Page 7 of Cross My Heart

“Friends can hold hands.” She shrugs.

I narrow my eyes. “That’s crap and you know it.”

“Ugh, shut up, Noah.” She rolls her eyes. “Maybe I like him too. I think he can decide for himself. Let him pick who he wants to be with.”

I tense—because what thefuck. “Are you kidding me right now?”

“No.” Scarlett narrows her eyes on me, and I narrow mine right back. “Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

A big deal.

“Whatever,” I huff.

I stay back and let them walk ahead of me, trying to control myself. I don’t know why I care so much. Maybe he doesn’t feel the same way about me. Maybe he likes her too. I narrow my eyes at the back of her head because she can’t have him. That’s the one thing I won’t budge on.

We finally arrive at the monkey exhibit, and Scarlett lets go of his hand, going directly to one specific monkey. She puts one hand against the glass. The monkey mirrors her, and suddenly she is crying, tears streaming down her face rapidly. “Hey, hey, hey.” Ty turns her around slowly. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s not right.” She shakes her head. “Look how smart she is. She shouldn’t be locked up.”

“I know, Red,” he whispers, hugging her to his chest. “Let it out.”

She cries into the crook of his neck, and he rubs her back slowly in circles. And then they stay like that for a while. Holding each other. And I don’t think I’ve ever felt my heart break like this before.

I sigh.

This fucking sucks.

Chapter 4

TYLER

14 YEARS OLD

High school starts in three days, and I’m nervous as hell. New schools give me hives, but I guess I should be grateful that I have two best friends with me. And now that I’ve been here for a year, I know mostly everyone. Not that it seems to matter, considering how queasy I feel just thinking about it. I guess I’m luckier than most though. I am on the Junior Varsity football team along with Noah and a few of our friends from eighth grade.

We’ve actually spent the last few weeks practicing and doing drills, getting ready for the season. It has kept us from spending any real time with Scar, but now it’s finally the weekend, and here I am, in her room. Noah is supposed to come over after finishing chores, so for now, it’s just the two of us.

Scarlett and I sit side by side on the plush rug in front of her bed, theWii Ucontroller vibrating in my hand as I speed up my car in the video game. We’re playingMario Kartto pass the time until Noah gets here, and then we can decide what we all want to do. Probably go back to his pool. But for now, I’m Yoshi and she’s Princess Peach.

“Fucker!” Scarlett whines as I bump my car into hers, and then pass her. “What the?—”

I smirk. “Admit I’m better than you.”

“Never,” she growls. “I’m still undefeated.”

“Not for long,” I sing-song.

If there’s one thing Scarlett is good at, it’s Mario Kart. She has a winning streak that neither Noah nor I can beat, but we’re sure as hell going to try. If there’s one thing we all have in common is that we’reverycompetitive. Noah and I argue over who’s faster on the field all the damn time. Noah and Scarlett argue over who is the fastest swimmer. And then there’s Scarlett and I. We don’t need a good reason to argue—we just do. She’s always picking on me, and sometimes it pisses me off. She doesn’t know when to stop teasing.

She’s also disgustingly girly and the older we get, the more it shows. She just tried out for the cheerleading squad and made the team. I’m not surprised, she’s always been in gymnastics according to Noah. Now she has to go to all of our games. And I don’t know how I feel about it. I mean she is my best friend. But she’s also super clingy with Noah. I just wish I could have him to myself a little more often.

“Ha!” Scarlett yells triumphantly. “I knew you didn’t have it in you.”

“Fuck,” I mutter, tossing my controller to the side.

“Undefeated.” She grins, and her eyes wrinkle in the corners. She looks kind of cute when she smiles, one single dimple in her right cheek.

I sigh.

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