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“Cory,” she said, and when she looked at me, there was no denying the determination there.
She would not talk about Adrian. My gaze flickered down.
I had to get that book. But now it would be impossible. She’d stash it away.
“Cory,” I agreed.
This topic wasn’t over, but if chasing after Cory Moore would make her happy while I’d tried to figure this out, then so be it.
We’d investigated far more useless things.
“Thisis the plan?” I asked, frowning at the thorny shrubbery.
There was no way I was crawling under there.
Bianca blinked twice, seemingly shocked at my disbelief, as she stepped back and stared at me. “Well, yes, but…”
“Don’t you think there’s better things we could be doing?” Like preparing for class tomorrow, shopping, cloud gazing, or basically anything other than this. “Or maybe there’s an easier way?”
“Like what?” She still stared at me with a wounded expression that made my mouth go dry.
It was sometimes hard to keep things in perspective. To be…understanding.
She was bored. She longed for excitement and adventure. And unlike me, Bianca’s didn’t have anything to do outside of schoolwork.
Her parents hadn’t taken that part of her personality into account. Bianca did not function well without something to keep her mind occupied.
Which was probably why she was obsessed with Cory.
“Fine, we’ll do it your way,” I grumbled, looking away. Between that and wanting to keep her mind offwhateverwas going on with Adrian, I guess it was worth the annoyance.
“Mostly,” I added. “But why do we have to lie in the bushes? Why can’t we just stand up like everyone else?” I inclined my head toward our many classmates scattered throughout the hill overlooking the baseball field. It wasn’t like we were even remotely alone—or would be noticed above anyone else.
“It’s not like anyone is going to care we’re here,” I added.
There was a scream of fangirlish glee from somewhere behind me, but it still wasn’t enough of a warning before an annoyingly familiar—and surprisingly cocky—voice reached my ears. “Hey, babe.”
I stiffened as my fists clenched at my side.
Bianca was already looking past me, an adorable expression on her pinched face. I felt the same stunned confusion… and my stomach began to turn.
Babe.
This better not be what it sounded like. I turned around, narrowing my eyes at Cory. “What doyouwant?”
We were supposed to be stalking him, and him conversing with us made that rather difficult.
The wolf was wearing his blue and white striped baseball garb. He was low-key boasting, thrusting his chest forward so the ‘#1’ was clearly visible, and his swagger matched his attitude.
Which was just great, because that meant he was in jock mode. That was exactly what we needed.
“I’m not talking toyou, nerd.” Cory barely looked at me, obviously forgetting who’d given him his current black eye. “I’m talking to my girlfriend.”
Bianca blinked, then glanced around her, but there was no one next to her. Then, slowly, she looked back to the wolf and pointed to herself.
‘Me?’ she mouthed silently.
“Yeah, baby.” He grinned and winked.
