Page 10 of Didn't See That Coming

He’s sitting with his arms crossed in front of his chest, a smirk on his face. “Told you.”

Heat flushes my face. When he told me to sit behind him, I assumed that—what? He was hitting on me? Turns out he was just letting me know, as a matter of fact, where I’m supposed to sit. Now I feel really stupid, like duh, of course he wasn’t hitting on me or anything. Gah.

As though he read my mind, Jonas says, “Did you think Iwas hitting on you?”

My entire face bursts into flames. How did he guess what I was thinking? A small part of me wants to curl up and disappear, but hey, I’m Kiki Siregar, damn it. Today is intimidating as hell, but I’m as confident as they come. So I grin at him and say, “Yeah, obviously. Were you not?” Okay, that came out a lot more flirtatious than I intended. I went for Challenging in a Friendly Way and somehow landed on Very Suggestive. My insides squirm with embarrassment.

Jonas’s eyes widen, his mouth parting slightly, and I’m torn between laughter and further embarrassment. Then his eyebrows knit together and he smiles and goes, “Okay, I see how it is.”

I sense people watching us, and when I turn, sure enough, a handful of the other kids are staring, some of them looking less than friendly. A guy like Jonas must have his share of admirers, and I’m not here to step on anyone’s toes, so I give him a reserved smile before turning pointedly to my bag. Imake it clear that I am Very Focused on unloading books from my bag and therefore too busy to continue our chat. I turn to face the girl across from me, hoping to strike up a conversation with her. More than anything, my first goal here is to make female friends. Boyfriends come and go, but female friends aretheones who will stick around.

“Really? You’re just gonna leave me hanging like that?” he teases. Or at least I think he’s teasing? But I catch just a tiny hint of an edge in his voice, like he’s not used to having girls turn away from him. Or maybe that’s just my imagination running wild, because I’m the one who’s on edge despite the numerous times I’ve reminded myself of how confident I am.

I glance back at him as I take out my pencil case and arrange it neatly on the top left-hand corner of my desk. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to leave you hanging. You’re Jonas, right?”

“That’s me,” he says with obvious pride, like I’m supposed to have heard of him. I suppose, technically, that I have heard of him—or, rather, read about him—from the bulletin boards outside. “And you’re Kristabella.”

“Kiki,” I say quickly. “It’s what everyone calls me.”

He gives me a calculating look. “You look more like a Kris to me.”

“How does a Kris differ in appearance to a Kiki?”

His expression turns thoughtful. “Well, Kiki’s kind of a silly name, like something you’d call a tiny, yappy dog, you know?”

“Wow, okay, not holding back any punches, I see.”

He laughs and holds up his arms, giving me a good view ofhis tennis forearms and straight white teeth. “No, I’m trying to say that you’re not at all like a tiny, yappy dog. You’re more like a Kris, sophisticated and…”—he pauses meaningfully before meeting my eyes straight on—“pretty.”

Despite myself, I feel goose bumps crawling up my arms and my cheeks turning red again. I’m used to flirting with guys, but flirting with a cute guy on my very first day at a new school is a whole other level of stressful/exciting that I wasn’t quite prepared for. I do what I always do when I’m uncomfortable: my sense of humor slams into place like a shield, and I dramatically flip my hair over my shoulder and say in my best dramatic voice, “Why, thank you for noticing.”

He laughs, thank goodness, and I laugh as well before looking pointedly down at my bag and unpacking the rest of my stuff. I wonder when my seatmate is going to turn up. Liam Ng. It’s an interesting surname, not at all Indonesian. I’m weirdly nervous about meeting him. I wouldn’t say I’m shy or introverted, but being the new kid in school is way out of my comfort zone, and I’m so wrapped up in making a good first impression that every muscle in my body is tense.

“Yo, Liam!” Jonas calls out. “You’re next to the new girl.”

I look up, the back of my neck burning, to see a super-tall guy striding in. He gives Jonas a close-lipped smile, then he turns and sees me, and phew, I must have the best karma ever. Because Liam Ng is devastatingly handsome. Cheekbones for days, thick eyebrows, a jawline that, if Greek gods were still in operation, would’ve gotten him struck down out of envy. Our eyes meet. I swallow. My mouth creates more drool. I swallowagain. Altogether, not a great start for me. I wish I could tell my saliva glands to stop salivating. Wow, this boy is literally drool-worthy. And he’s my soul—er, seatmate! I tell myself not to stare as he walks toward me.

“Hey.” He flashes me a friendly smile. An earnest one, not the kind of condescending smirk that I half expected from someone this hot. Dimples appear in his cheeks. He has dimples? How dare he.

“Uh.” No words come out. My brain has given up and is currently rocking back and forth in a tiny dark corner.

“I’m Liam.” He flushes a little. “Sorry, you probably knew that from the seating chart. Anyway, nice meeting you, Kristabella.”

“Kiki!”I bark. Oh my god. I clamp my mouth shut and glare down at my lap. I have forgotten how to human.

“Cool,” he says easily, as though I haven’t just yipped at him like a nervous chihuahua.

Thankfully, the teacher walks into class then.

“Class stand,” Jonas barks in such a loud voice that I jump in my seat.

Chairs scrape back against the floor. I look around, confused. Everyone’s standing up. I quickly follow suit.

“Greet the teacher,” Jonas says.

What the hell?

As one, the whole class bows and intones, “Good morning, Teacher.”

---