GreenArrow11
Was that so hard?
GracieLou
You have no idea
“Who’s got you smiling?”
The question is so jarring, I feel like I’ve been yanked out of one reality and dropped into another. I blink and look up to see Lucas Fischer sit across from me at the table. At least, I think it’s Lucas. He and Logan are identical twins, but Lucas’s hair is messier and his whole being is … louder.
“I wasn’t smiling,” I say, turning off my screen and clutching my phone between my hands like it’s fragile.
“You were practically beaming. Wasn’t he, Scottie?”
Scottie’s sitting several feet away from us with Clementine Partridge, and when Lucas addresses her, she pauses and peers through her cat-eye glasses, like she’s not sure if she wants to roll her eyes and ignore him or toy with him like a cat would toy with a mouse.
Her eyes jump from Lucas’s to mine, and she gives me a look that’s too assessing. I don’t like being assessed. I don’t like being noticed or even talked to, really.
“It pains me to agree with Lukie, but you were smiling, Fletch.”
If I were one to emote, I’d glare at her.
“So who is she?” Lucas asks.
“A friend,” I say, both hating telling him even this much and feeling like the term is … insufficient.
Lucas grins. “Coach’s got a girlfriend.”
“She’s not my girlfriend. We’ve never met.”
“Ah, you swiped right. Cool.”
“It’s not a dating app,” I grumble.
Lucas looks me over. “Okay. I think I see what’s happening here. You’re trolling people on Reddit.”
Scottie snorts and then clears her throat.
About that glare …
“You think I’m the kind of guy who trolls people on Reddit?”
Everyone at the table gives me a look.
“It would explain the smile,” Scottie says.
I let out an exhausted sigh. “It’s a chatroom, okay? We connected over a … common interest.”
“What?”
“I’m not telling you what.”
“Why not?” Lucas says. "Is it gross? Don’t tell me if it’s gross.”
“It’s not gross. What does that even mean?”
Lucas’s look is so suspicious, I can’t help myself.
