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not their precious little daughter. I can’t do it. I won’t do it,” she practically yelled.
    My shoulders slumped a little. But I tried one more time. “What if he does it to some other girl?”
    She shrugged. “Not my problem. So promise me you won’t say a word.”
    “Debbie—”
    “Promise me.”
    I closed my eyes in defeat. “I promise.”
    “And stay away from him. He mentioned your name.”
    That caught my attention. “What?”
    “It was nothing. It just sounded like he may try to talk to you next.”
    My jaw couldn’t have been opened any wider. “Why would he do that? That’s crazy. He knows you’re my best friend.” Okay, I wasn’t sure of that. “He has to know you’d tell me.”
    “Just stay away from him,” she said again.
    Then she shifted the car in drive and took me home. Music filled the silence between us as I didn’t pepper her with any more questions. She obviously didn’t want to talk about it. I wasn’t stupid enough to think it wouldn’t be hard telling the cops. But I didn’t understand why she didn’t care that he could do it to someone else. And why would he target me? Something seemed off. But how could I possibly doubt my best friend over a guy I barely knew? One who hadn’t been nice enough to help me when I dropped the cupcakes. One who’d made crude comments about my body. Maybe he was a creeper, even if he hardly seemed the type to have to force a girl to do anything.
    After school on Monday, I stared at the cursed ring on my finger. Debbie was right. I hid in the library so I wouldn’t have to sit with my boyfriend at lunch. I wasn’t in love with Ox. But what was love? I headed to the room where I tutored along with some other students with good grades who needed an extracurricular activity on their college applications. Though I had to admit I liked helping people and had toyed with the idea of becoming a teacher.
    When the classroom door opened twenty minutes later, I didn’t bother looking up. Students came and went during the session as needed. Only the mood in the room shifted. Slowly, I glanced up to find my worst nightmare. His eyes searched the room before landing on me. My heart sped up and my stomach took a nosedive. I don’t know what he saw in my expression, but he headed in my direction anyway.
    “I need you.”
    Any other time, those words might have been powerful, even romantic. But after what he did to Debbie, I suddenly believed she’d been right that he’d targeted me.
    “I’m sorry, but I’m helping someone right now. You have to wait your turn. Anyone who frees up first can help you.”
    A freshman with a face suffering from a bout of acne sat next to me as I helped him with algebra.
    “I don’t want someone. I want you. Dude, beat it.”
    Carl, with his mop of ginger curls, grabbed his stuff and took off out of the room. Kelley’s I’m going to kick your ass expression had been enough to do the trick.
    He sat without my permission. With my eyes narrowed, I attempted to get up from my seat and find someone else who needed assistance. He gripped my arm, stopping me.
    “You’re a bully,” I spat.
    “Maybe, but that kid didn’t need your help either. Did you see how he was looking at you?”
    “No.” I hadn’t. Carl wasn’t dumb and seemed to get the concepts, although he claimed he didn’t. “It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m here to help people.”
    “And I need help. Mr. Wilks sent me here to find you. I need to get caught up and fast. He said you’re the best person to get me there. Although I can think of better ways we can spend our time together.”
    I was flattered that my trig teacher placed me in high regards. But his last statement made me roll my eyes, and I chose to ignore it, ignore him the best I could. Only, it was hard to ignore his kissable lips. And why was I thinking like that? Time to bring the conversation around. “Why didn’t he help you himself?”
    Seemingly having an answer for everything,