Kylee half smiled. “Have you run anyone over yet?”
“That’s not funny.” Rae pulled the locker open and scrambled to organize her backpack. “My first official drive is next Monday morning.”
“I’ll be sure to stay off the roads until after lunch.”
“Ha-ha.”
Rae shut the locker door and checked the time. Two minutes. Not enough time to stop at the bathroom if she was going to get all the way to B Wing. She fell into step beside Kylee, who was headed to B Wing, too.
“Rae, wait up.”
She looked over her shoulder. David. She tried to keep her face from revealing anything, but Kylee was looking right at her with a knowing smirk. She and David were just friends. Still, she liked hearing her name on his lips.
She slowed her step. “Hey, David.”
The color of his shirt made his eyes look like chocolate. She loved chocolate.
He smiled at her. “Are you going to Community Hope today?”
Kylee turned to face him, walking backward now. “What do you care? Are you stalking her or something?”
Rae glared at her. She was trying to get a rise out of David or Rae or both of them. That was how Kylee operated.
“Stop it, Ky.”
David held up his hands. “No stalking, I promise. I was just wondering because I’m volunteering now, too.”
“Is that so?” Kylee raised her eyebrows at Rae as she continued walking backward, plowing over anyone unfortunate enough to be in the middle of the hall. “For some reason, Rae hasn’t mentioned that.”
Rae reached for Kylee’s shoulders and spun her back around. “Watch where you’re going. And I didn’t say anything because I didn’t know if he was going to come back or not.”
“Well, I am.” He hooked his thumbs in the straps of his backpack. “Are you?”
She avoided his tantalizing eyes. She was pretty sure his next class wasn’t in B Wing. He was going to be late. “Yes, I’ll be there.”
“Cool. I’ll meet you out front after school, then.”
“Okay.”
“And maybe I’ll see you at lunch.”
He peeled off and headed in the other direction before she could answer. She watched him go, hoping he wouldn’t look back and catch her. He did. She gasped and bumped into an upperclassman.
“Sorry,” she mumbled.
Kylee’s eyes glittered with amusement. “Watch where you’re going.”
She could feel her face burning but was powerless to stop it.
Kylee gave her a smug look. “This is an interesting development.”
She tried to appear casual. “What?”
“You know what. You and David.”
“There is no me and David. You’re the one who wants to go out with Seth.” She quickened her pace. If she could get to her class before—
“Oh, please.” Kylee was grinning like a goose. “Seth is old news. And you’re trying to change the subject. David’s obsessed with you.”
Five feet to the classroom. “He’s not obsessed.”
“Okay, well, he likes you. And I’m pretty sure you like him.”
She reached the door and stopped. Tried to refute it. Felt her lips turning up and fought to keep them from giving her away.
Kylee wagged her eyebrows. “That’s what I thought. See you later.”
Rae ducked her head and opened the door just as the bell rang. “Later.”
She hurried to her seat. Kylee was always making outlandish claims and pushing people’s buttons for fun. It was like a sport to her. She shouldn’t pay attention to anything Kylee said. In fact, it was easy to discount her friend’s words after years of listening to her blow smoke.
But it was much harder to ignore the huge smile on her face and the butterflies in her stomach.
RAE KNEW THE one thing she absolutely must not do under any circumstances was look around the cafeteria to try to spot David. Not with Kylee sitting next to her, the girl who never missed anything. And yet she couldn’t help but scan the room out of the corner of her eye when Kylee bent her head to check her phone.
No David. But he hadn’t made any promises. He’d said maybe. And Kylee would only cause problems if he showed up, anyway.
Kylee wrapped an entire Fruit by the Foot around her finger and sucked on it. “I’m tired. Why are you never tired?”
She shrugged. “I’m tired.”
Kylee rolled her eyes and rested her head on the table with a groan. “Wake me when it’s time for class.”
She closed her eyes, her fruity finger still in her mouth. Rae didn’t know anyone who slept as much as Kylee, but she wasn’t dumb enough to think Kylee was checked out. Oh no. Just because her eyes were closed didn’t mean she wasn’t aware of everything going on around her. She wasn’t someone who let her guard down easily.
Rae dropped her bag of grapes and glanced around the room again when she reached down to pick it up. A boy who was most definitely not David caught her eye. Morgan. He was sitting with his back to her in the corner in his usual slumped position, hood pulled up over his head. She would’ve never noticed him, never known it was him, except for the red notebook in his hand.
She put the grapes back in her lunch sack and stood. “I’ll be right back.”
Kylee yawned and opened one eye. “Where are you going?”
“To say hi to someone.”
“Is it David?”
“No. Someone else.”
“Okay.” Kylee tucked her arm under her head. “Well, if he comes by, I’ll be sure and let him know you’re in love with him.”
Rae walked away shaking her head. Kylee would never do that. For all her quirks, she was a loyal friend. Rae’s only true friend, in fact. But sometimes she didn’t know when to let something go.
No one paid Rae any attention as she approached Morgan’s table and slid onto the bench beside him. Including Morgan.
“Hey.”
She spoke just loud enough to be heard over the din of the cafeteria.
Morgan kept his eyes on his notebook. “What are you doing?”
“I saw you over here.” She faltered. His tone was less than welcoming. “I thought I’d say hi.”
He looked up for a second, his eyes guarded, searching. Then
