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“What’sthatsupposed to mean?” I demanded aloud. “What doesHunt4Bulldogslook like?”
“Probably a football player,” Alex replied, reaching out and scrolling through the comments. “Bulldogs? That’s Jefferson’s mascot.”
This time, I did jerk my phone back, scowling. “I know that.”
“Good morning, you two.”
I lifted my head to find Reed standing before us, bag hanging loosely. He wore a Bobcat graphic tee that they sold at the school spirit shop, two sizes bigger than he really needed. It swallowed his frame, obscuring all the muscles I’d had a front-row seat to last night.
My brain liked to test its recall, because for a split second, all it did was conjure the image of Reed shirtless.Not now!
Looking at Reed, there was absolutely no indication that we’d made out last night. Not in the glint of his eyes, not in the tilt of his lips. It was almost as if the kiss hadn’t happened. As if the hand lazily slung off his backpack strap hadn’t threaded through my hair last night.
Don’t think about it.
“Wow, hey, Reed,” Alex greeted happily, literally getting stars in his eyes. “What are you doing over here?”
Reed gestured at me with one finger, sending a flurry of exclamation points down my spine. “My locker. I need my history book.”
Right. Right. I edged away from Rachel’s locker, which was next to Reed’s.
I had the urge to stare at his profile like a creeper while also running away like a little girl. Once Rachel had led me to her room, I’d laid in my sleeping bag with hyperawareness, but I couldn’t hear him tiptoe his way to his room. Which was saying something, because he usually walked like he was trying to knock a floorboard loose. I’d avoided him this morning, but maybe I didn’t have to. Here he was, going back to pretending I didn’t exist like he did since I became friends with Rachel.
It had me second-guessing my sanity a little. The kiss…ithadhappened, right?
Reed didn’t glance up as he asked, “How are you doing this morning?”
“Ava’s upset that people are posting about her on her blog,” Alex crudely filled in for Reed. “It’s karma, Ava. It was bound to come and bite you sometime.”
“People are posting about you?” Reed asked while shuffling through his locker. For the second week of school, his metal box was already a pigsty, with pieces of notebook paper along the bottom. “What are they saying?”
Alex opened his mouth to reply for me, but I cut him off. “I can handle online criticism. If I couldn’t, I wouldn’t have started Babble.”
“Don’t let them get to you, Paparazzi.” Reed looked me in the eye as he shut his locker door. It wasn’t the first time in the whole interaction, because apparently eye contact was easy-peasy for him after such a personal encounter, but it was the first time I didn’t look away. “You’ll have your first kiss eventually.”
The words were a joke and only the two of us knew the punchline. It grated against my skin.
“I don’t want to rush it,” I said, even though my brain yelled at me to keep my mouth shut. “I think I’d regret it if I rushed it.”
He still wore his easygoing expression, but his eyes narrowed ever so slightly. He cut a quick glance to Alex, who was looking up at Reed like a little fangirling puppy.
“Move, move, move,” Rachel huffed as she rushed up to her locker, fumbling for the combination. Her high-end boots slipped a little as she came to a halt. “I didn’t realize how late it was.”
Alex watched as Maisie trailed behind at more of a languid pace. “You have five minutes.”
“Yeah, butsomebody—” Rachel shot me a look, and then shifted it to Reed. “Didn’t wake me up this morning.Andhe left without me. My whole schedule is off.”
“Not my fault if you didn’t set your alarm,” Reed replied, reaching out and rubbing the crown of her head, messing up her hair. “I figured you were taking one of your mental health days.”
“The second week of school? Mom would kill me, and you know it.”
Reed raised his eyebrows at me in an expectant way that had me freezing. “If you want someone to blame, blame Ava. She didn’t wake you up either.”
I started blinking seventy times a minute. “I—I went home early. At, like…five. Too early to wake you up.”
“Dang.” Maisie gave me a sympathetic frown. “Five in the morning? That’s early for you.”
Yeah, well, I didn’t get much sleep, anyway. Apparently kissing your best friend’s brother worsens your insomnia.“Uh-huh.”
