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“No phones,” he said. “It’s time for class.”

I’d never heard him so stern before. But I’d be stern too if my face was as swollen as his.

“How am I supposed to show him my tasteful picture if I can’t have my phone out?” Sophie whispered.

A few other people were whispering too. Probably about the state of Mr. Halifax’s face.

“Miss Hunter,” Mr. Halifax said firmly, ignoring everyone else whispering. “Are you planning on speaking during my whole class?”

Sophie smiled and shook her head.

Mr. Halifax turned to the board.

She seemed pleased that he’d singled her out. She winked at me. “He’s obsessed,” she mouthed silently at me.

No, I was pretty sure he was just pissed at both of us because of what had gone down at homecoming. Sophie was being a bit delusional.

I tried to pay attention to what Mr. Halifax was saying. I truly did. But I’d somehow gotten super behind in calc. And trying to figure out what to say to the kiss thief was very distracting. Everything I thought of just sounded harsh. And I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. I’d really enjoyed getting to know him. I frowned. But had I really gotten to know him? I didn’t even know his name.

I made sure Mr. Halifax wasn’t looking and pulled my phone back out. I slid on my glasses and sent RJ a text asking him to tell me who the kiss thief was. I took off my glasses and put them back in my pocket.

RJ responded right away even though he was in class too: “Just wait for it, baby doll.”

I was going to kill him. I was dying to know who it was. And yet...did it really matter? I was starting to think ghosting my kiss thief was the best move.

Mr. Halifax kept droning on about derivates.

I stared at my phone beneath my desk. I’d gotten a notification about the soup being delivered. And yet...Axel hadn’t said anything. He usually thanked me right away. Or at least acknowledged that the soup had arrived. How sick was he exactly? Maybe Aunt Hails had to stay home with him and she’d answered the door instead? But he’d have to be pretty ill for that to be the case...

“Pst,” Sophie said.

I looked up to see Mr. Halifax walking down the aisle toward me.

Shit. I slid my phone under my thigh. Fortunately he was handing out the grades and didn’t see me on my phone.

And even though Sophie had warned me to put my phone away, she pulled hers out.

“Sophie,” I whispered. “Don’t do it.”

She ignored me. And I assumed she pulled up the picture of her bashful nipple or whatever the hell she’d called it. She placed her phone on her desk, not trying to be subtle at all.

I would have hit it onto the floor, but Mr. Halifax had just stepped between us.

This was going to be a disaster.

Mr. Halifax handed me my quiz. “Great job on this one, Miss Hunter. This should help bring your grade back up a bit. Keep it up.”

What? There was no way I’d done well on that quiz... I turned it over and stared at the 97 at the top of the first page. A 97? I’d seriously gotten an A? But as I stared down at just the first page of red ink correcting the problems, I knew there was no way. I’d probably gotten a C at the very best. And yet that 97 was staring back at me. Why had he given me a grade I didn’t deserve?

“Miss Hunter, what did I say about phones during class?”

“I’m sorry, sir,” Sophie said. “Sometimes I need a proper scolding for it to get through my head.” She bit her lip.

Jesus, Soph.

“That’s it. I’m confiscating this until the end of the day.” He grabbed it from her desk.

Wait. Had he seen what was on it? Was he taking it because he wanted to look at that picture?