Free T is for...he's a TOTAL jerk (Grover Beach Team #3) by Piper Shelly Page A

uncle’s office, because I intended to give them back to him at lunchtime and then find a seat with Allie and her friends today, if she would let me. I had strained Tony’s generosity enough by borrowing his notes. From now on I would give him a wide berth. I went back to my room to get my schoolbag, then left the house a bit early, so there was no need to run this morning.
    Science was fun, with Nick crying because we had to dissect an onion today, and I was looking forward to the classes in which I would sit next to Susan again. She’d asked me over at Science, too, but Nick wouldn’t let me go.
    Liza, Susan, Simone, and I ran late at lunch, because we’d gotten distracted by a poster hanging in the corridor that announced an upcoming soccer game. Apparently, the day was the date of Liza and Ryan’s three-month anniversary. Liza didn’t like the fact that Ryan hadn’t told her he’d be busy.
    Ten minutes later, as we entered the cafeteria ranting about how boys never appreciated the important things in a relationship, most of the tables were full and the buffet nearly empty. With a queasy feeling in my stomach, I cut a glance at the long table where Nick and the guys sat, but Tony wasn’t with them. Scanning the entire room, I couldn’t make him out anywhere else either. Shit. I really wanted the notes out of my backpack and the last time I’d speak to him done. But it seemed I’d have to carry them with me a bit longer. At least I could sit with my friends without the tension of his presence.
    I lowered into the same chair as yesterday, right beside Nick. Leaning across the table, I asked Liza if Tony wasn’t here because of me. She shifted in her seat and mumbled, “Of course not.” But she didn’t sound at all convincing. I guessed they’d had another argument over me last night, which totally freaked me out. But I didn’t say anything more and just tried to enjoy my small heap of spaghetti.
    The meal was a mistake, because it kept traveling back up my gullet when we had to do cartwheels and some jumping on a giant trampoline in PE. Or maybe that was just due to the disgust that rose inside me when I thought of facing Tony in the next class.
    Before the bell rang for the last period, AVE, I took a deep breath, straightened my spine to my full five-two, and stalked up to Tony at the back of the room. He didn’t notice me. I dropped his folder in front of him on the desk, not caring that he was just jotting something down on a sheet of paper and the portfolio landed on his hand.
    “Thank you,” I said in the most emotionless tone I could manage.
    He looked up at me and quirked his brows, looking seriously baffled for the length of a breath. “You’re done with all the projects?”
    Oh. So that was what he sounded like when he didn’t behave like a pig. Nice. But I knew I’d startled him, and that was the only reason he’d talked to me in the first place. By now he probably regretted opening his mouth. And I didn’t want to waste another couple of seconds of my precious time on him.
    “I’m done with the first,” I told him in a noncommittal voice. “I photocopied your stuff this morning so I could get it off my desk and not run the risk of spilling nail polish all over it.” I flashed a cold smirk at him, turned on the spot, and walked to the front before he could come up with a shitty reply. Sliding into my seat, I exhaled a satisfied breath. That was done. Good.
    Miss Jackson walked in and started the lesson. Soon, the strange sensation of someone’s gaze lingering on the back of my neck had me raking an uncomfortable hand through my hair. I tried to concentrate on our teacher, but the feeling was hard to ignore. After twenty minutes, I dared a brief look over my shoulder, expecting to see Tony’s eyes boring into me with a death glare. But they weren’t. He was focusing on the front. But after the next blink of his eyes, he cut a glance at me and we locked gazes. Weird. I couldn’t