Текст книги "The Avery Shaw Experiment "

Автор книги: Келли Орам

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Текущая страница: 5 (всего у книги 11 страниц)

“You up for a game?” he asked, exactly as I knew he would. “Say we make it interesting with a little friendly wager?”

Avery looked at the table and bit her bottom lip, contemplating. She wanted to give it a try. She looked back up at Owen and warily asked, “What are your terms?”

That’s where I stepped in. “Oh, no, hold up! I get to pick the stakes.”

“What?” Owen argued. “Why? I’m the one playing. It was my bet.”

“Because,” I said, “she won the last game for you.”

Owen scoffed.

“She’s my date,” I continued. “And she gave me free reign over her social life, so I’m in charge of this bet.”

Owen crossed his arms over his chest. “Fine. Name it.”

I thought for a minute. We were gathering a small crowd now, so it had to be good. “Okay. Avery wins and you have to get from this pool table to your car without any clothes.”

Avery gasped and tried to protest on Owen’s behalf, but Owen doesn’t know how to back down from a challenge. “Done. And if I win?”

I looked at Avery. It couldn’t be anything too crazy—she was way too fragile, and I didn’t actually know how good she was. I glanced around, looking for inspiration, and noticed the people in the corner. “If you win, Avery has to learn how to dance tonight.”

Owen was going to argue that the terms weren’t equal until Avery gasped again. The look of terror on her face said it all. Dancing may not have been a big deal to Owen, but for Avery it was going to be every bit as awful as streaking through a crowded party.

“Deal,” Owen said and racked the balls. “I’ll even let your little ringer break.”

“Dancing?” Avery hissed in panic as I pushed her up to the table and handed her a cue. “Are you serious? I can’t dance! Especially not in front of all these people! I will die!”

“Dancing does not kill people.” I laughed. “If you’re really that worried about it, then just beat Owen. Come on, Aves, you have to admit it would be highly entertaining to see him lose.”

She was lined up in front of the balls now. When she looked at the table, she seemed to come back to herself. Pool was apparently a game Avery knew well and felt confident about. I was surprised by this and briefly wondered if Aiden knew this side of her. The possibility made me startlingly jealous.

“Okay,” she whispered and lined up her first shot. “I agree to the terms.”

And then I stood there and watched Little Avery Shaw run the table like a professional pool shark. She sunk ball after ball, analyzing every shot and never losing concentration. I’d never seen anything so hot in my life.

By the time she sunk the last ball, leaving only the eight left to sink for her win, even Owen was cheering her on. She stepped around the side of the table next to where I was standing. I bent down and kissed her cheek. “For luck.”

She blushed and gave me a shy smile, then leaned over to line up her cue. It looked like a clear, easy shot. Just as she called it and pulled back her cue, I maybe, sort of, accidently-on-purpose let my hand slide down her back and over the curve of her butt. At my gentle squeeze, Avery let out a shriek and botched the shot so bad the cue ball jumped the table.

The entire room gasped, and then there was a mixture of laughs and angry shouts.

Avery stood there, face brighter red than I’d ever seen it, gaping at me in utter disbelief. “I just lost,” she finally said. “You just made me lose.”

“I know,” I admitted, trying to look more repentant than I felt.

“By grabbing my butt!”

She was pissed. But was she mad that I’d copped a feel, or mad that I’d made her lose? I was hoping it was the latter.

“Yeah, I know, and I’m sorry. But seriously, Aves, you working that table had to be the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen, and I simply couldn’t let you win because I really, really, really want the chance to dance with you now.”

Owen clasped a hand on my shoulder and laughed. “Well, I’m not going to argue. My dignity thanks you.” He turned to Avery and put a hand on her shoulder too. “Try to go easy on the guy. It really was very sexy. I’ve never seen anyone play like that. You were amazing.”

Aves blushed again and muttered, “It’s a science club thing.”

“Well, I’ll be damned.” Owen laughed again and squeezed Avery in a quick hug. “Now throw this pathetic loser a bone and go dance with him.”

Avery

Dance. Grayson expected me to dance. And this wasn’t middle-school dancing where you put your arms on your partner’s shoulders and turn in a circle. This was fast, fluid, and sexy. I was doomed.

Though it could have been worse. At first, Grayson tried to pull me into the crowd, but Pamela and Chloe came to my rescue.

“No way! I won this dance fair and square. You guys go find your own partners!”

Pamela crossed her arms and gave Grayson a stern look. “You cheated! As your punishment, Avery will be fulfilling the terms of her bet with Chloe and me. You said she had to dance. You didn’t say who got to teach her.”

“Yeah, she’s ours now.” Chloe tucked me behind her and pointed to the empty sofa. “You can go park it over there, Mr. Grabby McGrabbhands, and think about what you’ve done.”

Grayson eyed the couch and then frowned. “You guys are putting me in time out?”

“Yes!” Pamela very much liked that idea. “You, Grayson Kennedy, have earned a time out. Now go on. Shoo.”

Grayson looked worried for me, so Pamela eased up on him. “Avery is in excellent hands. Go find a drink or something and give us fifteen minutes to ease her into it.”

Grayson wasn’t happy, but eventually he looked at me and sighed. “You’re right. It’ll probably be easier for her to relax if it’s just you girls.” He smiled at me. “Remember it’s supposed to be fun.” He pointed to the couch that Chloe had just banished him to. “I’ll be right over there doing exactly as I’ve been told and thinking very hard about what I did.” He grinned then, so wickedly that I feared his next statement. “Remembering every glorious detail.”

I know he got smacked on the arm, but I wasn’t sure who’d done it, because I had to look away from him. The next thing I knew, I was being escorted into the middle of a crowd of people. Pamela whirled around to face me and grabbed onto my hands. “First, I just want you to relax. This isn’t as hard as you think.”

“Yeah,” Chloe chimed in. “You’ll be fine. It’s a lot easier to dance by yourself than with a guy.”

I looked at them with gratitude and a sense of awe. I’d always assumed that the most popular girls in school would be the catty mean girls you read about. Those girls definitely existed, Pam and Chloe had even warned me of the worst ones, but so far I’d discovered that Grayson didn’t put up with jerks, so the people at the top of the food chain with him were all really nice.

“You guys didn’t have to do that,” I said, even though I was more than grateful for their rescue.

“Oh, yes we did!” Chloe laughed. “Grayson gets away with murder. You were amazing out there. I can’t believe he made you mess up like that. We girls have to stick together. Plus, I was really looking forward to Owen’s strip show.”

“More than that,” Pamela said, “you are not ready to dance with Grayson.”

Chloe moaned in agreement and fanned herself. “So true. He means well, but . . .” She shivered at a memory. “That boy is trouble without even trying.”

I had no doubt about that. I looked at the couples dancing around us. That was enough to make me blush, and I was sure it would be worse dancing with Grayson.

“The best kind of trouble,” Pamela said wistfully.

I was pretty sure I understood what that look meant. Not that it was surprising that she’d dated Grayson.

Pamela may as well have been named after Pamela Anderson, because she was destined to be a supermodel. She was five ten and a perfect hourglass. She had rich chestnut hair that flowed all the way to her waist and always behaved no matter what the weather was like. She was the ideal counterpart to a guy like Grayson.

“You guys dated, didn’t you?” I asked.

She and Chloe both gave me guilty smiles.

“She was first,” Pamela said of Chloe.

“But she lasted longer,” Chloe said.

That surprised me. I was serious when I said I didn’t think anyone had ever lasted longer than the weekend with Grayson. “How long did you guys go out?”

Pamela smiled. “Not as long as you.”

“Me?” I gasped.

“It’s been almost three weeks since New Year’s Eve. I think that’s some kind of record for Grayson.”

“But Grayson and I aren’t dating!”

“Please.” Chloe laughed. “You are the closest thing to an actual girlfriend Grayson has ever had. You may not be kissing, but he doesn’t even look at other girls anymore.”

My jaw fell open and Pamela turned me around to face the couch. Grayson was sitting there watching us. He smiled at me and then yelled across the room at Pamela. “I don’t see any dancing going on! Do I need to come over there?”

Pamela rolled her eyes at him and then turned me back around.

“You see?” Chloe teased. “He only has eyes for you.”

“Completely smitten,” Pamela agreed.

I felt a flutter in my stomach and told myself it was nerves. No way could it be actual butterflies. I was in love with Aiden, not Grayson. The two brothers couldn’t be more different. Grayson and I had nothing in common. He just felt sorry for me. I was just one of the few girls he hadn’t conquered yet. It had him curious, but his interest, if it was really there, would fade. I was just a shiny new toy at the moment.

“I think it’s sweet,” Chloe said, while Pamela shook her head and laughed.

“I think it serves him right. As many girls as he’s made fall for him? It’s about time he gets a dose of his own medicine.”

I stumbled at the insinuation. “You think he’s fallen for me?”

“Enough chatting,” Pamela said with a knowing smile. “We’re supposed to be dancing. So, first I want you to just hear to the music. Listen for the beat. Close your eyes if it helps.”

She’d changed the subject, and that was fine by me. I couldn’t think about Grayson anymore, so I closed my eyes. The song was one I didn’t recognize, but the underlying beat was easy to pick out. The base was so deep that it vibrated in my chest. “Okay, so what am I supposed to do now?”

“Now? You just start to move.”

Like that was any kind of instruction?

“Try bobbing your head in time with the beat,” Chloe suggested.

“Or shifting your weight,” Pamela said. “Bounce on your toes. You have to get your whole body moving.”

I tried to copy their movements, but I felt like some kind of bobble-head whack-a-mole doll. There was no way what I was doing was considered dancing. My panic started rising, and I stopped moving. “Maybe some people just aren’t meant to do this.”

As I complained, someone stepped up behind me and I felt a pair of hands grip my upper arms. “You’re overthinking it.” Grayson’s low, soft voice sent shivers up my spine. His hands slid up my arms to my neck, and then he buried his fingers deep in my hair, massaging my scalp. “You need to loosen up.”

Slowly he pushed my head forward, rolling it from side to side until he brought it back to rest on his shoulder. He rubbed my shoulders next and then slid his hands down the entire length of my arms, leaving a trail of goose bumps where his fingers brushed along my skin.

I gasped at the sensations he was causing in me, and my eyes fluttered shut. He began to sway slowly, and my body, having melted into complete mush, matched his movements with more grace than I’d ever managed in my life.

“Dancing,” he said, “is about feeling, not thinking.”

Grayson lifted one of my arms above my head and rested it on the back of his neck. My fingers instinctively dug into his soft, thick hair. I hadn’t told them to do that. I felt Grayson’s cheek lift into a smile against the side of my head, as if he fully approved of my actions.

“Now we move together.”

His arm came around my waist, and he suddenly knocked his knee forward into the backs of mine, forcing them to unlock. Unprepared for the shift in weight, I buckled, but he’d been ready for this. He caught me, held me up tight against him, and began moving us in an almost-circular motion.

My entire body heaved a shudder of pleasure, and then I drifted away from reality into a world where nothing existed except for the two of us.

Grayson moved artfully, seductively, to the music until I felt like we were one and the same with the beat. I had never experienced anything like it. I don’t think I could have even imagined anything like it.

My body burned everywhere it was pressed against his, and every other part of me yearned jealously for the same feeling. I felt so relaxed I could almost sleep, and yet my heart pounded wildly in my chest.

“You’re doing it, Aves,” Grayson whispered against my ear. His breath caused more shivers to explode through me. “You’re a natural.”

“I’m not doing anything.” I sounded dazed and a bit breathless. Probably because I was dazed and breathless. “You’re doing this. I’m just letting you.”

Grayson laughed low and dangerous. “The guy is supposed to lead, but he’s only ever as good as his partner.”

His lips touched my neck just behind my ear, and it felt so good I let out a barely-audible whimper. His entire body tensed in response. “Aves,” he whispered in a strangled voice, “I want to kiss you.”

My mouth responded before my brain had even processed his words. “I’ve never been kissed before.”

Suddenly I was facing him, my hands resting lightly on his chest, his hands on my hips holding our bodies together in ways my mother would disapprove of. It was like the shower all over again except nowhere near as innocent. In fact, it wasn’t innocent at all. I had to fight the urge to climb up him and wrap my legs around his waist.

Grayson stared down at me as if he was stranded in the Sahara and my lips were the last drops of water in his canteen. “I know,” he said. “I want to be your first. Right here. Right now. Tell me it’s okay.”

His mouth was right there. His chest heaved as if his lungs were fighting for oxygen. His heart pounded beneath my hand. I could feel his need for me, but what surprised me was the intensity of my own desire. I wanted him to kiss me. With every fiber of my being I wanted his mouth on mine. I ached for it.

Even my heart begged for the connection, and that’s when my dream world came crashing down. Suddenly I couldn’t breathe. The room spun around me, and tears sprang into my eyes as I scrambled out of Grayson’s embrace.

“Aves?” It took Grayson a minute to figure out what happened. “Crap! Aves, I’m sorry! You okay?”

“I need to get out of here!” I gasped. “I want to go home.”

Grayson took me straight to his car, no questions asked, and headed back toward my house. He was quiet until the only evidence left of my freak out were the tears that continued to trickle down my cheeks.

“Aves, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I didn’t think. I just, I had you in my arms and you felt so good I—I didn’t think. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to kiss someone so bad in all my life.”

I turned my face to my window, leaned my forehead against the cold glass, and muttered, “I’ve never wanted someone to kiss me so bad in all my life.”

The surprise of my confession caused Grayson to slam on the breaks. The car screeched to a stop.

“What? You wanted me to?”

I tried to wipe away the rest of my tears as Grayson pulled the car over to the side of the road.

“Of course I did!” I groaned. “Every single girl at that party tonight would have wanted you to kiss them had they been in my position. Grayson, I wanted you to kiss me so bad it physically hurt.”

“Then . . . what happened? What was the problem?”

“The problem was that it was you I wanted! I wanted you to kiss me. Not Aiden.”

Grayson opened his mouth to say something and then shut it again. He looked at me for a second as if I’d asked him some kind of trick question. “Um,” he finally said. “You know, I’m really kind of okay with that. Relieved even.”

“Well, I’m not! I feel awful!”

I started to cry again. I knew I sounded like I belonged strapped to a gurney in a room with padded walls, but I couldn’t help it. I was drowning in a sea of guilt.

“I feel like I cheated on him. I know it’s stupid. We weren’t even ever together, but I loved him so much. I’ve dreamed about kissing him for so long. I have a million different scenarios written in my diary of how it would all play out when it finally happened.”

Grayson chocked back a laugh. “You do not.”

I gave him a grim look. I did. Detailed fantasies.

“I gave him my whole heart. It hasn’t even been three weeks, and I barely cry about it anymore. I have all these new friends, and I do all these new things as if Aiden never even existed. As if he wasn’t my whole universe for my entire life. It’s like I completely moved on. And I didn’t just almost kiss anybody. I almost kissed his brother. What kind of person does that?”

Grayson sat there with his hands on the wheel, staring out the windshield. Eventually he lifted his shoulders into a shrug. “Maybe you were never really in love with him.” He turned to face me with a serious look. “What you felt tonight when we almost kissed, before you panicked, have you ever felt that with Aiden?”

I felt my cheeks heat up and looked at my lap. “I’ve never felt anything like that before. I didn’t even know a person could feel like that.”

“That just proves my point,” Grayson said softly. “Aiden was your best friend. You loved him, but you weren’t in love with him.”

“Yes I was! I am!”

Grayson shook his head. “You’re in love with the idea of him, but if you were really in love with him, you never would have gone on a date with me, much less let things go as far as they did.”

We were quiet for a minute, and then Grayson tried a different approach. “Aves, you haven’t done anything wrong. Aiden let you go. You should be able to move on. Even he would want that for you.”

He was trying to make me feel better, but he was having the opposite effect. I started to cry again, so he reached over the center console and took my hand in his. He rubbed his thumb gently over the backs of my knuckles. The touch calmed me down some, which then of course made me feel guilty all over again and I started to cry harder.

“Please just take me home.”

Grayson put the car back in motion. He didn’t say another word as he drove me the last few miles to my house, but he held tight to my hand the entire way. Selfish as I am, I hung onto it, even though I’d basically just rejected him for his brother who had already made it clear he would never want me.

Even though the date ended a complete bust, Grayson, always the gentleman, walked me to my door.

“I’m sorry for losing it on you tonight.”

Grayson tipped my chin up until he could see my eyes. I wasn’t surprised by his understanding smile, but it hurt my heart. I didn’t deserve his understanding.

“Let’s consider it a good thing.”

I frowned. How in the world was this mess I’d made a good thing?

As if reading my mind, Grayson grinned. “I think we’ve officially reached the fourth stage of grief. Perhaps tonight was more of a success than we thought, eh?”

I had to think back and repeat all the stages of grief, even though it should have been obvious. “Guilt!”

Grayson laughed. He stepped forward and dropped a feather light kiss on my cheek. “One step closer to acceptance, Aves.”

He flashed me a beautiful smile and then winked at me as he climbed in his car and drove off.

Grayson

Of all the stages of grief, so far guilt sucks the most. My date with Avery had been perfect. She looked amazing, she faced an insane party for me, and she was even having a good time! She severely dominated my best friend at a game of pool, making me the envy of every guy in the room . . . and then there was that dance.

She said she’d never felt anything like that, but what she doesn’t know is that I hadn’t either. Even with the countless girls I’d danced with, or done a whole lot more with, never in my whole life had I felt a connection like I did with Avery that night.

Forget my idiot brother. Avery was never meant to be with him. She was supposed to be with me. But, thanks to him, we didn’t kiss that night. In fact the perfect evening ended so disastrous that I was worried she’d never speak to me again.

She didn’t call Saturday or Sunday, and then at school the following week, she really distanced herself. She still sat with me at lunch and didn’t pull away when I put my arm around her or held her hand, but it was different now. It was like she wouldn’t allow herself to feel anything for me, not even friendship. I hated it.

She didn’t come to school on Friday, and then I got another weekend of radio silence. I tried to call her a couple times, but I only got voicemail. When she didn’t show up at lunch Monday, I really started to get worried.

“Maybe I should call her mom,” I said for the umpteenth time. I looked across the table, hoping for some advice from Pamela and Chloe, but they were busy looking over my shoulder with wide incredulous eyes.

Owen and I looked at each other and then turned around at the same time.

Avery’s friend Libby was standing there tapping a foot impatiently with her arms crossed. Her hair was in two buns on the top of her head that had tiny strands of hair sticking out from them in every direction. She was also wearing a giant hot pink t-shirt with a picture of a bored looking cat on it that said, “Do I look like I care about your problems?”

I’d seen this girl before at the science club meetings I was forced to attend every Monday after school, but my friends had never been exposed to the holy little terror, and they clearly didn’t know what to make of her.

When he could hold back no longer, Owen snorted and said, “Nice shirt.”

Libby’s eyes narrowed, and her hands went to her hips. “I make it work,” she said matter-of-factly. She gave her head a little jerk and said, “Heard my girl Avery stomped you so hard in a game of pool last weekend that Grayson had to take pity on you before every college freshman at UVU saw just how small your junk is.”

I burst out laughing. I couldn’t help it. I laughed so hard I cried, and when I got a hold of myself, I realized that everyone at the table was laughing just as hard as I was. “Damn, Grayson!” Owen laughed and had to wipe tears from his eyes. “Where did you dig this chick up? Is she for real?”

“She’s a nerd to be reckoned with, that’s for sure,” I said. “She’s Avery’s best friend. Libby, Owen. Owen, Libby. Never make the mistake of badmouthing cats in front of her. I think she used to be one in a past life.”

We started to laugh again, but then Libby cleared her throat. She sounded more than a little agitated. “Are you coming after school today?”

I stopped laughing. A wave of panic surged through me. The science geeks had promised they’d never rat me out, but who knew how loyal they were? If Libby told these guys where I spent my Monday afternoons, I’d never live it down.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Libby rolled her eyes and said, “Are you going to hang out with Avery after school today?”

At the mention of Avery’s name, I realized Libby must know what happened to her. “Why? Do you know where she is? What’s going on with her? I tried to call her this weekend, but she wouldn’t answer her phone. I was planning on going over to her house after school to check on her.”

“Relax, lover boy, she’s here. She’s doing a make up math test right now since she missed school on Friday. She’ll be around after school.”

I was relieved, but at the same time I was a little hurt. “Do you know what happened? Why she won’t answer my calls?”

Libby’s face flushed with anger. “Your jerk brother is what happened! She was feeling all crazy guilty after last weekend, so she dragged me to his debate on Thursday.”

Again, I was stung. She hadn’t said a word to me about it. “Why didn’t she ask me to come?”

“Something about not wanting to make Aiden feel bad. She doesn’t want him to think she’s replaced him with you.”

Libby rolled her eyes again as if Avery’s feelings were absurd. It actually helped to know that I had the little firecracker of a geek’s approval.

“Anyway, we went to his debate because she felt bad that she hadn’t talked to him in weeks. She was going on and on about how he’d said they were still friends and that she hadn’t been supportive enough since he got a girlfriend. She was determined to be nice to Mindy and prove that she could be friends with them both.” She snorted. “Please. As if anyone could be friends with that witch.”

“So what happened?”

“What happened?” Libby laughed, but there was no humor in it. “We get there and the first break the team gets, Aiden comes over, and instead of saying hello, he asks what we’re doing there.”

I pulled in a long breath through my nose.

Libby nodded in agreement with my anger. “Avery almost cried right then and there,” she said. “But instead she was all, ‘You said this was important to you, so I just came to support you.’ And then Aiden said, ‘Aw, that’s real sweet, Aves, but you shouldn’t have come. I think it’s upsetting Mindy, and you’re kind of distracting the whole team.’ The douche actually asked us to leave! Avery had a massive meltdown on the way home. She was so upset her mom called her out of school on Friday. They went to Vegas for the weekend just to get away.”

“I’ll kill him!”

“Please do,” Libby said. “And put a foot up his ass for me while you’re at it.”

Next to me, Owen laughed again, but I couldn’t appreciate Libby’s colorful personality at the moment. I was way too pissed off. I was also worried about Avery. I couldn’t imagine what that must have done to her.

“No wonder she didn’t return my calls this weekend. I can’t blame her if she never speaks to anyone in my family ever again.”

I earned another eye roll from Libby, this one laced with a don’t-be-an-idiot undertone. “Oh, please! Avery’s not answering your calls because she thinks having you around right now will make her feel worse, but that girl has never known what she needs.”

“What does she need?”

Libby looked like she was going to smack me upside the head. “She needs you, moron! She needs you and all your glorious manly perfection to come and make her forget that that loser ever existed. She’ll be in the science lab after school today, so come and get her and do not let her shut you out no matter what she says.”

“Okay, but—”

“No buts! She needs you. You go. End of story. I will not let another Kennedy brother let her down.”

By now I was trying to hide my smile, but I wasn’t succeeding very well. “I got it boss,” I said, giving Libby a mock salute. “Science lab. After school. Bring my glorious manly perfection.”

Libby’s posture finally relaxed a little. “Good.”

“Definitely a cat in a past life,” Owen muttered next to me. “But, like, a big scary one that ate people.”

Libby eyed Owen critically for a moment with a raised eyebrow. “And I’m guessing you were probably Adonis . . . or a golden delicious apple because you are positively yummy.”

Owen’s jaw dropped to his lap while everyone else at the table fell apart from laughter.

Libby, in her all-business attitude said, “Call me if you need a date to the prom. Grayson can get my number from Avery.” Then she spun on her heel and left the cafeteria.

Once she was gone Owen—with pink cheeks—turned back around and scowled. “That girl is a menace,” he grumbled as he shoved his sandwich in his face.

It was true, but we all laughed at him again anyway. I even offered to lend him the keys to the condo in Park City for prom night. I almost got punched.

For the rest of the day all I could think about was getting to science club. I know, I know. I deserve to be shoved in a locker or given a swirly for that comment, but it was true. I needed to see Avery.

I was the first one there. Mr. Walden gave me a curious look when I bounded in the door and started pacing the length of the room, but he didn’t ask.

After a minute Avery walked in with Libby and I froze. I’d never been afraid of a girl before, but I honestly had no clue what Avery was thinking, and I had no idea what to say to her.

I wasn’t sure if I should approach her, but then I saw the what-are-you-waiting-for look on Libby’s face, so I crossed the room, scooped her up into my arms and said, “I can’t believe you and Kaitlin went to Vegas and didn’t invite me. Not cool, Aves. I love Vegas!”

Avery let out this strangled laugh and finally threw her arms around my neck. When I set her down, there were tears in her eyes. I dried them for her and then dragged her over to a lab table and pulled out my project journal.

Avery cracked a small smile. “You’re awfully excited for science today.”

I shook my head. “Just anxious to get to the next stage of the experiment. Please tell me we’ve finally reached anger. Libby told me what happened at lunch, and I am so ready for you to slap my brother around.”

“Sorry.” Avery sighed. “I’m definitely still in guilt.”

“Well, I don’t like the guilt stage. Seeing as how I’m the stupid source of your guilt, the result is very dissatisfying for me. There is way too much of you ignoring me going on. A whole weekend of absolute silence, Aves? Unacceptable. I’ve grown way too attached for you to ditch me for four days straight without so much as a text.”

Avery sighed again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you. I hope you at least had some fun on your weekend off from the Avery Shaw Experiment.”

“No, as a matter of fact, I did not. But you know what does sound fun? Punching Aiden in the face. Or better, watching you punch Aiden in the face. So let’s dump the guilt and bring on the anger. I’ve been waiting for this stage since the day he ditched you.”

“Grayson, stop. I’m not going to punch him.”

“I figure good old confrontation is the best way to trigger it. The debate team meets just across the building. We could all go together. We’ll make it a science club field trip. We could have the geek squad film it for our final presentation at the fair.”

“I resent your use of the term geek squad,” Science Nerd Brandon said, throwing his bulky book bag down on the table across from Aves and me.

Science Nerd Levi plopped down next to him and said, “And I resent the fact that just because we’re smart, you automatically assume we would know how to film your experiments. Not every geek is born with audio-visual knowledge.”