Page 14 of Wild and Wrangled

“Cross my heart,” Dusty said, dragging his pointer finger over his chest to draw an invisible X. “Can I have a piece of paper, too?”

“Oh my god, Dusty,” I said with faux annoyance. “Do you even go to school here?”

“Occasionally,” he said. “But I promise, I just need the paper for today—after this I’ll only ever ask for pencils.”

I huffed and opened my notebook, carefully tore out a page along the perforated edges, and handed it back to him with more force than necessary.

“Ooooh, college-ruled,” he remarked. “Fancy girl.” Yeah, because wide-ruled paper sucked, and I was about to tell him as much when the bell rang, and Mr. Watson—our English teacher—walked to the front of the room and called for the class’s attention, which I gave him immediately.

I heard a pencil scratching on paper behind me, even though Mr. Watson had barely started teaching. We were just reviewing the general feedback on the papers we turned in last week before we got them back. What could Dusty possibly be writing back there?

After Mr. Watson had returned all of our papers—I got an A—and handed out a grammar worksheet on sentence structure, which was apparently something we all needed to work on, Dusty threw a folded piece of paper—the piece of paper I gave him—onto my desk.

My heart fluttered, but I didn’t want to get in trouble. I turned around slyly and gave him a questioning look.

“Open it,” he mouthed. I shook my head. He pouted a little before mouthing, “Please.” My stomach flipped. I rolled my eyes and turned around. I kept the folded note under my grammar worksheet, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

So, after I finished my assignment, I finally unfolded it.

Camille,

I feel like I need a nickname for you. I like Camille. It’s pretty. You’re pretty, too, by the way. I just feel like Camille is too formal for our relationship. You know? Do people always call you Cam? If they do, I need to think of another one. I want mine to be special.

Anyway, I have some questions for you. So, if you could kindly write your answers below and return this back to me, I would appreciate it.

What’s your favorite color?

What’s your favorite food?

What’s the last TV show that made you laugh?

Do you have any siblings?

When is the soccer team’s next home game? What’s your jersey number?

Do you like MHS so far? What’s your favorite part about it? Me? ;)

When’s your birthday?

Favorite class? English or History? Just kidding. Kind of.

What do you like to do for fun? Do you like hiking? Because I know a good spot.

That’s a good start on the getting-to-know-you questions. Plus, you should have plenty of time to answer thembecause I know you’ll finish this stupid worksheet way before the rest of us.

Dusty

I was grinning like an idiot. I quickly looked around me to make sure no one noticed. Everyone was still working on the assignment or was on their phone under their desk.

I picked my pencil up off my desk and started writing.

Chapter 8

Dusty

Cam:Thanks again for today. Or yesterday, I guess.

Dusty:Anytime.

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