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But I didn’t have to worry about it for much longer. Battlescar13’s username lit up at that moment, sending a jolt of fear through me.
“Look, he’s on.” I leaned closer to the monitor, pushing off the sudden desire to throw up. “What do I do? Tell me what to do.”
“Be calm.” Charlotte put a hand on my shoulder. “Wait until he says something first.”
I nodded numbly. She was right. There was no use rushing into this situation. Better to let Gabriel take the lead. Just like he had the other day when he’d kissed me.
Pressing my knuckles to my lips, I grimaced into my fist. Miracle of miracles, somehow today I’d managed to avoid Gabriel at school. Tomorrow, I wouldn’t be so lucky. We had anatomy class together. For the first time in a long time, I was seriously considering playing hooky. Or maybe even dropping out altogether. Maybe I could convince my parents that getting my GED early would be the way to go. At least it would save me from all of this embarrassment.
Battlescar13: Hey partner — what’s shaking? Ready to rock this thing?
I stared hard at Gabriel’s casual greeting. Lexi and Charlotte had pretty much convinced me yesterday that there was no way Gabriel could know this was me. At the same time, I couldn’t help but wonder how our dialogue would’ve been different if he’d known there was a girl on the other end. Would we have gotten so comfortable with each other over the past few months? Would I have ever gotten to the know the real him?
“I got this,” Lexi said, sliding off the desk and forcing my rolling desk chair out of the way. I watched helplessly as she typed out a response.
CurrerBFighting: Not much. Just having some girl problems, lately.
Had to shake that off before the big battle.
She sent them before I could protest.
“Wait!” I rolled my chair closer, my eyes running over the words she’d typed. “Don’t you think that’s too obvious? He’s going to see right through it.”
Sitting back on her heels, she gave a satisfied smack of her lips. “Nope. It’s the perfect opening. Now, we’ll be able to ask him anything. You’ll see.”
We all waited several agonizingly long seconds before a new message appeared on the screen. I was pretty sure I was going to chew my nails down to nubs. Leaning closer, I squinted at his message.
Battlescar13: Man, I hear you. Same problems here.
My heart jerked in my chest. So he admitted to having issues. Was that about me? What problems was he talking about?
“Take it easy, B.” Charlotte pulled my hand away from my mouth and frowned at my ragged nail. “You’re making me even more nervous.”
“Sorry.” I pulled my cap a little tighter over my ears and tried to lean back casually in my chair.
“See, what did I tell you?” Lexi grinned at the screen, flexed her fingers, and then typed again. “Master manipulator right here. We’ll get the story out, whether he likes it or not.”
I tried not to glare at the back of her perfectly curled hair as she typed in a reply to my battle partner.
CurrerBFighting: You got a girl? What she like?
This time, we didn’t have to wait as long for a reply, which was a balm to my ready-to-explode heart.
Battlescar13: She’s sexy. And crazy smart. And definitely not my girl.
Charlotte and Lexi both let out some whoops and hollers as they prodded me in the sides. I twisted my lips to one side, unconvinced by his answer.
“He could be talking about anyone,” I said, pointing at the screen. “You don’t know that’s about me.”
“Right.” Lexi rolled her eyes. “Because that description doesn’t fit you perfectly.”
Maybe the smart bit was on key, but sexy? Not in a million years. He had to be talking about someone else. I gave her a dry stare. She huffed and went back to the keyboard to reply.
CurrerBFighting: Why haven’t you snapped her up?
The pressure was starting to get to me. I hopped out of the chair and paced my floor, until the dinging of an incoming message had me rushing back to view the screen between Charlotte and Lexi’s heads.
Battlescar13: Well...we kissed on Saturday.
