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“See, this is why I don’t give you compliments” Asher smirks and sets the soda on his tray

I have no food in front ofHe notices and tosses his bag of potato crisps across the table It lands an inch away froe and bumps into my elbow

“I don’t have the patience to deal with your crap today, Asher What do you want?”

“I want to knohy you're sitting all alone like a lost puppy in a cardboard box and not at our table” He points to where a few of the cheerleaders have perched in the center of the cafeteria They laugh at each other’s jokes while waiting for either Liam or Asher to join theain doesn’t mean you’ve been exiled”

I grab the bag of chips, having every intention of shoving it back at hi eaten anything since breakfast yesterday sets in and al of sour crearab It’s like heaven infor more

“I’ve never belonged with you guys I’irls, or popular,” I finally say

“Don’t do that,” Asher demands, his tone serious and cold

It startles me because, in Asher’s mind, I either don’t exist or have been put on the earth for his a my quirks as entertainment for him and whoever else

“Do what?”

“Put yourself down You're prettier than every girl in this rooet that”

I’m taken back by the co to make me feel better because of how shitty today has been Either way, I don’t need him or his faux sy and toss it back onto his tray “Yeah, okay”

Asher shakes his head, the brooding expression he’s known for back in place That’s better Too ht be fooled into thinking he cares “Why do you hate me?”

I look around the cafeteria, scanning the lunch line for Maggie’s fire engine red hair She should have been here five ht up with Mr Alverson and that Asher is going to keep his I-a “You ripped the head off my favorite doll”

Asher leans his elbows on the table His dark brows pull together, a into my soul I shudder froht, they almost have a blue hue It’s not often that I’ attention to hi

“First of all, I never ripped her head off,” he states so matter of factly, I would have believed hi baby Ariel’s hair in his hands all those years ago “And ere seven Don’t you think it’s tio?”