Envy - 2 by Robin Wasserman Page A

suggesting a truce?”
    He slumped back down on the couch and began massaging his temples. “Kaia, I’m not the one who declared a war,” he reminded her. “I’m suggesting you drop this whole thing, drop my class if you can, do whatever it takes for you to walk out this door and out of my life forever.”
    “You’d miss me,” she chirped.
    “I doubt it.”
    “What would you do for fun without me?”
    “I suspect I’d find something else,” he said wearily. “Something that didn’t cause blinding headaches and nausea.” Any more of this sweet talk and she was going to get a cavity.
    “Okay, I’l go,” she al owed. “For now. But I should point out that when you say we’re at an impasse, you’re forgetting two things.”
    “Enlighten me.”
    “One.” She ticked it off on one of her fingers. “You’re right that it would be your word against mine, and maybe my word’s not worth too much around here. But Beth’s is. And something tel s me she might have some interesting things to say on the subject.”
    He stood up again—but suddenly seemed slightly unsteady on his feet. “Is this your ham-handed way of threatening to blackmail me, Kaia?” It sounded tough, but she knew she’d shaken him. Good. Now they both understood that she had the upper hand.
    “No—lets cal it a demonstration of goodwil ,” she offered. “Because for the moment, I’m planning to keep my mouth shut. You’re the only person who knows what I saw. And for the moment, I’m wil ing to keep it that way.”
    “And why, pray tel , is that?”
    For one thing, she’d decided that this was the kind of information that could keep. Why use it now when she could get what she needed out of him first? She’d save this for when it counted. But an honest answer wouldn’t do much to help her cause.
    “Wel , that would be point number two,” she told him, ticking off a second finger. “I like you, Jack Powel . I think you’ve got a lot of … possibilities. So I’m going to keep quiet about Beth. I’m going to walk out of here and show you that I can be as discreet as any of the adoring goody-goody students I’m sure you’ve wooed into bed in the past—but I’m not giving up. I have a lot of patience when it comes to getting what I want.”
    “And what about what I want?” he asked drily.
    “You don’t need patience,” she pointed out. “I’m right here. You just need to come and get me.”
    They’d needed somewhere out of the way, somewhere no one they knew would ever be or would ever think to look for them. The school library was an obvious choice. Huddled over a smal table in the back (sandwiched in the stacks between self-help and pet grooming), Harper and Kane quickly got down to business.
    “It’s a good start, Grace, but we need to kick it into higher gear. Slow and steady’s not going to win us the race on this one,” Kane whispered.
    Harper craned her neck around, once again making sure that no one she knew could overhear them. Her crowd wasn’t much for the musty book zone, it was true—but a certain brainy Barbie clone had been known to stop by.
    “I don’t know, Kane—that relationship has a definite expiration date. And with Beth fawning al over you for the next two weeks, maybe …”
    “Adam wil have enough space to discover you’re the best thing ever to happen to him?” Kane finished for her.
    Harper blushed. That was, in fact, exactly what she’d been thinking. “Wel , if you want to put it that way.”
    “Wake up, Harper,” Kane said sharply, snapping his fingers in front of her face. “These two could go on like this indefinitely. They’re both too noble to cut their losses. I know Adam, and he’s going to stay in this to the bitter end, and Beth—”
    “Couldn’t stand on her own two feet if you nailed them to the floor and shoved a pole up her—”
    “Hey, watch how you talk about my woman.”
    “ Your woman?” She arched an impeccably plucked eyebrow. “Someone’s