Hopeless

from, and why does he have his arm around me like he’s staking claim?
    Holder cuts his eyes away from mine and turns around to walk away, but stops abruptly. He spins back around and looks at me. “Track tryouts are Thursday after school,” he says. “Go.”
    Then he’s gone.
    Too bad Grayson isn’t.
    “You busy this Saturday?” Grayson says in my ear, pulling me against him.
    I push off his chest and pull my neck away from him. “Stop,” I say, irritated. “I think I made myself pretty clear last weekend.”
    I slam my locker shut and walk away, wondering how in the hell I’ve escaped drama my entire life, yet I have enough for an entire book from the last two days alone.

    Breckin takes his seat across from me and slides me a soda. “They didn’t have coffee, but I found caffeine.”
    I smile. “Thank you very bestest friend in the whole wide world.”
    “Don’t thank me, I bought it with evil intentions. I’m using it to bribe you so I can get the dirt on your love life.”
    I laugh and open the soda. “Well, you’ll be disappointed, because my love life is nonexistent.”
    He opens his own soda and grins. “Oh, I doubt that. Not from the way bad boy has been eyeing you from over there.” He nudges his head to the right.
    Holder is three tables down, staring at me. He’s sitting with several guys from the football team that seem excited to have him back. They’re patting him on the back and talking around him, never noticing that he’s not even a part of their conversation. He takes a drink of his water, his eyes keeping their lock on mine. He sets his drink down on the table a little too forcefully, then nudges his head to the right as he stands up. I glance to the right and see the exit to the cafeteria. He’s walking toward it, expecting me to follow him.
    “Huh,” I say, more to myself than to Breckin.
    “Yeah. Huh. Go see what the hell he wants, then report back to me.”
    I take another drink of my soda, then set it on the table. “Yes, sir.”
    My body stands up to follow Holder, but I leave my heart at the table. I’m pretty sure it jumped out of my chest as soon as he indicated for me to follow him. I can put up a good front for Breckin all I want, but dammit if I can’t have a little control over my own organs.
    Holder is several feet in front of me and when he swings the doors open, they swing shut behind him. I place my hand on the swinging doors when I reach them and hesitate a moment before pushing out into the hallway. I think I’d rather be heading to detention right now than to talk to him. My stomach is tied up in so many knots it could make a boy scout envious.
    I look both ways, but I don’t see him. I take a few steps until I get to the edge of the lockers, then round the corner. His back is leaned up against one of them and his knee is bent, his foot propped against the locker behind him. His arms are folded across his chest and he’s looking right at me. The baby blue hue of his eyes isn’t even kind enough to mask the anger behind them.
    “Are you dating Grayson?”
    I roll my eyes and walk to the lockers opposite him and lean against them. I’m really getting tired of his mood swings already, and I just met the guy. “Does it matter?” I’m curious as to how it’s any of his business. He gives me that silent pause that I’ve noticed comes before almost everything he says.
    “He’s an asshole.”
    “Sometimes you are, too,” I say quickly, not needing near as much time as he does to come up with a response.
    “He’s not good for you.”
    I let out an exasperated laugh. “And you are ?” I ask, throwing his point right back at him. If we were keeping score, I’d say it’s two and zero in my favor.
    He drops his arms and turns around to face the lockers, hitting one of them with a flat palm. The sound of skin against metal reverberates in the hallway and straight into my stomach.
    “Don’t factor me into this,” he says, turning back around. “I’m talking about Grayson, not me. You shouldn’t be with him. You have no idea what kind of person he is.”
    I laugh. Not because he’s funny…but because he’s serious. This guy that I don’t even know is seriously trying to tell me who I should and shouldn’t date? I roll my head back against the locker in a wave of defeat.
    “Two days, Holder. I’ve known you all of two days.” I kick off the lockers behind me and walk toward him. “In those two days, I’ve seen five different