Page 4 of The Good Girl's Guide to Being Bad

Could’ve been worse, I thought. I could’ve run out of homeroom crying like Serena Douglas. She’d turned white as a sheet when her results said she was destined to be a TV producer. For someone else, that would’ve been a great result—I, for example, would have been over-the-moon ecstatic. TV producer, life set on a course to Hollywood?Yes please, sign me up!But for Serena, who it was widely known had been training to join the Peace Corps and whose parents had taken her on missions overseas the past three summers, it was a dagger to the heart.

“Hey, Serena,” I said. We weren’t exactly friends, but we’d been in the same homeroom since sixth grade. Plus, I could kind of relate to how she was feeling. “You okay?”

“I’ve had better days,” she said, wiping the tears away. “How you holding up?”

“Not too bad all things considered. Wondering if my hair will actually fit under a habit, trying to see if I remember all the lyrics to ‘Climb Every Mountain’. You know the usual.’”

A surprised laugh escaped her. “You’re funny, Sadie. Thanks.”

“I try.” I shrugged.

“And hey, I guess as long as you wind up meeting your Captain von Trapp it might not be so bad,” Serena said.

I nodded as she waved and walked away, her eyes looking less glassy than they had moments before. At least one of us was feeling better. The sting of my test results was still sharp, but unlike Serena, I chose to wallow in silence. Silence was good. Silence was relaxing. It was exactly what I needed—

“For real, Sadie, where do you get these clothes?”

Dear God, why? What had I done to deserve this?

“Are they specifically designed to put guys off or is that an unintentional side effect?”

Spinning around, I looked up into Colton’s eyes and forced a smile. “Is your voice specifically designed to make girls want to vomit or is that a side effect?”

Colton, the jerk, laughed. “Touché.”

“Where’s Kyle?” I asked before he could say more.

“Still back there with the jock squad.” And sure enough, looking over his shoulder, I could see my bestie still talking to Zayne Humphreys of all people. He’d left me to deal with his brother solo. Great.

“Did you make Billy apologize?”

“Yeah,” he said, face suddenly serious. “Nobody talks like that about Kyle. Not while I’m around.”

“Good,” I said. We couldn’t agree on anything else, but we agreed on this: Both of us wanted to protect Kyle. It was one of Colton’s only good qualities in my opinion. “I guess you’re not all bad.”

“And I guess you’re still in love with my brother.”

Eyes narrowed, I shook my head. “Seriously, do you say things like that to make me want to run away from you? Because it’s working.”

Instead of backing down, he leaned in. “Usually girls run toward me,” he said, voice low, “not away, but you never did. Why is that?”

The question caught me off guard. Plus, for some stupid reason, his closeness made my heart beat faster. Ugh. My back was pressed against my locker, cool against my heated skin, my heart pounding as he stood close, close enough to smell his surprisingly pleasing aftershave. But this was Colton freaking Bishop for goodness sake.

“Could you back off?” I said, trying to put a little distance between us.

“No.”

“No?”

Colton shook his head, those blue eyes looking amused. “Maybe I’m just too much for a good girl like you.”

You definitely are, I thought. But I’d die before admitting it.

“Maybe that’s why you went for Kyle.” His lips tipped up at the corners. “A less hot, much safer choice.”

“Hate to break it to you,” I said, lying through my teeth, “but you’re not that hot. And I’m not in love with him.”

“Not in love with who?”

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