Groaning, I make my way down the hall.
My angst skyrockets as my spirits deflate.
When I get to the foyer, it’s not who I’m expecting—and hoping—to see, and I think my shoulders sag in disappointment. Yes, they actually sag. The last arrivals are Derek Hanson and Adam Something-or-other, a couple sophomores I don’t really know too much about, and not Weston McGrath.
Jenna, however, is neither phased nor disappointed and is flirting up a storm in the entryway.
“Oooh, Molly, come see who’s here,” she chirps in a flirtatious voice.
I saunter over as casually as I can. “So, guys, you’re the chosen ones, huh?” My brain is in overdrive, asking me over and over, Why isn’t Weston here, why isn’t Weston here, why isn’t Weston here? I mean, not to be Captain Obvious here, but I really want to know why he’s not here!
“Chosen ones for what?” Adam scratches his head, not getting my question.
Jenna sighs loudly and rolls her eyes. “Where is Weston?” she asks, cutting to the chase and pouting—and by the way, when Jenna pouts, she literally sticks her bottom lip out.
Derek’s brow wrinkles, and I can’t tell, but I think he’s irritated. “I don’t know, I’m not his babysitter. He’s probably at home getting iced up and shit. Why do you even care, dude?”
“You did not just call me dude.” Jenna is utterly affronted, and I just stand there watching the exchange with wide eyes.
Very entertaining.
“Why? Does it bother you, dude?” Yup, Derek is totally irritated. He and Jenna stare each other down until finally Jenna turns up her nose and stomps loudly out of the room.
Well, as loudly as someone can stomp in socks on a tile floor.
“What’s her problem?” Adams asks, tossing his head at her retreating form.
“Yeah, what the hell,” Derek adds. “What a bitch.”
I snort. “Oh lord, where do you want me to start?” It would take me a year to explain all of Jenna’s triggers for pissing her off (being called dude is apparently one of them), and we just don’t have that kind of time.
I shake my head to get the fog out of my brain and let my hand lilt in the air. “Whatever. Anyway, let me get you to my dad’s office. You’re the last ones here.”
After dropping Derek and Adam off, I shuffle off in my fuzzy slippers to find Jenna up in my room, lying flat on my bed with one hand holding open the latest issue of Teen Vogue, the other hand propping her chin up.
“Those are two of the dumbest-looking boys I have ever seen,” she says without looking up as she flips a page of the magazine. I flop down beside her. “You should ask one of them out.”
I pretend to think about it before I say, “Okay.”
“What? Shut up, you slut!” she shouts, coming off the bed in a huff, magazine falling to the carpet. “I was kidding!”
I grab my stomach and fall over laughing. She’s too easy.
“So was I, you moron. As if I would actually do that. Hockey players are like cavemen.”
Jenna smirks. “I know one caveman I wouldn’t mind dragging me around by the hair…”
“Honestly, Jenna. Why don’t you just become his official stalker, for crying out loud? He’s not a god. He’s an athlete.”
“Yeah, an athlete I’d let drag me around by the hair…”
I sit on the bed and bite down on my lower lip, debating. If I tell Jenna I caught Weston watching me in the library, at the lake, and again in the hallway, she will freak—not just freak, like, literally lose her mind. I would never hear the end of it on account of the big stalker crush she has on him.
On the other hand, if I don’t tell her, I’ll feel like I’m keeping a secret from her, which I have never done.
I go from biting my lip to biting my thumbnail.
Catching the nervous habit, Jenna homes in on me. “Wait, is there something you’re not telling me? What’s going on?” She studies me with her eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“You’re biting your nail. That means you’re stressing out about something. Come on, tell Jenna what’s wrong.” Jenna plops back onto the bed with a flounce, sitting up against the headboard. She takes a pillow and settles it on her lap. “Here, lie down.”
She pats the pillow, indicating I should lay my head on it.
I bite my lip, still debating.
“Just do it!” she hisses.
“God, you’re pushy.” I try to sound affronted.
“That’s because you’re a pushover. I battle for you.”
“Yeah, you’re a regular knight in shining armor,” I mutter, but I move to lay my head down. Jenna starts braiding my hair and doesn’t say anything.
She’s waiting for me to say something.
I let out a long breath.
“Soooo…you know how I always make a big deal out of you mentally stalking Weston McGrath?”