What else made me uncomfortable was Becky. Not once did she comment about the party or the game. It was Rex all week. By the time Friday rolled around she was squealing. He no longer reached underneath her shirt for her boobs, but took the whole thing off right away.

When Adam stopped at my locker, I was more than grateful. I blasted him with a smile and he stepped back. “Whoa. Hey.”

“Hi!” My hand tightened on my locker to hold myself up. I prayed for no more booby talk.

“Uh.” He glanced between the two of us.

Becky’s mouth clamped up. Her shoulders went rigid and she stomped away.

I was taken aback this time. “What was that about?”

He made a disgusted sound and rolled his eyes. “She’s still with that hamster?”

“Yeah, and I have a bone to pick with you.” I shut my locker and leaned back against it. Then I set him with one of those stares Mason always gave me, when he was trying to assess me from the inside out.

Adam reared back another step and looked up and down the hallway. “Did I grow two heads? No one else is freaking out.”

“You know what you did.”

“Uh, no I don’t or I would’ve apologized by now.” His smile was so smooth. Too smooth.

I glared harder. “You told Becky not to tell me about Rex.”

“Oh.” His eyes deflated. “Are you serious? The guy’s a joke. She would’ve been wasting your time.”

“You can’t be…jealous…can you?”

He snorted and rolled his eyes.

I tried to hold back my grin. “Whatever your hang-up, she really likes him so it might be good of you to wise up and like him too.”

“He’s a pothead.”

I shrugged. “Apparently that’s what she needs.”

“He’s a loose cannon. He gets into fights at the drop of a hat or he’s smoking up in the next room. Yeah, whatever. He might look like a pretty boy and some girls go for that, but he’s a loser. He’s not going anywhere in life. Becky deserves better than that.”

I shook my head. “Oh, you mean she doesn’t deserve a guy who likes her? Who is proud of her? Who brags to his buddies about her? You’re right. That’s awful of him.”

He shot me a dark look. “Whatever, Sam. I’m thinking long picture. She deserves better.”

“Then give her the common decency and allow her to make that decision. Sorry to say, but I think she deserves a guy who enjoys her company and who’s not ashamed of her.” I fixed him with a meaningful look. “Unlike some people.”

He wrinkled his nose and stepped back again. “Whatever.”

“Whatever, my ass.” I poked him in the chest. “And you might want to rethink him. Mason and Logan like him.”

“They’ve met him?”

I nodded.

“They liked him?”

“A lot.”

He made another disgusted sound and shook his head. His hand raked through his hair and he grimaced. “I can’t believe this. I’m living in the twilight zone. I know it. Where are the zombies?”

“I’m not sure your metaphor’s right.”

“I’m not sure yours is,” he shot back with a twitch to his eyebrow.

With the smirk on his face, if I hadn’t known better I would’ve thought he was trying to flirt with me. Everything went flat inside of me. An image of Mason flashed in my mind, how his head was nestled into the pillow beside mine when I got up this morning.

I forced a polite tone in my voice, polite but distant, “Don’t you have your first hockey game tonight?”

He grimaced and pulled the collar of his shirt away from his neck. “Uh, yeah. You’re right.” He sighed and rolled his eyes. “I love sports. I do, but I’m getting sick of always being on the go, you know? Between work and practice…” Then he eyed me up and down again.

I shifted back and smoothed down my shirt.

“Did you still want that job at the Country Club?”

“Not really, but I might have to reconsider. I wanted to ask Logan if he knew of a job for me, but that never happened.” I didn’t want to go into the details of why not so I rushed forward. “So yeah. I think I might be up for that job.”

“Great.” His smile was blinding. “My boss asked me yesterday about it and I need a replacement tonight. Would you be willing to fill in?”

I couldn’t breathe. “Are you serious?”

“No.” He bent over in laughter. After one, then two hand slaps to his knee, he looked back up, but doubled over again. “You should’ve seen the horror on your face. I swear you would’ve rather take a pie to the face than work.”

I scowled as he continued to laugh. “It’s not that funny.”

“Oh, but it is.” Then he tried to wipe his smile away and he coughed to stop the laughing. “Sorry, just…sorry. Anyway, yeah, you can still have the job. You don’t mind being a server?”

“Can I bartend instead?”

“Uh…”

“Kidding.” The Elite always had their lunches together. My time to pay was coming up, if it wasn’t already there. I just hoped the bill wouldn’t bankrupt me. “I’ll take whatever.”

“I might get you behind the counter sooner than you think. Your bio dad’s been around a bunch. Did you know that?”

I stiffened.