“I totally skimmed the footnotes.” She grimaced. “Hope he takes the questions from there.”
Smiling, I shook my head. “Out having too much fun with Rachel?”
She grinned. “Possibly…”
I nudged her shoulder. “I can’t believe you’re dating someone from Twin River. Isn’t that, like, a cardinal sin or something?”
“Like I care!” She flipped her blond hair. “She’s amazing.”
We rounded the corner. Mr. Parsons’ classroom was the last one on the left.
“How are things with you and Preach?” She arched an eyebrow. “You two disappeared during the bonfire last Friday!”
A smile played on the corners of my lips, and I grinned.
“Hold up,” she said, grabbing my shoulder and pulling me to a complete stop. “What’s that all about?”
“What’s what all about?” I asked as innocently as possible.
“Did something happen between you guys?” she squealed.
“Shhh.” I lifted my finger to my lips and checked to make sure no one had overheard her. Preach and I hadn’t talked about making anything public, and I didn’t want it getting around the school before both of us were ready.
We continued walking, but Sam kept her hand on my shoulder. “Spill it.”
“We may have kissed again,” I whispered back.
“Why didn’t you find me at the partyimmediately?” she exclaimed. “Was it a hot, I wanna jump your bones kiss? Or… just a hey, you’re my friend kiss? Wait, why am I still talking? Details!”
“He’s an amazing kisser,” I admitted.
Her clenched fists shook with excitement. “Oh my gosh! I’m so excited for you—both of you. For real, though, why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“I’m still trying to process everything.” It’d only been, like, six days since we’d decided to officially date.
Emmett had always been around to first, tease me about stuff like this, but ultimately give me advice. One time, when I was fourteen, the first boy that I’d kissed, Jake, texted me and said he never wanted to hang out with me again. To make matters worse, without telling me, he’d started dating my friend behind my back. Not that we were a couple or anything, but still, it crushed me. After spilling my guts to Emmett, he asked me if I wanted him to beat up Jake.
I knew he wouldn’t actually do it but was thankful for the offer. He always looked out for me. Protected me. And I liked that. Felt safe. I missed that. So much. Dealing with life without him was hard. Heavy.
After I declined, he told me to block Jake on my phone and everywhere online. He told me I was too good for someone who’d treat me like that and that I should move on.
The next day, Emmett left a little package on my dresser. It was filled with all of my favorites at the time. Red Vines, warm fuzzy socks, and a face mask.
I wished with my entire being that my big brother was around to give me advice about my hand, delayed basic training, and Preach.
“You two are like the most perfect couple,” she squealed as she looped her arm with mine.
Sam skipped down the hall with me in tow. Our sneakers squeaked against the maroon linoleum floors.
“Maybe you, Preach, me, and Rachel could double sometime?” She let go of my arm and opened the door to our class.
“Definitely!”
Mr. Parsons handed me my test and a small recorder. “Grace, you can use my office.”
“Thank you.” I headed toward the back of the room and shut the door to the office behind me. I couldn’t wait until I could stop wearing this brace 24/7 and my fingers were strong enough to write again.
The psych test turned out to be a bit harder than I anticipated, and I ended up taking the full fifty-five minutes to answer all the questions.