Page 51 of The Forever After Bet

“Sounds good.” Ty nods.

Hannah glances back at the closet with a pouty, sad look on her face and damn if it doesn’t make my entire body ache for her.

In the cafeteria, Hannah and June grab a salad. Ty and I get a slice of pizza. We sit down at our usual table with Dave, his new girlfriend Emery, who is a sophomore cheerleader, and Beckett and Piper. Beckett got his cast off his arm from when he broke it during the championship football game, but it’s still in a sling.

“Okay, I’ll start,” Ty says. “Monday, I found a sweater and music folder June left in my jeep. I purposely left them in the car. I wanted a few minutes to talk to her and see how she was while we walked out to the parking lot and got her stuff.”

June smiles at Ty, then says, “I leaned in to give him a kiss goodbye, and one thing led to another. We made out in Ty’s jeep through lunch.”

“June told me it couldn’t happen again, and I agreed.” Ty shrugs.

“On Wednesday in history, Mr. Metcalf let us work in groups. We worked together and got talking and laughing.”

“And let me guess,” Hannah says with a big smile. “One thing led to another.”

“Yeah,” June says, blushing.

“What about today?” I ask.

“We didn’t have time to talk in English or history, so I pulled June aside after class and asked if we could talk,” Ty says.

“I thought talk was code for make out.” June’s poor face glows bright red, but she’s smiling.

“And now you’re back together?” Hannah looks between June and Ty.

Ty glances at June, and she smiles, nodding her head.

“Good.” Hannah smiles. I glance at her salad, and she hasn’t even touched it. She’s pushed her fork around in it but hasn’t taken a bite.

“Do you want a bite of my pizza?” I ask.

She looks at it, scrunching her nose. “No,” she whispers, not meeting my gaze.

I want to put my arm around her, pull her close and kiss her; but I can’t do any of that. I’m lamenting my decision to keep our relationship a secret from everyone. I need to figure out how to get the new website taken down ASAP.

After lunch, the four of us walk down B hall to our lockers. “Eagle lost their first game to Canyon Lake Wednesday night. Their star point guard graduated last year. We might be able to beat them now,” Ty says.

“Vince Hymas, right? Did he get a scholarship somewhere?” I ask.

“I don’t think so.” Ty shrugs.

Hannah has her locker open and is putting lip gloss on in her little mirror. Her little Tsum Tsum toys are sitting on the shelf. I reach up, grabbing the Mickey toy. “Hey, that’s mine.” Hannah tries to take it back, but I raise my hand, holding it over my head.

“It’s mine. You stole it from me.” I smirk.

Hannah narrows her eyes and tilts her head, giving me a sly smile. “I’ll get it back.”

“I can’t wait to see you try.” I spin my locker combination. When I open my locker, a dozen or more folded notes spill out of it and onto the floor.

“Oh, my gosh!” Hannah exclaims, laughing. She covers her hands over her mouth.

I reach down, pick one up, and open it. There’s a bright pink lipstick kiss on the paper. It’s signed: love, Shaylee Marsh.

Hannah opens another one. It’s a black kiss. “This one has a motivational quote, well, kind of.”

“What does it say?” I ask.

“Do something today your future self will thank you for. Then there’s an ellipsis, and it says, date me, love Hattie Ward.” Hannah turns the note over, shaking her head.

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