I toss my cup into the bag and scrunch it up.
I do another fast scan of the lot.
His motorcycle isn’t here.
Where’s Bobby?
The walkways are empty as I hurry toward my first classroom of the day. I slip in the back door and sink down in the last row of desks.
The teacher pauses mid-sentence and stares at me. I smile at Mrs. Trent. A pink slip is dropped onto the desk in front of me.
Great. My twentieth late slip of the quarter. Couldn’t she be cool just once? I can already tell this day is going to be another fucking winner.
By lunch period, I’m debating cutting my afternoon classes. I’m anxious and pissed off. I haven’t seen Bobby all day and he hasn’t searched me out.
Strange. Very strange.
After I ignored his text last night, I expected Bobby to be hot on my trail first thing this morning. It’s how it always works when you ignore a guy. They come after you. But maybe I judged Bobby wrong. Maybe he’s not into me.
I remember the taste of his mouth and how his kiss moved with my own, never altering the pressure or the flow. Somehow just matching my lips. I’ve never been kissed that way before. It was hot. A freaking turn-on. The way he matched me without ever taking the lead.
I certainly liked his body pressed up against me. Feeling what I haven’t seen completely yet. How his muscles tightened—he must have one fucking great physique under those clothes because he is nothing but a tight collection of cut parts. Long and strong without being like the Hulk—and long and strong in his jeans if I’m visualizing right what I felt as he hardened against my panties.
Oh, he’s into me.
He’s just playing it cool.
Jerk.
I step out into the quad—the patio area with benches, tables and trees in the center of the four school buildings where most of the students gather for lunch—and I stare.
What the fuck am I doing here?
I never stay on campus at lunch. I usually cut out and eat alone.
I scan the crowd. All the popular kids are here. The ones that like school because they have no life outside it.
Be honest with yourself, Kaley, I chide myself. You don’t really have a life outside school either. You just avoid being here to avoid them. You’re as pathetic as they are. Get over yourself.
I walk toward the table where Zoe Kennedy is sitting alone, chomping on raw carrots, with a paper lunch bag lying in front of her.
Christ, does she bring a lunch from home?
She couldn’t advertise being a loser any more clearly.
Maybe she’s just dieting. A couple of pounds off would do a world of difference. She is a pretty girl. Just a touch overweight.
She smiles enthusiastically when she notices me.
I smile back and drop down on the bench across the table from her, setting my chocolate shake and French fries—the only things I stomach from our lame snack window—in front of me.
I crinkle my nose. “Is that all you’re eating?”
She nods. “Carrots. Vitamin water and a lettuce wrap. My mom thinks I’m fat.”
I squirt the contents of a ketchup packet onto a napkin. “That’s way harsh. Does she actually say that?”
Zoe nods.
What a bitch. “Who cares what your mom thinks? And she definitely shouldn’t say it. I think you look good as you are. What do you think?”
She smiles. “I think I’d like to be tall and thin like you. But I’m short and bouncy and I don’t think the carrots are going to make much of a difference with that. But heck, it makes my mom happy. Like she’s doing something. So I take the lunch and eat it every day.”
I laugh. “I’d rather be short. It’s hell finding guys to date when you are as tall as I am.”
She gives me a knowing sort of look. “Bobby’s tall. Six-two.”
Well, that was subtle. “Really? I hadn’t noticed.”
Zoe laughs.
I dab my fries in the ketchup. “Where is he today? I haven’t seen him on campus all day.”
Zoe pulls her lettuce wrap from her bag and starts to unwrap it. “Surfing. There was a surf advisory. A high tide warning. Didn’t you notice? There isn’t a surfer in the senior class here today. High tide warnings are senior surfing ditch days. Tell them it’s too dangerous, that the beaches are closed, and every one of them races for a board. Guys are so stupid at times.”
Surfer, huh? “So Bobby likes to surf.”
Zoe nods enthusiastically. “He’s amazing. He competes all over the world. Wins everything. He also does motocross, mixed martial arts, rock climbing, snowboarding, runs and lifts weights every freaking morning. That’s why he’s got such an incredible body. He works out every day.” She crinkles his nose. “He’s into extreme everything.”
My eyes widen.
Yep, Zoe has got a crush on Bobby.
Fuck. It’s definitely a violation of the girl rules if I decide to make a play for him. She’s so sweet. I wouldn’t want to do such a shitty thing to her. Damn, and Bobby was the first interesting guy I’ve met since starting school here.
I reach for my shake. “It seems like you know everything about him. Why haven’t you made a move on him?”
She blushes dark red.
“Me? I am so not Bobby’s type. Besides, it would almost be like dating my brother. We’ve been friends that long.”
I slowly study the girls surrounding us. “So which girl here is his type?”
Zoe perks up.
I cringe.
Crap, can I be any more obvious?
She meets my gaze evenly. “I don’t think any of them are his type. What he’s got going on in the girl department, you won’t find here. Like I said, Bobby is into extreme.” She gnaws on her lower lip. Her eyes start to sparkle as she looks at me. “You. You are Bobby’s type. Yep, I can see you two together.”
I choke on my drink.
I don’t know which part of this conversation is worse: the girlieness of pumping another female for facts about a guy, Zoe thinking for some reason I’m extreme, or that I just got a pity prop from a girl lower down in the female pecking order than I am because I was stupid enough to betray an interest in a guy.
Fuck. Good one, Kaley.
The bell rings.
I rise from the bench and toss the remains of my lunch in the trash. Zoe immediately falls in beside me.
“Do you want to hang out after school?” she asks.
I shrug. “Sure.”
By the time I get to my car after my last class, Zoe is already there, waiting. I frown. It’s almost like she raced to the parking lot to get here first so I wouldn’t ditch her.
Poor girl.
As if.
I like her.
Can’t she tell?
I hit the button on my key to unlock the car. “Where do you want to go?”
“I don’t know. Anywhere. Just not home.”
She says that in an intense way that makes me laugh. My thoughts exactly. Even an afternoon with Zoe is better than home with Chrissie right now.
I toss my tote into the backseat and climb into the car. I put the key into the ignition and wait as Zoe closes her door.
“You’re going to have to help me here. I’m new to the area. I don’t know what there is to do. I haven’t really hung around with anyone at school. What do people do here to have fun?”
Zoe brightens. “Really? You mean like I’m your first friend here?”
I nod. It’s the truth. Pathetic, but the truth.
She smiles. “We could go to Redondo Beach.”
I pull out of the parking lot. “What’s there?”
Her expression takes on an impish look. “Bobby. It’s where he’s surfing today. He texted me this morning to see if I wanted to go with, but I couldn’t. I had a test in my English class.”
Really? He invited Zoe and not me? I’m not at all happy with that factoid.
“So who did he go with?” I ask, then inwardly flinch.
Fuck. Obvious again.
Zoe doesn’t seem to notice.
“Just his usual crew. Lots of hot college guys. Most of Bobby’s surfing buddies are college guys.”