Page 26 of Out of Bounds

Kassie: Got to keep it safe

Kassie: Where somebody cant screenshot them

Zariah slowly shook her head. "You’re playing with fire."

"You’re telling me not to send this?"

"Nope. Send it."

The two of us pressed our faces together as the messages flew off to the ether. I’d never realized how damn slow that little loading bar was—it felt like forever before the delivered notice popped into view.

And there it was, those three little dots.

The three dots disappeared.

And reappeared again.

Just to disappear again.

Zariah clicked her tongue and went back to rummaging through the shelves. "Huh."

My phone buzzed a final time and I couldn’t believe what I read.

"He told me to wear his jersey at the frat party. I thought Cleo told us we had to be subtle. How isthatsubtle?" I frowned, finally tearing myself away from the text conversation. "This is exactly what Cleo warned us against. Howconvenient—"

"Huh."

"What?" I stuffed my phone in my pocket. I’d respond to the bobblehead later, I wasn’t on the payroll for emojis. "What’re you making that face for?"

"What face?"

"That face." I snagged the shirt out of her hands, just to seeCROSSin big letters across its back. "I’m not buying this."

"I’m pretty surehesaid buyhisjersey." She gestured towards one of the store’s displays.

There was a snapshot of Ryan, front and center. They’d blown him up way more than necessary. His muscles almost burst out of the picture.

That wasn’t the end of it. There were Ryan-faced notebooks, shorts with the Four-A-Cross chant written in big, blocky letters, and, right smack in the middle, a row of those damn bobbleheads. I’d stacked them up without a care with the weekend shipment.

Rolling my eyes, I flicked one of their heads with my finger. "I’m not wearing his jersey."

"You’re ignoring article three, bylaw fourteen, section…section fifteen of your fake relationship contract—"

"They didn’t sayanythingabout me wearing his jersey." Carefully, I folded it back in the proper way. "I’m not getting branded by him. If he wants me in his jersey, he’ll have to ask nicely."

"Funny."

I scoffed. "He thinks he can get anything he wants by being a pushy asshole. I’ve got some news for him."

"What aperformance."

"A performance?"

Zariah made a noise at the back of her throat. "You two eye-fucked so hard, it was painful to witness. Sell your act to somebody else. I don’t buy it."

I opened my mouth to argue, but Zariah barreled on.

"You’re complaining about this and I’ve got to clock into the coffee shop in a couple of hours…Kass. Get with the program! You’ve got the golden opportunity here to get your tuition backfrom the school and you’re tossing it out because you don’tlikethe man? Whocares? Enjoy the fact that you’ve got a black card. You’re transferring in January, he’s skipping off to the NFL in April. What’s the problem here?"

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