AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hey, Nathan.”
Great. What now?
He stopped walking as his path was blocked, and looked up to see more people approaching him, led by the one and only Joliet Harding.
He just couldn’t get a break could he? One sister, now the other.
Tulsa’s request flew through his mind as fast as she’d said it minutes earlier.
So she wanted him to lie to Joliet to piss her off? It was an interesting request for sure.
Most people saw that the sisters weren’t exactly in the same friend group, but this felt like more than a normal sibling squabble.
The last thing Nathan wanted to do was get in the middle of all . . . this. He’d learned his lesson once or twice about getting in between girls.
“Hi, Joliet.”
“I love the outfit.” Her eyes scanned him with a gracious intensity.
He had to stop himself from rolling his eyes because he was dressed as normal as any other day: just a blue button-up tucked into his acid-washed denim jeans. Nothing special.
Joliet was hot. For sure. He’d give her that.
But in third grade, she had smothered him beyond belief with her crush and it never did quite go away. The popularity she carried with her through the rest of their schooling until now just made it even more difficult.
He liked girls. Don’t get him wrong. Helovedthem even.
But he liked to keep things simple, not worrying about things like carrying on a relationship. High school romance never lasted anyway so he figured he’d just have fun while he could.
Well, that was the plan until his parents busted his party last weekend and threatened his future.
Unfortunately, he had a feeling that if he had fun with Joliet, she’d quickly become too much to handle.
“Thanks.” He gave her an unenthused smile and moved to walk past.
Her perfectly primed hand rose up and placed against his chest, stopping him from leaving. He froze and stared down at her hand and knitted his brows at her.
“I have a question,” she said. He had an idea where this was going. “My sister told me something weird last night.”
“Oh?” He feigned interest, but the suspense was gone now.
She nodded with her hand still resting on his chest. “I know it sounds insane, but she said that you two got verycomfortableat the party on Friday. Is that true?”
Nathan scoffed and looked at the ceiling. Maybe this was his karma for not putting school first all these years.
He should have focused on grades more than girls and parties from the moment he stepped into Richmond High School. Maybe then he would be like all those valedictorians who get perfect grades and have their picture hung up on the wall—
His eyes snapped to the line of pictures that hung on the honor wall.
Every year the highest-scoring students got to have their picture posted for the entire school to rub it in just how smart and successful they were.
And right there, in the top left corner was a now-familiar face. Grinning with dimples and all under the name ‘Tulsa Harding.’
He clutched his notebook and looked behind him.
There she was.
She stood behind a group of kids watching the interaction between him and Joliet with anxious eyes. He wasn’t sure if she had been trying to follow him or not, but her eyes were wide and her top teeth worried at her bottom lip. She jumped slightly when she realized that Nathan was looking right at her.
