Luckily, no one has noticed how quiet I am. They ask me questions here and there. I respond quickly, then I’m right back to looking for that guy. He’s probably older, has a car, and goes out for lunch instead of eating this garbage.
The bell for our next class rings, and everyone in the lunchroom groans. Paige and I have home ec now. It seems kind of dumb now that I think of it, because we just had lunch and now we have to cook and eat again.
We say our goodbyes as everyone scatters to their classes.
“Hey.”
I’m startled by the sound of the voice, and I subconsciously grip my chest as I turn to see who it is. Oh, shit. It’s him. Was he waiting for me this whole time?
“Hi,” I somehow manage to get out.
“You’re the girl from the mall, right?”
I nod.
“I’ll meet you in class,” Paige says and gives me a wink.
Can she be any more embarrassing? It’s not like he didn’t see her wink. “Okay,” I say, giving her a serious glare. She shrugs and turns away.
“I’m Kai.”
I can’t help but notice his bright-blue eyes and a few freckles that run across his cheeks and nose. “I’m Blakely. But you can call me Blake, B, or Blakely. Whichever you want.”Shut the hell up, Blakely.
He does this quiet laugh-snicker thing that makes me blush even more than I already am. “So, how was your lunch?” he asks, clearly trying to strike up conversation.
“It was okay. Nothing too special. Just warmed up pizza.” I look around and notice the halls are getting empty. There are only a few slow stragglers left aside from us. “Did you eat lunch here?”
“Nah. I went out with some friends.”
“You kids need to get to class,” Mrs. Chatley says. She’s a school tracker and walks around the halls, making sure students are in their classrooms. If it weren’t for her, I would have had to go to summer school. After all the ditching, I fell behind. She let me go into her office after school to make up my schoolwork.
“Yes, we know,” I mumble.
“Then go,” she says as she swats at the air, giving us the universalget movingsign. “You can’t skip class again this year, Blakely. I promised your mom I would keep an eye on you.”
“We’re going, ma’am,” Kai says.
Both of us turn away from her and start walking.
“What’s your next class?”
“Home ec. What’s yours?”
“I’m done for the day.”
My jaw drops. He must be a senior. Some seniors get ahead of their credits and can do half days. I’m not sure how they do it. He must be one of them. “So, you’re a senior?”
“Yeah.”
He probably has a car, too. I always wanted a boyfriend with a car. It’s always so cute when guys pick their girlfriends up for school each morning. I’d love that. Riding to school together, seeing each other in the hallways between classes, spending time after school together… I can only imagine being dropped off late at night and curling up in bed with the scent of him wrapped around me.
“I guess I’ll see you around.”
Confused, my brows drop into a crease.
“This is home ec,” he says.
When I shift my eyes to the right, it sure is. I giggle, not realizing we’re already to my class.
