Free Butter by Erin Jade Lange Page B

the Professor.”
    That must have stopped the teacher, because when I finally looked up at her, there was no detention slip in her hand. In fact, she looked sorry she’d called me on my lateness at all. The Professor’s name had that kind of impact around school.
    She pinched her lips together. “Just sit down.”
    I took the oversize desk, reserved for me, right next to Trent. I dared to glance across the aisle at him, and this time I definitely did not imagine it—he was giving me a big thumbs-up.
    I probably should have smiled or nodded or thanked him orsomething, but shit, I was totally off my game. Kids I didn’t know going out of their way to talk to me; kids who I thought hated me risking detention to stick up for me—what’s a guy supposed to do with that? I was still staring like an idiot at Trent’s thumb when I felt a thump on my back.
    I turned around as far as I could without drawing the teacher’s attention. Behind me was the guy who had answered for me in algebra earlier, and now that I got a good look at him, I could see he was a friend of Trent and Jeremy’s. He grinned and reached his arm around my shoulders to give me a fist-bump.
    â€œYou are a. Total. Badass,” he whispered.
    Okay, now I was so far out of my comfort zone, I was in the
Twilight Zone
.
    â€œUh, thanks?”
    â€œNo, thank
you
.”
    â€œFor what?”
    â€œShh!” some girl to our right huffed.
    The kid behind me lowered his voice even more. “For keeping things
interesting
,” he breathed.
    â€œLegendary,” Trent agreed, and his loud whisper carried farther than ours, catching the teacher’s attention.
    She shut our conversation down with threats of detention, but I could still hear the boys’ words.
Legendary. Badass
. Were these guys really friends with Jeremy Strong?
    I fidgeted through class, and the instant the bell rang I was on my feet.
    â€œThanks,” I was finally able to say to Trent as we gathered up our backpacks.
    â€œNo problem. I’m Trent. This is Parker.” Trent gestured to the fist-bumper behind me.
    â€œI’m—” Might as well embrace it. “I’m Butter.”
    â€œOh, we know,” Parker said. “And, dude, pretty soon
everyone
will know.”
    â€œYeah. Listen, about that—I know I put it out there and all, but I don’t know how far I want it to spread.” I thought of the girl at the soda machine, of the twenty-seven comments, of the teacher looking over my shoulder. “If someone’s parents or a teacher found out—”
    â€œWe will
not
let that happen,” Parker promised. “Anyone who narcs on you will hear from us.”
    Trent was more thoughtful. He leaned back on his heels and crossed his arms. “Good point though, Butter. Maybe you should password protect it—keep out the tattletales.”
    â€œOkay,” I agreed easily. I was dazed to even be having a conversation with these guys. “I’ll think of a pass—”
    â€œMake it ‘margarine,’ ” Trent ordered. “And we’ll spread the word.”
    â€œHa!” Parker slammed a hand on a desk. “Margarine. Spread. Nice.”
    We wandered out of class, and I spotted the girl from the soda machine at a locker across the hall. “What about tattletales who already saw it?”
    Trent traced my stare and caught the girl as she cast a concerned look at me and a confused glance at the two boys standing next to me.
    Trent nodded meaningfully at Parker. “We’ll take care ofthat too.” He started walking backward down the hall and switched to his big-mouth voice. “Best prank ever played, that website,” he called to me. Then to Parker, “You fall for that, Park?”
    Parker moved in the opposite direction, shouting back at Trent. “No way. But I bet some suckers did. Hope nobody was stupid enough to go crying to their