I shrug. “All my friends are boys.”
“In that case, could we join you at the cafe after school?” Christie asks. “Would you mind?”
I smile at her and feel my nervousness washing away. “Not at all. You guys should come.”
“Meet us at the limo and we’ll go together,” Ash says.
My chest constricts and I cough roughly. “Your limo?”
“Yeah,” Ash says. “We may as well go together.”
I look at Milo. He chews his lip and then shrugs.
“Jamie West and limo should never be in the same sentence,” I say.
“I know how you feel,” Christie says. “Going to school in a limo instead of a bus attracts a huge spotlight.”
“Aren’t you used to it?” I ask her.
She purses her lips and gives a slight shake of the head.
“We gotta go with them,” Milo says. “Imagine how jealous Kai would be.”
Something gnaws at my stomach. Kai told me he wouldn’t drive Milo and me to the cafe because Tabitha wants a skateboard lesson. I’d pay to watch her fall on her butt. However, the more important takeaway is that Kai is ditching me for her again. Not cool.
I turn to Ash and smile. “Kai still brags about being online playing Shadow Quest at the same time as you.”
“Oh, really?” Ash says, obviously having no recollection of it.
I nod, grinning. “He tried to recreate it so many times that soon, me and the guys started saying he made the whole thing up.”
Ash shrugs. “I barely play that game.”
The thought of texting Kai with a photo from inside the limo is too enticing to give up. “Okay, I’m in.”
Eleven
“Hey,wereyouokayearlier?” Milo asks.
I shut my locker and give him a peculiar look. “What are you talking about?”
“With Christie and Ash,” Milo elaborates. “You seemed a bit off, especially when you were talking with Christie.”
My cheeks flush, and my stomach sloshes.
“Do you have a problem with her?” he asks.
I shake my head. “No, I don’t know her.”
“You just usually seem so cool and confident,” Milo says. “I’ve never seen you act so nervous.”
“It was nothing,” I brush it off. “I guess I wasn’t expecting to see them.”
Milo nods reluctantly. “Yeah, okay.”
Has he really never seen me splutter and stutter around other girls? Oh boy, it’d be a relief to know I’m not as obvious as I feel.
Milo and I walk the halls, pass through the foyer, and down the steps out of the school building. Before us, a limo sits idle. The back door is open and Milo beckons me to follow. My stomach sloshes again as Milo enters the limo.
