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I shrugged. “Sure. Whatever.” They all knew I had nothing to do tomorrow after school besides go to bed.

***

I stared longingly into Mr. Halifax’s classroom, pretending it wasn’t Mr. Hill standing at the board. I felt really sorry for anyone who had to have Mr. Hill twice a day now. I was lucky Uncle James was covering calc.

“Come on,” Scarlett said. “We don’t want to be late.”

Yeah. Uncle James was kind of a hard ass about attendance. Or maybe he just acted that way because he was annoyed that I’d literally run out of class last week and then been absent for the rest of the week. And I’d insisted on going to the nurse yesterday. Yeah, I was pretty sure he was annoyed with me.

I hurried after Scarlett, keeping my head down. I hated walking through the hallways without even the slightest chance of a glimpse of Mr. Halifax. I’d found it easier to look at the ground instead of having any hope.

I walked into Uncle James’ classroom and plopped down in my seat in the front row. And then I faceplanted my desk. Because it was just that kind of day.

“Soph,” Scarlett whispered.

“Ugh,” I responded.

“Soph,” she hissed and poked me.

I slowly lifted my head and turned toward her.

Her eyes were round.

“Are you okay?” I asked. “Are you seeing ghosts again?”

“No. I...he...”

I shook my head and turned toward the board. Her new sixth sense was a strange way to distract me. And it wasn’t working.

Jacob and Axel walked into the room.

Axel came to an immediate stop in front of me. It didn’t seem like he was pretending to see dead people. He looked...annoyed. Like super annoyed.

I sighed. “I’m sorry that my heartache is annoying you, Axel.”

“What?” Axel said and lowered his eyebrows.

“Sophie,” Scarlett said. “That’s not...”

“I’m fine,” I hissed. “Would everyone please just leave me alone and let me wallow?” I was really starting to get annoyed by all their constant pestering.

Axel elbowed Jacob in the side and nodded at me. And then he said something to him so quietly that I couldn’t hear.

Jacob raised one eyebrow.

I groaned. “And if you’re trying to convince Jacob to have sex with me to assess the problem, I’m over it. I’m a lost cause. I’m a terrible lay and everyone knows it.”

“Sophie, stop talking,” Scarlett said.

“Why?” I turned toward her. “Who cares if everyone knows?”

“Please stop talking,” she said.

“No one’s even listening to us. And I could shout it from the rooftops if I wanted. He left.” I forced my voice not to crack. “It’s not like I’m going to get him in trouble now. He’s probably in California screwing some leggy blonde who’s pretty enough to not get her face skeeted on.”

“Sophie,” Scarlett hissed. She looked behind me like she was worried that the whole class was listening.

But really...who cared? I hadn’t used Mr. Halifax’s name or anything. My friends were the only ones that knew about my crush. And I didn’t care that everyone else knew about my uncurable condition. That way they could avoid me. It was possible that being bad at sex was contagious or something.