I was a mess up.
I was—
Freeze. What was happening?
I felt an arm drape lazily over my shoulders, and I smelled that tangy, spicy smell of a guy’s deodorant. I saw the expressions on Jenessa and Claire’s faces get all googly-eyed. I saw Reece frown in confusion. The expressions of all the other bystanders were blurry, but they all looked impressed.
Then I turned my head.
Blue eyes.
Blond hair.
Nice jawline.
Great mouth.
Brooks Mason. His arm was aroundmyshoulders. And good grief, he winked at me.Winkedat me.
“So,” he stated loud enough for everyone to hear, “You ready to go, Shortstop?”
Chapter 6
Brooks
I figured out her name was “Brielle” when my phone started pinging with notifications that I was tagged in some post. I’ll admit, I wasn’t thrilled when I saw it. In fact, irritated was pretty much what I felt. I watched it two times before I shut it off, not wanting my repeated staring at the awful reel to give the algorithms ideas and start feeding me more reels of that boy/girl genre.
I had no clue how someone had made a video of Brielle Walters and me so fast. I mean, I’d just met her and cracked heads with her in study hall, and literally thirty minutes later, I was walking down the hall getting punched in the arm by dudes I didn’t know.
“How’d you manage that?” one guy asked. “Brielle’s a bookworm.”
I didn’t answer. I didn’t know what to say.
“Dude, watch out for Reece. You break his sister’s heart, and he’ll get you kicked off the baseball team before you’re on it.”
What?
“She’s hot.” That comment bugged me. I didn’t know why, but it did. It was as though Brielle was only worth being talked about because she was pretty. Andyeah. I’d noticed. I mean, she was . . . cute. But, she also delivered her opinion about music with the delivery method of a skilled pitcher out for blood.
We cannotbe friends.
I had to believe she was serious. She sure sounded like it. But according to username,Jen_Girlie182, I was dating her. Brielle Walters and I were in a relationship. We were a thing. A couple.
So I intended to talk to her about it the minute I saw her. She may not beJen_Girlie182who’d posted the video, but she could surely put a stop to the rumors. The last thing I needed was anyone thinking I was sucking up to the starting pitcher on Driftwood’s baseball team and dating his sister to make it onto the team.
“This is so saaaaaad!” A Blond girl with pouty lips whimpered as I passed her.
I gave her a quick look but kept walking.
Another girl’s hand grazed my shoulder, and I jerked away. She didn’t seem to notice. “And I was so planning on going to prom with you in the spring!”
My eyes widened.
What the—
Another girl. I think she had red hair—maybe it was orange—I don’t know. But she stopped me with a hand on my chest and looked me straight in the eye.
“When you break up with Brielle, I’ll be right here. Waiting. For you.”
