Cole’s father was the one knocking down the opera house. How could that be? And how could Cole not see the value in preserving history?
She hated that she broke down and started crying in front of Cole. How stupid. Humiliating. He probably thought she was a complete fool.
Her phone vibrated and she looked at the screen. It was Destiny.
What happened? Where are you? Cole’s sitting alone and he looks like his dog just died.
The mental image of Cole sitting at the dance, depressed, made her feel guilty. But she couldn’t stay at the dance with him. Not when she was so emotional. She texted back.
I had Cole take me home.
Why??
Because he is destroying the one thing I have to hold on to, and he doesn’t understand. She sighed. She couldn’t say that. She went with a simple answer.
Because we had a fight.
OMG girl, what about?
Amanda didn’t want to get into it.
Ask Cole. I’m going to bed.
That bad, huh?
Yeah. I’m sorry. I’m probably depressing you.
It’s okay, girl. You know I love you. I’ll talk with you tomorrow at school.
Love you, too.
Amanda plugged her phone in and climbed into her pajamas. The music from her sister’s party still thrummed through the walls. It was only nine o’clock. She probably had to listen to it for another couple of hours before her sister would kick her friends out.
She laid back on her pillow and tried not to think about the dance. About Cole. The night had started out so well.
And she had totally screwed everything up.
Cole unhooked the fishing line from the ceiling and dropped the spider into the plastic tub sitting on the floor by his ladder. He’d tried to stay at the dance but wasn’t in the mood, so he’d ended up wandering around Rockford until midnight when the dance got over.
Destiny and Eli came into the gym, holding hands. “Cole,” she said. “There you are. We’ve been looking all over for you.”
“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t ditch you guys. I said I’d help clean up, so here I am.”
“We weren’t worried about the cleanup,” Eli said, pulling down a streamer. “We were worried about you.”
“What happened? I texted Amanda, but she won’t tell me anything except that you guys had a fight.” Destiny pulled another ladder over to the middle of the room.
Cole didn’t want to talk about it. “She’s right. We had a fight. I took her home. End of story.”
“What was the fight about?” Destiny asked.
“Stupid stuff.” Cole grabbed another spider. His grip crushed the Styrofoam and made a crunching noise.
Destiny’s eyebrows rose. “Geesh, you don’t have to destroy spiders over it.”
“Sorry.” He ducked his head sheepishly and tossed the mess into the bin.
“Did you kiss her?” Eli wiggled his eyebrows.
Cole scoffed. “No. She was too busy being upset at me because I don’t see why we can’t tear down that old building.”
Destiny shot him a look. “Why don’t you just support her in trying to save the building? Is that too much to ask?”
Yeah. That would make his father livid, if he stood up to him and told him he was against the parking structure. He might as well disown himself and start collecting coins on the street corner. “I can’t. My father is the one knocking down the opera house.”
Destiny sucked in a breath, and Eli whistled. “Man, that sucks,” Eli said.
“Yeah.” That was an understatement.
Eli gave him a thoughtful look. “You like her, don’t you? I mean, like, like her.”
Cole had never admitted it to anyone before, so the question felt a bit invasive, but he nodded, anyway. “Yeah.”
“She likes you, too,” Destiny said as she climbed down her ladder to move it to a different spot.
“Not right now, she doesn’t.” Cole stretched to reach a streamer.
“She just gets all into her causes. It’s not you she dislikes,” Destiny said.
Cole shrugged, not wanting to get into an argument, but not really believing her.
Eli picked up a pile of streamers, the load in his arms looking like he’d just mugged a mummy. “You just need to make more of an effort. You know, spend more time with her. She’d get over her hang-ups if she admitted to herself that she liked you as a person.”
Destiny nodded. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. You should sign up for the Fun Feline Run on Saturday. Amanda’s gathered up a ton of pledges, and all the money goes to help the local animal shelter. She’d think you were great if you join in the run.”
He hated running. But if it got him on Amanda’s good side, he’d do it. “Good idea.”
Eli stuffed the wad of streamers into the trash can. “Don’t give up, man. From what I’ve seen, you two are perfect for each other.”
Cole made a face. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. You guys totally need a make-out session.” Eli laughed.
Cole didn’t respond. He had to admit he’d been thinking about kissing Amanda quite a lot lately.
Chapter 4
Amanda sat down in her second period algebra class, the only class she had with Cole. She was dreading seeing him after last night’s horrible mess of a dance. She didn’t want to call it a date. It wasn’t a date at all. Just two people who needed to be there, going together. At least, that’s what she’d decided it was. She had totally made a fool of herself. He couldn’t help who his father was. She had been so stupid, and now she dreaded seeing him.
Cole entered the room. He wore a polo shirt and jeans, his usual attire. He had a way of pulling off that look like no one else could. His gaze connected with hers. She looked down to her desk, embarrassed she’d been ogling him.
He walked to his normal seat behind her. Usually he greeted her. Today he didn’t say anything, which was fine with her. She didn’t want to talk to him. Didn’t want to acknowledge the embarrassing display from last night.
She waited for the teacher to come into the room and get the class started, but the seconds ticked by and the teacher didn’t come in. Where was he? He was never late to class. She grew uncomfortable ignoring Cole. She always turned around and talked to him. It was obvious she was ignoring him. The awkwardness grew until she couldn’t stand it anymore, and she finally turned around. “Hey.”
He raised his eyebrows at her. “Hey.”
“Listen, about last night…”
He raised a hand. “It’s okay. I understand.”
“You understand?” What did he mean? There was no way he could understand. He didn’t even let her apologize.
“Yes. You are passionate about all kinds of things. And I…” He swallowed. “I can’t share in those passions.”
“Can’t, or won’t?” Amanda didn’t mean to say it. It just came out.
“Can’t.”
She held in a scoff. He was blaming his unwillingness to even look at her side of things on something out of his control? What sense did that even make? “I don’t believe you.”
Heat crept up her neck and she swiveled around. Why did she say that? She was such an idiot. Was she trying to pick another fight?
After a minute, she heard him shift in his seat. He tugged on her ponytail. It was a juvenile thing to do, but that was Cole. She turned and glared at him. “What?”
“I’m sorry I upset you. Seems like I’m doing that a lot lately.” He hesitated, like he was going to say something else, but then changed his mind.
He had upset her. But she didn’t want to be a jerk about it. “I’m sorry, too.”
“Can we call a truce?”
“What kind of truce?”
He shrugged. “You ignore that my father is the one knocking down that little opera house, and I’ll try not to be like, ‘Oh, hey, cool new parking garage.’ Then we can maybe get along for a change.”
She swallowed down the urge to sock him
in the throat. It wasn’t a ‘little opera house.’ It was so much more than that to her. It was one of the only places in the town which made her feel closer to her father. But she couldn’t tell him that. He wouldn’t understand. “How about you tell your father where to stuff it,” she hissed, and turned back around.
Geesh, she did it again. Why did she allow her anger to surge like that?
Mr. Harrison, the algebra teacher, entered and held up his hand. “Pass your homework up to the front of the class, please,” he said.
Destiny tried to calm herself down. She didn’t want to start crying in math class. How lame was that? She tried to think of something else. Anything else.
Her phone vibrated and she welcomed the distraction. She pulled it out and kept it hidden in her lap, so the teacher wouldn’t see. It was a text from an unknown number. How odd. She opened it.
Hey.
That was it. Just a hey, from someone she didn’t know. She texted back.
Who is this?
It took a second for the person to respond. They typed for a minute, then their answer appeared.
I go to your school.
Amanda stared at the words. She probably should feel creeped out, but kids at school played funny pranks on their phones all the time. It was probably just some kid messing with her. The teacher wasn’t paying attention, so she texted back.
Who are you?
The answer took a minute before it came in.
A friend of Destiny’s.
She swiveled in her chair to look at Cole, immediately convinced it was him, but he sat there staring at his algebra book, both hands visible on the desk. Huh. Maybe it wasn’t him.
“Amanda? Care to answer the question?” Mr. Harrison asked, his hand on his hip.
Crap. Called out by the teacher. She swallowed and quickly scanned the board for a clue. Nope. She had no idea. “Three?”
“No. Please pay attention.”
“Sorry.” She inwardly groaned. There was nothing worse than having the teacher point out to everyone in the class that you were messing around and not listening.
She was tempted to put her phone away, but it vibrated again and she was too curious not to look at it.
Sorry, am I getting you into trouble?
It was Cole! She turned around again to catch him texting her, but he was in the same position, his hands on the desk, his head in his algebra book. She grunted and turned back around. Maybe it was someone else in the class? She subtly tried to look around, but she didn’t see anyone on their phone.
She scooched down in her chair and tried to look like she was paying attention while texting back.
Yes, you are. Are you in my algebra class?
She took another glance around before staring at Mr. Harrison and pretending that she was listening to his riveting lecture on linear relations. Again, she couldn’t see anyone with a phone, but it’s possible they were hiding theirs on their lap, like she was.
It took a few minutes for her phone to notify her of another text. She made sure Mr. Harrison was looking at another student before she checked it.
Maybe.
This was very intriguing. Who was it? Probably some kid in the class as bored as she was. She wanted to know who it was. It had become a challenge now.
I’m going to take that as a yes. Tell me your name.
The teacher droned on as she waited for a response. And while she waited, she tried to see who might be on their phone. A couple of people caught her attention as she scrutinized the other students. One girl kept reaching under her desk for something. Another boy was digging in his book bag every so often. And she did catch one other person on their phone, but it was Nikki and she was definitely not a friend of Destiny’s. Besides, she was texting constantly and no other texts had come through. Until her phone vibrated, almost scaring her. She took a peek.
Guess.
Oh, that was so unfair. She tried to think of a response.
Okay. I get to ask a few questions.
She still thought maybe Cole was messing with her, so she waited a second before turning quickly around to see if she could catch him texting her back, but his hands were on the desk. Unfortunately, Mr. Harrison cleared his throat at her. “Miss Blake. Would you care to tell the class why you can’t seem to sit still in your chair?”
“Sorry. I had…an itch.” She rubbed her back against the chair, and a few students laughed. Unfortunately, her phone slipped from her lap and landed with a clunk on the tile floor.
Mr. Harrison narrowed his eyes at her. “Is that your phone?” He walked to her and held out his hand. “Give it to me.”
She panicked. “But—”
“Give it to me now, or you’ll get detention.” Mr. Harrison looked like he meant business. The little vein in his neck was throbbing.
“Okay,” she said, handing him her phone. She did not want to get detention over something so stupid.
“Thank you. I’ll give it back to you after class.”
Amanda scooted down in her chair, embarrassment heating her entire body. She hoped the person who texted her really wasn’t in this class.
Chapter 5
Cole didn’t mean to get Amanda into trouble. He was just goofing off, trying to find a way to lighten things between them. He’d totally forgotten he’d purchased an alias number for his phone last year when he was getting some odd phone calls and wanted to try to figure out who they were coming from.
As he grabbed a tray and stood in his lunch line, he thought about what he’d done. Using the alias number to text Amanda hadn’t occurred to him until she had looked like she wanted to rip his head off. He wasn’t even sure what he’d done this time to make her angry. It most likely wasn’t going to get better until after the opera house was demolished, and she had time to get over it.
He picked up a sub sandwich and added it to his tray. He was hungry today, so he also grabbed a banana, a yogurt, and a cheesecake for dessert. Amanda walked into the cafeteria, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. She didn’t look over at him, though. Instead, she headed straight for their table and started talking with Destiny.
It had been easy to fool Amanda. While she’d sat with her back to him, he’d slipped his phone out of his pocket and held it under the desk. After he hit send, he put his arms back up on his desk. Using the alias number always delayed the text a bit, so by the time Amanda swiveled around to look at him, he was concentrating on his algebra. Or at least, he looked like he was.
At first, he was just messing with her. But after he chatted with her a bit, he realized talking to her anonymously might be a great way to get to know her better, without her putting up walls. At least, he could try. And if it didn’t work out, he could just stop texting her and let her be curious who it was.
He paid for his lunch and walked over to their usual table. Amanda didn’t look at him. Figured. He set his tray down by Eli and plopped into a chair. “Hey.”
Eli glanced at the girls, standing by their table. They had started whispering.
“How’s it going?” Eli asked, sticking his fork into his lasagna, and smiling like he’d just won the lottery.
“Not good.” Then he lowered his voice as well. “She’s still mad at me.” He shook his head. “I just don’t get it. It’s a stupid run-down building. Why is it so important to her?”
“I don’t know, man.”
“I can’t wait until this whole thing is over.” He took a bite from his sub sandwich. It kind of tasted like it had been made yesterday. The bread was chewy and the cheese a little hard. Nothing was going his way today. “So, what’s up with you? You look…happy.”
Eli’s smile widened. “Sorry. I don’t mean to be weird. It’s just that my mom got a raise. A big one. She says we can start to look for a house.”
“Seriously? That’s great.”
“Yeah. And if we can find one with a big enough yard, I can have my dog back.”
“Where is he?”
“With m
y dad, in Cali.”
“That’s awesome, man.” Cole had always wanted a dog, but his father wouldn’t let him get one. “They’re too messy,” he’d say. “They’ll scratch the hardwood and chew up the furniture.”
The girls went to get in line. Cole got an idea. He leaned closer to Eli. “Hey, will you help me out with something?”
“Sure.”
“I texted Amanda anonymously to mess with her, but I think she suspects it’s me. Will you text her for me, right now, so if she looks, I can be sitting here eating and talking to you? You’ve got your back to her, so she wouldn’t be able to tell.”
Eli got a strange look on his face. “How can you text her anonymously? Doesn’t she know your number?”
“I used an alias number.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s like an app. It makes it look like I’m texting from a different number. Will you send something to her from me?”
“Okay.”
Cole pulled out his phone and unlocked it, then slid it across the table. Eli grabbed it and put it below the table. “What do you want me to say?”
“Ask her if she thought of any questions yet.”
Eli typed and then hit send. Then he posed as if he was listening to Cole, his hands above the table. From his vantage point, Cole could see both Eli and the girls in line. He picked up his sub sandwich and took a bite, watching the girls behind Eli.
Amanda chatted with Destiny, but then swiveled quickly to look at him as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. She scanned the lunchroom, then showed the text to Destiny.
“What’s she doing? Did she get it?”
“She’s texting back. Just a second. Using the alias makes it delayed a bit.”
Eli shoveled in the last of his lasagna and nodded. “Okay.” A few seconds later, he looked down at Cole’s phone. “She answered.”
“What does it say?”
Just as he suspected, both the girls started scrutinizing the people in the lunchroom. Eli grinned at him. “Are you male or female?”
A Young Adult Romance Collection Page 38