Investigating the Hottie

by Alexander, Juli

  “Have you ever seen anything so awesome?” Colin said excitedly, still on a testosterone high from all the action.

  “Cool. Will Smith rocks!” Mark said.

  They turned to Will, but he didn’t answer.

  “Dude,” Mark said. “Didn’t you like it?”

  “Oh, yeah. Awesome.” Will sounded a little distracted.

  They must have noticed because they looked at him funny and Colin punched him. I concentrated on being nonchalant and sophisticated.

  My cell phone rang. All of the others whipped out their cell phones to turn them on.

  “I never remember after a movie,” Kyle said.

  I stepped a few feet away and answered the call.

  “How was the movie?” Christie asked.

  “Good.” I took another few steps. “I knew you were watching me.”

  “Not really. I’m busy here at the opening night geek gala. Actually, I’m just being grumpy and rude. Meanwhile, my smart phone alerted me to a jump in your pulse rate, so I checked in.”

  “Pulse rate?” Was nothing sacred?

  “I’m sure your heart was compensating for that long walk down the aisle in the movie theater. Funny though, how other things can trigger that reaction. Like . . . boys.” Her tone was teasing.

  Luckily, she didn’t see me blush. “I wonder what your heart rate did when Nic kissed you the other day.”

  “Will kissed you!” Her voice was so loud I was afraid the people around me would hear it.

  “No. I just mean . . . Forget it.” I cringed at her laugh. “I’m fine and thanks for checking in. Gotta go, bye.”

  “Sorry,” I said, walking back over to the gang. “My aunt.”

  “Does she always check up on you?” Meg asked.

  “She’s not so bad,” I said.

  “My parents trust me,” Jenny interjected snottily. “But I guess if you don’t go out much, or if you’ve given them a reason not to trust you, then they might be that way.”

  “Jen,” Meg cautioned.

  I smiled because Will hadn’t heard her, and I was so close to being out of this place.

  Then, Colin swooped in and took Meg in his arms. He laid a big kiss on her.

  Mark yelled, “No way, Dude!”

  Meg smacked Colin. “You know how I feel about PDA,” she snapped, adjusting her sweater.

  “I know, but the guys had a bet. Kyle said he’d give me half of the winnings, so we just made twenty bucks.”

  “Kyle,” Will said. “How could you?”

  “Really?” Meg opened her arms wide and hugged Colin. “Then pizza’s on them.”

  “Yep.” Colin looked pleased with himself.

  “Cool.” Meg beamed. She really was pretty when she wasn’t sneering at me.

  “Who’s up for pizza?” Colin asked.

  “I can’t,” Will said. “I have to get home.”

  I was really sorry to hear that. I didn’t want our pseudo, not a date, but kind of a date, to end.

  “We could run you home later, Amanda,” Jenny said. “If you’d like to come with.” She batted her eyelashes in my direction.

  I looked over at Will. Jenny would love that.

  “It’s up to you,” he said.

  No way was I subjecting myself to more time with Jenny. “I probably should let Will take me. I don’t want to push my aunt too far this week.”

  “Oh that’s right. She’s already had to check up on you once.” Man, that Jenny could be malicious.

  We said goodbye, and then Will told me that he had promised to come home early to hang out with his grandmother. “She gets restless, and Mom’s at work.”

  “You make it sound like you’re babysitting your grandmother,” I said. The idea made me laugh.

  He didn’t say anything.

  Sitting next to Will as he guided the car through the dark streets, I felt terribly adult despite the fact that my heart was still racing. My mother would never let me out alone with a boy. I could only go out with “a group.” But I was wired for video and sound and monitored by Christie and Nic so I was totally safe being out with this guy even though he could maybe, possibly, okay fine. He probably was a criminal.

  A hot criminal.

  The walk to the door was horrible, because I wanted him to kiss me, but I was, to be honest, completely terrified that he would. Plus, we’d have video for sure even if I remembered to close my right eye.

  I didn’t think Christie would mind my, ahem, new approach to the investigation, which given time, I’d really like to call “Romancing the Hottie.” I mean, after all. I’d get the information we needed either way. But the other part of Christie, the aunt who’s known me since before my birth part, might have a problem with it.

  And the video part bothered me. I mean, the last thing I needed was to be part of some kind of training video on how not to kiss. As you can see here, this young lady completely botched the kiss. Don’t do it this way. Let me show the footage again. See. Completely bad kisser. Take my advice. Don’t muck it up like this young lady, Amanda Peterson, did. That’s Amanda Peterson,

  A-M-A-N-D-A P-E-T-E-R-S-O-N. Amanda-

  “Amanda,” Will was saying.

  “Oh,” I realized I was staring into space. “Sorry. Just thinking about something.” Duh.

  He looked at me with those big blue eyes. “I’m really glad we went to the movie.”

  My stomach flip-flopped. “Me too,” I said. I felt the heat rise to my cheeks. So much for sophisticated.

  Then, I noticed that he was blushing a little too. Cool.

  After being so close in the movie, it felt like we were a million miles apart, but I couldn’t think of any way to get closer. I didn’t have the nerve to reach out and take his hand.

  “Well, I guess this is it,” he said motioning to my door.

  “Yeah,” I said.

  He stood there. I stood there.

  Then, he said, “Amanda, I—”

  And I never heard the rest because Nic opened the door. “Hi, guys!” His voice rumbled deeper and louder than usual.

  I totally knew he was interrupting on purpose.

  “How’d the project go?”

  “We went to a movie instead,” I said, not in my nicest voice.

  “Really?” He opened the door wider. “Well, I guess you’ll have to work really hard tomorrow, huh?”

  I glared at him, but he was a trained federal agent after all, it took more than that to get to him. Besides, he wasn’t looking at me, he was trying to melt Will with his stare.

  “So, Will, is your mother going to be home tomorrow to supervise while you’re working?” Nic really violated our space with his outstretched arm holding the door.

  “Nic,” I pleaded.

  “No, but my grandmother will be,” Will assured him.

  “Okay, then.” Nic stood right where he was.

  “Okay, then,” I said.

  “See you tomorrow,” Will said. “I had a great time.”

  “Me too,” I said.

  Will turned to walk away.

  I stormed through the door, and Nic closed it behind me.

  “Why did you do that?” I asked.

  “Do what?”

  “You know what.”

  “Did I interrupt something? Part of your grand plan to get to the bottom of his hacking?” He was totally making fun of me.

  “Maybe.”

  “We got some interesting pictures while you were out.” Nic’s firm tone made me angry.

  “Really.” I tried to reign in my temper.

  “Yep. And some pulse readings that were of concern.” For just a second, I caught a flash of amusement in his eyes.

  “Relax, Nic,” I said. Not having privacy sucked. “We went to a movie instead of studying.”

  He stared at me. “You look like you’ve been sucking face with that boy.”

  “Sucking face?” Gross.

  “Too eighties?” he asked.

  “We don’t call it that anymore.�
�� I rolled my eyes. “We held hands okay. That’s all.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Amanda,” Nic said. “You don’t understand boys, Amanda. And I do.”

  Oh, puu-lease. “I’ve seen the sitcoms, Nic. Where the dads tell what they were thinking about at that age, so you can relax. Holding hands is no big deal.”

  “Amanda, he’s a criminal!” Nic sounded exasperated.

  “Suspect,” I said, defiantly.

  “Whatever. He’s a seventeen-year-old boy with a penchant for law breaking. Not the person to be cozying up to.” He sounded like such a know-it-all.

  “Did you just say ‘whatever?’ You wanted me to be friends with him.” I crossed my arms. He’d better be kidding.

  “Just friends.” Dismay clouded his face. “What happened to the whole ‘I can’t talk to boys’ thing?” He pointed his finger at me. “Don’t talk to boys.”

  “You’re kidding right?” Don’t talk to boys?

  “No. I’m not kidding.” He wasn’t seeing reason.

  I faked a big yawn. “I’m beat. I’ll talk to Christie about this later. When will she be home?”

  “Amanda. Christie and I talked, and we’re worried about you. It’s just that this isn’t the time or place for you to fall in love.”

  “Love?” I laughed. No guffawed. “No way. I’m not in love. In like maybe, but not in love.”

  “Either way, we’ve got to wrap this assignment up tomorrow, Amanda.”

  “I know. I’m ready. I’ll use the diskette to back up the files like you told me. No problem. First thing in the morning.”

  “You’ll be on your own for part of the day. We’ve got the Symposium tomorrow.” His voice softened.

  “Do you think you’ll recover the truth serum tomorrow?” I asked.

  “Most likely. I think Dr. Ivan is about to crack. Your aunt could drive anyone crazy,” he said, grinning.

  “I’m glad your case is going well.” Mine sure wasn’t. “I’ll be in my room if you need me.” With that not so subtle plea for escape, I bolted for the room.

  I made it halfway down the hall before Nic yelled, “I’ll talk to Christie later about all this.”

  “Great,” I grumbled.

  Once inside my room, I jumped on the bed, buried my face in the fuzzy purple pillow, and screamed. Nic was more right than I wanted to admit. I really had it bad for Will.

  I liked the spy stuff, and it was kinda fun to be in a different place meeting different people, doing exciting things, but tonight with Will was the absolute best part.

  Chapter Twelve

  At exactly eight a.m., I trudged up the brick steps to Will’s door and rang the doorbell.

  Sporting rumpled hair and a yawn, Will opened the door. “Hey,” he said.

  “Hey,” I returned. “Sorry it’s so early.”

  “No, you’re right. We need to get to work. I just couldn’t bear to set the alarm for much earlier.” He motioned for me to come in.

  I could relate. “Back home, uh, you know before I moved here, I’d have probably set it for 7:55.”

  “Seven fifty seven, actually,” he said, smiling. “I guess girls just take longer.”

  “I got up at six.” I groaned at my lack of sleep. “Christie’s into preparedness and starting the day right.” Because she was a spy, but no big deal. At least she hadn’t been too tough on me about the hand holding.

  I walked in and he moved aside to let me pass. He closed the door and headed down the hall.

  “I need some breakfast. Want some cereal?”

  I trailed him to the kitchen. “No thanks.” There was no sign of anyone else. “Where’s your grandmother?”

  “Upstairs.” He opened the cabinet. “She’s on the computer. She had a few things to do before we got started.”

  “She likes to email her friends?” I asked. I pictured her hanging out in a health-after-sixty chat room.

  “Something like that,” he said, taking a bowl from the cabinet and placing it on the counter. “Mom and I tried to get her to take up cooking as a hobby, but she didn’t go for it. She’s always worked and she says domestic tasks don’t interest her.”

  I couldn’t imagine a grandmother who didn’t cook. “My grandmother cooks all the time. We gain weight whenever we visit her.”

  Will sighed, then picked up the generic frosted flakes. “Sounds great.”

  “Great for you. Food doesn’t go straight to your . . .” I almost said belly, but I didn’t want him checking out my little pudge too closely, so I said, “hips.”

  Unfortunately, that just drew his attention to my hips. “Yours either.”

  I might as well have said, “Look at me. Check out my bod.” I felt pretty good in these jeans but I doubted my figure would stand up to close scrutiny.

  He turned and opened the fridge and I took a minute to check him out. He looked good in those jeans. I’d never been much of a butt person. I mean, I just sort of look at the whole person.

  His person was yummy.

  He poured some milk in his bowl and put the gallon jug back in the fridge. He grabbed a spoon from the drawer, picked up his bowl, and said, “Come on. We can start while I eat.”

  “O-kay.” This wasn’t working out right. He was supposed to do the work while I watched over his shoulder. I needed to confirm he was the hacker. “But when we’re done, you have to show me some stuff on the computer.”

  “Like what?” He led the way up the stairs.

  “I don’t know. The guys say you’re really good. I just figured you knew how to do some cool stuff.” There was that view again. Yay!

  “All I know is how to get cheat codes for my games.”

  “Right.” Liar.

  “What else is there?” He reached the top and stopped to look at me.

  “Well,” I said, racking my brain for an idea. “We may need to hack into the school and change our Art grade at this rate.”

  He just laughed. “Okay.” He motioned down the hall. “Let’s get started.”

  “I’m serious.”

  “Well, I don’t know how to do that stuff.” He was starting to sound irritated. “Do you?”

  “Me?” Was he nuts? “No.”

  “Then I guess we’d better get to work.”

  “Okay.” I didn’t think I had any real talent for spying.

  As we approached the computer room, his grandmother came out the door. “Hi, Amanda. So good to see you again.” She was all energetic and spunky like she’d been up for hours.

  She came right over and hugged me.

  “Yeah, you too,” I said.

  “Now, Will, when you’re through let me know.” She squeezed his arm. “I have some recipes to email to Mary Sue.”

  “Sure, Grandma,” he said as she vanished down the hall.

  “I thought she didn’t cook.” I followed Will into the room. “She’s really nice.”

  “Yeah. She’s great.” He lowered his voice, “Even if she isn’t the typical grandmother.”

  “So she’s different. Big deal.”

  He shook his head. “She doesn’t spend her time doing typical grandmother things.”

  “What? Like knitting and walking in the mall for exercise?” She’d run circles around them.

  “Yeah,” he said like I’d hit the nail on the head.

  “I guess that’s just a stereotype.” Ms. Tarver could never fit in there.

  “Yeah. Grandma definitely can’t be stereotyped.” He sounded a little bummed.

  He motioned for me to sit down in the rolling desk chair and then he sat in the wooden chair to the side.

  I peered at the screen. The graphics program was up and running. “Oh good, you installed it.” At least something was going as planned.

  I pulled my notebook out of my backpack and turned to my notes on the tutorial. Will was just watching me, the neglected bowl of cereal balancing on his knee.

  “Go ahead and eat,” I said. “I’ll be glad when you take over.”

/>   “Okay,” he said. He took a bite and crunched it while I followed the first few steps.

  I was concentrating so hard on the program that it took me a while to realize how slowly he was eating. I’d been working for thirty minutes at least, and he was still eating. Chewing slowly and taking lots of time between bites. When I asked him several times for input, he told me to do what I wanted.

  He hadn’t eaten like that at lunch. I stopped typing. “Do you not like the cereal or something?”

  “No. It’s fine.” He jumped up. “Be right back.”

  I watched him leave the room. He sure was acting strange. I grabbed the CD rom from my backpack and worked to quickly download the files Nic wanted. Will still wasn’t back, so I ran a quick scan. The scan came up positive for hacking activity. Crap. I removed the CD-Rom, placed it in the case, and stuck it in my bag.

  Then, I still had a few minutes before Will returned.

  I heard his footsteps on the hardwood floor. I turned hoping my face didn’t show my disappointment.

  He was looking at me funny. “Amanda.”

  Had he seen me? “Is something wrong?”

  “No.” He shook his head.

  Trying to cover, I said, “I’m sorry I roped you into this project, Will. But I really don’t want to have to do the whole thing myself.” Especially since I have the evidence I need and am ready to get out of here. Maybe I could pick a fight and leave.

  He grimaced and put the cereal bowl on the desk behind him. “Okay. We’d better talk.”

  “Talk?” That didn’t sound good.

  “I have a confession to make,” he said, sliding his hands in his pockets.

  “A confession?” Here it comes. He’s a hacker, and I’m putting him in jail. I’d rather have waited for Christie and Nic.

  He walked closer and stood facing me. “First, though, I really want to kiss you.” He gave me this crooked smile.

  “You want to kiss me?” Duh. He just said that.

  He nodded. “If it’s okay with you.” He moved towards me and took my hands.

  “Uh, yeah. Sure,” I said as he pulled me to my feet.

  I mean, why not? Maybe I can visit him in prison. Plus, I have so earned this moment. Holding hands was sensational. Kissing had to be better than chocolate. He wrapped his arm around my waist, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. I looked up into his eyes and he lowered his head to meet my lips.