Free So Hot For You by Melanie Marks Page A

her lip, not sure what to say. The project wasn’t due anytime soon, and they were making great progress in class. They didn’t really need to get together. Maybe it was a trick. Maybe all this was—his glances at her full of longing, his attempts to get her to converse with him at length. Maybe it was his way of avenging Aspen—tormenting the girl his girlfriend had openly hated. Maybe it was some sort of mean trap—like he wanted to get Krista alone so he could do something cruel to her. Maybe all this was just a way to gain her trust.
    Maybe.
    Krista wasn’t sure what to think. She had almost come to consider Cooper as a nice guy. She almost felt sorry for him. She knew he had loved Aspen with all of his heart and that he missed her terribly. One day he had fallen asleep in the school library, during lunch. Krista had heard him cry out “Aspen” in his sleep. Actually, she had even heard him say, “I miss you.”
    And he wandered around school looking all lost and lonely…. Yes, he was easy to feel sorry for. Only, Krista still wasn’t sure she could trust him. Because, he and Aspen had done mean things to her over and over again last year. It seemed to be their goal in life—to make Krista miserable.
    Krista narrowed her eyes. “No, I don’t want to get together after school. The project isn’t even due until next month.”
    Cooper nodded, furrowing his brow at her narrowed eyes. “Yeah, I know. It was just an excuse…. Today’s my birthday.”
    Krista swallowed, for a moment waning, but only a moment. Then she remembered his last birthday. The week before it, Aspen had started being nice to Krista again, acting like maybe they were going to be friends again—they had been, before Cooper breezed into Aspen’s life. Before that, Aspen had been a close friend, but then Cooper came along, and for some reason, Aspen turned on Krista, started doing mean things to her and saying horrible things about her. Krista suspected Cooper had had something to do with Aspen’s sudden hatred for her. She just didn’t know what it was. But then, last year, Aspen had hand-delivered Krista an invitation to Cooper’s birthday party. Krista had gone, even though she was scheduled to work that night at Pizza Haven. (She had to close for the next three Saturdays just to get someone to take her shift.) But then, when she got to the hotel where the invitation said the party was, it wasn’t a birthday party for Cooper, it was a Bar Mitzvah for a thirteen-year-old stranger—a Ben Horawitz . Aspen had purposely sent Krista on a wild goose chase, to the wrong address. Aspen did stuff like that to her all the time … and Krista was pretty sure Cooper was behind it all.
    Krista backed away now, not offering Cooper a birthday greeting. Or an explanation. “No, I don’t want to get together,” she growled.
     
    ***
     
    In the school parking lot after classes, Krista was getting into her car but stopped and gasped. All of her tires had been slashed.
    “It looks like someone took a knife to them.” Lexi , her best friend, furrowed her brow. “I’d blame it on Aspen only …”
    Krista sighed. Lexi didn’t need to finish the sentence. Krista knew what she was going to say, of course. Aspen was dead. It couldn’t be her. But it was the kind of stuff Aspen had done to Krista all year. So, of course that’s where their thoughts led—Aspen.
    Just then, Cooper drove by. He rolled down his window. “Do you need help?”
    Krista scowled at him, gritting her teeth. “I need you to leave me alone.”
    Cooper tilted his head, looking bewildered. Lexi did too. She gave her friend a questioning look, then raised her eyebrows, glancing back at Cooper. “Did you do this to Krista’s car?”
    Cooper blinked. “Of course not.” Then he looked at Krista. “Do you think I did this?”
    “Yes! That’s exactly what I think.”
    Cooper paled, looking at her as though she was nuts. “Why would I do it?”
    “Because I didn’t go