“No one is going to freak.” I dropped my pencil and slid the notebook off my cushion beside me. “No one is going to freak, because no one is going to know.”

Her mouth fell open. “How can they not? He’s never even seriously dated someone before. That’s all people will be able to talk about.”

“Yeah, Dare dating The New Girl. That’s exactly what I don’t want. I’m not going to be the girl dating Dare. I’d rather they remember me as those initials because at least that’s about me, not him.” My insecurities about being the girl on his arm nudged at the edges of my mind. There was also that. I’d made it through high school without a single mean girl moment. I didn’t need the scrutiny and ire of half of the student body raining down on me with minutes to go before the curtain call of my senior year.

“But come on. I never have gossip. We never have gossip.” She gestured between the two of us.

“So no one will ever know. Plus, we’re graduating in a few weeks. What does it matter? I’m going to school in California.”

“But it’s Dare.” She was whining with exasperation that I was depriving her of some juicy Greenwood gossip.

“If you say that one more time…”

“Sorry, let me pick my brain up off the floor first, and then we can get back to boring bio.” She crouched down, picking up an imaginary brain, and picked off a few pieces of imaginary lint before dropping it back into her head and dusting off her hands. “There, all better now.”

“You’re crazy, just so you know.”

“Oh I know.”

I grabbed my notebook and pencil.

“At the end of this problem set, you’re going to need to spill everything.” She flopped down on the couch beside me and picked up the textbook.

“There’s nothing to spill.”

She leveled her gaze at me and moved so quickly, I didn’t even see it coming. With lightning fast fingers, she pinched my side, giving it an extra twist.

“Ouch!”

“Everything. You’ve been holding out on me since that first day he was looking at you, haven’t you?” She smacked my arm with her notebook. “I knew something was up and you played it off like it was nothing.”

I blocked her swatting, laughing and trying to grab the notebook out of her hands. “It was nothing.”

“Liar!” Had they heard that in Chicago? “You’re such an asshole! Spill all the details before I rip your arm off!

“If we finish all these, I’ll tell you everything, okay? But there’s not much to tell.”

“I want every sordid detail. Every wink, every glance, every kiss, every trip to Bang Town.” She clutched her hands against her chest, eyes fluttering and her mouth twisted in a T-bone-sized smile.

“Sorry to disappoint, but that’s going to be a short list. There have been no detours into Bang Town, as you so nicely put it.”