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CHAPTER 10

GRIFFIN - AGE 14

EIGHT YEARSAGO

Tate was starting to look pretty. Real freaking pretty, like I wanted to kiss her pretty, but she was my best friend, not my girlfriend. I shook the thought away while I tried not to watch her bite her pencil as she focused really hard on the teacher and whatever equation he had on the board. She was terrible with math, and even though she was laser-focused, I would have to explain it again tonight over Skype while we did homework.

Graham and Hunter had girlfriends, some twins they mutually knew, so naturally, they were dating. They just went to the movies and kissed a lot and then went for ice cream and kissed some more, which sounded lame to me, and definitely not something Tate and I would do together. For starters, she actually liked to watch the movie, especially since she worked all summer to be able to afford movie tickets.

But the thought of kissing her was twisting my stomach into a terrible knot because the more I looked at her, the more I wanted to do it, but I didn’t want to ruin our friendship. She was my best friend.

“Hey, you gonna stop staring at Tate and pay attention?” Hunter whispered from my side, chuckling.

“Dude, you should make a move,” Graham said from behind me.

These two were trouble.

“We’re just friends,” I told them for the hundredth time.

“Riiight.” Hunter and Graham both snorted.

“Am I interrupting something, boys?” the teacher asked, some middle-aged man peering down at us over his glasses, his bald head shining under the fluorescent lights of the room.

“No,” I answered quickly, diverting the attention away from us, but Tate glanced at me, squinted her eyes like she was trying to figure out what was going on back here, then focused back on the teacher.

After class, she and I met up at our lockers. We had managed to get them right next to each other, and I knew from the look in her green eyes she was about to pry.

“So what happened in class? Unlike you to be talking,” she commented, switching her math textbook for the literature one.

“Those two knuckleheads were starting crap again,” I dismissed.

“Are we still on for tonight?” she asked, closing her locker and shoving her book into her shoulder bag.

I grimaced because I had made plans with the twins already after we won our baseball game this week.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I’ll just hang with my mom. We can catch up onThe Bachelor.”

I saw the flicker of disappointment in her gaze at my face and then saw her smile fade even more when I didn’t tell her to cancel her plans.

“I’ll see you at lunch,” she said and then walked away, just as the twins magically appeared at my side.

“Party tonight at one of the junior’s houses. His parents are out of town. Will your parents mind if you go home late?” Hunter asked, and I nodded.

“All right, just stay at ours then,” Graham suggested.

“Yours don’t care?” I found it hard to believe because even my no-show dad knew if I was in the house or not.

“Out of town at some business conference,” Hunter said, and I nodded. They were away a lot, leaving the twins alone most weekends.

“Catch you later,” I said, grabbing my biology textbook and heading to class.

Tate, Graham, Hunter, and I sat together at lunch now. Tate seemed to get along with them from the few conversations they had, but mostly, the twins spoke to each other and ignored Tate and me. But today was different. They had invited some of the other players to our table, some of the older players, and with them came the girls.

Tate squeezed herself next to me on the small bench and pulled out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, meaning money was tight at home. I handed her my chocolate bar like it was routine at this point, and one of the girls noticed.

“Aw, cute. How long have you two been together?” she asked, twirling her blonde hair around her perfectly manicured nail.

“We’re not,” Tate said and looked to me for help.