“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.”

“He hugged you too. And gross, we’re basically cousins.”

“Are you kidding me right now?” She started laughing. “You’re basically cousins with Axel too. You call his dad Uncle Tyler. Where the hell do you draw the incest line?”

“It doesn’t matter.” I sighed as I watched Axel walk into his first class. I was no longer nervous. I just felt like I was going to be sick. I shook my head and turned back to Soph, forcing my bottom lip not to tremble. “Axel doesn’t like me.” It was a realization I’d come to countless times. But after all the planning this summer, it felt more real than ever. Axel Stevens doesn’t like me. Period.

“He does. He just…he’s a boy, so he’s dumb.”

The bell for first period rang.

“Come on, we’re going to be late for class.” She pulled me toward our calc class. Sophie ditched classes a lot. But never calc. Because she was in love with Mr. Halifax. He was her crush. The guy she was currently stalking. He was 27, exactly 10 years older than her. And it was never going to happen. Kind of like me and Axel.

“So much for Operation Too Hot to Handle,” I mumbled.

“Nonsense. We just need a phase three. And I have the perfect idea. But it might involve a little incest.”

“Ew, what?”

“God, look at Mr. Halifax’s ass in those khakis. Trust me, you’re going to love it.”

Mr. Halifax’s ass or her incest phase? God, both sounded terrible.

Chapter 3 – This Plan is so Epic I Could Cry

Wednesday

Before I could sit down in one of the front seats, Sophie pulled me to the back of the classroom.

“What are you doing?” I asked. “You always insist on sitting in the front of Mr. Halifax’s class.”