Emma grinned. “Yeah, why not? I mean, it’s not like the popular girls have anything we don’t, right?”
No one answered that. Everyone was too busy looking at each other, trying to gauge what the other was thinking.
“I say we do it,” Avery said.
“Do what?” Max sounded wary.
Smart girl.
The smartest girl responded. “Learn how to make our crushes see us,” Charlotte said.
“Like us,” Avery corrected.
Lulu looked confused as she reached for one of Max’s fries with hands still stained with paint. “You want us to study the art of…flirting?”
“Exactly,” Emma said. “Let’s learn what other girls seem to have figured out. How to score a date.”
“But…how?” Avery asked. “Who’s going to teach us?”
Everyone grew silent again. I was trying to think of a way to tell them that this was a terrible idea. I mean, people didn’t study how to be cute and flirty, did they? You either were flirty and fun, or you weren’t, right? You either had that sort of charisma or you didn’t…right?
Because, if you didn’t and you tried, that would be…acting.
I blinked rapidly as a thought occurred to me. An image, actually. The face of Lakeview High’s leading actress. A girl who managed to wrap every guy at this school around her little finger without even trying.
Rose Parson. The starlet, the diva…and Jax’s new girlfriend.
I set my apple down slowly and faced my friends. “I think I might know someone who could help.”
2
Simone
This was ridiculous.
I was ridiculous.
I couldn’t believe I was actually doing this.
And yet, here I was. Hanging out with Rose at Jax’s band practice and getting ready to ask a favor because I’d gone and promised the girls that I’d at least ask. “Um, Rose?”
She looked over at me with arched brows, a smile still on her face because she’d been sitting here mooning over her new boyfriend while I sketched in my pad beside her. Jax’s dad had set up bean bags and a small beaten-up love seat in one corner so it was fan-friendly.
I guess I was technically a fan.
Rose was definitely a fan. Maybe even a groupie…
“What’s up?” she asked, her brows arched in question. In a heartbeat her pretty features morphed to concern. “Was it my Shakespeare today?” She shook her head in frustration. “I knew I was off during that middle part.”
“What? No.” I gave my head a little shake. Of course she’d go there. Rose might have been supermodel pretty and an incorrigible flirt, but she was also crazy driven when it came to her acting career. She was so intent on nailing these two monologues she had to prepare for a scholarship competition that she actually recruited me to be her acting coach.
Don’t ask me why, but apparently I was good at that stuff. Although, to be fair, it was hard to be a director’s daughter and not pick up some knowledge.
“No, your Shakespeare monologue was great,” I said.
She sighed in relief and sank back in her seat. “Sorry. Paranoia over here. What’s going on?”
I licked my lips. This was it. The moment I’d been dreading all day, ever since I made that stupid promise to the girls that I’d ask Rose for advice.
She hitched her brows higher and I swallowed down a wave of embarrassment. “Can you teach me how to make a guy like you?”
Her eyes widened in surprise and I held my breath as I waited for her to laugh.
She didn’t. If anything she got…serious. Like, really serious. Like…creepily serious. She half turned so she was fully facing me. “It would be my honor.”
“Oh. Uh…okay.”
“But first…” Mischief glinted in her eyes. “Who are we trying to tempt? Hmmm?”
She’d said it a little too loudly and right as the latest song was coming to an end. Horror sliced through me. Had he heard? I shot a look toward the bassist.
Long black hair, dark skin, and a perma-scowl that made it seem like he was forever contemplating the mysteries of the universe.
Right at this moment he was using those deep thoughts to figure out the end of the song which he’d been fumbling these last few times they played.
“Ohhh,” Rose drawled, her voice annoyingly smug.
“Shh.” I hissed at her, my eyes still wide with horror.
“Relax, he can’t hear us,” she said, her voice quieter and filled with amusement. “Does Jax know you’re crushing on his bassist?”
I shook my head quickly. “Please don’t tell him.”
Her brows shot up. “Why not?”
Heat started burning my cheeks. Ugh, this was embarrassing. I should never have brought it up. “It’s just…it’s humiliating enough as it is, that’s all.”
Her expression turned understanding. “And you think he’d tease you over it.”
I tilted my head to the side and gave her a look that said duh and she laughed. “Yeah, okay, he probably would, but that’s only because he loves you and that’s how you guys roll.”
I nodded. Yeah, yeah. I knew all that, but this was one particular topic that I didn’t want to be made fun of for—I already felt pathetic and it wouldn’t take much for him to accidentally crush me. Just one laugh, really.
One laugh and I’d be mortified.
“I won’t tell him,” she said. “But for the record, I think you should. He’d think it’s awesome, I promise.”
I didn’t respond. I didn’t think it was awesome, so why would he? Honestly, having a crush was a pain in the butt. I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about Tony, and when I did, I didn’t get warm fuzzies or some flare of happiness. I just got…anxiety.
Was this supposed to be fun? Did people actually enjoy this?
Rose wrapped an arm around my shoulder and gave me a little side hug. “Don’t worry, kid. I got you covered.”
I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying, here’s looking at you, kid, in an old-timey accent. I wasn’t sure at what point doing impersonations from movies had become my default
