I know what she’s doing, but I’m not about to object. “Thanks, Abuela.”
The cookies are artfully arranged on a blue and white platter and a fresh pot of cinnamon coffee is waiting on me. I take a deep breath, sit down, and grab a cookie.
“This day sucked.”
“I know, honey. But we grow stronger from the trials we endure.”
I give her a soft smile and try really, really hard to let her words sink in and give me some kind of meaning. All I’ve felt today is shame, anger, resentment, and mostly just life-ruining mortification. I’m upset that I lost out on the new car, but most of all, I’m really embarrassed about how much I liked Mark. I let myself get this epic crush on someone who doesn’t like me at all.
The only thing to be grateful for is that I didn’t tell anyone about my crush. Now I can just wallow in my own secret shame.
The doorbell rings. I stand up quickly because we get a lot of door-to-door salespeople and Abuela is so bad at telling them we don’t want to purchase whatever they’re selling. “I got it.”
I walk over to the door, a half-eaten snickerdoodle in my hand. When I pull it open, the last person in the world I expected to see is standing there.
I stiffen. “Where’s your new truck?”
Mark’s hand twists the watch around his wrist. He meets my gaze. “I didn’t get a truck. I actually got a Jeep.”
“Right,” I say, swallowing back my rage. “Makes total sense.”
“Well—”
I cut him off with a lethal glare. “Look, I don’t know what I ever did you to, Mark. I barely even knew who you were before last month, so I don’t know why you made me such an enemy but—”
He holds up his hand. “Wait.” He sucks in air between his teeth. “I think you’ll want to hear what I have to say before you finish what you were saying.”
I fold my arms across my chest in an effort to avoid punching him right in his handsome face. My jaw is set. For some reason my lower back is hurting. I guess all the anger I feel is building up in my bones.
He takes a breath. Scratches his neck. “So, yeah. I got the Jeep. And the paperwork is at the dealership. It’s not finalized yet.”
“So why the hell are you on my porch?”
His tongue flicks across his bottom lip. “Because I came to give you a ride to the dealership. I, uh, I told them you deserve the car, not me.”
“I don’t believe a single word you say.”
He reaches into his back pocket, pulling out a long blue and white paper. He unfolds it and hands it over. I’ve never bought a car before but it looks pretty legit. It’s a bill of sale from the dealership for the red Jeep, and my name is filled out as the owner, not his. I look at the paper and then up at him.
“There’s a slight catch,” he says, scratching his neck again. “The Un-bully people lost their minds when I told them I wanted to gift the car to you. So they got their cameraman and they want it on film. I know it’s going to be cringey and awful but… the car is yours. They’re waiting for us now.” He glances at his watch. “Well, in thirty minutes.”
“Who is that at the door?” Abuela calls out.
I fold the bill of sale and take a deep breath to try to slow down the rapid beating of my heart. “Do you want to come in for cookies first?”
His nervous expression bursts into a grin. “Sure,” he says, smiling at me. “I’d love a cookie.”
Sixteen
MARK
It’s been two weeks since I gave my winning prize to Abby. Our ordinary small Texas high school has mostly returned to normal. The Un-bully people have moved on to another town and another school, and most students have long forgotten about the competition and last month when we were all extra nice to each other. The cliques are still cliquey, the jerks are still jerks, and the nice people are still nice people.
The biggest thing that’s changed is my dating life. I no longer care to flirt with girls. I only care about one girl. And we’re going on a date tonight.
This will be our second official date, but we’ve been pretty much inseparable since the day I drove her to the car dealership to get her car. Luckily, the Un-bully people didn’t keep us there too long, but they absolutely loved the twist of having me, the winner, give up my car to the girl in second place. They’re making such a big deal out of it online, and the video clip of me telling the camera why I did it has gone viral.
Ironically, they haven’t disclosed the Annabel situation online. I guess the Un-bully app people want the rest of the schools to think that their system can’t be hacked, because then their whole system of honesty and being kind to one another blows up and becomes useless.
