Betting on You

Everyone cheered, and Bailey looked at me like she wanted to stab me in the face. Her eyes narrowed and her brows went down, and it occurred to me that I was 100 percent comfortable with her glaring at me.Property © NôvelDrama.Org.

I kind of liked it, to be honest.

Getting under her skin was my new favorite hobby.

What she didn’t get this time, however, was that I was doing her a favor by choosing that song.

The music started, and again—everyone cheered.

But then—as I’d suspected—the entire house started singing along with Clio and Bailey. It was like a Taylor yell-along that everyone was totally into.

You almost ran the red ’cause you were looking over at me.

Bailey was smiling and laughing, sharing the microphone with Clio, and I was a little impressed by the way she was rolling with it. I would’ve expected Miss Hall Monitor to be intensely nervous, but she actually looked relaxed.

“I thought you said she was a dork,” Eli said, grabbing the spot on the couch beside me. “She’s hot.”

I glanced at Eli, and he was watching her, smiling, and something about it felt wrong.

“I never said she was a dork.” I went back to watching the entertainment, and Bailey was kind of yelling now, her nose scrunched up. “Fuck the patriarchy” / Key chain on the ground. “I said she was uptight and a little nerdy.”

“Well, it works for her,” he said, and I didn’t like the way he said it. As if her looks were the most important thing about her.

What the hell was wrong with me?

Chill the fuck out. I needed to chill the fuck out. The only reason Eli’s attitude was hitting wrong was because I felt protective of Bay.

That was it.

Eli was fine.

“Yeah,” I agreed. She might’ve been hella irritating, but she did look really fucking cute, dancing around on top of the table.

It was a little disconcerting, to be honest.

Just as I was thinking that, she looked at me. Her eyes got squinty as she grinned and sang, which made me smile back, and then she screwed up the words. She sang the wrong word—never lovely jewel—loud as fuck into the microphone, and I don’t know what my face did, but it made her start laughing.

And something about it got to me.

Which was why I was laughing and singing along like a fucking chump when I shot a quick glance over my shoulder and caught the amused smiles being exchanged between Becca and Kyle as they entered the party.

Fuck me.