Page 29 of When Ellie Falls in Love

Thank God.

Sadie twisted the lock to open her locker, setting her backpack on the floor as she arranged it for her Monday classes. Their school rotated schedules so that some classes were Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays while others were Tuesdays and Thursdays. Her first Monday class was AP US History, followed by AP Literature, AP Calculus, AP Biology, and gym, which doubled as her softball practice during the spring semester.

Despite it being her last semester of high school, Sadie hadn’t slowed down academically. Her goal was to complete as many AP courses as possible for college credit so she didn’t have to waste her time doing basic classes her first year. Which was why her Tuesday and Thursday classes were AP Spanish, AP Art History, a creative writing class, and gym. Sadie was easily one of the few people who enjoyed the gym, so she was glad it could be on her schedule twice during the softball season.

“Hey,” the familiar voice sent chills down Sadie’s spine, and not in a good way. Trevor leaned up against the locker beside her, smiling apologetically.

“Go away, Trevor.”

“I’m sorry about the other night.”

“I’m sure you are.” Her goal was to ignore him. Guys like Trevor liked it when they got attention. If Sadie didn’t give it to him, maybe he’d go away.

But she knew it was going to be impossible the minute he opened his mouth again.

“I am. I really like you.”

“Please,” she snorted a laugh.

“Well, I could like you if you’d give me a chance.”

Sadie stuffed her final notebook into her backpack and zipped it up. “You had your chance. Now it’s gone.”

“I didn’t know Abigail was going to send that picture to everyone.”

“Oh,” Sadie dramatically slammed her locker, getting the attention of the handful of students around them. “Is that why you screenshot the picture and sent it to her in the first place?”

Trevor looked momentarily caught off guard that someone would dare confront him, but he recovered quickly. “I was trying to make her jealous, okay? So what?”

“So what?So what?”

Her voice was reaching the octave at which she turned into her mother when she was angry. It was the red hair; that’s what her mom always said. Gritting her teeth, Sadie put on her backpack, slammed her locker, and turned toward him.

“You know what, Trevor? I was an idiot for thinking you’d ever actually want to date me or go to prom with me. I should have known there was some ulterior motive behind it. And I never should have taken or sent you that picture. But I was dumb, and I’ll admit that. But what I won’t let you stand here and do is act like what you did was okay. Because it wasn’t. And I know that you know that on some level in your little pea brain.”

With that, she stormed past him down the hallway and into her first class. Her heart was racing as she sat at the desk, trying to follow along with the teacher’s lecture about the Vietnam War. By the time lunch came around, Sadie was thankful to be alone in the corner eating her square pizza.

Or, well, she was alone until Ellie sat down across from her. She had a pink lunchbox with her monogrammed initials on it and a homemade lunch inside.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Sadie smiled at her. “I didn’t know you had this lunch period.”

“Yeah, I usually sit over there but I saw you over here and wanted to sit with you. Is that okay?”

“Yes,” she blurted out. “It’s totally okay. I’d love for you to sit with me.”

Stop talking.

Ellie smirked, arching an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“Well, obviously. We’re friends, right?”

Even reiterating the words Ellie had said the other night felt like battery acid in her mouth. Sadie knew damn well her feelings for Ellie were developing into something more thanjust friendsand yet she’d been friend-zoned before they could even have the chance to be something more.

Not that Sadie was ready for something more right now. She had no clue what she wanted from Ellie. Maybe eventually she’d figure that out and tell her. But for now, being friends was more than Sadie could have asked for.

“So, how are you?”

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