Page 6 of My Debacle with De Lorenzo

And lastly, I’ve determined her level of crazy (she’s a solid eight), and my maximum limit is a five, so we’re just not compatible. And she is definitely crazy. There is absolutely no way a girl can flip the switch like that, change her entire persona overnight, andnotbe crazy. I don’t care how alluring those eyes are—and when I say eyes; I mean her tits—I’m staying away from that hot mess.

“How did Steven break your heart?”

“Well, he screwed me in the backseat of his mother’s minivan...”

I grit my teeth and force a smile. “Charming.”

“And then when I saw him at the mall with his girlfriend the next day...” She fakes a sob. “...he acted like he didn’t even know me.”

Dick!“Why do you let guys treat you like that, Bella? You know you’re better than that, right?”

“I thought I was in love with him.”

“No, you didn’t. I’m sure you were only with him for four days.”

“Five, but they were so special.” She doesn’t mean any of this bullshit, but she says it with such conviction. “Maybe I should key his car.”

That will immediately bump her up to level nine crazy, and I’m not about to encourage that behavior, even though Steven deserves it. “Or you could just forget about him because he isn’t worth your time.” I toss my backpack over my shoulder. “Are we walking?”

She gasps. “Your racist friend is standing just a few feet away. What will he say if he sees you walking with a Latina girl? You know he’s captain of the football team. His word is law.”

My friend Scott has made it his life’s mission to turn the entire school against the Diaz sisters. Hehatesthem. Isabella doesn’t get his wrath so much anymore, but her sister, Catalina, is still a constant victim of his bullying and racism. It makes me so mad, but there’s no point arguing with ignorance.

“You know I don’t give a shit about what Scott says.” I turn and we start walking down the corridor together.

“Hi, Dylan,” Charlotte greets with her usual effervescent smile. She’s actually Bella’s friend because I see the two of them hanging out all the time, yet the two girls don’t greet each other. They just exchange weird looks as she walks past me.

“Morning, Charlotte.”

“Is that why you don’t even look in my sister’s direction?” Bella asks, as if my encounter with Charlotte never happened.

“She’s theoneexception,” I reply.

“Why are you even friends with him?”

“He’s...he’s not a bad guy if?”

“If you’re white?”

“That’s not entirely true,” I counter with a small chuckle. “He hates poor white people as well.”

“Hi, Dylan.” Nicole stops beside me and runs her hand down my arm. “Nice T-shirt. It looks amazing on you.”

I try to suppress my uneasiness and respond like a normal human. “Uh...thanks, Nic-Nicole. I like...your...” If I say T-shirt, she might think I was checking out her breasts, so I just pick anything else. “...belt.”

Smooth. I could not have made that more awkward if I tried.

She giggles, but her knitted eyebrows show me that she doesn’t think I’m a Cassanova either. “Okay.”

I look over at Bella again when Nicole walks away. “That was random.”

“It’s not random if she does it every day. Get. A. Clue.”

“About what?”

“Never mind.” She shakes her head at me like I’m stupid.

I push the weird comment aside and resume our conversation instead. “So, are you going to forget about Steven?”

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