Page 123 of Zero Chance

I glanced apologetically at the air around me, only to realize,

Wait.How is your dad to blame?I thought she died of cervical cancer.

She did, but the cancer came from a sexually transmitted disease that went too long without treatment.Three guesses who gave her the STD.

My mouth fell open as I gasped.

Oh damn.Now I really feel terrible for calling her Dugger.

How do you think I feel?I’m stuck with the bastard’s name for the rest of my life.

My eyebrows lifted until he added,

It’s okay though, since Nana and Grandpa Dugger have the name too.At least I can handle sharing it with them.

Which told me he didn’t like his dad.Got it.

Shit, gotta go.I just got called out by the prof for texting in class.

Keene!

I wrote back in exasperation.

What the hell are you doing answering my text if you have a teacher who doesn’t like it?

Hey, if you didn’t want me to answer in class, you shouldn’t have written while I was IN class.

I didn’t KNOW you were in the middle of a class when I wrote.

Well, you do now, yet you KEEP texting.

Then stop answering me!

I will as soon as you stop texting.

Oh my God.

I groaned out my frustration, sent him a thumbs-up, and snorted out a laugh.He was such an annoying goofball.

And texting him was just as invigorating and fun as talking to him in person.I was so freaking in love with his total weirdness.I felt all floaty and happy until I remembered he just wanted to be friends because he had no sexual interest in me at all.

Damn.

And now my chest was aching, and I felt awful.

I hated unrequited feelings.

What was worse, I didn’t see him again for the rest of the week after that conversation.

He didn’t visit the library.

He didn’t text.

I didn’t even spot him walking across campus anywhere.

If Xander hadn’t mentioned him in passing, talking about how he’d annoyed her the night before during supper or used her bathroom because Alec had been busy in theirs, I might’ve thought he’d skipped town entirely.But he was still obviously around.

He stayed away so long even his mom asked me about his whereabouts.And that’s when I realized he was purposely avoiding me.

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