Page 6 of Scarlett and the Kiss Thief

I’d rather just stay down and somehow melt into the floor. But that didn’t seem like an option. I grabbed Sophie’s hand and let her help me up to my feet.

“Look alive,” Sophie whispered as she pulled me away from the Triple Gs. “Axel’s coming this way. Time for phase two of Operation THTH.”

“But now I’m not ready,” I said and tried to walk in the opposite direction. But Gigi was there, still glaring at us. My feet froze in the middle of the hallway. I wanted to go back in time to five minutes ago when I was on top of the world. And what happened to the very flattering wind in my hair? The air was now stale and I was starting to sweat. Screw high school. I needed to get out of here.

Sophie caught my arm. “Nope. You talked about this all summer. Hell, you’ve been talking about it for 17 years. We’re doing this now…” her voice trailed off. “Hi, guys!” she said in a super upbeat voice, dropping my arm.

“We’re seniors!” Jacob yelled, not giving a care in the world that teachers would probably scold him. He hugged me, lifting me up just enough so that my feet no longer touched the ground, and twirled me in a circle.

I laughed as he set me back down on my feet.

Axel put his arm around my shoulders. “Gigi already giving you a hard time?”

I looked up at him. And for a second, I forgot what he’d just asked me. His skin was golden from the sun and his blonde hair looked lighter too. He’d spent the entire summer at the beach. He and Jacob both got jobs at Rehoboth. I’d begged my parents to let me go with them, but my mom was too worried about my fair skin being in the sun unsupervised. Sophie had stayed in New York with me out of solidarity. But also because her crush had stayed in the city and she had stalker tendencies.

“Scar?” Axel said.

My eyes locked with his. He belonged at the beach. His skin tanned perfectly and his blue eyes were the color of the ocean.

The side of his mouth quirked up. “You okay, Scar?”

“Hm?”Oh my God, had he been talking to me this whole time?

“I asked if Gigi was already giving you a hard time?”

“Psh,” Sophie said. “Who cares about Gigi when we should be talking about hot Scarlett looks. Haven’t you noticed, Axel? She’s on fire.”

Axel’s eyebrows lowered.

Jacob whistled as he leaned against his locker. “You ditched the glasses and your skirt isn’t to your knees. Everyone’s noticed,” he said. “And Soph is right, you look sexy as hell.”

I could feel my face turning red. I looked up at Axel, but instead of seeing a flirtatious smile like Jacob’s, all I saw was a frown.

I swallowed hard. “What?”

“I liked your glasses.” He stared at me for a second and then dropped his arm from my shoulders. “Gotta get to class,” he said. He turned and walked away.

What?He liked my glasses? He’d had seven years to tell me that. Seven years where I’d thought that he thought I looked like a loser. Seven years of hell.

Sophie’s face fell as he walked away.

“Why so glum?” Jacob said. “We’re seniors!” he shouted again. “Catch you guys later. And Scar…you really do look hot.”

“Axel liked my glasses?” I said as I watched Jacob catch back up with Axel down the hall. “When the hell did he start liking my glasses?”

“You could always start wearing them again,” Sophie said.

“What? No. Do you have any idea how hard I had to fight my dad in order to get contacts? I’m freaking wearing them. He was supposed to notice how much I changed for the better. Not that he liked me how I was before. I just have to do something else…” I started to roll my skirt so it would be as short as Gigi’s.

“You’re spiraling.”

“I’m not spiraling.”

“I don’t know, Scar. Your ass is practically hanging out.”

“Ugh.” I groaned and looked down. “It is not. It’s the same length as yours.”

“Is it?” Sophie looked over her shoulder to see where her skirt barely covered her butt. “Huh, I guess so.” She shrugged. “Well on a positive note…Jacob was all over you.”

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