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“Yes what?” I asked, needing to hear the words.
“Yes, I’ll go with you.”
“You’ll go to homecoming with me?”
“Yeah,” she chuckled nervously. “But fair warning. My mom’s going to want to meet you before she lets me go out with you. She’s kind of strict.”
“I can live with that,” I said as a shit-eating grin spread across my face. “What about the game?”
“I’ll talk to Liss and let you know. I’m not going without her. I just…it’s a long story, but I don’t want to be alone there. But since her boyfriend’s on the team, I think the odds are pretty good.”
I walked over to her and wrapped one arm around her shoulders. A spark of electricity raced all the way through me just at the simple contact with her, and I couldn’t help the quiet gasp I emitted.
What the hell? Why had I just had such a visceral reaction to half of a hug? I’d never been a touchy-feely kind of guy, but I couldn’t deny how I felt right now. And I couldn’t deny how ecstatic I was that she’d agreed to not just come to the dance with me, but to ask her friend about coming to the game too.
“Okay,” I said. “I hope you come.”
“Why do you want me to come to one of your games so badly?” she asked me.
“I can’t exactly score a touchdown for you if you’re not there, can I?” I chuckled, winking at her.
Kyler turned bright red, and it made me laugh. It was so easy to embarrass her. But I kind of liked that about her. She was gorgeous, but she didn’t see it. And she didn’t act like the world owed her anything because of it.
Maybe that was why I wanted to give her so much. Namely the confidence she didn’t have in herself.
* * *
Braden made a beeline for me when he walked into third period Chemistry class.
“So you did it. You asked Kyler to homecoming,” he said without so much as a hello as he slid into the seat next to me.
“Good news travels fast,” I muttered. “Who told you?”
“Does it matter?”
“No. But if you pullanyof the shit you pulled this morning when we get to that dance, you and I are done. Got it?”
He nodded. “About that. I’m sorry. I was being a dick. I don’t even have a good excuse.”
“Apology accepted,” I sighed.
“Fair warning, though. You’re going to have to watch your back with Taylor now. Apparently she’shis.”
Sure, she was…not. Based on what I could see, Kyler couldn’t fucking stand Max Taylor. Or any of the other people on our football team. Not that I blamed her, since they made her life miserable.
And regardless of any of that, Ihatedguys talking like they owned girls. This wasn’t the fucking eighteen-hundreds.
“She’s not his property,” I gritted out. “Or mine, or anyone else’s. She’s a human being, not a fucking possession.”
“Chill out, man,” Braden said, throwing his hands up in surrender. “I was just telling you what Taylor said.”
“Well, he can kiss my ass,” I muttered. “It’s none of his damn business who I date.”
“You must have a death wish, man,” he chuckled humorlessly. “You realize this isMax Taylorwe’re talking about, right?”
“I don’t give a fuck if we’re talking about the President of the United States,” I insisted. “It doesn’t excuse him being a bully. But can you humor the new guy and tell me what the actual fuck happened? How this shit got started? Because for the life of me, I can’t figure it out.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know much. All I know is that after homecoming in sophomore year, she went from being one of the semi-popular people, kind of like the popular kids’ token smart friend, to being an outcast. She was at the post-homecoming party that Max was throwing that Saturday night, and by Monday, everyone was talking trash about her, and it seemed like Max, Tucker, and Drew were the ones starting it all. I don’t know what the fuck happened, and they blew me off when I asked. It’s even worse online. I know she’s made her profiles super private and taken herself off of some social media altogether, but it’s not stopping people. Seriously, people have made whole pages just dedicatedto talking shit about her online because they can’t get to her actual profile anymore.”
