“Yeah,” I admit. “But every business in the world is conspiring against me, apparently.”
He laughs. “Your timing is insane. My aunt owns a pet store downtown, and she’s kind of desperate.”
At first, I’m ecstatic.
Until…
“Got any experience in retail?”
There it is.
“Not really,” I reluctantly admit. “But I want to learn.”
“She’s looking for someone with a bit of experience, but I think she’d be willing to meet with you. Since you’re a friend and all. It’s worth a shot. What do you say?”
I rejoice. “Are you kidding? I’d love that.”
“Great. I’m supposed to see her at family dinner tonight. I’ll talk to her and text you about an interview?”
“That sounds great.” I can barely contain myself.
“Shit.” Luke realizes something. “I can’t text you. You should give me your number.”
“Oh, right. Give me your phone.”
He slides it over to me so I can add my number into his contacts.
“Thanks, Luke. That means a lot.” I hand it back to him.
“Anytime.” He smiles and rises off his stool, retreating to the front of the class to ask the teacher a question.
As soon as he’s out of range, Will scoffs.
“I can’t text you. Give me your number. Seriously? You didn’t catch that? Come on, control freak, oldest trick in the book.”
I frown. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He looks baffled by my stupidity. “Come on, it’s so obvious the dude’s into you.”
“What? You’re crazy. He’s just being nice.”
Could it be?
Could Luke like me?
I mean, he’s definitely good-looking, but… is he my type? Is any guy my type after what happened with Blake?
“A little help here?” Will begs Morgan.
I turn to my best friend, a confident grin smacked across my face, but the backup I anticipated never comes.
She caves. “Well, it’s not not true.”
“Really, Morg? You too?” I wince.
“It’s just… he’s always so nice to you. Smiling at you in the halls, sparking conversations. I’ve always thought there might be something there.”
Traitor.
“See? Even your friend agrees.” Will gestures to Morgan. “You should give him a chance. He could loosen you up a bit.”
“Excuse me?” I’m offended.
“You know… make you less controlling.”
“I’m not controlling!”
Will wrestles a smile but doesn’t argue, reaching for the glue stick sitting in the center of the table to re-attach a word that keeps falling off his tree.
I can’t help myself.
“Don’t. Use the hot glue. Works a lot better.”
He stops moving, sharp blue eyes finding mine. It takes me a solid second to realize what I just did.
“See?” he smirks. “Controlling.”
“Shut up,” I grumble.
Butthurt, I keep to myself for the rest of the class. Will reports for duty as designated clown and takes it upon himself to make Morgan and Luke laugh until the bell rings. And I don’t mean a “small chuckle”—I mean “I’m choking. Someone help.”
As for me, I’m just wondering how I could be so dumb to think for a single second that we could ever get along.
I take it back…
William Martins and I are never going be friends.
Kassidy
“Thanks for coming in, Kassidy. We’ll call you.” Jenny, Luke’s aunt’s employee, holds out her hand to me, which I shake clumsily. She isn’t much older than me, a few years at most. Shaking hands with someone your age will never not be weird.
Once I’ve said my goodbyes, I exit the pet store, squealing to myself. It’s been a while since Luke offered to get me an interview, and I was so eager for an update, I ended up asking his friend for his number so I could text him first.
Control freak. Will’s mocking voice pops into my head.
Shut up, brain.
Luke and I have been texting here and there. We’ve barely scratched the surface, going from hello, to how are you, to what are you doing. It’s not flirting, but it’s something. I’m starting to think Will might be right about Luke liking me. I’m just not ready to ask myself if I like him.
A quick drive later, I’m unlocking the front door to my house and groaning at my stomach’s cry for help. I’m starving—haven’t eaten all day. I was too nervous for my interview.
Absentmindedly, I pour myself some cereal and hop on one of the stools surrounding the kitchen island. My phone screen lights up with a new message ten minutes later.
It’s Luke.
Luke: How’d it go?
Kass: Good, I think? Thanks again.
Luke: Don’t worry about it. Hey, you going to the party tonight?
There’s a party tonight?
Kass: What party?
Luke: At Bianca’s.
My cousin ambles inside the house before I can reply. All smiles, she waves at me. I’m glad she’s in a good mood. I know being the new kid hasn’t been easy on her. Especially the part where she got branded as “the girl who called out Haze Adams” in her first five minutes at Riverside.
“Hey, stranger. What are you so happy about?” I say and finish my cereal.
“That obvious, huh?” Her smile widens.
“As obvious as an elephant in yoga class.” I laugh, pushing to my feet and dropping my bowl in the sink. “Come on, spill the beans.”
“Fine,” she gives in. “I’m going to a party tonight. Who knows? I might meet people who see more when they look at me than the girl who looked Haze Adams in the eyes.” She snorts, recalling her ridiculous first day.
I find a bit of irony in her desperation to forget about the Haze fiasco. She’s nowhere near done with him. I know that beyond a shadow of a doubt. I accidentally overheard a conversation between her and Kendrick last week. Okay, fine, I snuck downstairs specifically to listen—tomayto, tomahto.
They were arguing, not giving a single fuck as to who could hear. They’re lucky my mom agreed to cover her nurse friend’s night shift and wasn’t home to witness their shitshow.
I found out Winter followed Kendrick, Will, Blake, and Alex to some meeting with Haze. Let me tell you, in that moment, I facepalmed myself so hard I almost gave myself a concussion.
They caught her spying, and from there, all hell broke loose. From what I could
