“I hate you all.”
“Awww, I didn’t mind it at all,” Jake promised. “You’re super snuggly, too.”
I rolled my eyes.
“She is very snuggling, I noticed that.” Archie was not helping with the conversation.
“Well, I’ll have to let you know,” Ian said. “But I have a good feeling about it.”
Tingles swept me from head to foot, and before Coop could pipe in, I said, “Anyway…I just think it might be easier on all of us if we don’t—play it up at school. Jake’s already gotta talk to Dr. Miller, and everyone apparently was talking about the post today. I just don’t want that much attention focused on us—especially not while we’re applying to colleges.”
The laughter still present evaporated.
“Yeah,” Jake said slowly. “Schools look at our social media.”
“Exactly,” I reminded them. “So if you’re thinking aboutgettingeven, don’t.”
“That’s what an anonymous account is for,” Archie suggested. “I didn’t see her posting it under her own name.”
“Yeah well, apparently your dad’s lawyers are gonna talk to the site, or that’s what Mom said, so don’t be so sure that anonymous is anonymous anymore.”
Archie snorted. “Got it. Look, we’re not going to do anything rightnow.”
“Unless she doesn’t back off,” Jake continued.
I sighed.
“I told you, I’m not letting anyone treat you like crap,” he said to the rumbled agreements of the others. “So if you want PDAs off the table at school, we can go back to just being friendly, but that means holding your hand and tickling you. Tickling you has always been fair game.”
“Oh,” Coop said. “He has a point—tickling is definitely not PDA.”
“No,” I groaned. “It’s torture.”
Ian chuckled.
“Since we’re on the phone,” Archie said, clearing his throat. “Maybe we should also lay down some ground rules… like no more two a.m. dates on school nights.”
“Bite me,” Jake said. “We needed the break, and we had fun.”
That we had. “It was not fun to wake up this morning though.”
“Nope,” Jake retorted. “But I don’t care, I’d do it again.”
Yeah. “Me, too.”
More groans. “Okay so let’s say midnight on school nights? Frankie works hard enough, we don’t want to break her.”
“See,” Coop said. “We’re involving you in this discussion.”
I had noticed. “Thank you,” I said, still smiling before I opened up my bottle of water. “And on that note, I am going to hang up and actually write my college essay. We have like ten days left before they open applications. I want to get as many of these written ahead of time as I can, because we don’t know what the essay questions will be exactly.”
“There she goes being all over-prepared,” Coop teased. “Go. Write. Be a genius. Show us how it’s done. Then maybe write one for me?”
They were still laughing when I hung up.
Ian:Still thinking I like being your first kiss.
I grinned.