Gettin' Hooked Read Free

Creekside.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œYou know why. I’ve known most of them dudes my whole life.”
    â€œExactly.”
    â€œYou losing brain cells or something? What exactly does exactly mean?”
    â€œIt means the boyfriend-material guys you know are played out. So what about somewhere else, then?”
    She yanked the rubber band from her hair, smoothed out the long blond strands, then twisted them back into the band. “You’re serious?” Her brows plunged together as she looked at me. I gave a slight nod and she went on. “You know I think some of your friends are hot, but I don’t really know them.”
    â€œWould you want to?”
    We stared at each other for a few seconds longer, my reflection in her pale eyes reminding me again just how different we were. Yet similar, too. I knew she’d be down before the words even popped out of her mouth.
    â€œSure. What about you? You dig anyone at Creekside? Have a thing for a guy you’ve never told me about?”
    Shrugging, I glanced back out the window to where Maurice was mowing the grass. The fact that Kayla didn’t know that I was into Maurice was kind of weird, considering there wasn’t much my cousin didn’t know about me.
    His white T-shirt was damp now, from sweat or the moisture hanging in the overcast sky, I was too far away to tell, but it made his dark skin visible through the material. His body was sculpted—toned like an athlete’s. More perfect than the pictures hanging on my cousin’s walls.
    My heart was thumping, pounding my pulse all loud in my ears. I knew Kayla was saying something. Could hear her voice, but the words were drowned out by my reaction to Maurice’s movements as he pushed the mower.
    I stared at him even though I knew Kayla was waiting for a response—a response I was hesitant to give. The bed squeaked and I could sense her coming to my side.
    Taking a deep breath, I tore my gaze away from Maurice before she realized who I was so freaking hung up on. Swallowing to clear the dryness in my throat, I turned back to her and moved away from the window, though the hunk-a-licious image of him wasn’t easy to put from my mind.
    â€œSo?”
    â€œDunno.” My smile widened as I evaded the question. Maurice was my secret, and there was something safe about keeping him there. Not telling may have kept me safe, but it also kept me single. I struggled to keep my voice normal and my breathing slow. To disguise a rising, irrational sense of panic.
    â€œThere’s some fine-ass guys at Creekside, and lawdy knows I’m not getting a date from Howard. I’d get hooked up, too, with the right guy.” Vague enough?
    â€œSo who’s the right guy?”
    Again I ignored her question, figuring my plan would straight-up distract her enough to keep her from badgering for an answer.
    I sat down at her computer desk, flicking the mouse to bring it out of sleep mode. “Check this out.” A few clicks later I had my updated MySpace profile up on the screen.
    â€œOoh, I like your changes.” Her head bobbed to “Yo,” the song I’d uploaded just an hour before. Kayla reached around me to scoop up a bottle of nail polish, then tapped it against her palm.
    â€œThanks. Just did ’em.”
    With a few more clicks the screen changed to the list of my likes and dislikes, info only people on my friends list would have access to. “But this is what I want you to see.”
    â€œYeah?” She squinted, then slanted her face toward me. She was for sure skeptical, that was clear. “I’ve seen it all before, Imani, so what’s it got to do with getting hooked up with someone?”
    â€œWhat if we could see this info about guys from each other’s schools? And what if they could see ours?”
    â€œThey can.”
    â€œBut only people on friends lists. And, that could be anyone, from across the country.