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“She wants someone who’s going to go above and beyond to declare their interest in her,” I said, more to myself than anyone else. “She said so herself, and Luca’s got a giant head start.”
“So we’ll come up with something.” Scarlett’s lips pressed into a flat line of determination.
“But if I’m trying to win her over and Luca’s trying to win her over, won’t she just choose him? I mean, I’m not trying to be negative. I have no problem with who I am, but I’m a realist. I realize Luca is far more her type and a lot better looking—”
“Hey!” Penelope grabbed my face, squeezing my cheeks between both hands. “Defeat is not the answer. Look at me.” She pointed two fingers to her eyes as if I had a choice to look elsewhere. “If I hadn’t put myself out there and believed I was worthy of Topher, we never would’ve fallen for each other.”
“Didn’t you kind of catfish him?” I mumbled between my pancake cheeks.
“That’s neither here nor there.” Penelope waved me off. “Besides, he fell for both me and fake me, so it doesn’t count.”
I frowned as Penelope released me.
“So when you go into chemistry class, what are you gonna do?” Scarlett asked.
“Talk to her.”
“Okay, talking is good,” Scarlett said. “Try saying something to make her laugh and ask her about herself. Girls like it when you show an interest in them.”
“Okay.” I nodded, wondering if I should write this down, take notes, because I was epically bad at talking to girls.
“And act confident,” Penelope said.
I stifled a grimace. Confidence was not my strong suit either.
“Yeah,” Scarlett agreed. “Don’t let her see that you think you’re not good enough. In the meantime, start taking mental notes of her interests, any little tidbits we can use.”
“We?” I asked.
“Let’s face it. You need our help,” Penelope said.
She had a point.
The warning bell rang, my cue to leave, so I hooked a thumb behind me. “Gotta get going.”
“Good luck.” Scarlett flashed me a thumbs-up and a hopeful smile before I turned and headed for first period where I hurried inside, expecting to see Ella sitting with Luca. Only, I didn’t. Instead, she sat in the spot next to mine.
Encouraged, I took a deep breath, ducked my head, and hurried to my seat while my mind raced for the reason she’d choose to sit beside me and not with him, hoping it was a good sign. The first fifteen minutes of class passed quickly while Mr. Gray reviewed the material to be covered on our exam next week, all while I stole side glances of Ella and wondered what it would be like to run my fingers through her golden locks. They were pulled into a ponytail, and when she bent her head over her notebook to take notes, a silky strand escaped and fell into her eyes.
A few minutes later, Mr. Gray handed out review packets. When he told us we could pair up to work on them, much to my surprise, she beat me to the punch. “Wanna work together?” she asked.
“Yeah.” I smiled at the same time Luca appeared beside her desk, notebook in hand.
“Oh. I’m sorry,” Ella said, wincing. “I already promised Barry.”
Luca’s eyes widened the slightest bit, and I wondered briefly what it must feel like to be passed over for “the nerd.” Had I not been paying attention, I may have missed the brief flash of surprise in his features. Still, I had to hand it to him. Being a Royal meant never losing your cool, and true to form, he simply shrugged like it was no big deal even though the muscle flickering in his jaw told me otherwise.
He caught my eye, hesitating, but instead of anger, all I saw was confusion in the big blue eyes all the girls seemed to fall in love with. “Maybe we can grab a coffee after school?”
The corners of Ella’s mouth curled. “Sure thing.”
I grumbled inwardly, stifling a moan of desperation because he stole my line. And my date.Iwas the one who was supposed to ask her for coffee.
“Okay, great.” Luca rapped his knuckles on the desk, seemingly happy with his win, before he slowly drifted back to his seat.
Once he was gone, she tapped her pencil on the table and avoided my gaze as she asked, “So, what did you think of Mia?”
I opened my mouth to speak, to tell her I had zero interest in her sister, but I feared how I might come off. Instead, I went with a neutral “she seemed nice.”
