Page 1 of The Perfect Catch

Chapter 1

Kate

Imade it through the line in the cafeteria, grabbing the breadsticks the local pizza place sold during lunch. From the look of the main menu, I was just glad I had enough money in my wallet to cover it. My mom always put money into the lunch accounts for my freshman brother, Zane, and me, but there were some days when not even the pizza looked edible. Today was one of those days.

To be honest, I was surprised she’d finally stopped making paper bag lunches for us. Zane and I had both begged several times to just let us get something at school, but it wasn’t until the start of this year that she actually did. It saved me the money I used to buy my own anyway.

Finding my group of friends over at our usual table in the middle of the lunchroom, I weaved in and out of chairs that hadn’t been pushed in, the backpack I’d slung over one shoulder bumping along them as I passed.

When I arrived at the table, I dropped the backpack on the ground and slumped into the seat, grateful for the moment to breathe.

Penny glanced up from her chef salad and grimaced. “Calc that bad again?”

I nodded. “I don’t think I’ll ever remember what Mr. Giles taught us for the last ninety minutes, and I’m pretty sure it’ll be fifty percent of the next test.”

“Hey, Kate,” someone called over my shoulder.

I turned, a ready smile on my face as I waved. It took a second for me to register that it was one of the sophomores I’d worked with in a group during choir. Laura? Linda? One of the downsides to being the student body president was that I had to either know or fake that I knew people’s names.

“How are you?” I called, hoping her name and some of the other details about her would come to me. I’d been an officer at Rosemont High for the past three years, and while I’d gotten to know a lot of the students, sometimes I thought my brain was at max capacity. Maybe it was the fallout from having math right before lunch.

The girl was almost down the hall and yelled, “Good!” She waved and turned the corner.

“That was the most original conversation I’ve ever heard,” Serena said, sliding her tray onto the table and sitting next to me.

Brynn moved to the other side of the table, giggling. “That’s what happens when you become student body president. People are excited to talk to you and then don’t have much else to say.”

I balled up the wrapper from my straw and threw it at her. “Come on, it’s not that bad. I get to plan cool dances and events for you guys. And here you are, not appreciating it.” I laughed, and the other girls joined in.

We were such an eclectic group. Penny was a softball player, Serena played volleyball, and Brynn had been the starting center for the women’s basketball team since she was a freshman. I’d been a dancer up until I got into high school, but I realized I liked teaching more than panicking when it came to competitions. Somehow, we made our different talents work. It gave us plenty of time to enjoy the other’s activities.

“Speaking of dances,” I said, smiling widely at my friends, “you’re all planning on going to the next one, right?” I looked around at each of them, hoping they would nod and agree emphatically. I’d have even taken an unenthusiastic shoulder shrug at that point.

“It’s the Harvest dance, Kate,” Brynn said, twirling her spaghetti around her fork. “We just went to homecoming.”

I tapped the table a couple of times and nodded. “Yes, but homecoming was guys-ask. Come on, girls. Please say at least two of you are going so I don’t have to join the officer group.” I clapped my fingers together and intertwined them, doing my best to plead with my mind and facial expression.

Penny laughed. “Let me guess, Stacy Waterhouse wants you to go to an escape room.”

I pointed at her and said, “Yes, yes she does. We already did that for homecoming since I didn’t get to go in the awesome baseball group with you two.” I pointed at Penny, who’d gone with her boyfriend, Jake, and Serena, who’d gone with her newish boyfriend, Ben.

“I can’t make it,” Serena said, opening her carton of chocolate milk. “My mom and I have an event for the boutique that day.” She’d started working with her mom to build their clothing boutique a few weeks before, and it sounded like the company was growing and fast. I’d even contemplated working for them, if I had a clear schedule. As it was, my planner, if I had one, would be black with ink.

“I already asked Jake.” Penny waggled her eyebrows, and we chuckled.

“I was thinking about asking a guy in one of my classes. Garrett Park?” Brynn looked around at all of us, and I nodded.

“He plays football, right?” I asked, giving her a cheesy grin. With Brynn’s height, it was sometimes difficult for her to find a date who was either her height or taller, so the fact that she was thinking about asking someone was a plus.

She nodded. “He’s pretty chill, and I think he’d be fun for whatever we decide to do for the day activity.”

“Who are you taking, Kate?” Penny asked. They all leaned in like it would be some state secret. She smiled even wider, the mischief revealing itself. “No luck finding the guy in the mask yet?”

I leaned back in my chair, staring up at the ceiling for several seconds. When I sat back up, breaking off a piece of my breadstick, I shook my head. “No. I’m pretty sure he goes to another school. I would have found him by now, right?”

The Masked Kisser. The guy who’d gone to a party last spring wearing a mask a la Zorro and at one point leaned down and kissed me, on the lips. I tried to downplay it for my friends, but they could read me too easily. I’d only kissed one other guy in my life—Johnny Fisher, freshman year. It was a sweet little peck on the lips, but that was it—until the end of my junior year. I don’t know if it was just that I didn’t kiss a lot, but I was pretty sure I could still feel the electricity in my lips from the Masked Kisser every time I thought about it.

“You’d think it’d be easier to figure out who he is since your mother hears and sees everything at this school,” Serena said, chewing on a fry. Truer words had never been spoken. My mother was the epitome of helicopter mom.

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