Officially, it’s an adoption drive, but unofficially, Annabel’s using it to organize her own event, which involves the alley behind The One True Love.
“Have you been practicing on your hand like I showed you?”
“Yeah, but it’s weird.” Mary nods, pulling a face at the same time. “I don’t know why I need to bother.”
“You don’t know what’s going to happen later, do you?” Annabel waggles her eyebrows again, and I wish she’d stop it. She’s been annoying me a lot recently. Ever since she got boobs, she’s acting like she’s better than Mary and me. “Someone will want to take you down the alley,” she adds with a hair flick.
Mary’s wide-eyed, like she’s never heard anything so exciting. “And that’s when you’re kissing a twin? Properly.”
“Yup. I bet they’re so experienced too. I heard they’ve been kissing loads of girls since they got to Wellington. Valentine Nook is so boring.” It’s like neither of the twins gets to decide for themselves. She then stands up and turns to me, one hand on her hip. I’m still sitting on the floor against the bed, so I have to crane to look up at her. “God, Story, when are you going to admit it?”
“Admit what?”
“That you like Hendricks.”
“Wh . . .what? What? We’re just friends?—”
“You’ve liked him since we were little kids. C’mon, we’re not stupid,” she snaps. “Don’t you trust us?”
“Hendricks is my friend,” I repeat. “Of course I like him.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
My shoulders jerk up. I don’t know why I’m so reluctant to tell them. It just feels like something I need to think about a lot more because I don’t know when it became different. ThatlikingHendricks changed from being friends and hanging out on Honeysuckle Lane to wondering how it would feel to kiss him. And ever since the kissing booth was announced, I’ve been keeping my fingers crossed that today will be the day I find out, because Annabel’s unofficial booth isn’t the worst idea for having your first kiss.
I just wish she’d shut up about it.
“I don’t know if I like him.”
The gloss on her lips catches the light as she purses them. So sticky. “So you don’t care if I kiss him, then?”
Urgh. God. I glance at Mary, who’s trying to look like she doesn’t care about this conversation but is equally as interested in the answer as Annabel.
My jaw clenches so hard I wonder if Mr. Dobbs, my orthodontist, will be able to tell, and through gritted teeth, I say, “If you could limit your kissing to Miles, I would appreciate it.”
Immediately, she drops down, and the pursed lip is replaced by a wide smile as she pulls me into a hug so tight I squeak. “You got it.”
Valentine Nook is as pink andred as I’ve ever seen it before. Hearts hang from the archway, and even more hang from each lamppost, looped across the road. Every window is decorated with cherubs and love hearts, poems and paper chains. It’s so pretty. It’s so busy.
“It’s sopink.” Mary points out the obvious as we pass by Agatha Chase’s and the queue that stretches down the high street. “Do you guys want to go get a potion?”
“No, I’m not waiting inthat.We can get one any day of the week,” Annabel says, dodging someone dressed in a giant Cupid’s outfit, handing out love hearts. “Besides, we don’t need a potion.”
I wish I had her confidence. Annabel is the most confident person I know. Even though I’m confident a lot of the time, I’m not when it comes to boys. I make a mental note to come back when the queue is shorter and Annabel’s not with me.
“Do you know when the twins are arriving? I mean, all the boys?”
I shake my head. “No, I guess sometime around lunch?”
“What time is your kissing slot?”
“Eleven. How much money do you think we’ll raise?”
“All day?”
“Yeah. Ten thousand?”
“We’re not raising ten thousand pounds, Annabel.” Mary laughs. “There aren’t enough of us, not to mention it’s mathematically impossible. We’re charging a pound per dog. There aren’t going to be ten thousand kisses, and there aren’tten thousanddogs.”
