Annie opened her computer . “I typed up what I heard,” she said, glancing at the screen. “Shannen said something about ‘that night we went to Paddy’s.’ Then she said somethi ng I didn’t hear, and then Chloe flipped out. She said, ‘What? How could you do that? You promised me you wouldn’ t do anything—’” “What were they talking about?” I asked. “I don’t know,” Annie said. “But then I distinctly heard Shannen say, ‘Jake made me swear I wouldn’ t tell Ally .’” I felt like the floor had just dropped out from under me. Shannen and Jake were ke eping secrets from me together? Secrets Chloe knew about? Annie looked up at me, her eyes wide with apology . “Should I not have told you?” “No. It’ s good. It’ s fine,” I said, my mind reeling. I saw a pair of headlights flash in the parking lot. Jake was there. Perfect timing, as always. “He’s here,” I said. Annie glanced over her shoulder out the window . “You should just ask him about it,” she said confidently . “Maybe it’ s nothing.” Right. Somehow I had a hard time believing that. “Yeah,” I said. “Maybe I will.” But I found I couldn’ t move. Jake honked the horn and waved me out, grinning. “Or just forget about it,” Annie said. “I feel bad that I just ruined your night. Just go and have fun.” “Yeah,” I said, grabbing my jacket off the end of the counter. “Yeah. Okay. Thanks, Annie.” Outside, a misty rain fell from the dark April sky. I popped open the door of the Je ep, and Jake grinned at me. He had a streak of dirt on his face, and the entire side of his uniform was caked in mud. My whole body responded to his gorgeousness, but my heart felt sour. Why was he ke eping secrets from me? And with my former best friend/current worst enemy? “Wow. Rough game?” I asked, trying for a light tone. “You should see the other guys.” He pulled out, and within fifteen minutes we were parked in the country club lot again. He leaned over to kiss me, but I couldn’ t kiss him back. “Hey. Is everything okay?” he asked. I looked into his light blue eyes. I didn’t want to do this. Didn’t want to sit here and pretend that everyth ing was fine. Try to kiss him with all these
questions whirling around in my mind. “No, actually ,” I said, shifting in my seat. “What is it?” he asked. “It’s just . . . Annie overheard something today,” I said. “A conversation between Chloe and Shannen.” Jake swallowed. “Y eah?” “Something about Paddy’s and about how Shannen promised you she wouldn’ t tell me . . . ?” Jake turned completely away from me, staring out the windshield. “Oh.” “Yeah, oh. What were they talking about?” I asked. “That’s all they said?” he asked, still not looking at me. “That’s all she heard,” I r eplied, feeling even more suspicious. Jake sighed and gripped the steering wheel. His hands kneaded it like it was bread dough, his knuckles turning white. “Jake, you’re scaring me,” I said. “What the hell is going on?” “I just . . .” He looked me in the eye, and for a long momen t he said nothing. “Just what?” “I didn’t want you to know about Paddy’s,” he said, turning away again. “I mean, I’ve seen you at a couple of parties, and you never drink. I thought . . . I guess I thought you’d think I was a loser for going to a bar or something.” Relief flooded through me, and I laughed. “Is that it? I don’t think you’re a loser.” “You sure?” He looked at me she epishly . “Please. I’d think you were a loser if you drank and drove or got so messy drunk you barfed on my shoes or something, but I’m not gonna judge you for going there and hanging out,” I said. Jake smiled almost sadly and looked down at his hands. “You’re really cool, you know that?” I smiled, my face warming pleasantly . “Thanks.” He looked up at me again, and we finally kissed. “I couldn’ t stop thinking about you the whole game,” he said. “Me neither,” I r eplied, even though it didn’t make sense. I pressed my mouth against his and wrapped one arm around his neck, trying to pull him closer to me. “Ow!” He cursed and leaned away .
“What?” I asked, breathless. “Stick shift. Knee. Not good,” he said, wincing. I laughed. “T oughen up, Graydon. Is this how you act on the field?” He smirked and leaned in to kiss me. “No. I just wasn’t expecting to get injured after the game.” I sighed and dropped back in my bucket seat, looking through the windshield at the surface of the lake, which was pockmarked by the now rapidly falling rain. This “date” was not going well at all. “Sneaking around does have its drawbacks,” I said. “Yeah. But it’ s kind of fun, too,” he said, reaching for my hand. I sighed, lacing my fingers together with his. “It kind of sucks, though. That we can’ t tell anyone.” “You told Annie, right?” he said. “Well, yeah, but—” He lifted his shoulders. “So, there you go.” “But wouldn’t it be cool if we could, I don’t know, go to a movie or something?” I asked. “Movies are overrated,” he r eplied, reaching for me. His eyes went to my lips. “Jake—” He sighed and sat back again. “Ally , I thought we were good with this.” “I know ,” I said, looking at my lap. “If my friends found out about us, they’d just try to break us up,” he said, running his one clean hand over my hair. “I don’t want to deal with any more of their crap. I just want this.” He leaned in and kissed me, and any longing for anything else melted away. He was right. If the Cresties found out about us, they’d start torturing me all over again. And I’d kind of been enjoying the not getting tortured these past few months. Ever since Shannen and I had faced off after the pool annex incident, she and the rest of them had basically left me alone. And considering the not-so-thinly-veiled threat Shannen had issued that day, and the bluff I’d issued back, that wasn’t really a boat I felt like rocking. But the prom was coming up. And it may have been a stupid fantasy, but I wanted to go with Jake. I had a whole daydream of him in a tux and me in some gorgeous dress, walking into the dance together and everyone
stopping to stare. In a good way, of course. Why couldn’ t I have that? Why did everything have to be so screwed up? “You okay?” Jake asked. “Yeah. I’m fine,” I said, forcing a smile even though my heart was so heavy it was tugging down on the corners of my mouth. Maybe I’d just work a double shift the day of the prom. Earn money instead of spending it on a dress and a ticket and a limo. Save up for next year’s prom. When maybe, just maybe, things would be dif ferent.
I was standing outside my English classroom, cramming for the test I was going to have to take in three minutes, when Trevor and Todd came bouncing up to me out of nowhere. “Dude, dude, dude! Did you ask anyone to the prom yet?” Todd asked, slapping my shoulder and squeezing it. Hard. I flinched, still clutching my copy of The Odyssey in both hands. My thoughts instantly flashed on Ally , and my cheeks flared. “No. Why?” “Cool! Because I just asked Jennifer Dell—” “And I asked Kiersten Staples—” “And they said they won’ t go unless Carrie Ann Sullivan has a date too.” “So will you ask her?” I stared at them. “Who?” “Carrie Ann Sullivan!” they said in unison. Todd leaned toward my ear. “She’s the sophomore on varsity lacrosse. The one with the black braids and the huge—” My blush de epened and I nodded. “Right. Carrie Ann Sullivan.” I swallowed hard, my brain full of thoughts of Ally. What would she think if she could hear this conversation? Probably that we were all disgusting pigs. “I don’t know, guys.” I looked down at my book and tried to concentrate. “Come on, man! If you don’t ask her, we don’t have dates,” Trevor said, bouncing up and down in his destroyed Chuck T’ s. “Why won’ t they go without her?” I asked. “Who knows?” Todd said, throwing up his arms. “Some stupid girl code? They’re like BFFs or something, and they all want to go.” “What’s tripping you up man? The big boobs or the hot legs? Why is this even an issue?” T revor added. I took a de ep breath. The thing was, it wasn’t like I could go to the prom with Ally . Whatever we were doing, we’d decided to ke ep it a secret. For a very good reason. But I couldn’ t not go to the prom. Everyone was going. We