“Oh, hey, Max,” I said, and casually as I could. “Guess what? Carter agreed to go out with Ollie!”
Max’s eyes were cold, but he smiled perfectly anyway, so perfectly my heart raced. What the hell was it about him, which meant he was attractive even when he was so obviously angry? When I got angry I looked like a prettier version of Miley Cyrus. Which is bad, for me.
“Really?” he said, smirking. “Did he?”
I smiled back as naturally as I could. This was a game. Every move was always part of some game. Like a better-dressed real-life version of chess.
“Yeah,” I replied, as cheerfully as I could. “Well, I’ve got to go back to my homeroom. See you later?”
“Actually, I’ve got something to ask you. Alone,” he said pointedly, looking at Carter in a way that obviously meant, ‘go away’. Carter gave me one hard stare, then turned and walked away, his shoulder brushing against Max’s as he went. Wow. So much tension.
“What is it, Max?” I asked, still playing innocent. He glared at me, but I just carried on giving him the sweet, clueless look.
Then he grabbed my hand, and dragged me with him. At first, I semi-expected him to take to into an empty classroom again, so we could make out again (I would kind of enjoy that), but he just lead me out of the corridor, into the court yard.
“Stop!” I yelled, trying to make him let go of my hand, but he was way too strong. He was a jock, after all. I tried not to let that fact make me melt (I like jocks, okay?!). “Where are we going?”
He didn’t answer me, he just pulled on my hand harder, forcing me to walk. He didn’t stop until we reached his car in the car park.
“Get in,” he said – no, ordered. Why the hell can’t I resist strong guys? I did what he said, and got in. He’d opened the door for me, chivalry style, and then gotten in the other side, and we drove right out of school.
***
“Where are we going?” I asked again. I was kind of scared now. What if he was planning to drive us into the woods, and then murder me with a big axe? God, horror movies have so tainted my mind. Eurgh. I only watch them because of peer pressure at Halloween.
“We’re going to a carnival.”
“What?!” I didn’t hear him right. “A carnival? As in the ones that have the horses that go around in a circle?”
Maybe he had a back-up axe there or something. Why else would he take us to a carnival?
“A date,” he snapped. “It’s going to be a date.”
“Oh,” I said. “You go to carnivals on the first date?”
He glared at me, which made me shut up immediately. Because, you know, I was meant to act innocent. Not because I was scared of his (semi-sexy) smouldering gaze.
“No,” he said, after a minute. “You’re the first, really. I don’t…normally do carnivals. I just…wanted to take you to one.”
It took me a minute to process that he was blushing. Weirdly, it made me blush a little as well.
“Oh. Okay,” was all I could say. Wow. A player blushing, and showing his cute side? Definitely not in our handbook.
“So…what do you do in fairs?” I ask, trying to clear the awkward air in the car.
“I don’t know,” he said, flushing even redder. “Eat cotton candy? Play on the machines? Puke behind hot dog stands?”
“Are you regretting saying you’ll take me to a carnival?”
