I beg to differ.

“That’s right,” Markus says as the girl starts dancing. She’s stunning, the best dancer I’ve seen today, but I don’t care. She’s on my hit list. “He seems interested still, you think?”

That has us all glancing down at where Jayden is watching her dance. He has a goofy little grin on his face and his eyes trained on her body. What in the ever-loving fuck is he looking at?

“That motherfuck—”

“What, Baylor? Is there a problem?” Markus asks, glancing at me with a knowing grin. “You aren’t jealous, are you?”

“Why would she be? Nothing is going on, remember,” Jace says, and I swear to God, I’m gonna kill them.

Glaring, I feel my nails bite into my ribs as I squeeze myself harder, trying not to snap. But when Skylar grabs the edge of the table, moving her hair back and forth before meeting her eyes to Jayden’s, everything inside me goes white-hot. She then reaches up, tapping his nose in a playful way before sashaying back to the middle of the gym. I can let that go; she’s fishing for big numbers. But what pisses me the hell off is when Jayden holds up a board that reads a ten.

I swear, it takes every ounce of my restraint not to scream and fling my damn board at his head. Angrily picking up my marker, I rip the cap off and write down my number as Jace and Markus hold up their boards. When they glance back at mine, they both fall over laughing. That gets the attention of the captains, and soon they are laughing as Skylar’s fury-filled eyes meet mine. I send a nasty look right back at her before leaning back against the bleachers, propping myself up with one arm while Markus and Jace continue to heckle like hyenas.

That’s when Jayden looks back at me, his eyes widening as his brows come together before he holds his hands up in a “what the hell?” kind of way.

But I don’t care though.

I don’t like her. At all.

So she gets a zero.

Delanie: You gave her a zero?

Me: I don’t like her.

Delanie: Do you even know her?

Me: I know she was fucking the dude I’m fucking and I don’t like that.

Waiting for her reply, I’m surprised when the phone actually rings.

Hitting answer, I put it on speaker as I say, “Hello?”

“So let me get this straight,” she says, laughter in her voice. “I had to call because I wanted to hear this from your mouth and not through text.”

“Okay?” I ask, confused, as I pull my hair up. “What?”

“So you gave this chick—one you have no clue who she is, never met her, shared any kind of communication with—a zero because Jayden had sex with her before?”

“Yes,” I answer simply. “He was all looking at her and shit. Like he wanted her or something. I don’t like that.”

Laughing, she says, “Obviously! My goodness, Baylor, your crazy is hanging out. Tuck it back in.”

“Whatever,” I say, rolling my eyes. “She rubs me the wrong way.”

“How? She hasn’t even talked to you!”

“Whose side are you on? You’re my friend,” I snap, and she continues to laugh.

“I know that, but you are making friends now. Girls are already jealous of you because you play and live in a house with a whole hockey team. Do you really need an enemy in all this? Girls are catty as shit, dude. She’ll run your name through the mud.”

I bite into the inside of my cheek as I think that over. She may have a point.

“Then I’ll kick her ass,” I decide, and she lets out a breath.

“Do you know you’re kinda violent?”

“Eh, add it to my list of imperfections,” I say offhandedly. “I’m just saying. I don’t like her, and I’m not gonna hide that.”

“Whatever. You’re being a little bitch right now, you know that?”

A little offended, I say, “Haven’t you wanted me to act like a girl since the beginning? I’m doing it, so shut up!”

She laughs. “Touché, but Jesus. Things are getting good for you. You sound happy now, and then you go throw the gauntlet down with some chick you don’t even know because she’s dated the guy you are secretly dating. Doesn’t that sound a bit crazy?”

It does. But. Maybe. Hmm.

“Okay, see, this is what happens when I don’t control what I’m feeling!” I challenge back, and she laughs.

“I mean, damn, Baylor, it’s either you’re completely closed up or you let the crazy hang out. There’s no in-between with you!”

Bored, I say, “Point being?”

“Are you gonna apologize?”

“Fuck no,” I snap with a scoff. “No way in hell.”

“You’re such a brat,” she mutters, and I smile.

“So are you,” I say, hitting the speaker button before putting it to my ear. “I’m pretty sure you did this exact thing to Kevin at the beginning of the year,” I add and she laughs. Kevin was her first college boyfriend who apparently got around, and it ended their relationship because Delanie was losing her shit on every girl he slept with. So, really, she has no room to talk.

“Fine, whatever. Have you even talked to Jayden?”

Biting into my lip, I say, “I kind of didn’t say anything to him and just passed by him in a really dramatic, angry girl way. And I now see that may have been a little wrong of me, but this shit is hard, okay?”

“What’s hard?”

“Being with someone! It’s weird.”

She lets out a breath, and I can hear her smack herself in the forehead. “Oh my God, Baylor, has he tried to contact you?”

Not wanting to answer, I mutter, “Yes.”

“And?”

“I ignored him.”

“You. Oh my God, why?” she asks, and I can hear the frustration in her voice. But I’m frustrated too!

I finally agree to this, and he’s giving eyes to some other chick? What the hell? How would he feel if I did the same thing? He’d freak! And that’s just dumb. All of this. Why is dating so hard? I’ve been doing it for the last week, and I must say, if he weren’t so amazing and the sex wasn’t great, I’d say the fuck with it because I’m feeling shit that is driving me absolutely nuts.

Ugh!

Exasperated, I say, “Because he was making eyes at her.”