I should’ve known there’d be no having privacy in this place, ever.

“Just some girl from school,” I mutter as I join them, because that’s all I get to say. This is not an opening to introduce my girlfriend to my family.

It could be.

But it isn’t.

But it could be.

God damn it.

Why do I want this so badly? Is it about her? Or about me? Because I was perfectly happy keeping things on the DL until we had that fucking date—which was her idea, by the way—and now all I can think about is how much fun we could have out in the open.

Who thinks, Hey, I’d really like to change up this routine I have of sneaking around with my hot girlfriend so we can get pizza or see a movie together?

“She hot?” Jeremy asks, then cracks up when Jason makes a face.

“No way,” Jason declares. “I bet she’s butt.”

“Bet she’s hotter than your last girlfriend,” Jeremy shoots back, obviously not realizing he’s somehow sort of defending me. “You should ask Jack to introduce you.”

“Oh yeah, because that’s every high school cheerleader’s dream—to hook up with a thirteen-year-old shrimp.” They’re both being total dicks, but I’m just so happy they’re finally talking to me that I let it slide. Of course, that doesn’t mean I have to be nice.

“As opposed to a sixteen-year-old lady beast?”

“Oh fu—”

“Hey!” Mama snaps. “All y’all, hush up and eat or tomorrow I’m telling Daddy to give you oatmeal.”

That shuts the twins up good, being as they’ve both compared oatmeal to baby vomit on multiple occasions.

“And Jack?”

“Yeah, Mama?”

“I assume that girl was a study buddy and not a distraction from your schoolwork or football.”

Well, I definitely studied something at her house last night. “Yep, Mama. She’s in my English class. We’re reading The Great Gatsby.” All that is true, at least. And I even finished the book, thanks to a long bus ride back from last Friday’s game during which—as usual—no one said a word to me.

“Good. You know the deal.”

“I do.” Thank God she doesn’t say it out loud yet again. I’ve heard “If you’re not getting an athletic scholarship for this, you’d better be keeping your grades up” more times than I can count. Like I need a reminder that there’s probably no future for me in the only thing I love.