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“Miss Hildebrand” Mr Holmes stuck his head out of the classroo my entire class If your locker is broken, speak to someone in the office They’ll have maintenance come look at it”

He nodded decisively and closed the door again, as if he’d just i pearl of wisdom

Restingdeep and trying not to lose my last shred of sanity

“Locker trouble?”

Mason’s soft tone met my ear from only a few feet away, but I was too tired, too pissed off and exhausted, to botheraway from him

“You know,” he continued thoughtfully, “irls from Idaho aren’t supposed to be all that well-read”

Of course He did this

Well, probably not hilish Lit class He kne hard the test was supposed to be—kne badly I needed those notes

“What do you want, Mason?”

I refused to look at him, not even when he stepped closer, the war into mine From the corner of my eye, I could see that he’d taken off his blazer and had the sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up over his forearms

He crossed his arainst the locker next to me “It doesn’t have to be like this you know, Idaho You could always just leave”

Before I could stopto him “Is that what you want?”

Our faces were close, and his striking green eyes were surprisingly open as he stared back at me

“I want you to know,” he murmured under his breath, as if it were a secret only the two of us shared, “that as long as you’re here, it will always be like this”

My cell rang again, and I jerked in surprise at the sound Tearingthe phone out ofat it, then pressed it to my ear