Page 23 of Playing with the Heartbreaker

Charlotte’s blond eyebrows tick up. “But breakfast afterward totally might be.” She tosses another piece into her mouth and smirks.

“When are you supposed to meet?” Anita asks, settling into a barstool and stealing the popcorn from Charlotte. She munches a handful.

“Monday. Although he didn’t exactly seem happy to see me at the bonfire.”

Charlotte dismisses that concern with a wave of her hand. “He said something came up. He was clearly already on his way out when you got there. So, whatever it was couldn’t have had anything to do with you. What are you going to wear?”

“Soccer clothes, obviously.”

“At least tuck your shirt in,” Charlotte says. “And braid your hair or something. French braids keep your hair out of your face and look cute.”

“I don’t remember asking for a makeover.”

“Who’s getting a makeover?” Anita’s twin brother, Kyle, enters the kitchen and tosses his pre-calculus book on the island.

“Hi, Kyle,” Charlotte says.

“Charlotte. Chloe.” He nods to each of us and reaches for the popcorn.

Anita slaps his hand. “Get your own, oaf.”

“Ow, hey! Remember that time I rescued you when you got yourself locked in the library after hours?”

Anita scowls. “That was not my fault.”

He shrugs. “Still. You called, and I came to help.”

“Fine. One handful. There’s, like, sixty bags in the pantry. Mom went bulk this week.”

Kyle flashes a taunting smile as he grabs two handfuls, just to spite her. “You getting made over for your date with Rhoads Simpson?” He raises an eyebrow at me.

“Kyle. No,” Anita says.

“Anita, I spent two whole years subjected to the Chloe-Graham saga. I feel like I lived and breathed it. Gossip is like a drug, you know. And you’re responsible for getting me hooked.” He shoves a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

“You only know anything because you eavesdropped. Didn’t you have anything better to do than listen to your sister’s friends’ drama?” She challenges with a glare.

He shrugs and turns his attention back to me, not flustered in the slightest. “So?”

“Who told you about Chloe and Rhoads?” Charlotte asks.

“It’s not a date,” I say, though nobody pays me any attention.

Kyle smiles. “The grapevine, sis. I heard it through the grapevine. And those vines are twisted.” He winks at me and snatches the bowl of popcorn.

I exchange a look with Charlotte and Anita. “And by grapevine you mean Shenna James.”

He shrugs again. “I have last period Chemistry with her. She saw you and Simpson chatting in the music hall.”

I fold my arms. “Since when does talking with a person mean there’s something going on? If that’s the bar, Rhoads is dating half the school. Shenna must be starved for gossip if this is her juiciest offering.” But it will pass soon. Someone else will do something more interesting than talking to a hot guy. Will he still want to train with me if people start talking?

“It’s about the look, Chloe. The body language. Those moon-eyed glances,” Kyle says.

My hair might have ignited if someone looked at me the way he was looking at you in class. He was captivated.

Warmth creeps up my neck at remembering the spark in his eye as he teased me.

I shake Anita’s words away. Rhoads wasn’t looking at me any differently than any other girl at school.