Page 74 of The Forever After Bet

“Did you count them?” Leah asks as she and Hannah pick them up off the floor.

“No. I was in too big a hurry, taking the notes from my locker and shoving them in Hannah’s.” I laugh.

“I heard the entire women’s choir wrote you good luck notes. They had a substitute today, so they watched a movie,” Aubrey says.

“How many girls are in choir?” I ask.

“It’s big. I think about forty, give or take a few.” Aubrey shrugs.

“This is insane.” Hannah has her arms full of good luck notes. “Did you check between your books?”

“Yep. I was thorough, but one could’ve gotten stuck in a book or something,” I say.

“Sheesh, Cross. Did the entire female population of Lake City High write you a love note?” Ty laughs, picking up a note that fell behind my backpack.

“There are a few of us left in the world that don’t worship at the feet of Ford Cross.” Leah laughs. “No offense, Clark.”

Hannah shrugs. “None taken.”

I rub my hand down my face. “It’s my own fault. I used to thrive on the attention of girls.” I grab Hannah around the waist, pulling her to me. I trail the back of my hand down her face. “Now, I only care about the attention of one girl.” Hannah gives me a bashful smile.

She reaches up to give me a kiss, but Jack coughs behind me. “Yeah, yeah,” Hannah huffs. She smiles, then pushes me away. “Are you ready? We still have to stop by June’s and pick her up,” she asks Leah and Aubrey.

“Oh, yeah. Let’s go open some dirty secrets.” Aubrey rubs her hands together.

“Oh, jeez,” I mutter, and everyone busts up laughing.

“You did this to me.” I point to Hannah.

She tilts her head, smiling. “I think it’s cute.” She grabs my hand as she walks by, squeezing it. “See you at the game.”

“See you,” I say, watching her walk down the hall.

29. Love Notes

“Keep up the good work! This one isn’t signed.” I turn the note over, looking at the other side, but there’s nothing written there except Ford’s name.

“You can tell which ones are from the women’s choir because they all used the same lipstick.” Aubrey flips a note over. “Hopefully, no one had a cold sore.” She laughs.

“Ew.” I shudder.

“Here’s one to Ford from Poppy Milton,” June says, handing me the note.

“Ugh, she sits next to us in English. She’s always trying to flirt with Ford, but he ignores her,” I say.

“Look at this one.” Leah holds up a note that looks like it’s been colored in neon highlighters.

“I bet that one is from Violet Richland.” I laugh.

Leah opens the note, and I know I’m right when her eyes widen. “Did you look at this one?”

“No. I have a couple of classes with her. She’s going through some weird neon phase. Today, she was wearing a bright neon shirt with a white schoolgirl skirt. Her hair was neon pink and yellow and done up in space buns. Plus, I know she likes Ford. She asked him to the winter formal.”

“What the H!” June exclaims, looking at a note.

“What’s wrong?” Aubrey asks.

“Sasha Sandler gave Ty a note.” June holds out the note for us to see.

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