Free Charcoal Tears by Jane Washington

tossing her hair so that it smacked me in the face. Someone in the classroom snickered and I blushed, fixing my eyes to the desk.
    “Freak,” Kat muttered.
    It was too quiet for Cabe to hear, and I was glad. Mr. Thomas walked in, and Kat found her own seat. A few minutes later, a note landed across my desk. I blinked, looking around. Nobody watched me. I opened the note.
    You’re a fucking freak. Everyone hates you. You think you’re so special because you’re giving it up to the new boys? Think again, half the girls in this city have spread their legs for an Adair. You’re nothing special.
    I scrunched the note into a ball, my other hand forming a fist on the desk. Cabe glanced at me, arching a brow in question. I immediately relaxed one of the fists and hooked a smile at him, surprised at how easily it came. His eyes wandered over my smile, one lighting his own face. I turned back to the front of the classroom and tried to focus for the rest of the lesson, but it was a lost cause. I was almost relieved that my confusion over the note had quickly overshadowed any alien feelings of jealousy. How did the boys have such a bad reputation? Weren’t they new ? I rolled the note around between my fingers, thinking about the blond girl who must have written it. Was she the one taking pictures and threatening me to stay away? Somehow, I doubted it.
    Noah was already in his seat by the time I got to History, and one of the vaguely familiar cheerleaders was leaning over him, her hand planted on the desk. Her other hand dropped onto his shoulder as she whispered to him. His eyes caught mine and stayed. I was sure that he could see every feeling that I tried to fight down, but I fought them down all the same and curbed the desire to throw my book bag at the girl.
    Get yourself together ,I tried to scold myself, this isn’t you !
    When the girl realised that Noah wasn’t paying attention to her, she looked up and saw me. Her glare was all the anger that I felt, plus more. She despised me. What the hell? She flicked a look at my empty chair but I was already sitting down. Her gaze narrowed.
    “I’ll see you next Saturday, babe.” She flounced off Noah’s desk. He was still watching me, as if he hadn’t even noticed her leave.
    I gritted my teeth. Noah leaned over, his arm creeping across the back of my chair. “We’re having a party next Saturday.”
    I turned, but he was leaning closer than I had realised. I jolted in my chair, inching back to put a comfortable amount of space between us, and he settled a hand on my knee to calm me, but the scratchy feeling was back, and it was stronger than ever. It emanated from his touch and curled into my centre, making me want to jump from my chair and dive into the nearest body of water to ease the burn. I started trembling again, shifting my leg out from beneath his touch. He leaned back, his eyes wandering over my face before he sucked in a breath and turned away from me.
    “You should come.” He was still talking to me, but his attention was fixed firmly on the teacher now.
    “Okay,” I said without thinking.
    His eyes flicked back to me, amused that I had answered reflexively. He hooked his mouth into a half-smile and I found myself strangely happy that he was pleased. Some part of me whispered that this wasn’t normal, but this time I pushed it down, preferring to believe that my budding relationship with the two brothers was completely normal. This was what it felt like to have friends. 
    Mr. Walters thumped a heavy book down on his desk some time later, and I realised that I had been staring at my hands, completely lost in my thoughts. I hadn’t heard a word of what he had been saying. I deliberately tuned in to what he was droning on about and fetched my paper closer to scribble notes. Once the bell signalled the end of class, I shouldered my bag to walk with Noah to the cafeteria, braking away from him as we passed through the doorway and making a beeline for my usual