“What? No. Shaylee Marsh asked me, with that box of cookies I brought over last night. Why did you think it was Chanel?”
“When Cam and I got back to Ty’s house, Bree, Chanel, Melissa, and Alison were still there. I overheard them talking about posters and balloons, and someone mentioned your name.”
That is the absolute last kind of drama I need. “Perfect. Would Jim and your mom mind if I permanently moved into the spare bedroom?” I scrub a hand down my face.
“I’m sure Clark wouldn’t mind.” Jack’s eyebrows disappear into his hairline.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I smirk, but on the inside, I’m sweating. Did he wake up and hear Hannah and me last night?
“She’s told me she hates that your parents always leave you home alone.”
“I’m used to it. It does get lonely sometimes.” I crack my neck, relieved. I’m not sure what jack would think if he knew what me and Hannah did last night. Cross the hall from him.
“Sorry about last night and my mom. When I got home, and you and Clark weren’t with me, my mom whipped her phone out, calling her ten seconds later. I know you don’t talk about your relationship with her, but it might help. Clark is right that you should talk about things, and not always hold everything inside.”
“I’m trying. It’s just hard when I’ve spent the last eighteen years dealing with everything on my own. My parents are the exact opposite of Jim and Beth. They don’t share their feelings and talk things out. I always felt like I needed to figure things out on my own. I didn’t want to burden my busy parents with my problems, and I didn’t want them to know I struggled. I tried to be their perfect son. I did the same thing with Hannah. I wanted to be the perfect boyfriend.”
“How long have you had feelings for Clark?”
I rake a hand through my hair, smiling to myself. “My feelings started changing after the big pranks we pulled sophomore year. I remember feeling really guilty for getting her detention for the smoke bomb. Those two weeks were the first time we really talked without other people around. When I opened my locker, all those tampons and pads fell out, and I looked across the hall and saw Hannah leaning against the wall, laughing hysterically. I wasn’t mad or embarrassed. I remember thinking I was in love. I looked forward to seeing her in class or whenever I came here. My feeling slowly built over my Junior year. I knew if I tried to ask her on a date or told her I liked her, she’d laugh in my face and accuse me of playing some angle or trying to prank her. So I decided my best move was actually to play an angle. Dang, it. The pep assembly would have been the perfect way to ask the girls to the dance.”
“We need to call Tyler and Cameron and tell them we are changing things,” Jack says, pulling his phone out.
“Jack,” Mrs. Clark calls, coming downstairs.
“Yeah, what is it?”
“I need your laundry. Do you want to get it for me, or can I go into your room?” she asks.
Jack jumps up. “I’ll get it.”
“That’s what I thought.” His mom smirks.
“Do you need anything washed, Ford?”
“Uh—no, I’m good. Thank you, though.”
“Of course, if you need anything, just ask.”
“Actually, maybe you can help me with something. We’re trying to figure out how to ask our girlfriends to the homecoming dance. We were going to do it this coming Friday, but we need to do it on Monday instead. We want to do it at school with lots of people around.”
“Why in front of a crowd?”
I scratch my neck, feeling embarrassed. “So other girls know I’ve asked Hannah, and guys know that she’s a date to the dance.”
“This was a long time ago, when I was in high school, I had a guy ask me to a dance with a shirt he was wearing. It said, ‘will you go to the winter formal with me?’ There were two boxes, and it said check yes or yes. There wasn’t a no option. When I said yes, he gave me a shirt to wear that said something like I said yes to Brian.”
“What did you say yes to dad about?” Jack asks, coming out of his bedroom with his laundry basket.
“Oh, nothing. I was just telling Ford how he asked me to a dance in high school.” Mrs. Clark grabs Jack’s clothes and heads upstairs.
“Your parents dated in high school?” I look at Jack, surprised.
“Uh yeah. My mom was only seventeen when she had me. My parents got married right out of high school.”
“Huh, that makes more sense now.”
“What makes sense?”
