James

I stopped chewing and stared at her. The way her emerald-green eyes dulled made my heart clench painfully. Words weren’t going to ease her pain, and neither was my cocky attitude. With the half-eaten apple in one hand, I reached across the table with the other. My fingers rested on hers before curling in with the slightest bit of a squeeze. She fought against the tears that filled her aching eyes, but one escaped against her valiant effort. Mindlessly, I set the fruit on the table and wiped the lone tear from her cheek with my thumb.

“You want some of my peanut butter and jelly?” I could have slapped myself.

She was orphaned less than a week ago, and somehow, I believed half of my sandwich would ease that pain.

She chuckled the tiniest bit, and the tears cascaded down her beautiful face. The loss radiated in her eyes, but God, I’d give every last cent in my trust fund to keep her smiling. “Captain of the basketball team eats PB and J for lunch? And you said the school food was bad.” It wasn’t as funny as it sounded coming from her lips.

“My reputation supersedes me.”

“Yeah, something like that.” She’d suddenly become shy. Her eyes cast down, and the corners of her mouth fell flat.

“Sorry, I’m a tad arrogant at times. You’ll have to excuse that. It’s just part of my charm.” I bent over, craning my neck to coax her into meeting my gaze. “So tell me, Cora, have you ever been to the beach in December?”

My chest tightened, hoping she’d take the bait, desperate to find a way to spend time with her. I’d never had the instant attraction to anyone that I felt for her. It might have been nothing, yet it might have been everything. Unless she was willing to let me in, there was zero chance we’d find out.

“I’ve never been to the beach at all.”

My pulse raced with anticipation. “Do you have plans after school?”

“Don’t you have basketball practice or weights to lift or some other equally macho thing to do?”

“Yeah, but I’m done by five. I can stop by your house and pick you up.”

“You don’t know where I live.”

I wondered if she knew, although now wasn’t the time to ask such an insensitive question. “Just tell me who your grandparents are. I’ve lived here all my life. I’m sure I know them.”

“Chase. Gwendolyn and Owen Chase.”

If I’d been drinking anything, it would have ended up all over her light-pink shirt that cupped her perfect breasts like it was made to showcase them. “Seriously?” Chase as in the financial company—that Chase. They made everyone else on the island look like paupers.

She shrugged as if it were insignificant.

“You don’t seem impressed.”

“Why would I be? I don’t know them any better than I know you. In fact, I might know you better at this point. We’ve certainly had more conversation.”

“So why did you come live with them if you’re not close?”

“I don’t have any other family, and they wouldn’t let me stay with friends for a year and a half while I finished high school. They didn’t think it was appropriate for a seventeen-year-old to be gallivanting around New York unescorted.” That last part was clearly a repetition of a sentiment they’d communicated to her, probably more than once in the last week.

Again, she’d rendered me speechless, which was a difficult task. Before I could figure out something to say, Neil came strolling up to the table.

“Carp, you coming?”

Any other time, that would have been my escape. I would have been pissed it’d taken him twenty minutes to come to my rescue, except this girl was different. “Nah, man. I’m good here. I’ll catch you after school.”

“It’s okay, James. You can go. I’ll be fine.” No one at this school called me James; however, the way my name floated past her lips made me want to drop the surname and be like Madonna or Prince.

“Yeah, James. You can go.” Neil scowled at me like I’d offended him by turning down his invitation.

I looked back at the dark-haired beauty still seated in front of me. Her green eyes had dimmed again, and I hated leaving her. The pressures of high school sucked. Even though I normally called the shots, I gave in this time—my friends had been my lifeline since we were all in diapers.

“I’ll come by when I get out of practice, okay? Say five thirty or so.” I grabbed my uneaten lunch, stuffed it into my backpack, and waited for her reply with Neil standing over my shoulder. Never in my life had I felt the need to sucker punch him, until now. I was having a hard time holding back today.

She glanced up at Neil and then to me. The tiny nod she gave me only served to cause my fist to ball at my side. My best friend wasn’t acting any differently than either of us always did, but it crushed me to hurt her in the process. I didn’t stop it. I got up and hoped I could make it up to her after school.

When we were out of earshot, I punched him in the arm so hard it almost knocked him off balance. “What the fuck, Neil?”

“You can’t be serious about her? She’ll never fit in with our friends.”

“Then maybe it’s time to find new friends. Jesus. You were such a dick.”

“She called you James. Is she your mom?”

“Hey, asshole. That’s what I told her my name was. Hard for her to know differently when she’s been in the school all of four hours and the town about eight more than that.”

“Who cares?”

I stopped in my tracks. Neil halted in front of me. I’d only had a handful of defining moments in my seventeen years, times where one instant changed my life, and this was one. “Dude, both of her parents died last week. Cut her some fucking slack.”

“Ahh, a charity lay. I get it, Carp.”

And just like that, the fist that had been balled at my side since I’d gotten up from my seat landed on his right cheek. The fight erupted faster than I realized what had happened. I saw red, and my best friend met my right hook. When we were finally separated, I glanced back to the corner I’d last seen Cora, but she was gone. And my vantage point from the principal’s office didn’t offer me another glimpse of her before the final bell.

Thankfully, Neil and I had only been given detention and weren’t suspended, but that hadn’t sat well with the coach. Even though the administration had been lenient, Coach Howard was not. He didn’t hesitate to bench us both until after Christmas break.