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So he’d paid his way out of it. Of course.

“Good thinking.” My dad grabbed his to-go mug of coffee and gave my mom a kiss.

I hurried after my dad. “Seriously, can’t I have my phone now?”

“Once we get to school.”

Gah. There was no point in having it once I got to school. I could just talk to everyone in person. “I can’t believe he didn’t get fired,” I whispered to Liam.

“Well the good news is they’re putting down new turf in the stadium.”

I sighed. “Did RJ happen to mention to you who a certain someone was?”

“Huh?”

“The kiss thief,” I whispered.

“Oh. That.” Liam smiled.

“Wait, you know?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Liam, you have to tell me.”

“I don’t know who it is,” he said with a big smile and climbed into the car.

That little twerp. The car ride took way longer than usual. My heart was hammering against my ribcage. Liam knew who my kiss thief was. And he wasn’t telling me. Did that mean it was someone bad? God, it probably did. I knew it was a drifter.

My dad pulled his car into his usual spot. Jacob was leaning against his truck in the spot right next to ours. He opened my door for me.

I guess questioning my brother would have to wait. I climbed out of the car and grabbed Jacob’s hand. “I thought you and Axel started riding together again?”

“Yeah, I think he’s sick or something. I tried to call him this morning but he didn’t answer.”

“Oh.” That was another thing I didn’t know. I wasn’t sure Axel had seen the footage of what happened yesterday or not. For the first time in a while, he hadn’t come over last night. It’s what I’d wanted. And yet...now I was starting to get worried.

“He’s more likely just ditching.”

“Right.” I smiled up at him. I didn’t need to worry about Axel. I needed to enjoy this moment. For the first time ever, I was walking into Empire High with a very real boyfriend. And yes, everyone already thought we’d been dating. But this meant a lot to me. I stood up on my tiptoes to kiss Jacob, but my dad started talking.

“No kissing in front of me,” my dad said. “Wait. No. No kissing anywhere.”

“Dad, would you please give me back my phone?” I put my hand out.

He pulled it out of his inside suit pocket. “Here.”

Finally. I was dying to check it, but I didn’t want to do it in front of Jacob. Just in case the kiss thief had texted. I slid it into my blazer pocket. I’d check it in first period. Ugh. First period with Mr. Halifax. This was going to be so freaking awkward.

And yet...I couldn’t stop smiling. I was wearing Jacob’s varsity jacket and he was holding my hand. We walked up the front steps of Empire High together.

“This is the best day ever,” I said.

“I think it’s going to be pretty hard to beat Saturday night.”

I nodded. “It’s definitely going to be hard to get the image of my dad and Mr. Halifax fighting out of my head.”

“I was more thinking about the fact that you said you were in love with me.”