Hopefully my hair covered the fact my ears were burning. What had been vital to me while we were wrapped around each other in my bed seemed almost out of bounds in broad daylight. As we pulled into the parking lot, Jake reached over and caught my hand.
“We didn’t do anything wrong,” he said quietly, and I cut a look at him. I was so wound up, I was going to make this bad for Jake.
“I know,” I said then blew out a breath. “I have no idea why I’m so nervous.”
“Cause you’re Frankie,” Coop said lightly. “You think through everything you do at least fifteen times, and you are always revising your plan to be the most effective.”
I made a face and looked at Coop. “I sound awful.”
“Nah,” he teased. “You sound like you. We like you just how you are.”
“Yep,” Jake said, parking and then turning to face me. “And because we have to behave when we get out, baby girl, believe me when I say I like every part of you. The overachiever to the cuddly girl to the friend I know likes the same damn dorky videos I do. Got it?”
Hard not to.
“Got it.” I bit my lip because I wanted to kiss him. But we couldn’t do that here. So I tried to lighten the mood. “Still not going for a lunchtime quickie in the back of your SUV.”
A smile sparkled in his eyes, and he gave my hand a squeeze before shutting off the engine. “Damn, there went my cunning plan.”
Coop snorted. “Not really that cunning.”
And since I could pile on, I said, “Or a plan,” as I got out. “But I like your enthusiasm.”
Jake and Coop paused a beat, and then they both cracked up. It helped to settle the butterflies. Not as much as I would have liked, but it did help. A glance across the parking lot to where I usually parked made me a tad wistful. Ian’s bike wasn’t there either. He’d parked up closer in one of the smaller spots he could easily fit in. I guess they’d confirmed the plan.
It didn’t take us long to find Archie and Ian inside, or the coffee and chocolate covered donuts waiting for us—along with my preferred apple fritters. Damn, they were going to spoil me.
No one commented on Jake spending the night, though Archie studied me pretty close for a few minutes. There were spots of laughter in the cafeteria as I walked across it. But I told myself it was paranoid to think it was about me.
Breakfast conversation turned to Friday night’s game. Ian worried Jake being out was going to weaken their defensive line. Not that they could do much about it. Coop teased them about going dress shopping with me, and Archie wore much the same expression Jake had on the subject, but Ian looked bemused.
“Just make sure I know what color,” he said, not rising to Coop’s bait. Gaze lingering on mine for a long moment, Ian smiled. “I already know I’m going with the best girl.”
Dammit, and I had just gotten my blushing under control. Then the conversation devolved to a new video game coming out the following week. When Coop suggested we spend part of his birthday playing the new one, I didn’t make a face.
It was his birthday.
Archie winked at me when he said, “Let’s not make it an all day thing though, yeah?”
I could have kissed him for that. Course, Coop said, “Nope, I was thinking we could all go to mini golf, or maybe drive up to the big amusement park.”
Laughter eddied around the table, but Archie just shook his head in amusement at the mini golf. It wasn’t long before we had to pack it in, and true to their word, the guys didn’t let me go anywhere alone. Coop and Archie walked with me to my locker, and I gave them the note that had been inside.
If they recognized the handwriting, they didn’t say anything. After, Archie walked me to first period, and then halfway to second where Ian hooked up with us in the hall for the hand-off, and it was very much that. After second, Ian walked me to French, then reminded me to wait for Coop, he’d pick me up on the way to lit.
That was insane. Coop’s third period was in the complete opposite direction, but I didn’t argue. Mathieu pulled me aside in French to ask me if I was all right.
That was a little mortifying. Apparently, my bad fortune had definitely been making the rounds. Madame also wanted to talk to me, quietly, and in the hall. She offered me a card for a psychologist—not the one at the school. It took me a minute to realize she was worried about the bullying on other levels. Like my work slipping a little over the last week.
I’d gotten a B on an assignment.
I never got Bs.
Stomach churning, I promised her I’d get my focus back and I would be fine. The last thing I wanted to talk about was anything more to do with the car vandalizing or Instagram, or anything else.
As embarrassing as that encounter was, it was a little more when Coop waited for me outside the bathroom. Even after all these years, there were some things I could definitely live without them being intimately aware of—maybe even especially now.
The fact my stomach was in knots didn’t help my focus in Lit. Coop’s stare drilled into me all through class, but I waited until the bell rang before I headed up to talk to Ms. Fajardo with Coop hot on my heels. Getting the words out was a challenge, but I managed to keep my voice calm. When I explained it to her, she pulled out the file of ungraded essays and flipped through it to the sheet in question.