We stood in line for gross stadium food. Pretzels and nachos sounded not horrible, but maybe tossing in a corn dog would mix it up a bit. “I think I want to stuff myself with nasty baseball food.”

“When else would you want a corn dog?”

I held out my plate to her when the order came back. “Hold this while I use the restroom?”

The mirror caught my eye when I entered and with the new instincts I had, I went to ensure my eyeliner and mascara were still intact.

“...we used to be friends! Can’t you do me, like, a tiny favor?” Was that Sloane’s voice?

“Absolutely not. She’s—"

Someone started the hand dryer, cutting off my eavesdropping. I ran into a stall close to the door to see what I could make out.

“...and we haven’t been friends since middle school.”

“I bet my father could offer yours something he can’t refuse.”

More hand dryer. Can’t these people just walk out with wet hands like normal people did?

“...it’s in your job description. Just tell me what happens. Kisses!”

I didn’t hear anything else. Quick to finish up, I made it back out to her pretending to have fixed my face up a bit.

She looked incredibly guilty.

“Did they forget your mustard or something?”

“Something like that.”

The game played and dragged on. We were up points, but that never meant much because there was plenty of time to even out the score or pull one up on us. I hated to admit it, but sports were growing on me. The anticipation. The fanfare. All of it was fun to get into and we had great teams at the school.

Football might be a sore spot for a while, though.

“I know the game is basically over,” Kelly started, looking over at me, but not truly looking at me, “but I’m hungry again. Do you want to come get another crappy pretzel with me?”

The look on her face made the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up. Alarms were going off all over my body. If there wasn’t someone threatening us with a gun, I’d be surprised.

Agreeing felt like a bad idea, but I did it anyway.

My gut feeling was right when Alexander popped into my field of view and he grabbed me and dragged me into a private bathroom.

“Hey baby girl.” He planted sloppy open-mouthed kisses on my neck and it felt like a dead fish was attached to my skin.

I shoved but he didn’t budge. ”What are you doing, Alexander?”

Scary blue eyes met mine. “You didn’t think I would just accept your teasing forever, would you? You’re mine and it's time you start acting like it. We’re going to be the next power couple, baby.”