“Ew, it looks like math homework,” Abigail says, taking the piece of paper. It’s been ripped in half, but sure enough, there are algebra equations on one side of it. She scrunches up her nose, because math is the worst subject ever, then turns it over.
“What do we have here…” she says curiously.
I look at the paper. The nameMaxis written in black pen, followed by the wordparty, and a phone number.
“Who is this Max that’s throwing parties?” Abigail says. “I wonder if he’s cute.”
“Oh my God, you are ridiculous,” I say with a laugh. “The most boy-crazy person ever.”
“No, I just keep my opportunities open,” she says, grinning. She shoves the paper in my hands. “You should text him.”
“What? No. I don’t even know him.”
She shrugs. “So? You have nothing to lose.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m not texting some random number.”
“I dare you,” she says, giving me a sneaky grin. “I dare you to text him and say:Hey Max, what’s up?”
I snort. “That’s stupid.”
She shifts her dog’s leash to her other hand. “I know, but it’ll be fun.”
“Fine,” I say, rolling my eyes. I take out my phone and type in the number, not because I care, but because I want to prove to Abigail that I’m not a total loser all the time.
I type:Hi Max, what’s up?
We both watch my phone screen as we continue to walk around the park. A few minutes go by, and nothing happens.
I shove the phone in my pocket. “Well, that was a waste of time.”
Chapter 2
In the morning, my parents wake me up at five freaking o’clock to tell me they’re leaving. The beach is only a two hour drive from where we live, but they want to get there early to start whatever it is they’ll be doing to work on their marriage. After they leave, I can’t seem to go back to sleep even though it’s so early. I give up trying, and head into the living room, where I turn on the TV and try to find something to watch.
An hour later, Jensen shuffles into the room, wearing his Superman pajamas. His hair is all ruffled and sticking up every which way, and he’s wearing one red sock. I don’t know what happened to the other one.
“Good morning,” he says, yawning as he hops onto the couch to sit next to me. “Are you awake early because you’re scared that Mommy and Daddy are gone?”
“No,” I say, ruffling his hair.
“You’re not scared when they leave?” he asks, his eyes wide like he doesn’t believe me.
“We have nothing to worry about,” I say. “I’m practically a grown up, you know.”
He nods, and then yawns again. “Can we watch cartoons?”
“Sure,” I say, handing him the remote. There’s nothing good on TV this early in the morning anyway. I wish I could have slept late, making the time pass as fast as possible, but with my babysitting duties, that’d never work. My brother always wakes up early. Instead, I make us breakfast, and after about five ruined pancakes, I make a few of them that are actually edible.
It’s around ten in the morning when my phone beeps, which is weird because none of my friends wake up this early on a Saturday.
I get my phone from my bedroom and check the text. It’s from that weird number I texted yesterday.
Hi there.
I stare at it, my heart beating faster. I didn’t expect him to reply, and if he did, I assumed he’d ask who I was. I mean, isn’t that what most people do when a strange number texts them?
I should just ignore it, but I’m crazy bored and Jensen is happily watching cartons, which are even more boring to me. So I text back.
