“Yeah. Apparently everyone thinks the new teacher is droolworthy.”

“I can’t wait until our coding class last period so we can finally see for ourselves,” Sophie said. “If I can’t get anywhere with Mr. Halifax maybe I can make him jealous by getting with the new guy.”

“The new teacher? Why don’t you just date a student?”

“Ew. All the guys here are so immature. I like older men.”

“You know how weird that is, right? It doesn’t even make sense. You couldn’t possibly have Daddy issues. Uncle Rob is the best.”

“It’s not a Daddy issues thing,” she said. “It’s a Mr. Halifax-is-a-grown-ass-man-and-there-is-nothing-hotter-than-that thing.”

“You know what’s hot? Being able to date in public without getting arrested. You’re going to give your dad a heart attack.”

“My dad won’t care. He’s cool. Unlike yours,” she said through fake coughing.

“Hey.” I shoved her shoulder. But she had a point. My dad said he’d ground me if he saw my skirt rolled up…which it currently was. I couldn’t even imagine what he’d do if I started dating a teacher. Which again, would be such hypocritical crap. Since he’d literally been my mom’s professor in college. Gross.

“I’m kidding. I love Uncle James. Now let’s go get Axel to fall in love with you.”

“How tragic,” someone said from behind us. No, not someone. Because I knew exactly who it was based on the way that her shrill voice made the little hairs on the back of my neck rise.

I turned to see Gigi standing there, her minions missing. They were probably off torturing a cat or something.

Gigi smiled. “You really think a guy like Axel Stevens would date a girl like you? Darling, there’s a reason you’ve been friend-zoned for 17 years.”

It didn’t seem like the time or place to tell her that Axel and I had technically dated in preschool.

“Because he…” she took a step forward. “Is so far out of your league. You know how I know that? Because he’s in mine.”

“The league of troll people?” Sophie said. “I don’t think so. And wake up call, Scarlett is one of the two most popular girls at this school. And the other isn’t you. It’s me.”

Gigi made a disgusted noise with her throat. “We’ll see about that. I’ve always wanted to know if Axel’s a good kisser.” She pushed through the doors to the cafeteria.

“What does she mean by that?” I asked.

Sophie cringed.

Oh God, no. I ran into the cafeteria.

Gigi had marched right up to my usual table. Where Axel and Jacob were already sitting. They didn’t look up at her as she approached. And for a second, I thought she might just walk right past them and go get a salad or something to eat. But no such luck.