“Small favors, huh?” I gave her a grin, but her facial expression still didn’t change. It was still blank and flat. Then she started to go around me. “Wait. Who was your friend?”

“No one you’d know.” She didn’t stop and continued to the door.

I lifted Mason’s jersey. “I’m betting that I might. This was Mason’s, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, but like I said, you wouldn’t know her. She wasn’t his girlfriend or anything.” She paused. “And she wasn’t a stalker either. They were friends.”

Then it clicked. “Marissa.”

That finally got a reaction from her. Her eyelid twitched and she frowned. “He’s talked about her?”

“A little. I know they were friends.”

“Oh.”

“And you were friends with her, too?”

“She left those clothes in my locker all the time. Kate and friends did the same thing to her. She liked wearing his jersey because it shut ‘em up.” She took a small breath. “Anyways, there you go. You don’t have to give them back or anything. It’s not like Marissa still wants them.”

She started to push open the door, but I asked, “Would you tell me about her?”

She let the door close again. “Why?”

I shrugged, clutching the clothes to my chest. I was standing there, dripping wet from my shower and the towel was starting to slip, but I was insistent. “I’d like to know more about her. He doesn’t say too much.”

She snorted. “I’m not surprised by that.” The small opening that had appeared was gone. The wall was back in place. “Good luck with the Princess Bitches. See you.”

I didn’t move for a while after she left. Mason never talked about his friend except that she’d been bullied by Tate and Kate’s group. I never pushed him for information. He’d tell me if I did, but I wanted to hear it from someone else. This girl was Marissa’s friend, and in the two minutes that I had talked to her, I could tell she still missed her.

She had been kind to me and I didn’t even get her name.

With that depressing thought, I heard voices outside the door and knew the next gym class would be heading inside, so I darted into the bathroom stall and changed. The jersey hung on me and the jeans were a little baggy, but they would do. The swimsuit helped underneath since my bra and underwear had gone missing as well.

When I went into the hallway, the reaction wasn’t what they wanted. Mouths dropped and girls bent close to whisper to each other. At the end of the hallway, Kate was at Natalie’s locker. She was furious and looked ready to march over, but Mason came up from behind me. He wrapped an arm around my waist and nudged me against my locker. His hand lifted to hold the back of my head so I didn’t hit the locker, but he pressed into me.

Dropping his head, he kissed my neck. As his lips caressed me, he asked, “Where did you get this? This was my freshman jersey.”

I spotted a few girls beside us, within hearing distance, and shrugged. “Just something I found in the locker room.”

One girl made a sound of disgust before shoving from her locker. She stormed down the hallway, past Kate, sneering at her as well before she turned into the senior hallway.

“Who was that?”

“Hmmm?” Mason lifted his head from my neck and glanced around. “Who?”

“No one.”

“Hey, nauseating lovebirds.” Heather appeared at my locker. She gave Mason a bright smile and placed her hands on her hips like she was going to do a cheer for him. I caught the twinge of tension in her gaze before it slipped away. “I need to steal your gal, Kade. I need her to walk me to my next class.”

His hands fell away and he stepped back, but he frowned. “You keep interrupting. When’s your boyfriend transferring? I’d like to return all these favors.”

“Ha, ha. We both know you’re proud of your girl for landing a friend like me.” She pointed to her own chest, walking backwards and looping her other elbow through mine. “I’m a hot commodity. There’s only one Heather Jax in this town.”

“That doesn’t make you a hot commodity. That makes you expendable. No one would miss you.”

She pretended to hiss, grinning at the same time. “That hurts, Kade. I thought we had something going between the two of us.”

“The boyfriend and best friend never like each other.”

Her eyes widened and she paused in her footing for a second, but lifted her fingers to her forehead. She saluted him. “You win, Mason Kade. You always do.”

But there was no response. Mason had already turned and was walking the other way. Even now, with their little exchange, so many people had been hanging onto every word. As he passed by groups in the hallway, the girls followed him with hungry gazes. A few didn’t, but the guys were almost as bad. A lot of them stopped what they were doing and puffed out their chests. Their backs straightened and most struck a cocky pose until he walked past them, without acknowledging them. When he disappeared into the senior hallway, the hallway went back to normal. The girls giggled and whispered. The guys, most of them, went back to their drooped shoulders and lounging stances.

I’d never get used to it. I don’t know how he did it.

“I heard what happened,” Heather brought me back from my thoughts. Her hand tightened on my arm and she pulled me closer, lowing her voice. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Waves of anger and curiosity mixed together now. One thing at a time. “Do you know a girl that used to be friends with Marissa?”

“Marissa?”

“I don’t know her last name. She was friends with Mason and transferred out of here two years ago.”

“Oh.” Her facial features tightened and her lips pinched together. “Yeah. Red hair? Frizzy? Average weight?”

“Yeah. Who is she?”

“Her name’s Paige.” She grimaced. “I wouldn’t get close to her.”

“Why not?”

Stopping at her locker, I leaned against the one beside it and waited as she opened the combination. “Because she will never be your friend. A lot of girls lust after your boys, but there’s a few that hate them. Paige is one of them. She blamed Mason for everything that happened to Marissa.”

“And by everything that happened to Marissa, you mean …” I gestured to my clothes. “Getting her clothes stolen.”