“Why would I be sarcastic?”
My neck heats up. Is he implying that he thinks I’m good girlfriend material? I shake my head. It doesn’t matter. Real-life romance isnotas good as book romance, and I’ll prove it to him.
He holds out his hand. “We have a deal?”
With a confident smile, I shake his hand. “Deal. Now get out of here so I can read my book,” I joke.
He chuckles softly as he gets up. “Soon you’ll read your books for entertainment only and not as a way to insert yourself into the story so you can experience all that fake romance. Mark my words.”
I roll my eyes. “We’ll see who has the last laugh.”
He shakes his head with a smile. “Good night, Sophie. And don’t type up the notes.”
“Good night, Damian, andexpectthe notes later tonight.”
He continues to smile as he walks out of the library, and my lips are lifted in a smile as I focus back on my book.
Chapter Fifteen
Sophie
Operation Find Me Real Romance has officially begun.
My friends and I enter the dining hall the next morning and make a beeline for the buffet tables. I think each of us has worked up an appetite after our long discussion in my room last night. Of course they wanted to know every little detail regarding the deal I made with Damian. To say Addie and Carly are super excited would be an understatement. Raven is curious, and somewhat excited, too, but she’s wary as well. Me? Well, to be honest, the idea of experiencing the kind of romance I read about in books sounds awesome, and yeah, how amazing would it be to truly live it? But I’m practical and know not to get my hopes up. Plus, I like the idea of rubbing it in Damian’s face when I win the challenge.
“A room full of potential boys,” Carly says with a happy sigh as she places some waffles on her plate.
“Except, they all suck,” I remind her. “If they were potential boyfriends, all of us would have had boyfriends by now. Well, before you guys fell in love with your awesome guys.”
“True,” Raven muses. “I can’t count how many times I thought a guy was decent, but then he turned out to be…well, sucky, for the lack of a better word.”
“Well, lucky for you that I was up way too late last night whipping up a list for you.” Addie places her full plate of food on the table and then yanks her phone out of her bag. “Ten possible potential boyfriends.”
“So that’s why your light was on basically all night,” Carly says.
“Yep. Check it out, Soph.” She passes her phone to me.
I also put my plate down and study the list. I know all the names on here because I make it a habit to know the name of every fellow student, but she chose some guys who I never would in a million years ever consider a potential boyfriend.
I lift my eyebrow. “I know you’re still a new kid here, Addie, but Carter McMillian? He’s extremely wealthy and super pompous.”
“You sure about that? I dropped my pen the other day and it rolled under his desk. He swept it off the floor and handed it to me with a smile, saying he wouldn’t want me to fall behind in class. Even though I literally just got another pen from my pencil case.”
“That’s sweet!” Carly says in an encouraging and hopeful tone.
“Wait. Isn’t that the same guy who made fun of me in ninth grade because I froze up when I had to present my essay to the class?” Raven asks.
“Oh, yeah. Hmm…” Carly muses.
“Well, guys are so immature in ninth grade,” Addie says. “They’re still boys then. By the time they reach junior year, they’re morphing into men. So maybe it’s not fair to hold someone accountable for something they did when they were younger.”
“I guess that’s true,” Raven says.
“And plus, he returned my pen,” Addie reminds us. “He didn’t have to do that. But he wanted to make sure I could continue writing notes.”
“So now we’re determining worth based on the return of school supplies?” I ask.
“Just philosophizing, Sophie,” Carly says.
