Page 80 of Adorkable

Just like before, I blushed, and he grinned.

“But besides that,” Ash went on, “I had something to tell you.”

“Why didn’t you talk to me at school?” I asked.

“I tried, but it just seemed like you weren’t all there.”

“Oh.”

“I’m sorry about what went down with Becks.”

“That’s nice of you to say,” I said, forcing a smile.

“Yeah, well…” A small breeze fluttered the ends of his dirty blond hair as he nodded to himself. “A kiss should satisfy them, I think.”

“What do you—?”

Before I could finish, Ash had leaned down to my cheek, placing a soft kiss just next to my temple and sliding something from his pocket into my hand.

“Thanks for tonight, Spitz.” Then in a voice barely audible, he added, “If you want to do something about Becks, let me know.”

With that, he pulled back and walked away.

I was frozen in place.

“Oooh, that was so cute,” Hooker said, gliding up to me. “The temple kiss, classic gentlemanly behavior. One point, Ash. What’d he give you anyway?”

With stiff fingers, I opened the note, staring as I realized I hadn’t imagined what I’d heard.

Hooker frowned. “What’s it say, Spitz? You know I can’t read German.”

My voice sounded as if it came from a distance. “It says, ‘Meet me outside Chem Lab, tomorrow at six o’clock.’“

“Demanding,” she said with a nod. “I like it.” When I didn’t respond, she looked at my face. “You okay, Spitz?”

I honestly didn’t know.

What I’d heard Ash say before, what hehadsaid, wasn’t exactly, “If you want to do something about Becks, let me know.” That was the English translation.

What he’d said was: “Wenn ich mich um Becks kümmern soll, sag Bescheid.”

CHAPTER 14

At the party, I’d never once stopped to consider. My emotions had swept me away on a wind of disappointment, anger and finally exhaustion. The ten other people who took German had trouble stringing two sentences together, and besides, they weren’t even there (besides Hooker). It’d been a relief to tell my secret, andnottell it at the same time.

There was just one problem: Someone at the party had understood every word.

And he had absolutely no reason to keep quiet.

Where was he?

Pacing the width of the hall, I looked right and left. Ash’s note had said to be here at six—an ungodly hour, especially since I’d gotten next to no sleep last night. My nerves had kept me awake, tossing and turning, until I just gave up. The bad thing was that gave me plenty of time to think up all the ways this meeting could go sour. When I got to one hundred, I stopped counting.

I re-checked the note then looked at my cell.

Great. He was already five minutes late.

My footsteps echoed off the tile in the empty place. I’d never been inside Chariot High when it was this deserted. It was a little eerie. When I’d driven up, there were seriously only three other cars in the lot. Probably janitorial staff.

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