Page 90 of The Do-Over

“I—maybe. Let me think about it.”

I walked away, wondering what he could possibly want to talk about. And I was still wondering about it when I went to Chemistry. But then anxiety took over, and I swallowed down my nervous dread and went to my spot. Nick was already there, but we behaved the way we always had.

Like we didn’t know each other.

I felt him look over at me when I was scrolling through my news feed, but I just kept scrolling until my phone whinnied because I got a text from Josh. I glanced up to make sure Mr. Bong hadn’t heard, but he wasn’t even in the room. I put it on vibrate and read the message.

Josh: Hi.

I stared at it for a second.

Me: Hey.

Josh: Have you decided?

Me: Decided what?

Josh: If you’ll talk to me.

Me: NO.

Josh: No, you won’t?

Me: No, I haven’t decided. Honestly, what do you want?

Josh: Ouch.

“Tell me you aren’t texting the guy who cheated on you.”

I raised my eyes and Nick was looking at me. There was annoyance in his voice when he said, “You’re smarter than that.”

I wanted to gooffon him, but then he’d think I was still into him. I calmly said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t think it’s any of your business.”

“I know it’s not.” He looked… frustrated. He scratched his eyebrow and said, “But I’d hate to see you trust a guy who’s only going to cheat again.”

“I will take that under advisement, thank you.”

My phone vibrated on the table at that moment, and I’d never been happier to ignore someone and look at my phone. I picked it up.

Josh: I need to explain something.

I could feel Nick’s gaze on me as I started typing out a response.Me: Let’s just move past everything. You’re forgiven. It’s water under the bridge.

Josh: Seriously?

Me: Yeah.

“Are you doing this on purpose?”

I looked at him out of the corner of my eyes. “Doing what?”

“Texting him.”

I shook my head. “First of all, no. Believe it or not, I textlotsof people and it has nothing to do with you. Second of all, I can’t understand why you’re inserting yourself in this situation.”

“I just don’t want to see you get—”

“Hurt?” I looked him square in the eyes. It felt like my heart skipped a beat when I said, “You are the last person who could protect me from that.”

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