Page 144 of Secrets and Lies
I nod. I’m not exactly looking forward to our presentation, but at least now I’m feeling too good to be nervous.
Anthony cracks open the door and peeks into the hall. “We’re good,” he tells me, pushing the door open.
The hall is empty as we step out of the classroom, and almost like he timed it, a group of our classmates emerges from the stairwell about two seconds after I close the classroom door behind us.
Ant is completely unbothered by almost getting caught, and I do my best to appear equally chill, like nothing is going on, as we walk to our classroom together.
We only have about five minutes until class starts when we sit down at our desks, and Anthony opens his bag and digs out a protein bar, a container of mixed berries, and a packet of jerky, placing them on the corner of my desk.
“Thanks,” I say, my throat tight at his thoughtfulness.
“Anytime.” He gives me a secret smile that makes my insides feel funny. “Did you remember to bring water?”
I nod and dutifully pull my water bottle out of my bag to show him.
He gives me another of those secret smiles, and I try not to look at him with heart eyes as I pop open the packet of berries and dig a plump strawberry out of it.
Anthony has brought food for me to every class since we were paired up for our project together, and he always makes sure I’ve eaten enough when we hang out.
The only other person in my life who’s ever cared if I was eating or not was my childhood nanny. Not even my family gave a shit, and I’d forgotten how good it feels when someone cares about you and your well-being.
Ant watches me put the strawberry in my mouth, his pupils blown wide as I lick some juice off my fingers. He averts his eyes and pulls his water bottle out from the pocket on the side of his bag.
I quickly finish the berries as he takes several long swallows.
I just need to get through today’s class and this damn presentation, and everything will be fine.
“How do you think we did?” I ask Anthony as we gather our things at the end of class.
“Pretty sure we nailed it.” He tosses me a cocky grin. “Did you have any doubts?”
“Yes, lots of them.” I shoot him a pointed look. “Remember?”
His grin goes wicked. “I remember. And I also remember how we took care of that issue before class,” he adds in a low voice only I can hear.
My neck grows uncomfortably warm, and my water bottle slips right out of my hand as I try to shove it into the side pocket on my bag and clatters to the floor.
He scoops it up slips it into the pocket. “Do you remember?” he asks in a low voice.
I nod and hastily finish zipping my bag. “Don’t think I could forget it if I tried.”
He waits as I sling my backpack over my shoulders, then we head out of class together.
I want to ask him again how he thinks we did, but I hold back. He’s right. We nailed the presentation, and it was mostly because of him. His calm confidence helped me stay focused, and the few times my mind wandered or I lost my train of thought, he was right there to either guide me back on topic orredirect my thoughts to something relevant without making it obvious. And more importantly, without making me feel stupid like so many other people do when I get distracted or mess up.
We knew our material, we answered every question the class and Professor Morris threw at us, and we kept our classmates engaged. We did everything we were supposed to do, and we should ace it.
His phone pings loudly as we step into the hall. He digs it out of his hoodie pocket and pauses as he reads what I assume is a text.
“Is everything okay?” I ask after he types out a quick reply, his expression going as dark as his demeanor.
He looks angry enough to kill, and the change in him is stark. It would probably freak me out if I hadn’t seen this shift in him before. Something is up, and by the looks of it, it’s serious.
“I have to go deal with something,” he says, shoving his phone back into his hoodie pocket.
“Yeah, okay.” I give him what I hope is a neutral smile. “See you later?”
He nods. “Later.”
