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Coop was annoying as hell for about five minutes on the Ian thing, then he stopped. Like I said, he went along to get along. Arguably, I had a great time playing dumb. Then the guys all decided on lunch off campus. The Wing Store it was. My mom texted about halfway through lunch to make sure I got the note and to let me know she might extend her trip through the weekend.
I sent her an acknowledgement. Other than seeing she read the message I got no other acknowledgement. Archie leaned over to see what had me staring at my phone. When he frowned, I locked the phone and changed the subject.
Thankfully, the weird didn’t extend into the rest of my afternoon. Jake and I spent study hall holding hands and adding videos to our watch later on YouTube. I had figured we would just stick to the History Buff channel, but he’d found a few other fun ones like Honest Trailers, which he swore was hilarious, and then Everything Wrong With and Everything Great About got added.
Hours of videos—we would be at it all night and neither of us could do that. Jake had just grinned. “So we just keep working our way through the list. Did your mom say tonight was okay?”
“I didn’t ask,” I admitted. “When I got up this morning, she’d left me a note that said she was going to be out of town for work. Some last-minute thing and she left in the middle of the night for an early flight.”
He wore a dubious expression, but when I moved on, so did he. Mr. G raided our time in AP European History with a practice quiz. Considering how much work we hadn’t been getting done in study hall this week, I don’t think either of us did bad. The quiz was a sample of the multiple choice from an old AP exam. I got about seventy percent correct and Jake slid in just ahead of me at seventy-one percent.
Oh. It is on. Mr. G waved us out of the room about five minutes before the bell. The head start would be nice, even if I had to give Coop a ride home. “I’m going to walk you to your car,” Jake said, catching my hand.
“That’s nowhere near the stadium. Don’t you have practice?”
He shrugged. “I don’t mind. Practice doesn’t officially start for another twenty-five minutes.” Squeezing my hand light, he winked. “Plenty of time to walk you to the car.”
“You’re a dork,” I said, but I couldn’t help smiling. Jake could be hotheaded and impulsive, but he was also sweet and thoughtful.
“Well, since this dork is bringing you pizza, any special requests?”
“Pineapple?”
He laughed. “You always want pineapple.”
“And you always ask.”
“Fair.”
Even with the head start, we didn’t hurry. Some time between lunch and now, posters announcing Homecoming Tickets would be going on sale Friday for Seniors only. Other classes would be allowed to purchase tickets beginning the following week.
“Fire and Ice.”
“Yep,” Jake said. “Still going with Bubba?”
“Yes,” I told him. “He asked first.”
“Technically, he hasn’t asked yet. You could get a second ask.”
I frowned, but before I could say anything, the bell rang and the hallways flooded. Jake kept me close as we headed out. As we got away from one of the thicker groupings, I said. “Don’t do that, please?”
“Don’t do what?” Jake glanced at me.
“Don’t ask me when you know Ian is going to.”
The corner of his eye twitched when I said Ian. “Okay,” he said easily enough. “But, I reserve the right to ask you to danceatHomecoming.”
“That’s fair.” Relieved, I wasn’t prepared for the three roses sitting propped on the hood of my car. Orange ones this time and they were gorgeous.
Ian stared at them, but the note tied to them didn’t look like it had been opened.
As we descended the steps, Ian glanced at me and grinned. “Hey, Frankie, looks like your secret admirer is back.”
“I see that.” Okay, the first two sets of roses had been awesome, but… I didn’t get it. Jake had been with me for all of the last period. Sure, he could have dropped them off during 6thbut, as with the last two days, the vase was cool to the touch. Coop slammed out the door behind us, panting.
“Sorry! Had to swing by my locker.”
Letting go of Jake’s hand, I rescued the roses after I unlocked my car. Jake didn’t drift away. In fact, he shoulder-checked Ian to catch my backpack for me.
