Chapter 21

CHAPTER21

“Why is Sebastian glaring at you?” Braxton asked, not bothering to look up from his iPad.

“Because he adores me,” Mikey said, even though she had to admit that it was becoming somewhat concerning as she found herself looking back at the lunch line to find Sebastian watching her through narrowed eyes. She should probably apologize for not getting him out of that closet sooner, but in her defense, she hadn’t been able to hear his screams once the kids put SpongeBob SquarePants on.

Resigning herself to letting the big baby have her pudding to make up for the four hours he’d spent in that closet, Mikey took a bite of her burger only to find herself blinking when Cole pulled her tray away as he dropped down in the chair across from her. When she opened her mouth to inquire about that, he reached over and snatched her burger out of her hand and took a huge bite all while glaring at her.

Clearing her throat, Mikey asked, “Does this have something to do with the unfortunate incident that occurred during gym class?”

That was followed by Cole finishing off her burger and Mikey deciding that perhaps this would be a good time to get back in line. Decision made, Mikey grumbled as she got up and made her way back to the lunch line. For a moment, she considered cutting in front of Sebastian, but something, mostly that murderous glare that he was sending her way, told her that distance was her friend right now.

After grabbing another burger, two puddings, and a brownie just to be on the safe side, Mikey headed back to the table only to sigh when her tray was suddenly knocked out of her hands. That was followed by giggling, a syrupy sweet, “Sorry!” and Mikey forced to bite back a sigh as she stood there, slowly exhaling as her fan club made their way past her.

Resigning herself to getting back in line again, Mikey reluctantly bent down and-

“Ooops!”

-realized her mistake when she felt something hit the top of her head. That was followed by the unmistakable sensation of hot liquid seeping into her hair and quickly making its way down her neck and the back of her shirt. Laughter erupted around her seconds before something else hit the top of her head and cold liquid joined the mess as spaghetti and pieces of romaine lettuce coated in salad dressing slid off the top of her head and hit the hardwood floor around her.

When chocolate pudding joined the mess seconds later, Mikey slowly nodded as she stood up and turned around to find Nicole standing behind her with an empty tray in her hands. While Nicole and her entourage laughed, Mikey reached up and wiped the rest of the spaghetti off her head and onto the floor.

“It was an accident,” Nicole said with a smug little smile and a careless shrug that had her friends laughing harder.

“Oh, I have no doubt,” Mikey reassured her with a heartfelt sigh as she tossed her empty tray onto the table next to her.

“Don’t worry. I asked for extra salad dressing,” Nicole said with a mocking smile.

“That was very considerate of you,” Mikey murmured as she reached down and grabbed her carton of chocolate milk off the floor.

“I’m sure if you go find the janitor, and you ask really nicely, that he’ll let you borrow one of his uniforms,” Nicole said in a mock whisper while Mikey shook the chocolate pudding-coated mess off her milk carton as she stood up and considered the teenage girl in front of her.

“That does sound like an excellent plan,” Mikey murmured in agreement as she took her time opening her chocolate milk and couldn’t help but notice the pristine condition that Nicole’s uniform was in before glancing down and taking in the combination of spaghetti sauce, salad dressing, and chocolate pudding coating her school uniform.

That was definitely going to leave a stain, Mikey thought as she looked back up and-

This just wouldn’t do, Mikey thought, taking a sip of chocolate milk before absently gesturing towards Nicole’s uniform. “You have something on your shirt,” Mikey said with a heartfelt sigh, watching Nicole worry her bottom lip between her teeth as she glanced down and-

Screamed when Mikey reached over and wiped her spaghetti and pudding-coated hand down her silk shirt before she followed that up by pouring the rest of her chocolate milk on Nicole’s head with a murmured, “That’s much better.”

“What the hell’s wrong with you?” Nicole demanded as she frantically tried wiping the bright red spaghetti sauce off her shirt, only to end up releasing a somewhat disturbing screech when the move made the stain worse.

“A few things,” Mikey said, deciding that her work was done here, she turned around with a satisfied sigh and made her way to the table in the back, absently noting all the cell phones pointed at the teenage girl behind her and couldn’t help but wonder how this was going to end. Probably with another visit to the headmaster’s office, Mikey thought as she sat back down in her chair and took in the stunned expressions on the teenage boys’ faces as they looked from Nicole, who’d decided to take her tantrum to the next level in the last thirty seconds with incoherent screams before focusing back on her.

“What?” Mikey asked, blinking innocently as she reached over and helped herself to a fry off Sebastian’s tray, thankful for the small reprieve from his glaring at least.

“You have Caesar salad dressing on your face,” Cole murmured, gesturing in her general direction.

“It’s good for the skin,” Mikey assured him as she couldn’t help but wonder if she had enough time to grab another lunch, only to end up biting back a sigh as she watched Uncle Jason and the headmaster heading her way. She should probably learn his name, Mikey decided as she helped herself to another French fry, especially since something told her that she was going to end up spending a lot of time in his office this year.

“That’s what I heard,” Cole murmured in agreement.

“What did you do to piss her off?” Braxton asked, not bothering to look up from his iPad.

“I get asked that question a lot,” Mikey said with a heartfelt sigh.

“She’s not going to stop,” Sebastian pointed out with a heavy sigh as they watched the muscle in Uncle Jason’s jaw clench tightly as he gestured for Nicole to head to the front office before turning his attention back to her.

“She does seem determined, doesn’t she?” Mikey asked, biting back a sigh as she helped herself to one last fry before reluctantly standing up and resigning herself to the long year ahead.

* * *

“Any ideawhy they won’t leave her alone?” came the question that had Sebastian running his hands roughly down his face.

“I honestly have no idea,” Sebastian said, watching Mikey as she followed Uncle Jason towards the double doors only to help herself to a brownie off a football player’s tray along the way and felt his stomach drop when he saw the way the football player’s lips pulled up into a smile as he watched Mikey.

“You really might want to do something about that,” Cole drawled as Sebastian forced himself to turn around and focus back on his lunch.

“What’s that?” Sebastian asked, even as he couldn’t help but wonder why telling Mikey how he felt was so goddamn difficult.

He had a plan, not a great plan, but one that he thought that he could pull off without screwing this up. Then, thanks to his little cousin taking him by surprise in a move that he really should have seen coming, he’d spent most of the night locked in the closet wondering what the hell he was thinking.

Mikey was his best friend and the one person that he could tell absolutely anything to and he wasn’t willing to risk that. At least, not without making sure that he wasn’t going to lose her for good. Christ, he didn’t think that he would survive without Mikey in his life and every time he thought about losing her, Sebastian told himself that this was enough, but then she would look at him and…

He had to know.

Which meant that he was going to have to figure out the right way to do this and until then, he was going to-

“God, I’m starving,” came the heavily sighed announcement that had Sebastian frowning in confusion as he watched his brother drop down on the chair next to Cole and help himself to one of his fries.

Wondering if he was seeing things, Sebastian glanced at Braxton and Cole to find them looking just as confused before shifting his attention back to his brother. “What did I miss?” Jonathan asked with a satisfied sigh as he helped himself to another fry.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Sebastian asked as he took in the school uniform that matched his.

“Enjoying a lovely lunch before my first class,” Jonathan said as he reached over to help himself to Cole’s burger, only to rethink the move and settled for stealing another fry.

“You don’t go to this school,” Braxton reminded him.

Shrugging it off, Jonathan said, “I do now.”

“We’re going to need more than that,” Cole said as Sebastian gestured for his brother to get on with it.

“Well, after you and the girl, who clearly can’t live without me, were accepted here,” Jonathan began as he reached over and helped himself to Sebastian’s brownie, “I realized that you needed me.”

“Christ,” Sebastian muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Knowing that I really had no other choice, not if I was going to be here for you in your time of need, I decided to apply, but unfortunately, since I missed the deadline, I was placed on the waitlist,” Jonathan said with a heartfelt sigh. “I found out Friday that a spot opened up along with a scholarship. So, here I am, making your day even better.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Sebastian asked as he rubbed his hands roughly down his face, not sure that this was a good idea.

“Because I didn’t want to get your hopes up,” Jonathan said with a pitying look that had Sebastian dropping his hands away so that he could narrow his eyes on his brother.

“I’m going to beat the hell out of you,” Sebastian promised.

“Probably,” Jonathan murmured, not really sounding all that concerned. “Now, what did I miss?”

“Mikey made some friends who really seem to adore her and half the football team is in love with her,” Cole said with a pointed look at Sebastian that had his stomach dropping.

“Understandable,” Jonathan murmured before gesturing to the table across the large cafeteria, drawing their attention to find Chloe glaring in their direction. “What’s going on with Chloe?”

“We’re in the middle of negotiations,” Cole said, not really sounding all that concerned that the teenage girl, who looked like it was taking everything that she had in her not to leap over the table and go for his throat, was glaring at him.

“What are you negotiating?”

“Her surrender.”