Be. Cool.
I draw in a breath slowly and consider my words before I let them fall out of my mouth. I will not be that stupidly eager girl who throws herself at him. I won’t be lame. I’ll be sexy and mysterious and make him want more.
“You saidthisFriday?”
He nods, his blue eyes peering into mine in a way that reminds me of that shaggy haired boy he used to be, not the clean cut short haired jock he is now.
“Let me guess, hopscotch and bicycle races like in the old days?”
He looks confused for a minute and then he smiles. “Man, that was a long time ago. It’s weird that we knew each other as kids.”
“Well, we have lived in the same town and gone to the same school our whole lives.”
“And our parents own businesses on the boardwalk,” he says. “We practically lived there as kids.”
I nod. Back when Jack Brown wasn’t a threat to my mom’s business.
“Unfortunately,” Caleb says, brushing my arm again, “I wasn’t planning on bike races this time. You’ll have to settle for hanging out with me without a bike.”
It takes everything I have not to jump up and down with excitement. “Sure,” I say with a casual nod. “Friday sounds fun.”
“Cool,” he says with a grin. “Give me your phone.”
I hand it over and he types in his number then presses the call button before handing it back to me. “I’ll text you later,” he says. His fingers touch mine when he hands me my phone and it sends a jolt of something through my body. Lust? Desire?
I don’t know, but I do know I want more of it.
***
The next day, April and I haven’t found anything else to talk about besides my upcoming date with Caleb. We gushed about it at lunch yesterday and then on the walk home from school and then on the walk to school today and now it’s lunch time and we’re back at it. That’s the best part of hanging out with a freshman—they don’t pretend to be too cool to talk about boys. My old friends would have never cared about this.
I dunk a fry into nacho cheese sauce and gaze across the cafeteria toward the athletes’ table.
“You should go sit with him,” April says, nudging me in the arm.
“No way.” I shake my head and reach for another fry. “He hasn’t even talked to me since then.” As if on impulse, I glance down at my phone that’s on the cafeteria table in front of me. After I saved Caleb’s number into my phone, I’ve spent pretty much every second of my life hoping he’ll text me. But he hasn’t. It’s only been one day though, and guys are notorious for making girls wait three days.
“He asked you out so he obviously likes you,” April says. “Go say hi.”
“No way. He’s sitting with his friends and I’m not going to be the girl who’s clingy and annoying on day one. You have to slowly win over the friends.”
“Screw the friends! A hot guy has a date with you on Friday. Go flirt with him so you’ll be less nervous on the actual date!” April gives me this exaggerated wink that makes me laugh.
“I’m not doing it,” I say with an adamant shake of my head. “I’m going to be the cool mysterious chick who he has to chase.”
She rolls her eyes. “Whatev.”
“So in other news,” I say as my heart starts to beat a little faster. “I still haven’t looked at it.”
“At what?” April says with her mouth full of food.
“It,” I say, tapping my binder on the table.
“Oooh,” she says. “This semester’s progress report.”
I reach for the paper, which is folded in half and stapled together. That’s how our homeroom teacher passes them out each semester so the grades are somewhat private. I’ve had mine for a few hours now and I’m too scared to look. I take out the paper and slide my finger under the staple, ripping it open.
“You can do it!” April says.
