. “Cuba, my man,” Sebastian said, slapping me on the back. “You ready for your update on the sweetheart dance?”

I nodded, ignoring the cement in my stomach. Of course, I didn’t give a shit about the dance, but for him I’d pretend. He’d moved here from Los Angles in August, joined the football team, and we’d promptly become a duo over the past few months.

The light to my dark.

And because he was a fun guy, he’d been nominated to head-up the planning committee for the end of the season athletic banquet. He took his job very seriously.

He broke it down for me, his voice animated. “First off, I got the venue booked at The Dorchester in downtown Dallas. It’s got a fucking giant ballroom. And, I got the Hummer limo you requested, but we gotta find some girls to ride in it. Don’t think that will be a problem though,” he said with a grin, his eyes lingering on Emma.

She flicked her hair.

I pushed up off the locker, trying to act normal when I felt anything but. “Did you decide about the band?” He’d been talking about his band, Vital Rejects, but he’d needed to clear it with his brother first.

“Yep. Vital Rejects is all set to play. It’s going to be on. I can’t wait to do my thing on stage.” His grin faded. “Dude. You look like shit. You good?”

“Fine,” I said, faking a smile. Lie until it becomes the truth, right?

He gave me a hard look, like maybe he wanted to ask me more, but Emma took his attention.

“I wanna hear more about this limo,” she said, fluttering her eyes at me and then at Sebastian. Covering her bases.

“Me too. I want to ride in the limo,” April Novak squealed, clapping her hands together as she glided up and wrapped her arms around Sebastian’s waist.

I grimaced. Personally, I didn’t like April. Last year, she’d screwed over Emma by sleeping with Matt, Emma’s ex. While they were still together. And, I didn’t get why her and Emma had remained friends. Weird.

Now, April had latched onto Sebastian, but the dude was a serious flirt. He didn’t commit to anyone. And April seemed to annoy him sometimes, but he put up with it.

He winked at both girls. “You babes are at the top of my list.”

Nora Blakely stopped at our group, and all conversation halted. I noticed Emma glaring at her, but I don’t think Nora cared. Instead, she tossed Sebastian a brown paper bag. “You forgot your lunch, goofball.”

He tucked the sack under his arm and grinned. “Thanks for grabbing it for me, Mom.”

Then, they both laughed uproariously while we stood there uncertainly, not sure how to take this pair. They seemed to click, a lot like close siblings. Nora was dating Sebastian’s older brother, Leo. She didn’t care about being in our group or about anything really except Leo. I’d been over there for Christmas because my family was out of town, and I’d gotten an up close and personal look at the couple. They’d been crazy for each other. Giddy because it was their first Christmas, putting a tree up, cooking a big meal. Pretty much waayyy too much PDA going on. Watching them had brought back painful memories of my own good holidays. I tried to not be envious. I think I pulled it off.

Nora blew Sebastian a kiss, and he pretended to catch it. She laughed and sauntered off while we watched her disappear. Really, she was kinda legendary since word had gotten out that she’d ditched her parents and given up being Valedictorian back in the fall. And then there was the whole fuck you thing at registration. Yeah, I’d tried to hit that at Emma’s back-to-school party back in August, but it had been a no-go. I shrugged. I was glad we hadn’t been together because it made being friends with Sebastian a lot easier.

Sebastian turned back to me. “So, let’s talk after party.”

“Sure,” I said, heading to Lit. The girls followed behind as Sebastian filled me in on the deets.

Matt, Emma’s ex, glared openly at us as we passed. Probably because I’d mowed his ass down hard every chance I could at football practice. I flipped him off. Douche. He may have been the quarterback on our team, but football season was long gone, and I didn’t have to play nice anymore. And hadn’t he treated Emma like shit over and over? April had just been one in a long line of girls he cheated with.

Honestly, I hadn’t really gotten along with anyone much this year, except Sebastian. My father avoided me; my coaches said I had anger issues; my teachers stayed on me because my grades had dropped; and girls claimed I’d gone over to the dark side—whatever the fuck that meant.

But wait.

I hadn’t always been such a jerk. Once, I’d wanted to take the girl of my dreams and make love to her under the stars and moon. Once, I’d wanted to give her every piece of me.

But now I didn’t want that girl anymore. I didn’t. I couldn’t.

We walked into a classroom of chaos. Students wandered here and there around the classroom as Weinstein gave instructions on the day’s activity for English Lit. Kind of the hippie type, she wore long skirts and brown Birkenstocks.

You never knew what kind of crazy she’d come up with in class.

I liked her.

Well, I did. “You sit here,” she said, pointing at a desk directly behind Dovey.