"Did you hear Mr. Lee called his students a bunch of jackasses? Apparently, someone put a Hershey's bar—No! A Snickers. Maybe it was York patty? Anyway, someone put chocolate in his—It was a KitKat! Yeah! Because Joshua Lowe started singing the song..."

Gia started singing, trying to remember the exact words to the KitKat jingle. Bee used her drink to hide the pleading look she gave me from her new admirer. I bit back a smile as I turned to the perky blonde in front of me.

"Hey, Gia?"

She stopped butchering the jingle, her blue eyes dropping to me, a huge grin spreading across her face. "Yeah?"

"Uhm..." I pointed at my nose. She tilted her head, not understanding. "You got a uh..."

She understood that time. Her jaw dropped as she covered her nose. "Oh my gosh! I'll be right back," she said as she grabbed her bag and headed out of the cafeteria.

"A booger?" Bee questioned. "You could've come up with something better than that."

"Hey, it got the job done," I countered, eating a fry.

"Oh! I got the Etsy up!" she exclaimed. "I'm still not a hundred percent sure how the site works, but we'll figure it out."

Last night, after I told her about everything, we took the paintings to her house to figure the best way to sale them. Her step-dad gave us the idea of Etsy because apparently Mrs. Hatton buys a lot of "junk" from that site.

"Someone will buy them," he told us, moment before his wife came in an insisted on buying one of the painting for the guest bedroom.

"No hit yet, but soon," she promised. "Have you talked to your mom about the job?"

I shook my head. "No. I'm not in the mood to get yelled at again."

"I'd totally help you with Taylor, but babies scare me," she said, eyes wide. "What do you do if they're choking? And diapers? I can't clean up another person's poop."

I laughed picking up my burger.

"Her comes your knight in shining armor," she said, looking over my shoulder.

When I turned Nolan was looming over me. I tensed, what happened yesterday playback in my mind. The glass, the crying, I felt sick.

He didn't look like his normal pissed off self. The way he kept pushing his hair behind his ears made me think he was...nervous?

"Uh, can we talk?" He asked, glancing around the crowded cafeteria then at Bee. "Somewhere else. Alone."

"You know she's just going to tell me everything later, right?" Bee said. "We don't keep secrets."

That sick feeling I had intensified. I still hadn't told her about the money I stole. Or about the stuff people had being saying about. Or about Nick and the game. There was so much I was keeping from her.

"Jade?" Nolan looked down at me expectantly.

"Yeah, okay." I stood up, grabbing my backpack.

"I expect a detailed report when you get back." Bee winked. Her amused expression dropped when an overly enthusiastic voice called her name.

Gia slid back into her seat, diving into something she overheard in the bathroom. Bee looked like she was getting teeth pulled.

I went to grab my tray, but Nolan beat me to it, dumping it for me. He lead me outside to the quad where students who didn't want to eat indoors were scattered across picnic tables or in the grass.

We stopped at a stone bench that was wedged between two buildings. He sat down and I followed suit. I watched him, waiting for him to explain.

"When'd your dad leave?"

That was not what I expected to come out of his mouth. "That's a pretty personal question to ask someone who's not your friend."

"You're right, sorry." His hand pushed through his hair again. "I, uh—Shit. I don't do stuff like this."

"Stuff like what?"

"You need money. For college, right?" He looked at me then.

"I mean, yeah. I do." I'm sure I looked as confused as I felt. Where was this going?

He smiled. Like, an actual smile. With teeth. It did something to my chest, seeing him like that. He should be happy more often. Why wasn't he happy more often?

"And I want the trip to London."

"Trip to London?" Was that a part of the prize? I was so focused on the scholarship part that I didn't notice the rest of the prize.

He nodded excitedly. "Yeah, for a whole month. With a penthouse suite and everything."

Before my mind wondered too far into the fantasy of traveling abroad, one tiny detail of it all nagged at me.

"But those prizes go to the prom king and queen."

His hair started to stand up funny because of the way he kept raking his hands through it. "What if that was us?" He was looking at the ground when he said it. Which was good because he didn't see how my jaw dropped.

"W-what? Us? Run for prom court?" I sputtered. This had to be some sort of joke.

His gaze shifted to me. "Yeah." The smile he had looked more nervous now, like he'd began doubting himself.

"That'll never work." I stood, crossing my arms over my chest. "You hate everyone and people think I sleep around."

He shrugged, squinting up at me. "That last part might help us win the vote."

My eyes narrowed at him. "No."

"Why not?" He stood then, hands in his hair again.

"Because it's stupid. Pointless," I told him. "It's a popularity contest and we, especially you, are not popular. Not even in the neighborhood of popular."

"It can't be that hard to gain the respect of our peers."

The thought of exposing myself to a whole new level of criticism terrified me. Bellcreek isn't exactly a small town, but it is a boring one. And when people have nothing better to do they talk. I couldn't open myself up to that.

The hopefulness in Nolan's eyes seemed to dim. Like he knew I wasn't going to budge on this.

"Can't you find someone else?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, focused on the ground. "Nah, it was a stupid idea anyway." He straightened up, face void of whatever disappointment he must've felt. "Just forget it."

Sorry, I wanted to say, but couldn't. What was I sorry for? Not wanting to give people another reason to whisper about me in the halls or because I couldn't help him the way he wanted?

When he started to walk away I turned to him. "Nolan?"

He stopped, looking back at me.

I dug into my pocket, pulling out a five dollar bill from the painting Mrs. Hatton bought last night.

Nolan shook his head. "You don't—"

I stepped closer, taking his hand and placing the money in his palm. "Thanks."

I walked away, rejoining the chaos of the lunch crowd.

* * *

Candi was having too much fun in woodshop. She even started dressing for it, wearing overalls and work boots. She pulled the look off, though. Even Hannah said the class was her favorite. It was quickly becoming something I looked forward to every day as well.

Our bookshelf was coming along and the excitement of seeing the completed project bubbled throughout me. We had all the pieces needed for the shelf, today we were just trying to piece them together. Hannah might've been afraid of the saw, but she loved the hammer.

The three of them attached the shelf together while I carved letters into the blocks. At least I attempted to. It was harder than it looked and I afraid of losing a finger.

About twenty minutes into the class the door opened and Principal Gibson came in. Mr. Barton stepped out of his office to greet him. The noise of hammers, saws and talking died down as the two men talked in hushed tones.

When their eyes fell on me my heart stopped. "Jade Harris, Nolan Chambers. I need you two to come with me," Principal Gibson said, his tone unreadable. "Bring your things."

//

Uh-oh....What do you think the principle wants with them??