Page 14 of Finding Her
“Levi,” Lilah said in a mocking tone. “Not Bear?”
“I don’t believe for one second that he told her to call him Bear,” Claire hissed, her eyes darting toward me. I just stared right back. It wasn’t like I had anything to hide—I knew for a fact that she was wrong and if she tried asking him about it, he would tell her so himself.
“Maybe you just don’t know him as well as you thought,” Lilah said in a sickly sweet tone. “What a shame for you.”
For a second, I thought Claire was going to slap her. But then she stepped back and said, “Want to bet on it?”
“Bet on what?” Lilah asked. “Whether Levi even knows your name?”
“Whether he gives a crap about her,” Claire said. Her eyes darted to mine and though I tried not to let it show on my face, my heart started thudding in my chest. Probably because I knew that when push came to shove, Bear would make it very clear I meant nothing to him. Lilah had imagined some scenario in her mind where he was in love with me, but if she’d seen how he acted in gym class, she would know she couldn’t be more wrong. But how could I tell her that now, with Claire watching us like this?
“What exactly are you suggesting, Claire?” Rachel asked timidly. She seemed nervous for us and I was kind of hoping Lilah would notice that and realize that whatever was happening right now was a bad idea.
“Simple,” Claire said. “We see who Levi asks out first.”
Lilah raised her eyebrows. “I thought you were his girlfriend?”
Claire scowled and looked to me instead. “Are you in or not?”
I desperately wanted to say no, I was not in at all. I didn’t want to partake in a bet at all, but especially not one that reliedon the romantic feelings of a boy who clearly hated me. But Lilah jumped in before I could and confidently said, “Oh, she’s in!”
And when Claire continued to stare at me, I couldn’t exactly say no.
“What’s the prize?” I asked.
She shrugged. “A hundred dollars?”
It was obvious that she didn’t care about the prize. All she cared about was winning Bear for herself and showing me up. And, unfortunately, I already knew she was going to win. But I had no choice, so when she stuck her hand out to shake, I slid mine into it and said, “You’re on.”
CHAPTER 10
poppy
“Tell her the plan is ridiculous,”I told Saylor, crossing my arms.
After Lilah had opened her big mouth in the cafeteria, I’d grabbed both her and Saylor and dragged them up here. I wasn’t sure there was anyone in the world who could talk sense into Lilah, but I figured Saylor was the closest there was. And I was sure she would have a lot to say about this one, because not only was she the last person to ever think an idea like this was good, she also hated love. Something had happened last year that caused her to swear off ever falling in love and she’d warned me against it more than once as well. She’d never told me exactly what had made her so pessimistic about it but I knew better than to poke the bear by asking.
But Saylor just smiled and said, “I don’t know. I think it sounds fun.”
I wished I had something to throw at her that wouldn’t hurt, but all that was sitting on my desk was my laptop (too expensive and would probably break her face) and my scissors (I didn’t want to take her eye out). I should have sat on my bed with them so I could hit her with a pillow.
“You’re kidding,” I said.
Saylor shrugged. “I think it could be a fun social experiment. What will it take to get the guy who never dates to ask you out?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Saylor,” I said. “This isn’t an intro to psych class project. This is Levi Barrett we’re talking about.”
Since Lilah told me everyone else was only allowed to call him Levi, I started doing it too. I didn’t want to give her any more ammunition for why this plan would work by calling him by a nickname.
“You’re being so dramatic,” Lilah said, crossing her arms. “This won’t be that big of a deal. The hardest part was getting him to notice you and we’ve already passed that hurdle.”
Sure, he’d noticed me all right, but I wouldn’t say it was in a good way.
“You just talk to him a little bit,” Lilah continued. “You flirt and dress cute. He’ll be drooling over you in no time.”
“I don’t want to do this,” I repeated.
“Well, you don’t really have a choice,” Saylor said. “Since you kind of announced in front of the whole school…” Her gaze jerked toward Lilah for a second, then back towards me. “You can’t really back out now or it’ll make you look like you…”
