I WASN’T sure what to expect from him in math class, but I was a little disappointed when we went back to our normal routine of him facing the whiteboard and me staring at the back of his head.
To be fair, we did have a test coming up. But still. One person who didn’t disappoint was Merritt.
The second she saw me walk into health class, her arms folded over her chest and a smug smile spread across her lips. She was surrounded by her cronies, leaning back against a desk like she owned the place. “You know what they say about putting lipstick on a pig?”
“That it’s animal cruelty?” I sat in my desk and started going through my notes.
“No,” Merritt said, stepping closer. “That it won’t make any difference to a boy who’s had better. Much better.”
Of course my mom was in the hall talking with one of the other teachers. Not that I needed her to fight my battles, but I was already tired from the morning. And getting frustrated. I whipped my gaze up to Merritt and said, “I’m pretty sure he broke up with ‘better,’ so if you’d leave me alone, that would be great.”
She let out a laugh that was too loud, like I’d hit too close to home. “You know what, Hutton—”
“It’s Mrs. Hutton,” my mom cut in. “And let’s save the questions for the end of class.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, thankful for my mom and her finally good timing. Less thankful after she winked at me in front of the entire class.
Lunch period came quickly after that, and I was grateful to find reprieve in the AV room with the other girls…and Mr. Davis?
Our AV teacher sat at his desk in the corner of the room, massive headphones over his bald head as he ate a sandwich and stared at his computer screen.
“What’s he doing here?” I whispered, standing near the table. “Should we go eat outside?” The autumn California sunshine would be far more appealing than him overhearing our plans. Mr. Davis was cool, but not sit- silently-by-while-five-girls-conned-a-football-player-into-falling-in-love-
with-one cool.
Ginger shook her head. “No, they’re noise-cancelling headphones. Watch this.” She grinned evilly at us. “Mr. Davis thinks Ms. Bardot’s dreamy!”
He kept typing away on his computer.
“Wait, this will get him.” Zara grinned and raised her voice. “Macs are better than PCs.”
We all held our breath, waiting for one of his tangents about hard-drive space and planned obsolescence.
“Well, that proves it.” I sat down at the table. No way he’d be able to stay silent through that.
Zara got straight to business. “Tell us about yesterday. Did he comment on your new look?”
“Yeah,” Callie said. “I never got a chat from you last night.”
“Sorry, I stayed longer than I thought I would,” I said. “You guys won’t believe this, but Beckett is a photographer. A really good one.” Excitement I wasn’t used to feeling fizzed in my stomach, thinking of the photos he’d taken of me. Of the fact that we’d actually had a semi-normal conversation with real words.
Jordan’s eyes were wide. “Wait.” She scrolled through her phone, tapping her fingers furiously over the screen. “Is this you?” She turned the phone to us, showing a photo of my lips and the cupcake on Seaton Bakery’s social media page.
My jaw went slack. “No. Way.”
“He runs their social media?” Ginger asked, shocked.
Feeling just as stunned, I said, “I thought he just took photos!”
Jordan turned the screen back and stared at it. “It has more than a thousand likes on it. And almost fifty comments. Some of them about you.”
“You’re kidding,” I deadpanned.
In response, she turned the phone to me, and I read a comment that said,
Can’t tell which would be tastier. That cupcake or those lips.
The profile picture was of a shirtless old man.
Zara nearly snorted out her diet soda. “He has nipple hair.” Ginger gagged, and I pushed the phone back to Jordan.
“Wait,” she said, “did you see the bakery’s reply to the comment?” I shook my head.
She lowered her voice to mirror Beckett’s. “’Eating cupcakes has never looked so delicious.’ There’s some definite inuendo there!”
I rolled my eyes and shoved a French fry in my mouth. “I think you’re reading way too much into it.” Then I looked to the others for confirmation. “Right?”
“Who wouldn’t?” Zara said, looking pleased with herself. “By the way, you did good on your makeup this morning!”
Now I knew she was full of it. “It only took me a full hour and three attempts.”
“Worth it,” Ginger said.
“Yeah,” Callie added, “you look amazing.”
Thoroughly flushed, I focused on my food. “So, is there a plan other than the makeup? Because Merritt kind of got to me this morning.”
“What did she say?” Zara asked.
I looked toward the ceiling and repeated the horrid ordeal.
“How did you come up with that animal cruelty bit?” Callie asked. “I’m always awake at two a.m. thinking of things I should have said in the moment.”
“Girl, sometimes I wish I could keep my fat mouth shut, then we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
They were quiet for a moment until Ginger broke the silence. “So what’s next? I have no idea what to do in the guy department.”
Callie put her hands up. “Don’t look at me.”
I looked at Zara and Jordan. “Guess that leaves you two.”
They both got lost in thought for a moment before Jordan said, “Would it be too obvious to try and catch him after the football game?”
Zara lifted a corner of her lips. “I don’t know. I want Rory to be different than all the other girls who will be mauling him after the win. But it couldn’t hurt?” The bell rang, and she looked at us. “How about this? We
go to the football game Friday, then you all can come stay at my house? I’m thinking a hot tub strategy sesh could be just what we need.”
I grinned at the idea of hot tubbing with people who wouldn’t be judging my body or what I looked like in a swimsuit. “I’m game. Get it?”
They groaned in unison before all saying they would come.
I left the AV room with a smile on my face. Maybe my big mouth had gotten me into a mess, but having girlfriends to talk to was nice for a change. Even if it was temporary, I would savor every moment.
