Page 36 of The Good Girl's Guide to Being Bad

“Yeah, she can drive stick,” he said—then frowned. “But not in my car. Never again, Sadie Day. Never. Again.”

“Calm the heck down, Colton,” I said. “It’s not like I want to drive your car anyway.”

He nodded as if I’d just confirmed something. “I’ll see you after school. Meet me in the library.”

“The library? Why?” I asked, my mind shifting straight to the last time we’d been in the library together. It wasn’t like I could forget our kiss, but I had tried to repress it. I’d done a pretty good job (if you didn’t count all those dreams I kept having) until that moment. The memories came on quick then, escaping one by one, as if a dam had been opened. Colton didn’t help matters. He sighed and stopped me with a hand on my arm.

“Sadie,” he said, “I’m your coach. You said you’d do what I say without question. Remember the contract you signed?”

Little tingles were going up and down my arm from where we touched, so I shook him off. I didn’t understand why he was having this kind of effect on me. The memories were unwelcome and so were the feelings associated with them.

I tried not to show any of this on my face.

“I never promised not to question,” I said, rubbing the tingles away. “And I didn’t say I wouldn’t meet you. I just want to know what we’ll be doing.”

Colton looked at Kyle then back to me. “I can’t speak of it in front of the adversary,” he said.

Kyle laughed and held up his hands, backing away. “Okay, okay, I can see when I’m not wanted. I’ll save you guys a seat inside.”

As he left, I had the strong urge to call him back but didn’t.

Instead I faced Colton and gestured for him to go on. “Okay, now tell me what’s up.”

“We need to work on your vocabulary,” he said simply.

“My vocabulary?” I repeated.

“You got a problem with that?”

“No, I love words and learning new things.”

Colton hung his head on a sigh. “Wow…Sadie, you’re an odd bird, you know that?”

I shrugged. “People have been saying that my whole life.”

“Then I’ll see you after school?”

“Okay,” I said.

Colton nodded, but there was something in his eyes I couldn’t place. It felt like there had to be more to it. Yet, I had agreed to meet with him anyway. Working on my vocabulary sounded innocent enough, and he was right. I had signed the contract. After three more periods, during which I couldn’t concentrate worth a lick, the final bell rang. I went to my locker to get all of my books then walked to the library in search of Colton. I wasn’t sure where he’d be; he hadn’t said where exactly to meet him. I scanned the seating areas in the front first, but when I saw no sign of Colton, I made my way back to my secret spot in the stacks.

Sure enough, there he was.

And he had stolen my favorite chair.

Ugh.

Setting my bag down on the table with a thump, I placed my hands on my hips and gave him a look. My glare was completely wasted, of course, because Colton didn’t look up. He was reading a book, and as I peered closer, I saw that the cover was gray and had a close-up of a man kissing a woman’s neck.It looked like a…romance novel, I thought in surprise. And there was no barcode on the side, so it he must’ve brought it from home. I hadn’t even known Colton kept books in his room—not that I’d been there or anything. But I knew Kyle only liked to read non-fiction, so it couldn’t be one of his.

“What are you reading?” I asked.

He shut the book with a snap then put it on the table face down.

“You’re not ready for that yet,” he said. “But with my help, maybe you will be one day.”

I rolled my eyes, shooting a look at the chair—my chair—that he was sitting in with a leg propped up on one of the arms. “Are you comfortable?”

“Sure am,” he said, burrowing further into the plush seat. It was one of those old fashioned, over-stuffed library chairs with a high back. I’d sat right there a million times to study, read, watch YouTube, you name it. And now Colton had the nerve to steal my spot. “This chair is like sitting on a cloud. I can’t believe you were selfish enough to keep it all to yourself, Sadie.”

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