𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 | 𝐠𝐮𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞

⁰⁹ | Wednesday pizza days

ᴍᴀᴇᴠᴇ ᴡɪʟʟɪᴀᴍꜱ

"𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐀𝐍𝐘 color other than red to a sports game or you will get kicked out. Don't eat loud food in the library. Stay away from the cheerleaders--they will rip you to shreds. And never, I mean absolutely never, take Mrs. Tanger's AP bio course," Hunter tells me, walking so close to me in the tight hallway that our arms brush a few times. I liked it, though.

"Okay," I laugh. "What's so bad about AP bio?"

"She just..." he says slowly, trying to find the right words. "She fails everyone."

"Noted," I grin a little.

Turns out Hunter's 4th-period class was right across the hall from mine and he had lunch 5th, too. Naturally, we just started walking there together. At first, he had to ask if we had math homework. Then, it was when our next math test was. Before the week was over, it had become so routine, that he would be leaning against the same lockers as he waited. We never walked in a rush, because who the hell cared if we were late to lunch?

"Now I have to warn you, Wednesday Pizza Days can get a little rowdy around here."

"I lived in L.A. for two years, I think I can handle it," I say, my cheeks heating up as his shoulder bounced into mine again.

He wasn't lying though, you really could hear the cafeteria from down the hall.

"Yeah?" Hunter cocked an eyebrow. "Tell me about that."

"My dad lives there. Thought it'd be cool to stay with him for a while," I shrug. I wish it was that simple.

"Probably a lot cooler than Eden Hall."

"You'd be surprised. There's some pretty cool stuff here, too."

We get to the lunchroom doors, the only barrier between us and all the things we both pretend like we aren't hiding from. Usually, this is where we say goodbye and he goes to his own table with his own friends while I go to mine.

"Hey, Maeve?" he says, stopping and facing me.

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing after school?"

"Well, I mean, I have practice and work. Don't you play any sports here?"

Hunter shakes his head. "Not anymore. I used to play hockey, though."

"Why'd you stop?'

He looks at me, tilting his head a little with that stupidly cute smile of his.

"Because of the Ducks?" I finally ask.

"The J.V. team last year, it wasn't..."

"Oh my God, how did I not piece this together already?" I question, throwing my hands over my face. "How do you so not hate me right now?"

"Maeve, it's fine, really."

"No, I completely took your spot--your whole team. Aren't you pissed?"

"No," he answers. "Hockey really wasn't for me, honestly. I only did it because my brother and dad wanted me to. It was kind of a relief, actually, when we got told you guys were coming in."

"I still feel bad."

"You shouldn't. Your team is probably a million times better than we ever were. You deserve this."

I was amazed at how easy it was for him to not make me feel like a piece of shit. I stood in front of him, this completely new boy in my life, Hunter, and realized that maybe love isn't supposed to make you ever feel like you're a piece of shit. I glance through the glass part of the door. I saw him there, sitting with Connie, wearing a green sweater--the whole thing made my heart ache.