Page 27 of The Wrong Bachelor

“Thanks. I’ll need it.”

I took my time walking down the stairs, trying to put off dealing with my mom’s reaction as long as possible. When I got to the kitchen and Mom was grinning broadly, I wished we had a bigger house.

“Oh, it was fabulous, sweetie,” she said, pulling me into a hug.

“You thought it was good?” I replied with a frown, as I stepped back from her embrace.

“I’ve already emailed the school for a copy of the recording,” she smiled.

“Mom!”

“What?”

“Anything containing any evidence of that date needs burning.”

“Don’t be silly,” Mom replied. “I thought it was charming.”

“Charming?”

“That Cole is such a sweetheart.”

I blinked, unable to comprehend what my mom was saying. “He was rude to me.”

She shot me gave a knowing smile. “That’s called flirting, Madison.”

“One: ew. And two: if that were true, it would mean Cole and I have been flirting with each other for years,” I replied. “Which we most certainly haven’t,” I added. The idea I could be accused of flirting with Cole was just added motivation not to speak to him for the foreseeable future.

“I think he likes you,” Mom said.

I shook my head at her. My mom was clearly just seeing what she wanted to see.

“And I think you might like him too,” she added.

“I like Jake,” I shot back instantly. What was wrong with her?

“There’s my little superstar,” Dad’s voice came from the doorway.

My cheeks warmed as I turned to him. He had a big goofy grin on his face and my mortification tripled.

“Dad, you did not just watch that!”

“What?” he shrugged. “Your mom made popcorn. We had our own little viewing party. I tweeted my reactions the whole way through. You want to see?”

He turned his phone toward me before I could object. All I could see was the hashtag Dad had used: #MADIANDCOLE4EVA

I pointed at my parents. “You guys are banned from viewing any more of the show,” I said. “And why didn’t you tell me there was popcorn going?”

They both laughed at me.

“I’ll make another batch,” Mom replied.

I settled into one of the seats at the kitchen bench as Mom microwaved another bag of popcorn. The embarrassment I felt at the thought of other people watching the show proved to me that I was not a good fit for the competition. At least Angus had already agreed to let me go at the first selection ceremony on Monday evening. Just one more night and I would be free of the True Love contest and everything would go back to normal.

* * *

When I walkedinto school on Monday morning, I froze instantly. My heart felt like it stopped beating for a few seconds, and Jake swore loudly at my side. They were the first words I’d heard from him all morning, but right now I didn’t care. I was freaking out.

“Vote for Cadi?” I murmured, my eyes wide as I took in the posters that papered the walls. They were large, gaudy things with huge hearts drawn around the words and the True Love website link at the bottom of each one. It didn’t take a genius to know the phrase referred to Cole and me. There were only a few of the hideous signs, but a few were far too many when you wanted none.

---