Page 42 of The Perfect Hit

“Then make up something for the two of you. It’s not hard to even make a joke costume if need be.” She lifted the bag onto the bed. “Now stop making excuses, and let’s get to this.”

I swallowed hard, not sure this was going to go over all that well. For me or Adam.

26

Colt

It was taking a while for me to answer Marcy back—a week and a half and counting—but with all the crazy going on in my life, I hadn’t had a moment to breathe, let alone come up with some lame answer. I mean, what happened to giving a simple yes or no answer?

My mom had talked to me about the date, and she’d nagged me for the past two days about whether or not I’d given my answer. I could tell even she was torn on what to do since she was a fan of Hazel.

“Maybe she’ll actually like you if you go out with someone else,” Wyatt had chirped when he’d overheard most of the conversation we were having in the kitchen.

“I’m going to leave this one up to you,” my mom had said, surprising me and my brother. “As much as I want you to not crush the dreams of anyone, I also don’t want you to mess things up with Hazel.”

“But is she willing to go to a dance or even date?” Wyatt said, leaning back in his chair like he was the voice of reason.

Hazel and I had gone to the informal dances in a group, but she hadn’t asked anyone to go to the few we’d had this year.

Now I was trying to decide what to do. Should I say yes to Marcy and hope Hazel would realize she liked me? Or say no and keep hoping something else would spark our relationship and get us out of the friend zone?

A text message sounded from my phone as I walked into my first-period class, and I froze a few seconds before jumping into action and turning off the ringer. I opened up the text and saw it was from Nate.

There was a picture I must’ve missed by heading to class so early, and it was hard to make out in the small version. I clicked to open it, my phone still making it pixelated. But the gist was there. Hazel was standing next to Adam Taylor with a large sign that said, “Adam, Spring Dance?” and an Easter basket hung from the other hand.

What happened to her not dating anyone? And what made her want to date the new kid?

I couldn’t focus on anything else the rest of the day, and when lunch came, I didn’t wait for any of the guys.

“Where are you going?” Nate called after me.

I turned, seeing him run my way. “I just need some space.”

The classrooms and hallways all felt too constricting after my world had fallen out from under me. I shook my head. I knew I had to watch out for Adam taking third base from me, but stealing the attention of my crush? I didn’t blame him; I just hoped I wouldn’t see him for a while, until I calmed down at least.

Nate stopped in front of me. “What’s wrong? Is this about the picture earlier?”

I ground my teeth together and nodded. Something was stuck in my throat, making it hard to speak.

“I thought you’d be happy.”

My lungs squeezed as I tried to come up with his reasoning for those words. “What are you talking about?”

“Brynn had her ask out Adam this morning before school in the hopes that Hazel would see you with Marcy at the dance and realize she likes you.”

I scoffed, frowning so hard my forehead started to hurt. “That’s a great way to get someone to return feelings. ‘Hey, let me set you up on a date with someone else you could potentially fall in love with in the hopes that you’ll finally like me.’ Yeah, I don’t see this as a win.”

Nate rested his hand on my shoulder and gave me a small smile. “Just relax, Colt. I didn’t realize your feelings ran that deep. And I probably should’ve warned you about it.”

“As my best friend, that would’ve been a good idea.” I couldn’t temper the anger simmering inside me. Even though this was done to supposedly benefit me, all I could think about was Hazel wanting to be with Adam.

Ugh, why did girls have to be so confusing?

“So how do I answer Marcy?”

Nate had a surprisinglygood way to answer her, and it didn’t take much more than a trip to the grocery store and a couple of dollars. That was my kind of answer.

We made it through our home game, and after a quick shower, I headed for the theater for rehearsal. Marcy was sitting on the edge of the stage, flipping through the script. It reminded me that I still had a lot to memorize.

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