Page 67 of Save Me

He’s into you.

Lin’s been telling me that for months. Could she be right? Until now, I’ve always seen Kieran as this ambitious little vampire in the year below us. I thought he was being nice to me in the hope that I might suggest him as team leader next year. I never believed that he might have a crush on me.

Suddenly, I realize how close Kieran’s sitting to me and that our knees are almost touching under the table. I budge to the side and then feel cross with myself. This situation is entirely innocent. Why am I letting James’s words faze me like this?

I glare at him at the exact moment that he looks at me. Unlike me, he’s not hiding anything, it’s all public. I long to stick my tongue out at him. But that would be childish, so I beam at Kieran and nod. “Of course. But I’ll have to take some lessons first.”

“I can show you during the rehearsals,” he says, and I could swear I can see a slight blush on his cheeks.Oh boy.

“Good. OK,” I say, louder than I intended. I cough. “Shall we listen to the music then?”

We pull out our headphones and go through the samples that Kieran’s collected. After that, we check out reviews online and shortlist them.

“I think I’d suggest these three to the others. Why don’t you ask them their fees and then we’ll decide on Wednesday or Friday which is best,” I say in the end.

Kieran nods. “Fine.”

“Great.” I smile, taking off the headphones. I open my planner and grab my pink pen to note down today’s tasks.

“You’re turning eighteen on Saturday?” he asks in surprise.

I instantly slam my journal shut. I’m trying not to show it, but it bothers me that Kieran peeked inside it. This is kind of my diary and definitely not meant for others’ eyes to see.

“Yeah,” I say after a brief pause.

“So, what are your plans?”

Lin picks this moment to turn around from her conversation with James. “We’re…” She falls silent as I glare warningly at her. It’s nobody’s business at Maxton Hall what I’m doing for my birthday. That’s my private life, and I don’t want anyone knowing about it. “Nothing much,” she says in the end, pressing her lips firmly together.

“You didn’t say you’re almost an adult,” says James, standing up. He raises both arms over his head and stretches. “Why aren’t I invited?”

“Because you don’t know how to behave,” I retort.

“I’ll show you exactly how well I can behave,” he says, sounding like the exact opposite. Suddenly, I’m remembering the party again. Not the pool and everything that came after that. The moment on the dance floor when I stumbled into James and felt his body against mine. He was looking at me exactly like this, with a shameless glitter in his eyes that makes my stomach tingle.

I have to pull myself together and remember where we are before I reply. “You’re not invited, James.”

“OK.” Again, it sounds more like he’s sayingWe’ll see about that.

Kieran gets up and shoulders his bag. “I’ll call you then, OK?”I nod, and he leaves the room with a hand gesture that’s halfway between a wave and a high five.

I stash my planner in my backpack and shut Lin’s laptop down. I slip it into its case and stand up. “Are you hanging around, or shall I lock up?”

James and Lin shake their heads. “We’re done.”

The two of them pack up their stuff too, and I eye them suspiciously. I want to know what they were talking about. I hope Lin didn’t let him in on my birthday plans. I might have shared an important part of me with James on Friday, but there are things he doesn’t need to know. And the fact that I’m planning to spend the evening of my eighteenth birthday playing board games with Lin and my family is one of them.

“Rutherford is so into you,” James says once we’ve left the library.

“Rubbish,” I say, shaking my head.

“I think he likes you,” Lin agrees with James, entirely unnecessarily.

I glance at her.

“What? I’ve been telling you for years. He can read your every wish in your eyes, and he’s so nice. It’s really, really obvious.”

“What’s obvious about it? Nothing’s obvious. He’s nice to me because I’m team leader. Hehasto be nice to me.”

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