watched in amazement as Luca strode into the room with a huge box and put it down on the floor. A box? What was he doing with a box? Hopefully, he was just dumping things that he didn’t need, and not moving back in there. I mean, he couldn’t be, could he?
As if sensing me watching him, he looked over at my window. I quickly ducked down, hoping he hadn’t seen me. A whole minute passed before I dared to peek out my window again.
My heart beat sped up when I saw that Luca was standing in the exact same spot staring right at me. Damn it! He’d seen me. Now I felt like a complete stalker.
With as much dignity as I could muster, I stood up and flipped my hair over my shoulder. Luca Byron wasn’t going to intimidate me. I looked right back at him and saw that he’d disappeared and that the light was off.
Good. He’d gotten the hint.
As I was about to turn away, two flashes of light caught my attention. Glancing at his window, I saw that he was back again. The flashes had come from a torch, and he had a piece of paper pressed against the window. He turned on the torch and it illuminated the paper.
HEY NEIGHBOR.
Shooting him a haughty look, I stormed out of my room. If he thought that we were going to be buddy-buddy again, he had another thing coming.
It didn’t matter if he was moving right across from my bedroom window or that my heart did little leaps whenever I thought about that stupid kiss. I didn’t care that memories of our childhood had come flooding back when he’d pressed that note against the window.
I hadn’t had anything to do with Luca for the last seven years and I intended to keep things that way.
***
The next morning I stood on the side of the curb waiting for Kance to pick me up. After ten minutes it finally hit me that Kance would not be picking me up today. She wouldn’t be picking me up ever.
I’d tried calling her last night, but she hadn’t answered her cell or responded to my messages. It had been worth a try to see if we could work things out, even though I was raging mad at her. Obviously, she didn’t care to know me and that was fine. If that’s how she wanted to play it, I could play too.
Glancing at my watch, I realized there was only ten minutes before school started. Mom—whose attitude had, understandingly, been cold towards me this morning—had taken Blaze with her to get groceries. Asking her wasn’t an option and I’d already missed the school bus. It was going to take more than ten minutes to get to school if I walked. I was already in so much trouble and I didn’t need to get into any more.
An engine started up and I glanced around to see Luca backing his station wagon out of the driveway. Great, just what I needed first thing in the morning. I pointedly looked the other way, hoping Luca wouldn’t see me.
Please don’t notice me. Please don’t notice me.
“Hey, Princess!” Luca called out.
Great. My telepathic powers of persuasion needed more work.
I turned back towards the car to discover that he’d rolled down the passenger side window and was watching me with amusement, like his birthday had come early.
I pursed my lips. “What do you want?”
Luca leaned over and popped open the passenger side door. “Looks like you need a ride.”
It was pretty obvious that I did, but there was no way I’d be caught dead in Luca’s car. I’d rather wear last season’s shoes than get in that car. If I was going to rebuild my reputation then I had to stick to my standards, which meant staying as far away from Luca as I could get.
“You’re joking, right? Like I would ever accept a ride from you.” My tone was haughty, but I didn’t care. He needed to take the hint and stay away from me.
“Aw, come on, I don’t bite,” Luca said. “If you really don’t wanna be seen with me then I can drop you off around the corner from school. How’s that sound?”
Biting my lip, I weighed up my options. One on hand, I could be late and get into more
As if sensing me watching him, he looked over at my window. I quickly ducked down, hoping he hadn’t seen me. A whole minute passed before I dared to peek out my window again.
My heart beat sped up when I saw that Luca was standing in the exact same spot staring right at me. Damn it! He’d seen me. Now I felt like a complete stalker.
With as much dignity as I could muster, I stood up and flipped my hair over my shoulder. Luca Byron wasn’t going to intimidate me. I looked right back at him and saw that he’d disappeared and that the light was off.
Good. He’d gotten the hint.
As I was about to turn away, two flashes of light caught my attention. Glancing at his window, I saw that he was back again. The flashes had come from a torch, and he had a piece of paper pressed against the window. He turned on the torch and it illuminated the paper.
HEY NEIGHBOR.
Shooting him a haughty look, I stormed out of my room. If he thought that we were going to be buddy-buddy again, he had another thing coming.
It didn’t matter if he was moving right across from my bedroom window or that my heart did little leaps whenever I thought about that stupid kiss. I didn’t care that memories of our childhood had come flooding back when he’d pressed that note against the window.
I hadn’t had anything to do with Luca for the last seven years and I intended to keep things that way.
***
The next morning I stood on the side of the curb waiting for Kance to pick me up. After ten minutes it finally hit me that Kance would not be picking me up today. She wouldn’t be picking me up ever.
I’d tried calling her last night, but she hadn’t answered her cell or responded to my messages. It had been worth a try to see if we could work things out, even though I was raging mad at her. Obviously, she didn’t care to know me and that was fine. If that’s how she wanted to play it, I could play too.
Glancing at my watch, I realized there was only ten minutes before school started. Mom—whose attitude had, understandingly, been cold towards me this morning—had taken Blaze with her to get groceries. Asking her wasn’t an option and I’d already missed the school bus. It was going to take more than ten minutes to get to school if I walked. I was already in so much trouble and I didn’t need to get into any more.
An engine started up and I glanced around to see Luca backing his station wagon out of the driveway. Great, just what I needed first thing in the morning. I pointedly looked the other way, hoping Luca wouldn’t see me.
Please don’t notice me. Please don’t notice me.
“Hey, Princess!” Luca called out.
Great. My telepathic powers of persuasion needed more work.
I turned back towards the car to discover that he’d rolled down the passenger side window and was watching me with amusement, like his birthday had come early.
I pursed my lips. “What do you want?”
Luca leaned over and popped open the passenger side door. “Looks like you need a ride.”
It was pretty obvious that I did, but there was no way I’d be caught dead in Luca’s car. I’d rather wear last season’s shoes than get in that car. If I was going to rebuild my reputation then I had to stick to my standards, which meant staying as far away from Luca as I could get.
“You’re joking, right? Like I would ever accept a ride from you.” My tone was haughty, but I didn’t care. He needed to take the hint and stay away from me.
“Aw, come on, I don’t bite,” Luca said. “If you really don’t wanna be seen with me then I can drop you off around the corner from school. How’s that sound?”
Biting my lip, I weighed up my options. One on hand, I could be late and get into more
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