‘It’s just a big misunderstanding,’ I told him. ‘Really.’
‘All of you,’ he said, ‘one week’s detention. Noah Flynn, Rogers, my office now. You too Rochelle.’
I gaped. ‘What did I do?’ I exclaimed.
‘Nothing, but I’d like a word with you.’
I sighed dejectedly, and suddenly there was an arm around me. Lee.
‘Thanks,’ I mumbled. ‘But you shouldn’t have got involved.’
‘Hell yes, I should have. Nobody treats you like that, Shelly.’
‘You do it twenty-four/seven.’
‘But I’m allowed. We’re best friends. Those jerks . . . no way can they talk to you like that and get away with it.’
‘Well, thanks,’ I said, giving him an awkward side-hug.
He squeezed me back. ‘You know,’ he murmured in my ear, ‘I’m starting to think my big bro has a crush on you, Shelly.’
I scoffed. ‘That, or he wanted a fight.’
‘Oh, probably the latter then.’
‘Definitely,’ I corrected, making him laugh. The bell rang as we reached the vice principal’s office, and Lee sighed.
‘I have to get to homeroom.’
‘Yeah. Well, I’ll just see you later, I guess.’
‘Yeah. Good luck,’ he added with a grave expression. I laughed, waving as he wandered off, and threw myself down on a chair. Someone took the one next to me – Noah. The vice principal and Thomas went straight into the office. The door shut behind them with an ominous click.
After a few seconds of silence, I said a quiet ‘Thanks.’
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Noah sit up. ‘Nobody can treat a girl like that and get away with it. Especially if that girl is you.’
I peeked at him sideways, not turning my head. ‘Well, thank you. You didn’t have to interfere, though. I mean, you could’ve let me land one punch.’
‘It would’ve been a good punch, I’ll give you that.’
‘Why did you stop me?’ I couldn’t help but ask.
He shrugged. ‘To be honest . . . I’m not sure.’
‘In fact, while I’m at it, why did you need to get involved? Lee and Dixon and Cam would’ve been fine.’
‘Maybe,’ he said.
‘You’re avoiding my question.’
Noah grinned. ‘Yeah, I am. I guess . . . I didn’t want to see you get in a fight, and I didn’t like hearing them talk to you like that . . .’ He trailed off, and ran a hand through his hair while my heart raced faster and faster.
Then he said the words that dashed the last tiny shred of hope that had been growing inside me; they spilled out in a tumble: ‘I guess you’re just like my little sister or something.’
‘Oh, yeah,’ I said, nodding. ‘Of course.’
He nodded too, and then shook his head, like he was trying to clear his mind or something.
I was trying to keep my expression neutral. ‘Do you reckon you’ll be in much trouble?’ I asked casually, pretending to inspect my nails.
‘Nah. I never am. Especially not when they find out I was defending your honor,’ he added with a smirk.
‘Ha-ha,’ I snapped back, rolling my eyes. ‘I was being serious.’
Noah shook his head. ‘I never start fights, I just finish them. You know. In my defense.’
‘I don’t see why I have to be here though.’
‘Oh, they’ll want a witness, just to verify stuff or something. They usually like that.’
I laughed, looking at Noah and shaking my head.
We sat pretty much in silence for a while, but it was a nice, comfortable silence, which actually surprised me. I realized it was actually the longest period of time I’d ever spent alone with Noah in the past year or so – unless you counted the time I didn’t remember because I was drunk.
When Thomas came out and Noah was called in, I mouthed, ‘Good luck.’ He just smirked and saluted me before closing the vice principal’s door. I had nothing to do then but try and get some internet signal on my cell phone, which wasn’t easy in this school.
When he came out, he shot me a smile, letting me know that everything was cool.
Vice Principal Pritchett called, ‘Rochelle?’ and beckoned me in.
I sighed and got to my feet, wandering into his office. I’d never been inside before, only walked past it – and it wasn’t a particularly welcoming place. It reeked of rules and punishment.
He asked me what the fight had been about. I told him the truth: that some idiots had been teasing me about something stupid I’d done at a party on Saturday night, and I’d been really offended, so the boys stepped in and a fight ensued.
‘I see . . . Well, thank you, Rochelle.’
‘I didn’t get anybody in trouble, did I? I mean, nobody got badly hurt or anything . . .’ I spoke warily as I stood up and slung my bag over my shoulder.
The vice principal handed me my late pass. ‘No, you just confirmed their stories, that’s all. Don’t worry about it, all right? And stay out of trouble.’
I nodded uneasily. ‘Okay . . .’
‘Just get off to class now.’
That was a cue to get my butt out of there, so I didn’t hesitate a second longer.
Chapter 5
LUNCH TRAYS CLATTERED down all around me, and I looked up to find a swarm of girls, both juniors and seniors, clustering.
‘So,’ Jaime said chirpily, sitting down opposite me with a huge grin. ‘Tell us everything!’
‘About what?’ I frowned in confusion, setting my fork down on the side of my plate of salad.
‘About Flynn of course!’ Olivia squealed, leaning in to hear better. ‘We want to know everything. Are you guys, like, together or something?’
I scoffed. ‘God, no.’
‘But you call him Noah,’ one of the other girls said, and I looked over to see Tamara, who’d dropped her voice to whisper his name, like she was scared he’d hear her. ‘You don’t call him Flynn.’
I shrugged. ‘I’ve always done that, though. He was always there when I was growing up. He even told me I was like his little sister this morning. He’s just a good guy.’
‘A good guy who always gets in fights?’ Georgia raised a skeptical eyebrow. ‘Puh-lease. He’s protective of you – he always has been.’
My eyes narrowed and I felt my forehead crease again. ‘What do you mean, he’s always been protective of me?’
The girls all looked at each other. Then, finally, Faith said, ‘You mean you didn’t know?’
‘Obviously not,’ I exclaimed, getting more and more frustrated by the second. ‘What don’t I know?’
‘Flynn’s always told guys to back off of you,’ Olivia told me confidentially. ‘Told them if they ever did anything to hurt you, they’d be sorry.’
I blinked a couple of times, staring at her, and then burst out laughing. ‘You’re joking, right?’
The girls looked at each other again, and I sobered up.
‘Oh, come on,’ I said. ‘Look, he’s just acting like the protective big brother, all right? That’s all it is.’
They looked at each other doubtfully again.
Jaime finally said, ‘Well, if you’re totally sure . . .’
‘A hundred and ten percent. Ask Lee if you don’t believe me.’
‘Speaking of, where is your other half?’ Tamara asked.
‘He’s in woodwork,’ I said. ‘He wanted to get a head start on our banner. I, on the other hand, wanted some lunch.’
‘Fair enough,’ Candice said. ‘Hey, did you get Flynn to do the booth?’
‘He won’t. I tried. Believe me, I tried.’
They all sighed. ‘I wish he would. I’d pay good money for that booth,’ Georgia said, making us all laugh.
‘Did he say why he won’t?’ Karen asked.
I shrugged. ‘Not really.’
‘Hey,’ said Lily suddenly, a gleam in her eyes as she looked from Karen to Dana and Samantha. ‘Maybe Flynn will come to the booth, if he’s
not going to be a part of it.’
They all immediately squealed in excitement.
Not that I blamed them.
‘Oh my God! Elle, if you can’t persuade him to work the booth, at least persuade him to stop by!’
I wavered. ‘I can’t make any promises . . .’
‘But you’ll try?’ Dana persisted.
I heard my cell phone bleep, and went to check my pockets before I realized that I had no pockets in this damn skirt. I sighed to myself before reaching down for my bag and rummaging for my cell phone.
Come by woodwork, need some help! read the text.
I put my phone back and stood up, picking up my lunch tray. ‘I have to go help Lee. I’m guessing he needs a girl’s touch.’
They laughed, and called their goodbyes.
‘Oh, Elle?’
I turned back. ‘Yeah?’
‘Ask him,’ Samantha told me with a pointed look.
I chuckled and nodded at her, making them all squeal, then shook my head to myself.
And okay, admittedly I wasn’t an awful lot better really. But still – I was over my crush. Completely so since he’d told me I was just a sister to him.
But that didn’t mean he was any less attractive.
When I got to woodwork, Lee was tapping a pencil really impatiently against a big plank of wood. After just ten seconds, it was already driving me mad – I didn’t blame Mr. Preston for leaving Lee for the peace of his office in the back.
‘Hey,’ I said, but Lee didn’t notice me until I was right in front of him. I dropped my bag loudly, making him start.
‘Oh, I didn’t hear you come in,’ he said.
‘So I see. So what did you need me for?’
He gestured at the board in front of him. ‘How big should I make the letters?’
I sighed, then fluffed my hair out before pulling it back and twisting it into a ponytail. ‘All right, big boy, give me the pencil.’
I sketched out the letters for KISSING BOOTH on the huge plank of wood.
‘But they’re not totally even. That “o” is way narrower than that one. And the “h” is half the height of that “s”.’
‘I know that. But you can go back over them and measure the lines properly. It doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect, with what I’ve got in mind.’
‘Pray tell.’
I bit my lip, trying to find the right words to describe the image I had in my mind. It wasn’t easy. ‘Well, we’ve got the big main board of the booth, and we’ll nail on the letters at odd angles so they overlap and all point different ways, because that’ll look cooler than just having flat out “Kissing Booth”. Does that make sense?’
Lee nodded, looking at the plank. I could practically hear him piecing together my idea in his mind. ‘I see what you mean. It’ll look cool.’
‘I know,’ I told him.
He started drawing the lines out thicker, measuring them all straight and perfect. I sat down on the bench facing him, swinging my legs.
‘Hey,’ I said, ‘did you know that your brother has been warning guys to stay away from me?’
Lee didn’t even look up, and merely shrugged. ‘Yeah. Everybody knows.’
‘Except for me. How did I not know that? Why didn’t you tell me, more to the point?’
‘I don’t know – I figured you’d worked it out over the years. Why do you think guys have never asked you out on a date?’
I thought about that for a moment. To be honest, I had never really wondered. I hadn’t panicked that there was something wrong with me just because I didn’t have a boyfriend. I’d just kind of taken it in my stride that maybe I was more ‘one of the guys’ from hanging out with Lee, so guys didn’t see me as a girl they’d ask on dates.
‘You know you’re the only one for me, Lee,’ I teased. He looked up and winked at me, so I blew him a kiss back. We both laughed and he went back to drawing out the letters properly.
‘Seriously, though – you only just heard about it?’
‘Yeah. A bunch of the girls told me, since they wanted all the gossip from this morning. Not that there was any gossip. I told them Noah just thinks of me like a sister.’
‘He’s just taken the over-protective-brother role to the extreme,’ Lee agreed. ‘Though of course I would’ve done the same. Especially after the way those guys were with you this morning . . .’ The pencil snapped in his hand.
‘Jeez, calm down,’ I said quietly.
Lee tossed the pencil halves aside and pulled another out from behind his ear. ‘Sorry. They just really got to me this morning.’
‘No kidding.’
‘Yeah, well whatever. The point is, Noah’s totally right to tell guys to keep away from you. You’re so trusting, you’d get hurt real easy.’
‘What?’ I cried indignantly. ‘How am I “so trusting”?’
Lee shrugged again. ‘You’re just too nice sometimes, Shelly. Not in a bad way. I just mean that . . . well, you know, you’re more likely to fall for some jerk who’ll hurt you.’
‘Oh,’ I said. ‘I see.’
‘I’m just looking out for you. So is Noah.’
‘Well, thanks, I guess?’
‘You’re welcome, I guess?’ he mocked, laughing. I launched a rubber band at his arm from the tabletop beside me. He swatted it off and carried on working, while I watched and chatted to him.
I was still wondering why Noah had gone so far as to warn guys off me. Because I realized it was unbelievably unfair. I’d be seventeen in just two months. I’ve never been kissed, never had a boyfriend, never been on a date. It was just so, so inconsiderate of Noah. How dare he interfere in my life like that? Sure, it was nice of him to look out for me – but he didn’t have to stop guys dating me altogether!
When I asked Lee exactly what Noah had done to scare guys away, he said, ‘He told the guys that if they ever did anything to hurt you, they’d have him to deal with.’
I sighed to myself. It seemed clear that Noah just saw me as a vulnerable, too-trusting little sister, but I couldn’t help wishing he’d had different reasons for doing it.
Chapter 6
BRAD WASN’T THE most difficult ten-year-old boy to babysit. He mostly just played on video games and yelled at the TV. All I had to do was give him his dinner. Then, at half nine, I had to almost drag him up the stairs until he shouted, ‘Fine! I’ll go to bed!’
I sighed, relishing the quiet once his bedroom door slammed shut.
I threw myself down in front of the TV and finally settled on some gory movie with Romans or gladiators or whatever.
Just as I was dropping off, my phone rang. I jumped, almost falling off the sofa.
‘Hello?’ I mumbled into the phone without checking the caller ID. I sounded kind of mad, but I didn’t really care. Whoever was on the other end just had to deal with it.
‘Um, Elle?’
‘Yes?’ I snapped irritably.
‘It’s, uh, it’s Adam. Listen, don’t hang up, I just wanted to apologize for this morning. I didn’t really think it through, I guess, what I was saying. So . . . yeah. Sorry.’
I blinked a few times, trying to clear my mind. Adam? Calling to apologize?
I couldn’t believe it. Although maybe that was because he sounded like he was trying not to laugh.
‘Um . . . Elle? You still there?’
‘Y-yeah,’ I stammered quickly. ‘Sorry, I’m just – just using the stove a sec.’ What the hell? Who gets distracted on a phone call because they’re using the stove? At ten p.m.?
‘You’re calling pretty late, you know,’ I said hastily. ‘Maybe a little too late for apologies?’
‘I know, but I just wanted to say sorry.’
‘Well, thanks,’ I said curtly. ‘I’ve got to go now, Adam so I’ll–’
‘Hold on a sec.’
‘I don’t want to hear it, whatever it is.’
‘You don’t want to have dinner with me, then?’ I could just imagine the smug look on his face from his
cocky tone. It made me grind my teeth. ‘Give me a chance to really apologize?’
‘No. Bye.’
I hung up and threw my phone on the couch before he could utter another syllable. What an ass.
And Lee said I was too nice . . . Ha!
I snorted quietly at that thought, feeling quite satisfied with myself for being so blunt with Adam – though that wasn’t what I was thinking about when I went upstairs.
There was only one thing running through my mind. Predictably enough – it was Noah.
For some reason, all I could think about was Sunday morning when we’d fallen off the bed: the look in his eyes – the look I remembered perfectly but couldn’t fathom, with his bright eyes shadowed and holding mine.
Because you don’t look like that at your substitute little sister, right?
Of course I was being ridiculous; it was just my sleepy thoughts wandering into dreamland. But it made me think maybe there was a different reason he got involved in that fight that morning.
I scoffed at myself, my eyes already drooping shut.
‘You’re an idiot, Elle,’ I muttered. ‘A total fool . . .’
School the next day wasn’t so bad. There were a couple of joking wolf-whistles and teasing loud comments, but I didn’t pay them any attention. And I only heard them when Noah was nowhere near.
Lee was muttering about them and I said, ‘Well, it’s kind of my fault. I mean, I did try stripping off to skinny-dip . . .’
He gave me a look, making me trail off. ‘What did I say yesterday? Too nice.’
‘How was that too nice?’ I demanded.
‘It’s not like you go parading yourself around, do you? You have some decency. One drunken mistake, and those guys are practically undressing you with their eyes.’
I sighed. ‘Come on. I’m not that hot.’
‘Have you looked in the mirror lately, Miss Thirty-Four C?’
‘Lee!’ I shouted, smacking his arm. I felt my cheeks go red. ‘Don’t say it so loud!’
He laughed at me, slinging an arm around my shoulder. ‘I can’t believe this is the same girl who would’ve gone skinny-dipping and stripped off for a load of guys—’
‘Shut up.’
‘Sorry.’
‘We have a meeting for the carnival at lunch,’ I reminded him as the bell went. While I was a chemistry kid, Lee was biology. It was the only subject we didn’t have together.