Page 17 of Unraveled

“Okay.”

He paused at her dismissal, then picked up his bag to sling it over his shoulder before glancing back at us.

“Anyway,” Dinah ignored him, reclaiming my attention. “I was wondering about that move you added to our routine on Wednesday. I really want to get it right. If I can do it well enough, I want to include it in my final routine. I mean, I can’tbelievewe have to perform something we created ourselves for our final.”

“Hey, Dinah?”

She looked over at Noah as if he were interrupting something important, raising her brow in mock irritation. “Yeah?”

“You wanna meet up after school? We could go to Bob’s for burgers or something.” He stared as Dinah sucked her lip in pretend thought.

“Mmmm, I really wanted to work on my routine after school.”

He nodded, his face falling slightly before he caught it. “Got it. No problem.”

“You can call me later, though.”

A grin hit his lips then as he backed towards the door. “Right. Later.”

“Seven,” Dinah called out.

He gave her a final jerk of his head and pushed out the door.

I was grinning when Dinah faced me again. “What’s going on there? Word from the guys was he’s been shifting from his pretend-to-want-to-date-a-girl move to fast-tracking his way to Tucker’s old status.”

“Wasn’t he not far off from that, anyway?” she teased, and I laughed.

“True. He does get around enough. It looked like you were throwing him a bone, though.”

She shrugged, growing more serious. “I dunno. I’ve always kind of had a thing for him, butnotas a one-night stand. I kind of decided to be a tease instead. Give him a little then turn it off. I know what he’s after, and he’s not getting it anytime soon. And you gave Tucker a chance.”

“I know. I wasn’t saying it was bad. It’s actually kinda funny.”

“It’s actually a lot of work.” She pretend-sighed. “Ireallywant to kiss him like crazy, he’s so freaking hot. But if I let him know that, he’ll lose interest, or at least, the kind of interest Iwant. I just have to be careful he doesn’t turn it around and playmeinto thinking he really wants to date me when he doesn’t. Anyway, what about that dance move?”

“Oh, yeah. It’s pretty easy.”

“Coming fromyou…” Dinah grinned.

“You’re awesome, too. It’s either you or Casey that will be captain when I’m gone, so I know you can get this.”

Dinah looked down at our feet. “We’re both in heels. I don’t know about your coordination, but I’m gonna go change first. Your shoes are in your locker, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, I’ll grab them. Be right back.” She hopped up and hurried around the corner, her heels clicking across the gym floor.

I looked down, spotting my untouched chicken wrap, and started to open it when I realized the clanging in the weight room had stopped.Weird. No one else came through here.Maybe they were still packing up. I shrugged it off and dug into my lunch, eager to use the extra practice time.

Taking a long drink of my lemonade, I headed to the opposite bleachers to toss my trash, the half-full drink making a loud thud when it hit the bottom of the empty can. But the voice a few yards away resonated far more pronounced in my ears.

“Izzy.”

I tensed, reminding myself to breathe. Why did I always have to be alone when Zane appeared?

Deciding to ignore him, I started walking towards the doors, not caring that my stuff was still sitting on the bleachers at the other side. I could get it later. Right now, I needed away fromhim, and anywhere else was better than here.

“Izzy,” Zane called louder this time, the rhythm of his steps speeding up behind me.

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