grinned, leaning down to kiss her.
“Ohmigod, you guys are so cute!” Ashley Stannic said, jumping in line behind us to grab a hot dog. “I’m totally writing about those shirts in my column tonight.”
“Thanks!” Sam said, beaming.
“Have you seen Connor Crane?” I asked Ashley.
She nodded, her bangs bobbing up and down. “Over by the locker room. He was signing autographs for freshmen.”
I thanked her and left Sam and Kyle to find us seats inside while I tracked down the quarterback.
As I slowly made my way through the crowd, I spied Chase sipping a Pepsi near the entrance to the stadium. I almost called out to him to enlist his help in interrogating Connor, but I paused. Chase was not alone. Someone was with him.
A girl someone.
An odd sensation fluttered in my belly as I took in his companion. She was tall, almost as tall as Chase, with dark hair that hung in long, loose waves like in a Pantene commercial. She was showing off her slim figure in a pair of tight, layered gray T-shirts and super skinny jeans that instantly made me aware of how bright and bulky my sweater was. I didn’t recognize her from school, and she looked older… maybe college age? Which shouldn’t have been that surprising, I guess, since Chase was a senior. It made sense he’d go for someone who was more mature.
Miss Perfect leaned in close to Chase, grabbing his arm and whispering something in his ear. Chase grinned, bursting into laughter at their inside joke.
That fluttering settled into a brick in the pit of my stomach, weighing me down so badly I couldn’t raise my arm to wave at him.
Chase had a girlfriend. I felt colossally stupid for ever thinking that our mutual investigating had anything to do with going out together. Clearly Chase was already going out… with someone else.
I shook my head, telling myself I didn’t care. Chase and I were not an item; we were nothing. We were one kiss, one time. I had no reason to feel jealous. I didn’t feel jealous. I was fine. Totally fine with Chase being fine with his fine college girlfriend.
I quickly turned around and all but sprinted in the opposite direction before Chase could see me and my fineness.
So quickly that I almost knocked into Connor as he exited the locker room in front of me.
“Whoa. Dude,” he said, his helmet dangling from his hand.
“Sorry.”
“Ashley texted that you were looking for me?” he asked.
I was? I paused, willing my heart to slow down. Right. I was.
“Right. I was.” I cleared my throat, willing my head to focus on anything but the image of Chase’s beautiful accessory. “I talked to Jenni today,” I finally managed.
He gave me a frown. “Why?”
If that was a subtle jab at my social standing, I decided to ignore it. (I was getting to be an expert at this ostrich thing.)
“She told me you’ve been studying with Val Michaels,” I said instead.
Connor cocked his head at me. “Yeah. So what?”
“How did Sydney feel about that?”
He shrugged. “I dunno. Why?”
“Well, it’s just that I know how these late-night study sessions can go. I’m not sure I’d be cool with my boyfriend engaging in them. At least not after what happened with Quinn.” I gave him a pointed look.
He chewed on the inside of his cheek. “Hey, that was a one-time thing. Totally a mistake. And Quinn started it.”
“But Sydney wasn’t very happy about it.”
More cheek biting. “No.”
“And then you broke up with her to win homecoming with Jenni.”
“I told you, she was cool with that.”
“How cool was she with you and Val studying together?”
“I dunno.” He shifted his helmet to the other hand.
“I mean was she upset? Angry? Sad?”
He shrugged. “She was… you know… not happy, I guess. But she understood.”
“That’s a pretty understanding girlfriend,” I observed. “You sure she wasn’t upset? That maybe you two had an argument? One that might have gotten out of hand and someone was, say, pushed into a pool over it?”
“Dude, you are way off,” Connor said. Though he shifted his helmet to the other hand again, looking distinctly uncomfortable.
“Where were you three nights ago?” I asked, switching gears.
“Why?”
“Nicky Williams was attacked. Most likely by the same person that killed Sydney.”
Connor’s eyes narrowed. “I had nothing to do with Nicky getting hit. I don’t even know Nicky.”
“And Sydney?” I pressed.
His front teeth munched down on his lower lip, his eyes hitting the ground. “Look. You want to know the truth? Fine. It was my fault, okay?”
“What was your fault?” I asked, leaning in.
“I killed Sydney.”
I froze, the sudden confession stunning me. “Wait-you admit you killed her?” Surely it couldn’t be this easy, could it?
Connor nodded, still staring at the ground. “She couldn’t take seeing me with Jenni. Not after what happened with Quinn. I told her it didn’t mean anything, but then when she found out I was studying with Val? Well, that must have pushed her over the edge.”
I narrowed my eyes. “‘Pushed her over the edge?’”
He looked up, genuine regret filling his eyes. “Why else would she kill herself?”
I blinked at him. “You said you killed her because you think she killed herself over you?”
He nodded.
Mental face palm. Suddenly I wasn’t sure there was enough room on the campus for both me and his ego.
On the other hand, Connor looked like he sincerely thought Sydney had killed herself over him. In fact, this was the most sincere emotion I thought I’d ever seen from him.
Which meant my number one suspect just plummeted to the bottom of my list.
I left Connor, contemplating this cheery thought as I trudged back toward the stadium. The game was about to start, but my heart just wasn’t into watching it. I was depressed. Depressed for Sydney who had not only been dumped by the vainest guy in the world but also killed by some schmuck. And depressed that I was no closer to finding out who that schmuck was. It didn’t seem fair.
I wandered past the main entrance gate, out into the now dark and deserted parking lot, the crowd having filtered into the stadium, where I could hear their collective cheers rising up to the night sky from the well-lit arena.
“Hart!”
I was so engrossed in being depressed that I hadn’t even seen him until he called my name. Chase. He was standing at the trunk of his Camaro.
I had a fleeting thought of running away-the last thing I wanted to do was add to my depression by hearing about Chase’s wonderful girlfriend-but I knew Chase could outrun me. Instead, I shoved my hands into my sweater pockets and walked toward him.
“Hey.”
“How come you’re not inside?” he asked.
I shrugged. “I was interviewing Connor.”
“What did he say?” Chase crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against his car.
I gave him the gist of the interview, how Connor was convinced that Sydney had killed herself over him.
