Gitanilla.
Sharp and wild at the bonfire. Polished and buttoned-up during study hour. And still—somehow—just as hot in both versions.
She hadn’t texted. Hadn’t even flinched when I kissed that girl in front of her at the beach. Like I didn’t evenrattleher.
Which only made me want to rattle her more.
Break the careful control she keeps clinging to like a lifeline.
“She’s in your head,” Tristan called without looking up, like he read my thoughts.
I sank a jumper from half court. “No one’s in my head.”
“Right. That’s why you’re playing like you’re trying to exorcise demons.”
“Iam,” I muttered. “Just not mine.”
He finally looked up. Smirked. “You know, you could justaskher out. Like a normal human.”
I scoffed. “You think someone likemegets to date someone likeher?”
“She’s hot. You’re hotter. Do the math.”
“It’s not that simple.” I palmed the ball and stared up at the scoreboard. “She’s not one of us.”
“She kissed you back, didn’t she?”
That shut me up.
Because yeah… she did.
And I hadn’t stopped thinking about it since.
Her lips. The fire. The chaos I felt in my blood when she pushed back, when she didn’t fall at my feet like the others.
Jade Bryan was a problem.
And I wanted to sink deep into the mess she was making in my chest.
Even if it burned me alive.
Alright,” Xavier said, stretching his shoulders and wiping sweat from his brow, “spill it.”
I rolled the ball under my palm, slow and steady. “Spill what.”
“Don’t play dumb.” He stepped closer, grinning like a wolf. “The study session with Royal Oaks’ favorite little mystery girl.”
Garrett perked up from where he was chugging water. “Ohhh, is this about the girl who roasted y’all at the beach?”
“Sheroastedyou, bro,” I corrected.
“Still counts,” he shot back.
“Fine,” Xavier said, folding his arms. “Tristan, give us the play-by-play. Leo’s not gonna say anything useful.”
Tristan didn’t even look up from where he was scrolling through his texts. “You mean the most sexually tense AP History session in the greater New England area?”
Xavier laughed. “That bad?”
