Page 43 of I Hate You More

I continued to shake my head. “Tessa, there’s no way Chase would fight someone over me.”

“If you say so.” She shrugged. The knowing look in her eyes told me she didn’t believe me. “But I think it’s pretty safe to say the plan is working.”

“Chase didn’t fight him over me,” I repeated.

“Perhaps not,” she replied. “But, we know now he didn’t put up those posters, and you didn’t seem to notice the way he was looking at you on Saturday night.”

“What? Like he wanted me to disappear?”

“More like he wanted to disappearwithyou.”

I scrunched up my nose. “Yeah, there’s no way he looked at me like that.”

“Then explain why he was watching you like you were a lone drink of water and he was a dying man in the Sahara Desert when you danced in the cafeteria?”

“Oh my gosh, you are so full of it. Hedid notlook at me like that.”

Tessa shrugged. “I’m just telling it how I see it, and I think you’ve already nailed the attraction part of the plan. I think it’s safe to say we can start to move on to step two.”

I shook my head. “I’m not sure…” There was no way Chase was attracted to me.

“Just trust me,” Tessa said. “I already have an idea for something we can try to help kick start step two on Saturday. I’ll even throw in a little more of step one if you’re really that concerned.”

“What are you thinking?”

A mischievous grin lit her features. “It’s still a work in progress, but I’ll tell you all the details on the weekend.”

Not knowing what Tessa had planned made me anxious, and from the way she was avoiding the details, I got the feeling I had good reason to be wary.

* * *

When Saturday afternoon finally arrived,I was a jumble of concern and nerves. I hadn’t spoken to Chase since I’d found out he wasn’t behind the posters at school, and I had no idea how I was supposed to act around him. His comment about me always jumping to the wrong conclusion wouldn’t stop bouncing around my mind. He’d been right on this occasion, so how many other times had I also misjudged Chase? It made me reconsider every interaction we’d had over the last few years, and I’d started to wonder if perhaps I’d been a little hard on him. It made me question if my hatred for him was justified, and that was something I wasn’t ready to reconsider.

The girls and Miles had arranged to come to my house for the day, and I felt like there was potential for disaster brewing. Dad was away at a work conference for the weekend, and I was sure Tessa planned to take full advantage of the situation. Whatever she had up her sleeve, I felt certain she’d be upping the ante when there was no chance of any adult supervision.

“So, did you guys all bring your swimsuits?” Tessa asked, as we sat around my room.

I frowned as I watched my two grinning friends and a very resigned-looking Miles. He was already pulling a textbook from his bag and seemed like he wanted no part of what was about to happen. Given the fervent look in Tessa’s eyes, I was beginning to suspect I’d be on team Miles before this conversation was through.

“You want to go swimming?” I asked. “What happened to Operation Pest Control?” I lowered my voice when talking about the plan because I wasn’t certain if Chase or my brother were home and didn’t want either of them to overhear.

“Thisisa part of the plan,” Mia replied.

I frowned, still unable to work out what they were getting at. “But you don’t even know Chase is home.”

“Actually, we do,” Tessa said. “I told Shane that we were coming over for a swim and that if he wanted to join us we could make it into a pool party. He was pretty excited.”

“And you’re sure Chase will be here?”

She nodded. “About as sure as I can be. I overheard Shane talking to him about it. He didn’t violently object, so I’m pretty certain that means he’s coming.”

I shook my head at my friends. “I still don’t understand how this helps with the plan.”

Tessa glanced at Mia before she responded. Miles was fully focused on his textbook now, so it was clear he was too distracted to help back her up. “Well, I was thinking that at some point during the party you could get him alone and try to talk with him,” she said.

“About…”

“I don’t know—about anything.” Tessa shrugged. “Just strike up a conversation that can get the two of you connecting.”

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