Page 29 of Fraternizing with the Enemy
“Transfer student,” Jade replied.
Riley crinkled her nose. “Boring. No one knows who he is in the first place.”
Jade’s phone buzzed in the center of the table with an incoming text, and before I could attempt to read the upside-down message bubble, she snatched it up like lightning.
“Ooh, I’ve got another one,” Riley said, sitting up straight. “Most Likely To: Never Have Her First Kiss—Babble girl. What’s her name again?”
No one replied. Two of the guys weren’t even listening, and the others didn’t know.
“Good, right?” Riley nudged Jade’s side. “With howchronically online she is, she probably will end up with some fake internet boyfriend or something.”
“Like someone else we know.” Ashton gave me a pointed look.
I opened my mouth to shoot something back at him, but he turned to Connor. “You’re up.” He presumedly kicked Connor underneath the table, because he jumped once more as his attention was pulled back to the moment. “Who you picking, then, pretty boy?”
He had his ready. “Most Likely To: Marry A Math Book,” he said, pressing his fingers into his eyes. “Maisie Matthews.”
Hearing her name jolted me, pulling me back from the uneasy fog I’d gotten lost in. “Marry a math book?” I echoed before I realized I’d even opened my mouth.
“She’s a math tutor, isn’t she?”
I sucked in a breath, but caught myself before defending her a second time. It wasn’t like Maisie and I were friends. Far from it. Her being on the list, though… It didn’t feel right.None of this feels right.
Jade’s gaze lifted from her phone, her thumbs pausing in whatever reply she’d been texting. Her lips split into a grin before she turned to me. “Witty. Don’t you think?”
“Witty,” I echoed, except the word was as heavy as a curse.
“How about you?” Jade asked, and her focus pinned me down. The door dinged. “Who are you choosing?”
I hadn’t even stopped to think about the Most Likely Tos. I had every intention to, but Logan going AWOL had taken up most of my attention the past week, and cheer practice then homework had taken the rest. My mind suddenly blanked on every single student I knew,as well as the labels used in previous years past, especially under the weight of my best friend’s expectant stare. “Um?—”
“Dude.” Kyle suddenly sat forward and nearly tossed me off his knee. “Isn’t that Jefferson’s quarterback?”
“Madison,” Jade snapped before I had a chance to look. “A label?”
“I—I don’t know,” I stammered. “What are the ones that need filled again?”
“We literally just started, Mads. We have, like, forty more to do.Pay attention.”
“Iam, I just?—”
“Hey, quarterback!” Ashton called, his voice echoing loudly off the exposed ceiling. The low-level hum of chatter in the café halted, and nearly every head in Expresso’s pivoted our way. “Been a while, hasn’t it? Ooh-hoo, look who looks socuteoff the field.”
This time, not even Jade could keep my attention from veering toward the direction of Ashton’s catcall. There was only one boy at the counter, wearing a Jefferson High varsity jacket. His shoulders were broad, back to us, firmly ignoring the taunt.Castlewas scripted out on the back in Jefferson’s school font, and underneath it was the number 13. Noah stood behind the counter, squinting at our table through his thin glasses.
“Noah’s their quarterback?” I asked them, confused.
“Not anymore,” Kyle muttered, and when I glanced, I found a smile on his face.
“Come on,” Ashton called. “Turn around for me. Let’s see your pretty face, huh? Got any makeup on today? Let’s see, pretty boy.”
I frowned. “Makeup?”
“Why are you so spacey lately, Mads?” Riley gave atheatrical sigh. “Their QB is in theater. We talked about that, like, last week.”
“Sorry I don’t store useless information about Jefferson in my head,” I threw at her, curling my hands into fists. “But it’s weird thatyoudo.”
Riley snorted. “Oh, that’s rich.”
