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set of sweet pink lips.

 
     

     
    I was distracted the next day and I wanted to pretend I didn’t know why I was distracted but I totally did.
    “What is wrong with you today?” Grace asked when I nearly knocked her can of soda off the table at lunch.
    “Sorry. Just . . .  thinking about stuff.” I didn’t sound convincing at all. Even to myself.
    “Okayyyyy,” Grace said, drawing the word out. “You’ve been weird all day. What’s up?” I gave her a look.
    “Really? Whenever you have an off day and I ask you what’s wrong, you lie to me and now you expect me to talk to you?” She scowled.
    “Ugh, whatever. Just be all weird and grumpy. See if I care.” She turned away from me to talk to Molly about something.
    I tapped her on the shoulder a few minutes later.
    “What?” she snapped. You couldn’t be sensitive and also be friends with Grace. She could be prickly, but she still had my back and if I needed to hide a body, she would be the one I would call.
    “Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind. I had this . . .  crazy dream last night and it’s been throwing me off all day.” So that wasn’t a huge lie. I had had a dream last night. The kind of dream that left me waking up gasping and turned on. I could feel my face getting red as I told her. Thankfully, Grace couldn’t read minds.
    I looked away from her and it was like my eyes were drawn to Stella’s table. She was there, sitting and laughing with her friends. Her hair was down in curls and she tossed them over her shoulder. Like she was in a fucking shampoo commercial. I felt my face get redder and told myself to stop looking at her. Not only was she a total bitch, she was also a girl.
    I shouldn’t be getting turned on by a girl. I was straight. I’d had crushes on boys plenty of times. Had even dated a few, but decided that there was no point until I got to college. It was a waste of time that I could better use for studying. Besides, my parents had been super strict about it, so it wasn’t worth it.
    I didn’t like girls. I was just . . . whatever.
    Grace snapped her fingers in front of my face.
    “Are you there?”
    “Yeah, sorry. Just thinking.” I kept saying the same thing over and over again and Grace was definitely suspicious.
    “Uh huh,” she said and I knew she wasn’t going to drop it, but the bell rang and we had to go. I kept my head down when I walked by Stella’s table and was so focused on not looking at her that I smashed right into someone.
    “Oh, I’m sorry!” I said, looking up into a set of crystal blue eyes. They narrowed before she rolled them back in her head and flounced off as I gaped after her.
    “Who peed in her Cheerios?” Grace said as Stella flounced away. I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
    “Don’t know,” I said, shaking my head and starting to walk again, paying more attention to where I was going.
    “She’s such a bitch,” Grace said, winding her arm with mine.
    “Yeah,” I said.
     

     
    T he rest of the week was similarly weird. It was like Stella kept getting tossed in my path. Or maybe I just had never noticed her as much. Hell, I was noticing her now. I hated how much I was noticing.
    How thick and long her eyelashes were. How her hair fell over her shoulder. How delicate and small her hands were. How her voice had a husky, smoky undertone that was . . .
    No. I wasn’t noticing things about Stella Davis.
    Finally, it was Friday and time for the weekend. I could hang out with Grace and the rest of my friends and not notice Stella Davis for two whole days.
    I had not counted on the fact that, of course, Stella would be at the football game. She was captain of the cheerleading squad for fuck’s sake. She’d be front and center the whole time. It was going to be even more of a chore not to look at her. I was totally up to the challenge, though. I’d spent the last three years ignoring her (for the most part). How hard could it be?
     

     
    “W hat are you staring at?” Grace