Rose, her hands tucked in the pockets of her peacoat, is quickly walking toward us. She’s not with Sara, which means she also hasn’t had any luck finding her.
Great.
Tammy and I pause so she can catch up to us, but I’ve reached my last thread of patience. “What do youwant, Rose? Still haven’t found your stupid boyfriend, Joe Loser Yang?”
“Patrick,” she huffs, indignant.
“Kidding,” I supply weakly.
“Whatever, I’m just trying to tell you I sent her to the journalism classroom.” Rose rolls her eyes. “Go stall her there while I keep looking for Joe.”
Tammy grabs my good arm and pulls me toward the school. “Great, thanks, Rose!”
I slip from her grasp and twist toward Rose, eyes narrowing. “Fine, but again, I’mnotdoing this for you.”
“Sure.” Rose flips her hair over her shoulder then heads in the opposite direction.
As Tammy and I dart toward the school’s entrance, I wonder what I’m even doing right now. Agh, this pain medication is making my brain loopy. I can’t think straight. All I know is, I’m not one of Rose’s minions she can boss around.
Okay, Patrick.Think. Do I want to stall Sara? If I do, that also means I’m stalling her potential kiss with Joe tonight, which means she loses our kiss bet. Gah, what kind of friend would I be if I let that happen?
Then there’s the other problem. If Rose intercepts Joe before he can confess his feelings, Sara still loses the bet. She’ll be devastated if she has to quit newspaper.
Ugh! I never thought in a million years she’d agree to this bet. Why did she have to say yes? It only increases the pressure tenfold.
But, hold on—there’s a chance Rose doesn’t find Joe, isn’t there? Joe could be on his way to the journalism classroomright nowto confess to Sara. And if that’s the case, maybe I can intercept Joe! Yeah, that’s it! I’ll find him before he finds Sara, and then I’ll—what? Force him to kiss her so Sara can win the bet? Sure, that works.
Only, what if Joe’s not by the classroom? Maybe I can find some other random guy to kiss her so she doesn’t lose the bet. Except—didn’t Sara tell me she wanted her first kiss to be with someone she really liked?Loved, even? Will this plan even work?
Eh, I’ll figure it out as I go.
Suddenly, I remember something I read in her blog. How she’d wanted a change this year. To go after what she wanted without fear. Meanwhile, I hadn’t wanted anything to change between us because I was comfortable with how things were, and then Joseph Yang threw a wrench in that. Except . . .
It’s not really Joe’s fault, is it? Even if Joe doesn’t confess his feelings to Sara tonight, our friendship will eventually change if one of us starts dating someone. That’s inevitable. Did I expect her to never move on and have a crush on somebody else? Of course that was going to happen. Joe just happened to be that person.
I stop in my tracks. Tammy whirls around to face me.
“Why don’t you make sure she’s not in line to get free ice cream?” I say. “If I don’t find her here, I’ll text you.”
Tammy gives an eager nod. “Good luck!”
I force a smile. She has no idea how much I need it.
But now I know what I have to do.
FORTY-TWO
Sara
I remove my hand from Oliver’s mouth and press my finger to my lips, silently pleading for him to stay quiet. His head is bent at an awkward angle to avoid hitting the underside of the desk, and he carefully tries to adjust without accidentally elbowing me.
“Wow, your classrooms are way bigger here.”
Wait, that’s Vicky’s voice! She’s here with Joe? How did that happen?
“Yeah, probably because there’s a ton more students at Eagle Gate,” Joe replies.
Oliver pulls his long legs toward his torso, then rests his chin on his knee as he peers at me, hair falling into his eyes as his head dips. I switch positions and crouch on my knees so I can steal a tiny glance around the workstation.
