Granted, I wasn't interested in Colin, but he was a boy. Which meant I didn't want him listening to my kissing failures.
"Oh." Colin glanced at me. "That's why you didn't kiss Heath? Because you were afraid he'd think you weren't good at kissing?"
If only the earth would swallow me up now. "I really don't think we need to be having this conversation." I turned away and began filling feed buckets. "I have work to do. You all should leave."
"And I thought you refused to kiss him because you just didn't want to kiss him," Colin said, with a hint of derision in his tone. "Dumb idea, I guess. As I said, what girl would turn down Heath Cavendish?"
"So he's popular," I snapped at Colin. "What's wrong with that?" Personally, I thought it was kinda cool that he was popular.
Colin shrugged. "Nothing."
"You didn't answer Allie's question," Frances interrupted Colin. "We really want to know."
"Frances!" What was with my friends? Since when had it become their goal to embarrass me so badly? "I don't want to know!"
Colin turned away from me and looked at Frances, the corners of his mouth turned up in amusement. "You mean, would I be able to tell if I kissed a girl who wasn't experienced? You guys really want to know that?"
"Yes," she said.
Natalie nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, could you tell?"
"No, we don't want to know!" I grabbed Colin's arm and tried to push him out of the barn, only vaguely noticing that the muscles in his arm were pretty big. "Colin, leave. This conversation is killing me."
He deftly stepped out of my path and spun back into the barn, still sporting his amused grin. He turned to Frances. "I might be able to tell that a girl was inexperienced, but if I liked her, that would be cool. I'd rather kiss a girl who hasn't kissed a lot of guys."
"Really?" Allie twirled her hair, no doubt trying to recall the countless boys she'd kissed. Guaranteed she was contemplating feigning ignorance the next time she kissed a boy.
"But if I just wanted some action, I'd probably be more interested in someone who knew what she was doing," Colin added.
Well, thank you, Colin, for muddying the waters.
"So what about a guy like Heath?" Allie asked, rubbing her own lips thoughtfully. "What would he want?"
Colin's tone became a little less friendly. "I'm not Heath. I don't know."
Allie looked at me, still wearing that look that indicated her wheels were turning. "Heath has been around a lot. I bet he's looking for the experienced type."
I threw up my hands. "Oh, great. Now I'm really going to avoid kissing him. Thanks a lot, Allie."
"That can be addressed," she said.
Trepidation slammed my gut. "What can be addressed?" I didn't like the expression on her face, like she was plotting my downfall.
"Your lack of experience," she said.
Somehow I felt this entire discussion was heading in a dangerous direction. "What? Am I supposed to practice kissing on the dog?"
"No." She pointed to Colin. "On him."
"You want me to kiss Colin?" My stomach flopped and my hands instantly broke into a sweat.
"No, let Colin kiss you. Let him teach you how to kiss. Then you can kiss Heath and wow him." Allie grinned. "You have to learn somewhere, right?"
"Oh, yes!" Natalie said.
"Perfect," Frances exclaimed. "Do it!"
"I can't kiss Colin," I gasped, not even daring to look at him.
"But he's cute, and he's nice," Allie said. "Why can't you kiss him?"
"Because...because..." Because having someone teach me how to kiss would be the most embarrassing thing ever. And Colin? Granted, he was moderately cute, but he wasn't my type at all.
No way could I kiss him.
No possible way.
But I'd never admit I was too wimpy to kiss him. That was even more embarrassing. So, instead, I simply said. "I'd never ask Colin to do that."
He looked at me, and for the first time I realized that his eyelashes were really long and thick. "I'll kiss you, Blue."
And I could tell he meant it.
Excerpt from STUDYING BOYS
It's Frances's turn now!
When Theo pushed open another door and we walked out into the club, I almost passed out from terror right then.
It was dark. Really dark. And loud. Music was blasting so loud I could actually feel it vibrating in my chest and thudding in my ears. And there were people everywhere. Not boys and girls. Men and women. Dancing. Wearing black and silk, and some of the women weren't wearing all that much at all. No one even looked close to my age, and there sure wasn't any woman there without makeup, wearing jeans, sneakers and a baggy cotton sweater.
Except me.
Holy cow.
"Want a drink?" Theo asked.
"No." I pulled my hand out of his and backed against the wall. Oh my God. What kind of place was this? Where had I let him take me? It was one thing not to be uptight, but this was something else entirely.
I was way out of my league. All those people on the dance floor! Going crazy! Making out! There was no way I was going out there!
Then Theo moved in front of me and blocked my view. "Frances? Are you okay?"
"No!" I shoved at his chest, and he caught my hands. "Let go of me! How could you bring me here?"
"Sorry."
The simple comment caught my attention, and I stopped railing long enough to look at him. Theo, with his dark unruly hair, his leather jacket, and his black tee shirt. All bad boy, all danger, and yet, at the same time, I knew those eyes, that dimple in his cheek. This was Theo, the guy I'd known since I was three. "No smug remark, like the fact I can't handle this proves I'm uptight?"
Theo shrugged, still holding my hands. "I didn't mean to scare you."
He sounded like he really meant it. I didn't understand. Where was this Theo coming from? "Why aren't you being a jerk?"
A grimace pulled at the corner of his mouth. "I don't know."
"Oh." Not the best answer. It would have been nice if he'd said it was because I was so amazing that he couldn't bring himself to be anything but a perfect gentleman. That might have helped alleviate the fact I was about to have a full panic attack.
"You want to leave?" He frowned. "We can leave."
"Well..." Now that he was being all nice, and blocking my view of the raunchy stuff happening on the dance floor, it didn't seem so bad to be there.
"Want to just hang here, against the wall, for a few minutes while you decide?" he suggested.
I nodded. "Fine."
He gave me a slight nod, then dropped my hands and moved to the wall beside me, leaning against it, his arm pressing against my shoulder. Like he was being supportive.
We stood like that for a while. I watched the people, thought about Theo still leaning against me, not saying anything jerky or anything. Just hanging.
No one came up and bothered us. No one pointed at me like I stood out as being the only fourteen-year-old in the place.
"How are you feeling?" Theo asked.
"Okay."
"Want to dance?"
I looked at the dance floor. It was a slow song. "No."
"Why not?" He moved to stand in front of me again, but he didn't take my hands or anything. "I won't try anything."
"I just don't want to," I muttered, but my heart was racing, and I was having trouble breathing.
"You ever slow danced with a guy before?"
I lifted my chin. "None of your business."
He shrugged, but there was that challenge thing blazing in his eyes again. "One dance."
"Why?"
"Education."
I almost laughed. "What kind of a line is that? You use that on all your dates?" Not that we were on a date, or anything.
"The Homework Club." He didn't address the date remark.
I narrowed my eyes. He had my attention now. "What about it?"
"You can't run it the way you want to."
I lifted my chin. "Yes, I can
."
"I brought you here so you can see what it's like to have fun. So you can see why your approach is too hardcore. My friends know how much fun a coed environment can really be. You need to play on that, instead of denying it."
"Since when did you become a philosopher?"
"Since you threatened to get me kicked off the lacrosse team. No way am I going to let that happen. And if the only way I'm going to get to play lacrosse is to get this club of yours to work, then that's what I'm going to do."
"Oh." That's all tonight was about. His desire to keep playing lacrosse. Which was fine. The only reason I was here was for The Homework Club. So why did I feel so disappointed? I didn't even like him, remember?
"So..." He took my left hand. "In order for you to understand what changes need to be made to The Homework Club, you have to see how the other side lives." He winked. "The side that likes to actually enjoy life."
I eyed him. "Sounds like another line to me."
He snorted. "I wouldn't waste a line on you."
"What does that mean?" That I wasn't worth it? That he had so little interest in me that he wouldn't want to risk me to succumbing to his charms?
He grinned. "Because you'd probably kick me in the nuts if I tried a cheap line on you."
I burst out laughing at his response, and suddenly my tension went away. This was the Theo I knew. He would never hurt me. I might be a pain in his side, but I was his little sister's best friend, and that made me safe. "Probably," I teased. "You're a womanizing jerk."
"See? I knew you'd give me grief." He grabbed my other hand and started walking backward, pulling me with him. "One dance. For research's sake."
One dance. For The Homework Club. I took a deep breath. "Fine."
A nice smile lit up his face, and he dropped one hand and turned to lead me out on the dance floor.
Where his arms would soon be around me.
AUTHOR BIO
Four-time RITA® Award nominee and Golden Heart® Award winner Stephanie Rowe is a nationally bestselling author with more than twenty published books with major New York publishers such as Grand Central, HarperCollins, Harlequin, Dorchester and Sourcebooks.
She has received coveted starred reviews from Booklist and high praise from Publisher's Weekly, calling out her "...snappy patter, goofy good humor and enormous imagination... [a] genre-twister that will make readers...rabid for more." Stephanie's work has been nominated as YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers.
Stephanie lives in Boston where she plays tennis, works out, and is happily working on her next book. Visit Stephanie on the web at www.stephanierowe.com.
DEDICATION
This book is for all the girls who are tired of so many guys who just aren't the right one!
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Thank you to Deidre Knight, Jia Gayles, Melissa Jeglinski and all the folks at the Knight Agency for all their hard work on this series. You all are amazing! And special thank you to Sharon Stogner and Jan Leyh for their amazing work to help get these books in shape.
Table of Contents
Who Needs Boys?
Copyright Information
Stephanie Rowe’s A Girlfriend’s Guide to Boys Series:
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Excerpt from SMART BOYS & FAST GIRLS
Excerpt from PUTTING BOYS ON THE LEDGE
Excerpt from STUDYING BOYS
AUTHOR BIO
DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Who Needs Boys Page 14