Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 114951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
A low murmur rippled through the room, some groans mixed with a few intrigued hums.
“Now, this will be a partner project,” he continued, voice carrying easily over the chatter. “You can choose your own partner today and let me know on your way out of class…” His mouth curved into a mischievous smile. “…or, if you don’t, I’ll happily assign you to whoever’s left. Your choice.”
The room erupted instantly, desks hinging and voices overlapping as everyone scrambled to claim their friends.
I turned instinctively toward a girl a few chairs away who was already angling her notebook in my direction. But before I could say a word—
“Hey!”
The voice carried above the chaos, unmistakable.
I glanced back just in time to see Shane McCabe vault two rows like it was nothing, his long legs eating the distance until he dropped into the empty seat beside me. His boyish grin was lethal, his gray eyes flashing like he’d just scored the game-winning shot. With one smooth sweep, he shoved the hair out of his face and stuck out his hand toward me.
“Partners?”
What could I say but yes?
• • •
Shane let me pick the location for our assignment. I chose Girls Inc, the after-school program I’d grown up in — a place that offered tutoring, mentorship, and a safe space for girls who needed somewhere to land after the school day ended. It was where I’d learned how to take risks, how to speak up, how to imagine a future bigger than the one waiting for me at home.
He didn’t question the choice.
He did not, however, let me drive myself there.
Instead, he insisted we ride together, picking me up from my dorm at two o’clock on a Thursday afternoon. I told myself not to read into it, even as a flutter of nerves — and something dangerously close to excitement — settled low in my stomach. He was just being nice. That was all.
Still, when he pulled up in a black Pontiac Grand Prix and I spotted two smoothies waiting in the cup holders as I ducked inside, my pulse kicked up a notch.
“Strawberry banana or berry blast?” he asked, weighing them in each hand.
“I’m not really hungry.”
“You don’t have to be hungry to enjoy a delicious smoothie from the one and only Smoothie Guy.”
“Smoothie Guy?”
He stared at me like I’d just insulted his entire lineage. “The Smoothie Guy. The one with the cart when you get off the B Train at Commonwealth?”
I blinked, which only made his insistence grow.
“Okay. Now you have to try both. And I’ll be bringing you a new flavor every week until we find your favorite.”
“It’s freezing outside.”
“I would hardly call fifty-eight degrees freezing.”
“Well, it’s still cold.”
“So?”
“What if I don’t like smoothies?”
“Come on. Everyone likes smoothies.”
He flashed that stupid, sexy smirk, and before I could protest — or remind myself not to overthink the fact that he’d gone out of his way for me — I was tasting them.
And damn him, they were the best smoothies I’d ever had.
“Berry blast,” I said after tasting both, and Shane smirked, handing me that one and taking the other. Then, the car was in drive, and we were off.
The Fray played softly over his speakers, and Shane thumbed the steering wheel while quietly singing along.
“So, why did you pick Girls Inc?” he asked after a while.
“I like that they create a safe place for girls to take risks and grow.”
He nodded. “You ever been there before?”
“Not this location.”
“Where?”
“There was one where I grew up.”
“And where was that?”
“Connecticut.”
“Ah,” he said. “You used to volunteer there?”
I swallowed, looking out the window. “No.”
Shane glanced at me, but didn’t ask me to fill in the blank. And when he took my cue to end the conversation and reached forward to turn up the music, I was thankful.
We pulled up to Girls Inc forty minutes later, and before I could even touch the door handle, Shane was out of the car and had jogged around to my side. He held the door open and took my book bag, slinging it over his shoulder without letting me protest.
I’d never had a boyfriend. In high school, everyone knew me — which meant everyone knew my family. And there wasn’t a boy stupid enough to try to get near me when they knew who my stepfather was.
Still, I’d had crushes before. I wasn’t immune to teenage girl hormones.
But when Shane took my bag and then, without hesitation, took my hand in his — I experienced something I never had before.
My stomach erupted with a flurry of butterflies, their wings tickling the inside of my ribcage. I flushed so warm that sweat prickled the back of my neck.
And I smiled.
Because how could I not?
It was unfair, how effortlessly attractive he was. He didn’t even have to try. He was in athletic sweats and an old hoodie that said Waterloo Black Hawks on the front, his hair disheveled beneath his beanie like he hadn’t cared to even run a comb through it. But he wore his confidence and swagger like an accessory, and he just looked so…