“Thanks,” I stammer out, backing away. I babble inanely, “Okay, well, I’ll see you at home—later.”
He quirks a brow. “Probably.”
He puffs out a laugh, “But maybe not. I have a thing too.”
CHAPTER 2
“You go save us a table and I’ll wait for the guy,” my friend/co-worker tells me when I finally wobble my way into the “Save The Trees” meeting. It’s here at the mall, where I just left Sage. It’s in the mall’s big multipurpose-room, which used to be a store, but it closed down a few months ago. Now they rent the place out for “events” … like this one, which I’m not really that into—saving the trees. I mean, I want them saved and everything, I do … but I’m only here at the meeting to nab North.
My friend seems more excited about this than me (maybe because she’s not in love with her forbidden foster brother—so she’s actually able to enjoy the prospect of love blossoming. Meanwhile, I just keep reliving having Sage so close and how his eyes had washed over me when he first discovered it was me at the water-fountain. (Or maybe he had already known it was me??) Anyway, those mushy thoughts are making it hard for me to get excited about trying to reel in another guy.
Like I said, my friend is way more excited. She works with me at the library. Her name is Macy, and she doesn’t go to my school, so this is her first time to see North—my target.
She has this whole elaborate “plan” worked out though. She spends a lot of time in the ‘espionage’ section of the library. So, she enjoys plotting … and making things complicated. She actually hired a guy to be my “decoy” boyfriend. You know, so North can see me with an actual guy, and see I’m not an ‘ice queen.’ That I’m just highly selective … like him.
Back when she hired the “decoy” guy she made it sound a lot more … rational. But now that it’s about to happen—me meeting the guy—it just seems … face it, weird.
But well, she hired the guy before she even told me about it. Paid for him and everything, so …
I just went along with it. Since she was so excited about it (and she’s mega-rich). Also, she said this was how her friend from her dance class nabbed her boyfriend—hired the very guy we’re using. Her friend raved about him.
“He’s supposed to be gorgeous,” Macy assures me again, when she sees I’m all nervous and totally wanting to back out.
She smiles, “Gorgeous! So, it will be fun even if you don’t get your guy—at least we’ll have nice eye-candy. And don’t worry, I’ll be with you the whole time. I want to check Mr. Guy-For-Hire out.”
She nudges me playfully, “—I might use him.”
Ohhh! Suddenly now it makes more sense, why she’s so excited and was so willing to pay for the dude. She’s using me, to check the guy out.
Well, at least I didn’t pay for it. And if it goes humiliating, no real loss. I mean, Mr. Guy-for-Hire goes to a different high school. So, there’s that.
“Go find us a table,” Macy says again, then she trots back over to the entrance to wait for her “purchase.”
I get us a table directly across from where North is sitting. He is really handsome. Not as handsome as Sage, but still … lovely nonetheless. He has dark wavy hair and blue eyes. Mmmm. I love that combination.
Also, he seems super nice. He’s all smiling as he talks with his friends. And hey, he wants to save trees. That’s admirable. (Wayyy more admirable than attending a meeting only to snag a guy.)
*slouches in chair*
Only moments later, Macy comes excitedly skipping up to me—with Sage in tow. Sage!
What the—???
CHAPTER 3
SAGE
SAGE
Right after the bewildering water fountain incident, I lower my brow, then slowly follow Gypsy. Because she’s hot and doesn’t know it. That kind of stuff is just asking for trouble. Also, okay, what’s her “thing.”
I watch her go into this store that has a banner over it that says, “Save The Trees.” It’s a little perplexing, since she isn’t dressed to save trees. She dressed to stop hearts. And give guys fantasizes. And talk dirty to her at water fountains.
I gaze through the store window. Oh-kay, it’s not a store … anymore. It’s got a bunch of tables and foldout chairs set up. She’s at some sort of meeting. Is she going to give a speech or something?
The thought kind of excites my heart a little for some reason. I’d like to see her give a speech … even if it’s on trees.
“Hi! Are you Chad?”
I snap out of my demented daze to find this girl smiling at me. She has sparkles on her eyelids. And lips. Interesting.
I tilt my head. “I could be.”
“That’s her.” The girl points to Gypsy.
I murmur, “Okay, I’m definitely Chad.”
Her sparkly grin grows. “You’re way cuter than I expected.”
My jaw muscles tick. “Thanks. Remind me what I’m doing with her.” I gesture to Gypsy, then want to keep staring at her. Maaan. She never wears her hair down. I have no idea why. (Maybe because she knows guys’ hearts will explode.) But she never takes that gorgeous hair down from her braid, ever. So, here’s the question: Why’d she do it for “Chad”? (Who, by the way, is not as ‘cute’ as me—apparently.)
Sparkle girl smiles, “You’re going to help her get the guy she wants. We hear you’re really good at that.”
“Hm.” I do a little grunt. I had no idea Gypsy wants a guy. Or that learning this would make me feel like someone whacked me in the gut with a sledgehammer.
I squeeze my eyes shut for a second. Contemplate it all in my head—negotiate it. Gypsy will get the guy if she wants him. She doesn’t know it. But she will. If she smiles at him, I’m dead. Because he will be hers. And I’ll die.
On the other hand, if she wants a guy, and she’s sad. Well, I’ll die from that too. I like to see her happy.
“Okay, lets do this,” I tell sparkle girl.
She points out the guy Gypsy wants.
I’m pretty sure the dude’s gay, but hey, I’m not going to complain.
CHAPTER 4
Gypsy
GYPSY
I about fall out of my chair when I see it’s SAGE that’s Hired-Dude. Of course I should have figured it out at the water fountain when he said he had a “thing” too. He had said it all mysterious, but I’d thought he was just teasing me … because I was being mysterious. Well, evasive.
But no. Of course not.
Beautiful Sage is a gigolo. I should have known.
Blah.
I go up in flames, because, well, now he knows. I hired a guy. And now he can see for himself the rumors are true—I’m obviously an “Ice Queen” just like everyone says. I can’t just be normal and get a guy the old-fashioned mushy way. No. Of course not. I have to be all cold about it. Pay for it.
Awesome.
Smiling huge at my obvious shock to see him, Sage slides himself into the chair next to me. He leans in close, “You really didn’t have to pay for me to kiss you.”
Then he whispers in my ear, his warm breath tickling my neck and skittering goose bumps down my body, “There’s a family discount.”
I groan. “There’s not going to be any kissing. None.”
Macy interrupts, giggling. “Well, there can be some. I’ll kiss you. After all, I paid for you.” She laughs, “But first you have to help poor Ice-Queen Gypsy get her guy.”
I bang my forehead on the table. Did she really need to call me that? Right now? In front of Sage?
Sage pats my head, like ‘There, there, Ice-Queen. I already heard the rumors. And in fact, I live with you, so I already knew. Also, I see you put on fake glasses if a guy just looks like he’s going to come over and talk to you—and they are very, very ugly glasses. And I’ve called you out on them, and hid them from you. Many times. So, pick up your head now, sad little puppy dog, and let me do my gigolo job.’
Yes, he said all that with his gentle head petting—which he does to me a lot. Like
I’m his favorite little pathetic pet, and he wants to see me happy.
He whispers in my ear, “You want to know how to get the guy?”
I peek my head up at him and nod.
Sage smiles weakly. “Okay, I’ll give you the secret to getting him. It’s this—” He leans in close like he’s going to whisper it to me, but then instead he says, “No, here I’ll write it down for you, so you can remember.”
He takes my hand and writes something on my palm. Yeah, I’m curious what he’s writing. Or I would be, if my mind could think of anything besides the fact he has my hand. He’s like, holding it. Practically. And the feel of his rough warm hand in mine is … awesome. And sending electrical currents through my whole body. So, yeah. I’m having more than a little trouble concentrating on what he’s writing. Or you know, anything. Anything but the look of his dark hair falling over his gorgeous eyes as he writes on my hand. And gently touches my hand, like he’s touching my soul.
When he’s done writing he gazes up at me. It snaps me out of my daze. Oh, yeah. I’m supposed to be interested in another boy. And Sage has given me the secret of how to do it. I peek down at my hand. It says, “Just smile.”
Sage tugs on my hair playfully. “You have a great smile, Gypsy. Use it on him.”
Um, okay.
I smile at Sage.
He laughs. “There you go.”
He grins, “Now just direct it towards him.”
I do. I smile big at North. And you know what? He looks my way. Then keeps looking. He tilts his head as I continue to smile at him. Then he comes over (!!!!). Eek!!!
“Hi, Gypsy—right?” he says.
“Um, right. Yeah,” I murmur, totally fascinated. And stunned. And every other shocked word you can think of. I mean, the guy never noticed me before in my life. But now he walked clear across the room to talk to me. Just because I smiled at him.
Sage grins, like I told you so. He gives my hair another playful tug. “I’m going to take off. Have fun, Gypsy.”
Then he saunters away. Like his job is done. Which I guess it is. But I don’t want it to be!!!!
CHAPTER 5
North sat with me for the whole “Save The Trees” meeting. We kept taking tiny little peeks at each other through the whole meeting. I had a hard time keeping track of what anyone was saying. Because of North. Sitting right next to me.
North! Who all the girls want.
All I kept thinking was, North is looking at me.
He kept looking at me.
It was weird though, because tons of girls at our school were dying to date him. Tons!! But he hadn’t seemed that interested in anyone. Ever.
But he seemed interested in me!!!
Not going to lie, kind of an ego boost there. I mean, after being shot down by my … well, okay—brother. Still, it was extremely nice to get attention from a guy that no other girl seemed to be able to get it from. And all it took was my smile. (Apparently, it has magical powers or something, who knew?) (Well, not me … but Sage seemed to know.) (Awww, Sage.)
However, I refused to think about Sage. A little hard, since he had just held my hand, and I had felt little tingles whoosh through me the whole time he was near me.
But hey, North’s stare was giving me tingles too. And the guy wasn’t forbidden. He was totally do-able. (Although, um, I don’t mean that word the way most people do.)
I could totally date North. And kiss him. Maybe.
Anyway, sitting next to him with him staring at me like that made me think I’d like it. A lot. Of course it was probably helpful that Macy was sitting right next to me. And that we were in a meeting full of tree-savers. So it wasn’t likely he was going to go berserk and jump on me.
That stuff was helpful.
And comforting.
And probably necessary.
After the meeting, North smiled at me, all shy, “Would you like to go see a movie with me sometime?”
For some reason, I plunged into a coughing fit.
Well, okay, I know the reason—I’m a dork.
I know I kept saying I wanted to ‘nab’ North. But I’d had no clue it would be so easy. And, okay, truthfully, I hadn’t planned for “the plan” to work. Mostly when Sage ended up to be the Fake-Date guy. I mean, everyone knows Sage is my foster brother.
… but then again, I guess that was how the smile-thing worked. I mean, what guy would come up to a girl while she was on a date??? That would just be rude.
So, the fact that it was (bizarrely) Sage was really the only way “The Plan” worked. And that hadn’t been part of “The Plan.” That had been totally unplanned.
Yet, Macy was beaming all proud, like: ‘See, my plan totally worked.’
While I went on with my coughing fit, Macy answered North for me, “Yes, she would love to go to the movies with you.”
“—double-date,” I gasped out between coughs.
“Oh, I guess she wants me and a date to go with you guys,” she told him, sounding pleased, yet exasperated.
“Okay, that sounds awesome,” North said. And then they proceeded to plan what we would go see, which ended up to be totally fine by me, because it was a romantic comedy that I had wanted to see anyway.
“Okay, so I’ll see you guys later,” North said.
“Yeah! ‘bye!” Macy called after him all happy and excited.
Me: Cough. “’Bye!” Cough.
He gave me a smile like I was adorable.
I coughed some more. (But I have to say, it was a very happy cough.)
CHAPTER 6
“Okay, if I’m going on a double date with you guys, I’m totally hiring Sage to be my hot date,” Macy announced gleefully.
I went up in flames. And practically died.
“No,” I told her. “In fact, no way.”
I didn’t go on to explain that Sage was the reason I needed the fake-date to begin with. That I needed, desperately to get over Sage.
Instead, I just explained rationally (I hoped), “He’s my foster brother—and acts like a real brother. So no, he’s not going on my date.”
She pouted about it, big time. But she got it. I mean, who wants their brother on their date?? Well okay, sadly—me. (Since I wanted my brother to be my date.) (Cringe.) (And face palm.)
But I wasn’t going to tell her that. (Or anyone else.)
She sighed. “Okay, but you have to promise not to put on your ‘ugly’ glasses through the whole date. Even if the dude looks like he wants to kiss you.”
I sighed. “I couldn’t put them on even if I wanted. Sage hid them from me.”
She grinned. “I like him so much.”
Ugh! Me too.
She laughed, “He really hid your glasses?”
I rolled my eyes and groaned. “Yes.”
Just a few weeks after Sage moved into our house, he stopped me in the hallway.
“Wait,” he said.
I could tell he was curious about something. Something about me. His eyes were all—curious. It made me nervous.
As I slowly backed away, he murmured, “Hold on, I want to see something.”
He gently slid off my glasses and put them on.
I cringed, knowing what was coming.
“That’s what I thought,” he said. “They’re fake.”
He tilted his head. “Why the fake glasses?” His brow lowered. “Is it me? Are you afraid of me?”
“No, she’s afraid of everyone,” my friend Jazz called from the other room. “The glasses are her disguise. See, she’s really Clark Kent. Underneath the braid and glasses, she’s like superman—only her powers are heavenly-beauty. She has to hide them from everyone for their own protection—well, for her protection, actually. If any boy discovers her super power … well, he wouldn’t be able to control himself.” She grinned at me teasing. “Right, Gypsy?”
My face going up in flames, I squeezed my eyes shut and grumbled, “Right.”
Sage reluctantly handed me back my glasses. “There you go Clark,” he sa
id.
But that was that day.
Now he hides them from me.
Every chance he gets.
CHAPTER 7
Mine and North’s “date” movie was sweet and mushy. I loved it! North did too. He actually laughed out loud during the funny parts. I liked that. Usually people think they are too “cool” to laugh out loud at stuff in movies. (Well, the people I hang around.) But I liked North even better after that—after hearing him laugh during a romantic comedy.
I was like score!—an awesome movie partner. Well, I mean I wanted him to be my partner. Like, be my boyfriend. After our date, I was sure of it. I felt comfortable around him. That was unusual for me—I mean, he was a boy. (Gasp!)
But he was sweet and totally not demented.
So, the next time we went out on a “date” we didn’t drag Macy and her guy-of-choice along. Especially because I knew she would demand it be Sage this time. (Sadly, her date hadn’t been as awesome as North—not even close.)
After the date, she kept saying how she wanted to give Sage a go—how she would die to have him kiss her.
I sat there like, yeah, me too. So …
Yes, I felt North was my salvation.
My way to get my mind off Sage.
So, I bravely went on my second date with North—gulp—alone! It was to another romantic comedy. North seemed to love them as much as me, which was, you know, awesome.
After the movie we got frozen yogurts and North was all, “I was shocked to look up at that tree meeting and see you smiling at me like that.”
I ducked my head, but only teasing, “Why?—because I’m the Ice-Queen?”
He grinned slightly. “Well, I’d heard people say that. But you weren’t smiling like an Ice-Queen—and you were smiling right at me. It sort of gave me confidence.”
I titled my head at him. “A lot of girls must smile at you.”
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