He looks me right in the eyes, his brown hair glinting under the florescent lights. His forearm flexes as he holds onto his backpack strap.
Get it together, Clarissa.
I exhale. “Have a nice day, boys.” I smile and glance at the other two soccer players so it doesn’t seem like I’mjusttalking to Gavin.
“You too, Ice Queen,” TJ says, nodding at me. The other guy who sits behind him, is a little stocky for a soccer player. I give him a quick look before turning to leave, and I mentally cross him off my list. The two guys on the video were tall and thin. That guy is too short and thick to be one of the culprits.
He’s off my shit list for now.
But the rest of the soccer players are all suspects, including the gorgeous Gavin Voss.
Oh my God, Clarissa, don’t call him gorgeous.
“Hey,” Gavin says right as he appears by my side as we step into the hallway. “I have AP History next. What about you?”
“Math,” I say, glancing over at him as we walk. Actually…I have to glanceupa little bit. This guy is one of the rare guys who are taller than I am. “You’re in AP history?”
“What? You think I’m too stupid for AP classes?”
His lazy grin stretches wider. I notice that his lips are a shake of pink I’ve never seen before. His eyes are blue, like a swimming pool, and it’s hard to look away.
I shrug. “I didn’t say that.”
“But you thought it.”
“No, I didn’t.”
The truth is, I did. I guess I have such a bad impression of the soccer players that I assume they’re all as stupid as the balls they kick around.
“I’m in all AP classes,” he says, dodging a group of students in the way. When it does, his arm brushes against mine and sends tingles down my spine. Walking with a guy reminds me of when I dated Shawn. We were only together the last month of school, but it was glorious having someone to walk to class with you. Now, it almost feels the same way again.
“Well, I’m not in any AP classes,” I say with a sigh. “I’m as average as it gets.” I blink. “Well, except for—” but then I shut the hell up. I can’t believe I almost spilled my biggest embarrassment—how tall I am.
Gavin doesn’t seem to notice or care. His smile is a thousand times more sincere than the sneer he gave me on that first day of school. “If you ever need a tutor, let me know.”
I don’t say anything as I turn down the math hallway. He’d said he’d had history next, which is all the way across the school. So why is he still walking with me?
I look over at him and find that he’s watching me, too.
“Hey, um, it’s Clarissa, right?” He actually seems nervous.
“Yes.”
“Cool. So, Clarissa,” he says, scratching the back of his neck. “I think I saw you the other day after school. You were sitting on the grass between the school and the daycare next door?”
I bite down on my lip. When the hell did he see me? I thought I was alone. And I definitely did some crying that day, so even though I try to act calm, I can feel heat rising in my cheeks.
But maybe this can be the first way I try to crack away at the soccer team, gaining their trust to find out who ruined my greenhouse.
I shrug. “There was this greenhouse there, and someone smashed it.”
I study him carefully, waiting for those blue eyes of his to give away that he knows something about it. He just blinks.
“Why would someone smash it?” he asks.
I shrug. “I don’t know, but I work at that daycare so it really pissed me off.”
“I see.”
I take a deep breath and lower my voice so I don’t seem pissed off. “I just wish I knew who did it, you know?” I have no idea where I’m going with this, and being a sneaky spy has never been my strong point. So I think fast and come up with something that might make him tell me what he knows. “I just really want to know who did it and why, because now I’m worried that, like, someone targeted me or something.”
His eyes widen. “Why would someone target you?”
I shrug and try to look pitiful. “I don’t know, but it was kind ofmygreenhouse, so I worry that maybe someone hates me and they did it on purpose.”
He shakes his head. “No, that’s not what happened.”
My heartbeat quickens. Is this it? Is he going to tell me what he knows about his teammates? “How do you know?”
He shrugs just as the tardy bell rings. “You just seem like a nice person, so I’m sure no one did it to hurt you.”
