The Secret Crush (8 page)

I did as she asked and imagined the three different scenarios. My head wanted to say I’d be okay with any of them—after all, they were good friends of mine—but if I were to really be a hundred percent completely honest, there was only one that would make my heart leap when I found out. But I was entirely too nervous that he wouldn’t be that person to admit his name out loud, even to my best friend.

My eyes blinked open to see a smug Piper sitting across from me. “So there is someone you’re hoping it’ll be.”

I never could get anything past her. “Yes. There is. But I don’t want to say anything else. I’m afraid it’ll jinx it or something.”

“Understandable.” She stood up off the bed and slipped into a pair of flip flops. “Okay, let’s go.”

“Where are we going?”

Piper stared at me as if I had just asked her if the sky was green. “To start part two of my plan, of course.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I
WAS HALF ASLEEP WHEN my phone buzzed next to me. I didn’t even bother to open my eyes before I answered. “Hello?”

“Hey. I’m sorry, did I wake you?”

“Hadley?”

“Yeah. I can call back in the morning if you want.”

I sat up, rubbing my eyes. “No. It’s fine. I was just watching a movie and must have dozed off.”

“Must not have been a great movie.”

“I was actually watching the original Ghostbusters. It was on cable.”

“That’s one of my favorites.”

“Mine, too. I used to watch it all the time with my family growing up. I think at one point, my mom actually hid the DVD because I kept making her watch it over and over. I was psyched with I heard they were making a new one. Sorry. I’m rambling. What’s up?”

She chuckled. “Well, I just wanted to see if I could meet you for coffee tomorrow? I have something I wanted to talk to you about.”

My heart froze, and my chest tightened.
Holy. Shit. She figured it out. How the fuck did she figure it out?
“Uh, yeah. I can meet you. Why?”

“I just wanted to go over a few things for the final day of the haunted house. I know since tomorrow is Halloween, we’re going to be slammed, and I want to get all my ducks in a row before that happens.”

I let out a giant sigh of relief. “Oh. Sure. Of course. Are you free around three? I get out of class at two forty-five.”

“That sounds perfect. The Beanery?

“Great. See you then.”

“Bye.”

I hung up and flopped my head back onto my pillow. That was way too close for comfort. Everything was set for the reveal tomorrow at the end of the night. I just hoped my cover wasn’t blown before then. What I had planned was huge. Epic. And with any luck, life-changing.

I hung up the phone and smiled at Piper. “There. I’ve called all three of them. And all three have agreed to meet me tomorrow, and all believe I’m just asking them about plans for the haunted house this weekend.”

“So do you have a plan yet on how you’re going to confront them?”

“Sort of. I’m going to very nonchalantly bring up my crush and make some stuff up about him, then gauge their reactions. He’ll have to have a world-class poker face to not give anything away. And you’ll be nearby, taping it all to catch anything I miss on camera, right?”

“Yep. I’ll put in my earphones like I’m listening to music, but it’ll be on record the whole time.”

“Perfect. It’s about time I’m the one holding all the cards.”

As I walked out of my classroom and into the main quad on campus, I overhead someone saying Hadley’s name. Curiosity piqued, I backtracked a bit until I found who was talking.

It was her ex, Brent.

I paused and pulled out my phone, pretending to send a text message while listening to him talking with a few of his friends from the football team.

“Can you believe that shit? Some fuckin’ pansy doesn’t have the balls to just tell her himself. He’s sending her secret notes and shit. It’s pathetic.”

“How’d you find that out?” one of his friends asked.

Brent rolled his eyes. “That bitch Piper had some asshole take my picture at the movies last night. I threatened to knock a few of his teeth out unless he told me everything he knows. The punk squealed like a pig.”

I ground my teeth but didn’t say anything and kept listening.

“If I find out who it is, I’m going to have to beat his ass for trying to make a move on my girl. Everyone on this campus knows she’s mine. I just needed to give her some time to cool off.”

The guys he was with all laughed. “Dude, you should totally tell her it’s you. She’ll think all that shit’s romantic and crap. It’s your in. She’ll take you back in a heartbeat. And then when whoever it really is sees you guys are back together, he’ll back off. I mean, if he didn’t have the guts to say anything before when she was single, no way he’d confront her knowing she had a boyfriend again.”

Brent’s eyes lit up at the idea. “Dude. That’s perfect. Seriously. I’ll take credit for all that sucker’s groveling, and she’ll be mine again no problem.”

“You’d better tell her soon, though. If he gets to her before you, then you’re behind the eight ball again. Plus, then you’ll have him to deal with if she actually likes him or anything.”

“Fuck that. I’ll tell her tonight it was me.”

I couldn’t stay and listen any longer. I had to get out of there before I went over and beat him into a bloody pulp. Fuck! I couldn’t believe he was going to try to take credit for everything I had done. No way I was going to let that happen. I had to get to Hadley before he did.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

F
URY SEEPED OUT OF EVERY
pore of my body. I wanted to throttle someone. I couldn’t remember a time that I’d ever been so completely pissed off. Some teenage asshats who thought it was funny to throw eggs, smash pumpkins, and break into the haunted house, had basically ransacked the place—stealing black lights, several of the coffins, and over half of the zombie decorations. They even spray painted a bunch of profanity over our signage. Now, it was only a few hours before what was sure to be our busiest night, and I had a disaster on my hands.

I cancelled my plans with the three guys I thought might be my crush and called an emergency meeting of all my key volunteers. Several of them were in class and couldn’t come early, so I had to make do with only a few hands on deck.

“Thank you, everyone, so much for coming. I don’t know who the little shits were who vandalized everything, but the police think it was local high school kids. They’re looking at surveillance footage from the pharmacy parking lot to see if they can make out a car or any faces.”

“If they find them, let me know. I’ll kick their sorry asses for you, Hadley!” De’Andre yelled.

“Thanks. In the meantime, we have four hours until we open tonight and the place is a disaster. If I could get you guys to pair up into twos, we could probably get the bulk of the repairs done. I’ve made a list of the areas that need work and what exactly needs done, but most of it will be clean up and repainting. I’ll have my walkie and will be running around if you need me. Supplies are on the concession stand. I know we can’t replace what was stolen, but I ran to Walmart and picked up a few things to hopefully at least fill in the gaps so it doesn’t look half empty. Bags are labeled by theme room and also at the concession stand.”

Everyone dispersed, and I pulled out my master list, trying to figure out what area to tackle next when a finger tapped me on the shoulder.

I turned, shocked at who I saw. “Um… hi, Brent. What are you doing here?”

“I heard about what happened. I wanted to see if I could help.”

I blinked, not really believing what I was hearing. “Seriously? You want to help? You don’t have practice tonight or anything?”

He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Nope. I’m all yours to use as you see fit.”

This wasn’t like him at all. He wasn’t the kind to offer to help, at least not without wanting something in return. But I didn’t have time right now to play games. I’d worry about his ulterior motives later.

“Okkkay. Well, the list is over there. Just find something that still needs to be done and get started. Thanks.” I turned to finish what I was doing, but Brent didn’t leave. I faced him again. “Was there something else you needed?”