Page 28 of Let's Pretend I'm Okay

The second my fingers touch it, he jumps up, stealing it away from me. “Don’t touch that.”

I cross my arms. “If you listened to me, I wouldn’t have to.”

He stares at me like I’m the most annoying person he’s ever been forced to talk to. “I’m warning you.”

I lean in. “What’cha going to do? Feed me to sharks? Burndown my house?” I set down my paper in front of him. “All I need you to do is put this into your bag so you don’t lose it. Then, I’ll leave you alone.”

He picks up the paper and tears it into pieces. “I can’t lose something that doesn’t exist.” He stands, slinging his messenger bag over his shoulder.

My mouth hangs open. “What are you doing?”

“Leaving.”

How am I supposed to get anything done with this feral boy? “But class isn’t over.”

“I noticed,” he says, walking away as if he isn’t about to get another round of detention.

Cameryn runs up to me as soon as class is over. She links arms with me as I walk out. “What was that about?”

I sigh. “I don’t know. But he’s giving me a headache.”

“Maybe you should try letting some of your personality rub off on him.”

Forcing someone like him to act like a human being isn’t something I have time for. “I doubt he’d cooperate.”

She slows down. “You seem kind of down. Is something wrong?”

I dodge her question. “Hypothetically, if you were going to set my sister up with someone, who would it be?”

Cameryn laughs. “Where’s this coming from?”

“Just answer the question.”

She taps her chin. “What about Micah?”

I raise an eyebrow. “Micah? The same Micah who ran through the hallway in his boxers in eighth grade?”

She giggles. “I forgot about that, but come on, that wasforever ago. I have a couple classes with him, and he’s matured a lot.”

Is he the best option? Probably not, but he’s better than Daniel. “Do you think you could get him to sit with us at lunch today?”

She tilts her head and twists her mouth. “I could try.”

“Thank you,” I say.

“Why do you want to set your sister up so bad?”

I hold my finger in the air. “Hypothetically.”

“Sure,” Cameryn says, nudging me in the side.

I set down my tray next to Annie at lunch. “I’ve come to a decision.”

She peeks up at me from her book. “What?”

“You can’t like him.”

She sets the book down and laughs lightly. “Oh, you’ve decided that, have you?”

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