Page 31 of Celebrities Don't Date Bookworms

“I guess so,” I said slowly. “But if my mom comes in here and asks who I'm talking to, you better be prepared to pretend to be Sloane. Really play it up too—Canadian accent, high-pitched, talking about math, or... Something.”

Despite being a teenage girl, I suddenly realized I had no idea what teenage girls actually talked about. I couldn’t even think of what Sloane and I usually talked about outside of school stuff, even though we rarely spoke of that. I guess I was just bad at thinking of stuff on the spot.

“Will do,” Bay said. I pulled out my messages and sent off a quick text to Sloane.

Megan

Can’t call tonight! Mom wants me to “spend time with the family”

I felt a twinge of guilt for lying to her, but I also knew she would probably understand. All this group chat and boy stuff was really new, and I didn’t know how to explain it to her. Plus, I knew that if I said anything about a boy, she would get on my case about who he was and why I hadn’t told her before, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that onslaught yet. I didn’t want to get her hopes up over a boy that I barely knew. One that I would probably never even meet in person. She wouldn’t understand… or at least, that was what I was telling myself to feel better about hiding it. The guilt only got that much worse when I got the text back:

Sloane

No worries!!

I’ll call you tomorrow xx

She was so sweet to me, and all I did was lie to her in return. To make myself feel better, I added in the text I meant to send earlier and forgot about.

Megan

Thanks for understanding!

Actually I think my mom’s taking me shopping tomorrow. Want to come?

“Tell me more about yourself,” I said to Bay.

“I already said everything interesting.”

“That can’t possibly be true.” I looked around my room for something else to bring up. Some sort of prompt to get him talking. The only thing that provided inspiration was my diary. “Tell me a secret.”

“A secret?”

“Yes,” I said more confidently. “Tell me something that nobody else knows about you. Or that almost nobody knows.”

“I can’t tell you a secret,” he said. His tone was light-hearted and teasing rather than serious or truly scandalized. “I barely even know you.”

“Exactly,” I said. “It’s perfect. What does it matter if I know your secrets if I don’t know who you are?”

He paused like he was thinking. “You make a good point.”

“So… Tell me a secret.”

“I don’t like long noodles,” he said. I almost burst out laughing. I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting, but it wasn’t that.

“What?”

“Wow, I really needed to get that off my chest.”

“Is this some moral objection or…”

“They’re just… wrong. I don’t know.” Despite how hard I was trying to hold my giggles in, one escaped at that. “Hey! Do notmockmy secret.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “I promise I’m not mocking.”

“Well, I shared a secret, so now it’s your turn,” he said. “Tell me something nobody knows about you.”

“I…” Wow, thinking of facts about myself was difficult. What could I tell him that nobody knew about me? I told Sloane pretty much everything. And sure, I could lie and tell him something that only she knew, but that felt like cheating. He’d shared something real with me, and I should have to do the same for him.

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