And it came to mind at the most inopportune times, fully distracting me.
Unfortunately, Blake was not similarly afflicted by the sight ofmyface.
His easy, affectionate,love-ya-like-a-sistergrin told me that, especially as he waved a hand over my body, clearly unaffected. “Thisis safe from the football players now. You’re welcome,Addie Bo Baddie.” He huffed a laugh. “Strong, independent woman.”
With one last smirk, he stepped around me and left the room, confident that he’d just protected me from the most dangerous boys in school because he had no idea that, to me—my heart and my sanity on school grounds—hewas lethal.
As I stepped farther into my homeroom, I groaned.
My classmates stared at me, awe on most of their faces, no doubt wondering how I’d gotten Blake, the Teen Wonder, to talk to me like that.With a huff, I stomped to my seat, cursing the day he’d been bumped up to Varsity as a sophomore.
My only saving grace was that Blake ran in a different circle than I did. While he was charismatic and playful, making friends with everyone, I was diligent in my studies and limited my social circle to fellow artists.
My best friend, Tessa St. Clair, nudged me as I sat beside her. “What was that about?”
I pulled out my planner and opened it. “Nothing.”
“Didn’t look like nothing.” She shrugged, fully aware of my feelings for Blake and sworn to secrecy.
When Blake’s popularity had skyrocketed, girls came out of the woodwork to chase him. I’d gotten a bunch of fake friend offers from those eager enough to go through me to get to him.
Since I didn’t broadcast that Blake had grown up as part of my family, people only noticed our connection if he talked to me at school.
Which was why I’d strictly forbidden it.
Because if they knew the truth, they wouldn’t waste their time.
Tessa cleared her throat, and my eyebrows pinched as I eyed from my seat.
Her bright red curls bounced as she glanced between me and the door twice, like she expected Blake to rush back in and declare his undying love for me.
“He was just helping me get away from Owen Anderson.”
“Mmhmm.”
I rolled my eyes. “You know better than anyone it’s not like that, Tessa.”
I wasn’t sure if that reminder was for her or myself.
While Adam was as aloof and distracted as he’d been since elementary school, and Blake didn’t see how his attention affected me at all, Tessa swore she saw things no one else could.
She smirked. “If you say so.”
“Oh, shut up.” I brushed off her teasing as I copied Mr. Edison’s daily quote on the new page in my planner, reading it aloud as I wrote, “Home is where the heart is…”
Tessa snorted.
I shot her a look. “Is he for real?”
Her gray eyes sparkled with mischief. “Sounds accurate to me.” She shrugged. “Blake practically lives at your house, doesn’t he?”
I shushed her, glancing around to make sure no one had heard. “Keep your voice down!”
The attention Blake gave me was nowhere near the kind that other girls wanted from him. I’d lamented my annoying, unrequited crush on him over many-a-wasted diary page before resigning myself to the truth.
But the high school rumor mill churned out gossip like butter, and short of stitching a red X over my heart for his lack of attraction to me, they’d take any hint of heat and spread it like wildfire. All while the truth remained painfully obvious to me.
Blake Hawthorne saw me as his best friend’s annoying twin sister. He’d never see me as anything more.
