“Hi,” I say with an extra bat of my eyelashes. Way to be subtle, Ally.

“So, I wanted to talk to you about something,” Neil says.

“Oh, okay,” I say coolly, because this can only mean one thing.

He gives me a weird glance. “Yeah, listen.”

I find myself holding my breath. Maybe this is it. He’s going to confess his love to me. Or he’s going to tell me he likes someone else. That I must have a really high opinion of myself to automatically assume it’s me he likes. Or, you know, I could woman up and ask him out. But if he does like someone else, I’d feel like an idiot.

So five minutes. Super-Chill Ally lasted all of five minutes.

“I heard a rumor about you,” he states with a crooked smile.

Oh God. What did he hear about me? I haven’t told anybody about my feelings for him. But he probably figured it out. He’s going to tell me he’s asking Dana out and he just wants to be friends.

I’m going to die.

Yeah, Super-Chill Ally has completely exited the solar system.

“Did you really tell Rob to shut his big mouth in English yesterday?”

Oh that. “Well, he was being Rob and went into this long explanation that made anybody with a brain realize he hadn’t read any of Fahrenheit 451. Ms. Reali couldn’t get a word in edgewise, so I’d kind of had it.” Oddly enough, I didn’t get in trouble at all. Probably because I said what a teacher probably shouldn’t. I even got some applause from my classmates.

“Nice!” He held out his hand for a high five. “Besides, you didn’t really need to have a reason. I’m sorry I missed it, especially since you’re supposed to be the nice one of our group.”

“Really,” I say with a laugh, and tilt my head back. Isn’t this how being flirty works? “So if I’m the nice one, what’s your role?”

The cute one, I want to add. The sweet one who brings me brownies when I’m babysitting. The one who remembers when I have a test and checks on me. The one who cares.

“The sole male Gleason cousin still in school? That’s easy: the manly one.”

I’m going to be real for a hot second: if Neil ever had to draw a self-portrait, he could get away with doing a stick figure. The guy is tall and skinny. But it suits him.

And I like it. I like him.

I do my best to give him a come-hither smile, but it probably looks like I’m about to have a stroke. “Yes, of course. You’re a very manly man.”

He cocks his eyebrow. “So you noticed.”

“Kind of hard with those muscles.” I reach out and grab his arm and give a squeeze.