Page 71 of Sweetheart

Betty's giggle had me smiling.

"What about your mom?"she asked. "Couldn't she fix it?"

The words were innocent enough, but they made my chest tighten.

"She wasn't around," I said with a shrug.

"Oh, sorry."

"It's okay.My momleft when me and my sister were young. It was along time ago." Betty'sface was filled with sympathy. I could feel Sam's eyes on me as well, but I refused to look at him. "So, ponytail, braid, or bun?"

In under two minutes, Betty's hair was up, pinned in place, and ready to go.

"Thanks, Scarlett," she said.

"No problem," I replied.

"Don't forget your water," Sam said, handing her a bottle.

"Love you, Sam," she said."Even if you can't do hair."

"Love you, Bets.We'll be here when you get out."As she waved and left, he turned to me and added, "Seriously, thanks, Kent.You saved the day."

"It was nothing," I said.

Sam shook his head. "If you saw how bad I am at doing hair, you wouldn't be saying that."

I shrugged. "I like helpingout."

He guided me over to the waiting chairs and said quietly, "That's good because I could use your help."

I raised a brow in question.

"I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend."

"I thought we were already doing that," I said with a laugh.

My mouth shut a second later as he slipped an arm around my shoulders. "Look around, Kent."

As I did, I realized we had an audience.

Every person in the place—momsof the dancers, I was assuming—was staring at us. Well, some were pretending not to stare and doing apretty poor jobof it. But others were outright gawking.

"Why is everyone looking at us?" I whispered.

"Because they've never seen me in here with a girl before," he said back.

"Really? Never?"

My disbelief must've bled through because he frowned. "That so hard to believe?"

"Well, yeah," I said honestly. "You're popular and—"

"Stunning, I know," he said.

But I just shook my head. "What about Brisa?"

"What about her?" Sam gave a small shrug. "She didn't go with me to any of the twins' activities. Come to think of it, she, Betty, andBennet never really hit it off."

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