“She puts on this act, which is complete bullshit,” Sam said to Blake’s agreeable nod. “She thinks it works—”

“It totally works,” Blake jumped in.

“And I try,” Sam said. “You guys saw how I was back at Thomas’s.”

“You weren’t at all aggressive,” Adam said.

“But I just find it so—”

“Effective?” Blake said, getting a chuckle from Adam.

Sam did not look pleased.

“It doesn’t seem to work on Ethan though.” Adam smirked.

“Yeah, he’s the only guy on the team she hasn’t been able to collect.” Sam locked arms with Blake.

“Oh, God, don’t tell me that’s a thing here too.” I was tired already.

“It is,” Blake said. “Were you ever collected at Magnolia?”

I was thrown by her question and tripped, almost taking Adam down with me.

“Careful there, Tyler,” he said.

We all walked into class quietly as it had already begun and sat together. It took Ethan a few more minutes to come in, something that wasn’t left unnoticed by Sam.

“Maybe she finally got them all,” she said bitterly.

“Come on; she’s not that fast,” Blake whispered back. “It took her years to get him to say hi back.”

“I’m just saying, those hickeys weren’t there before the party,” Sam whispered.

“Ethan didn’t go to the party,” Adam said.

“You’re right,” she said, intrigued.

I was beginning to get nervous. Especially when she turned to me. “Who do you think—”

“Is everything all right, Ms. Wilkins?” my new favorite teacher asked.

“Absolutely, Mrs. Pierce.” Sam smiled.

“Good. Start us off, then, why don’t you? Act III, scene ii, line 43. Begin.”

Sam started reading from Romeo and Juliet and, within a couple of minutes, my phone vibrated in my pocket.

Don’t worry, she just thinks he’s dead

Shh. No spoilers, please

Do you like the play?

I do. Don’t you?

It’s nice

You don’t use that word to describe Shakespeare

Marlowe

Oh, so you believe the conspiracy?

No, but I love that you got the reference Ethan texted, then added, They could’ve handled it differently, is all I’m saying

I smiled. You know that’s not the point, right?

All I know is no one would ever be able to force me to be apart from someone

Fair enough

I love seeing you wearing my jacket, btw

It’s a very comfortable jacket

Not only was it very comfortable, but the collar was also just high enough for the purple mark I had on my neck to go pretty much unnoticed.

Meet you at your locker after class? I still have your present

I take it you won yesterday?

We both did, really