FROM THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHORS OF THE CHEATER.FAKER.TROUBLEMAKER SERIES (WATTY'S 2016, FICTION AWARDS 2016, HACHETTE AUDIO 2017), JENNY ROSEN & KRISTEN MAGLONZO.
After bullies, braces, and brutal heartbreak shatters his faith in love, soon-to-be fre...
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NOTE: DON'T MISS OUT ON THIS WEEK'S AUDIOBOOK. kaelking12 gives a fantastic performance that'll have you on the edge of your seat.
CHAPTER 18
Elias
Trish is waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs with Josh stuck to her side. He's making out with her neck crease, and I just don't have the heart to tell him how weird it looks. Whatever. Nobody will remember it happened in the morning.
"Yo,J! You coming with us? Trish found Lacey. She's waiting over on Cardinal's side, and I need my wingman!" I say, but Josh is too busy groping his way around Trish's waist to look in my direction. Eventually, he realizes I'm standing directly in front of him and grins at me like he did we when first started hanging out in middle school.
"Eli, I love you, man, but I'm not going anywhere until we shut out those Cardinals before half-time. I'll catch up with ya'll later! Take good care of him, T!" He plants a sloppy kiss somewhere south of Trish's eye which she pretends to enjoy.
"Will do, babe. Follow the leader, Elias."
And, hopefully, this is the last time I do.
***
A gaggle of Trish's friends come running over to greet her at the backside of the Cardinal bleachers. Three preppy girls in uniform dresses and pleated skirts sweep Trish up in a four-way hug and bounce up and down like they're standing in the middle of a trampoline. A cloud of their sticky sweet perfume wafts through the air, and my mind flickers back to the point where everything about these girls would've gotten my attention.
Thirteen-year-old me would've dropped dead if you told him he'd end up standing around shaking hands and smiling at the kind of crowd who'd put the Stacey Brenners of the world to shame. But a lot's changed since then, and, I have too, 'cause instead of wasting my time getting distracted by Trish's friends, I'm scanning the crowd for Lacey.
A light tap on my shoulder pulls my attention away from where I want it to be and over to a green-eyed girl standing next to me. She lifts up on her tiptoes to talk to me like she isn't already close enough.
"So, you're the lover boy Trish told us about, right?" She asks, but before I can answer the question, her friends break out in a flurry of muffled laughs and whispers. I clear the cobwebs out of my throat and try to act like their chattering isn't making my skin crawl.
"Yeah. Is your classmate here? Trish said she'd be around--"
"Oh, she's around alright. I'm sure you'll find her if you look hard enough."
