“So then why do you still look like someone beat you in the five-hundred-yard Freestyle?”
I let out a short laugh because she knew that was my event. I never lost. But then the school came into view, and the dilemma in front of me reared up all over again.
“He wants me to play hooky,” I said.
The silence was too much. I looked over to see Emma gaping at me.
“I know, right?” I shook my head. “He’s nuts.”
Her grin was sudden and beaming. “He’s genius.”
“What?”
She shifted. “He challenged you, didn’t he?”
“I...what? He’s crazy, Em. I’m not doing it. Obviously.”
“Obviously.” Her voice was too mild. Her tone filled with amusement. “Do you have any tests today? Any pressing assignments?”
“No, but—”
“And are you or are you not three seconds away from getting a full-ride scholarship to the college of your dreams?”
I bit my lip. It wasn’t official yet, but...the odds were good. In fact, I already had an offer from my backup school so I was feeling very confident that this time next year I’d be swimming for a college team of my choosing.
“So what’s the harm?”
“What’s the harm?” I repeated with all the horror I felt.
“Let’s look at it this way,” she said. “You always go after what you want, right? You don’t take no for an answer, you work hard until you get it, you—”
“I get the point, Em.”
She leaned forward, her short black curls bobbing around her face as her eyes widened in earnest. “So put that single-minded focus into getting Justin to like you.”
“That’s not the same thing—”
“Isn’t it?” Her voice was all frenzied with excitement. Emma was excitable like that, and when she got fixated on something, she never let go. “Think about it. You want Justin to be your date for homecoming this weekend, right?”
I shot her a look because...obviously. He didn’t have a date yet, and I’d much rather have a date than go stag with my friends and watch him from the sidelines.
She knew this.
“So do what you need to do to make it happen.”
“Besides...I bet Will doesn’t think you’ll do it,” she said.
I pictured Will’s teasing grin, that wicked light in his eyes, and I frowned at the road. She was right. He didn’t think I would.
I gripped the steering wheel harder as I pulled into the school’s parking lot.
“So?” she said as I parked.
I turned off the engine and turned to face her. “Take notes for me in Biology.”
She tipped her head back with a whooping noise as I got out of the car.
8
Will
I knew she’d come.
She couldn’t resist a challenge. Hint that she wasn’t brave enough, and she’d leap in headfirst, fists clenched and ready for battle.
I knew it, but I was still grinning like an idiot when I saw her waiting by the door like I’d instructed.
“Excuse me,” I said as I strolled up. The school’s exterior was deserted because the first bell had just rung, and everyone was scurrying to their classrooms.
Hazel was fidgeting, her features tense, and her expression anything but happy.
That was fine. I hadn’t expected her to be loving this plan.
But the challenge was part of the fun.
“You ready?” I asked.
She exhaled loudly. “Do we really have to do this?”
I didn’t stop until I was close enough to see the terror hiding there in her eyes. “I’m afraid it’s necessary.”
I snagged her bag from her and led the way to where I’d parked. “Let’s do this, Hazey May.”
“It’s really not necessary, though,” she said. She’d hate it if she knew I could hear her fear, so I didn’t call it out. “I could pretend to be having fun anywhere...and after school lets out.”
“Yes, but you see, that’s not the point.”
She had to scramble to keep up with me because I was moving fast. Give this girl any chance to back out, and she’d take it. I had to get her away from this school before she could change her mind.
“What do you mean, that’s not the point?”
I stopped next to my car, and she bumped into me. “The point is not to pretend to have fun. The point is...to have fun.”
She stared at me blankly.
“I know,” I said. “Shocking suggestion, right?” I pretended to be confused. “Actually having fun? Who would even think it?”
“You think playing hooky is fun?”
“Not necessarily,” I said, opening the passenger side for her when it became clear she wasn’t making a move to get in the car on her own. “But a day at the lake sounds pretty nice.”
“Lake? What lake?”
I was grinning as I came around to the driver’s side, and I ignored her questions and protests. “Look around you, Hazel,” I said instead.
“What?” She was still staring at me even as I pulled out of the lot and into traffic.
“Look around you. We have unseasonably warm weather going on, considering it’s the fall. We might as well take advantage, right?”
She blinked at me, and I knew she couldn’t argue. It felt like summer outside, and it wouldn’t last for long.
“But...a lake?” she asked. “Where is there a lake?”
I pointed ahead of us. “Mountains. Lakes. Have you never left this town before? I should tell you that if you keep heading that way—” I pointed east. “You’re gonna hit this big body of water kids these days call the ocean.”
Her look said she was unamused.
Her twitching lips said otherwise.
I grinned at her and then turned back to the road.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked.
I’d expected this question, of course. The problem was, I still had no idea how to answer it. How could I explain it to her when I couldn’t even answer that for myself?
I’d told myself after I saw her and Justin that I’d let it go. I didn’t care that much. I mean, sure, I found the girl fascinating, and yeah, maybe I was attracted to her, but it wasn’t like this was love at first sight or something.
It wasn’t like I couldn’t live without her.
I’d told myself I wouldn’t try that hard, I mean a guy had his pride—and then I’d found myself packing a picnic and….
My pride was nowhere to be found.
A picnic? Who packed a picnic?
She was still waiting, and I should have known better if I thought she might drop it. “You already helped me out, and you’re not getting anything in return so I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”
“I liked how the photos came out,” I said, fidgeting under her watchful stare.
It was the closest I could come to admitting the truth. Besides, it wasn’t a lie. Those pictures were amazing. Maybe my best work yet.
“So you’re just...you’re doing this for the photos?” she asked, shifting in her seat to watch me better.