“Isn’t it only better because of you?”
He grins so big I think his face will split in half. My face flushes at the fangirl thing I just said, and I wait for the arrogant comment from him. But he just shakes his head and wets his lips before saying, “Damn, girl.”
He puts the top down on his convertible, and we drive the few minutes with the cool wind swirling around us. The last warm rays of a fall sun settle behind neatly manicured trees on neatly manicured lawns as we make our way to the more historic part of town, where we live.
Chase pulls into my drive but leaves the engine running. He looks at me and grins. “You’ve got the best hair.”
“Oh, crap.” My hands fly to my hair. Convertibles and my hair are apparently a very unfortunate combination. I feel like the biggest idiot in the world, with the biggest hair in the world.
“No, seriously,” he says, pulling my hand away from my hair. “I love curly hair. I always try to get Lindsey to curl her hair, but she says it takes too much time.”
“Right.”
Lindsey probably wants to have pretty ringlets, not a crazy burst of curls that shoot out in all directions like someone being electrocuted in one of those old cartoons. I decide to preserve whatever dignity remains after he’s seen my hair in its most voluminous state, so I just say goodbye and go inside.
“Hey, Sky, we’re in the kitchen,” my uncle calls. I go in to find them in the middle of dinner.
“We didn’t know if you’d eat over at your friend’s,” Diana says.
I’m not very hungry from all the nerves, but I sit down with them anyway.
“Who’s this boy you’re spending time with?” Mom asks.
“I don’t think I’m comfortable with this line of questioning,” I say.
Mom smiles and shakes her head. “Has he got a name?”
I think about saying no, but instead, I cross my arms and answer. “Chase London.”
“That Bill London’s boy?” Uncle Carl asks.
“That’s the one,” I say, realizing I shouldn’t have said his last name. Of course everyone knows the Londons. This is a small town, and they’re rich.
“I bet they got a nice place,” Carl says.
“Like a freakin’ castle.”
“Sky, honey, don’t swear,” Mom says.
Dad never minded when I swore—real ones, too. I got my potty mouth from him. He’d swear like a sailor when he couldn’t get something mechanical to work. Dad was good with sick puppies, but give the man a broken lawn mower, and he was as lost as me. Or maybe that was a lie, too. Who even knows anymore.
“A real castle?” Lily asks, rescuing me from my painful thoughts. “With princesses?”
My throat is tight, but I can’t help smiling. My sister thinks princesses are the coolest thing in the entire world, followed closely by fairies and Barbies.
“Well, I didn’t see any princesses. But I bet they could use one. You know anyone who’d make a good princess?”
She bounces around asking me all sorts of questions while Mom rolls her eyes in submission. Once we get on the subject of princesses, there’s no stopping Lily. She’ll never eat her dinner now. And I got out of answering more questions about Chase. Sisterhood for the win.
ten
Now Playing
“Hey Jealousy”—Gin Blossoms
Lindsey offers to help me study for an algebra test after school one day the next week, so I go and watch the cheer squad practice. Elaine is loud and precise with her squad, a total perfectionist. After practice, Lindsey and I sit in the bleachers, and she helps me study. I wonder if she’s doing it so that Chase won’t offer to help me, but then I feel guilty for questioning her motives. She should be questioningmymotives. I’m the one in love with her boyfriend. She’s so unassuming it’s impossible to think she’d do anything without the best intentions.
The football team finishes practice, and Chase comes over with Todd. They’re both all sweaty, and I have to force myself not to stare at Chase. Even with his hair drenched in sweat, he still looks like a Hugo Boss model.