Free Speed Demon by ERIN LYNN

wall covered by a sheet of plastic, as I went to search for Isabella. She wasn’t in the family room with the guys, and she wasn’t by the front door passing out candy either. I finally found her sitting on my bed in the dark.
    “Iz? You okay? What’s going on?”
    My nightlight was glowing and I could see there were tears on her cheeks. She swiped at them. “Okay. Levi totally blew me off. It was so embarrassing. But it’s cool. I mean, I suddenly realized that he is totally not my type. And when have I ever been so desperate for a guy to like me that I’ve thrown myself at him in a Disney princess costume? No one is worth that.”
    “No, they’re not. You don’t have to be desperate, you know that. The right guy will be there when he’s supposed to, and he’ll think you’re the bomb.” I sat next to her and nudged her shoulder. “Like I do. You’re awesome, Iz, and you shouldn’t settle for anything less than a guy who is totally into you.”
    “Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking.” She finished wiping her face and said, “Ugh. I need a tissue, then I’m going downstairs and having fun. Why waste a good party, right?”
    “Exactly. Hey, what did you see in that mirror?” I knew she’d seen something.
    She made a sound of impatience. “Oh my God. It was crazy. I actually did see a guy in that mirror, Kenzie. But he was like the biggest nerd ever. Glasses and everything. I’ve never seen him before, but it had to be like some kind of power of suggestion thing. Like dreaming. Your brain just creates weird random images.”
    Um. How exactly could your subconscious put a dude’s face into a compact mirror in the bathroom when you were wide-awake? I felt a chill crawl up my back and I rubbed my arms.
    But Isabella just waved her hand in dismissal. “No big deal. What did you see?”
    “Nothing. Nothing at all.”
    “Oh,” she said, and we just stared at each other for a second.
    Then she said, “Don’t let me marry a nerd,” and we both laughed.
    “I won’t, swear. I’ve got your back.”
    “He likes you, you know,” she added.
    “Who? The nerd in the mirror?” I was confused, as usual.
    “No. Levi. He doesn’t like me that way, but he does like you as way more than a friend. It was obvious when he was talking about you to me.”
    I scoffed, even as my heart rate sped up. I was glad the room was still kind of dark, because I could feel a flush marching across my cheeks. “No, he doesn’t.”
    “Well, he does, but it’s cool. I understand you didn’t do anything to encourage him, and God knows we can’t control who we’re crushing on. Just be honest with him if he puts it out there, okay? Don’t lead him on because you don’t want to hurt his feelings. He’s got it bad for you, and you’ll make it worse if you aren’t straight up.”
    “Okay.” Because letting him kiss me was so totally the way to keep things uncomplicated. I almost groaned out loud. “Now let’s go try peeling apples and see if the nerd with the glasses has a first initial.”
     
     
    When we got to the kitchen, all our friends were bent over staring at the floor.
    “Whose is it?” I asked, trying to check out the apple peel on the floor.
    “It’s mine,” Cecily said. “But I sort of had some problems. I can’t peel apples and I just end up with all these little pieces that I’ve hacked off, so I just threw all of them. What does it look like to you?”
    A pile of apple peels. “Um ... it kind of looks like a W to me.”
    “Ohmigod, it does!” Madison said.
    Kind of. If you squinted and tilted your head to the left. “Maybe it’s Wyatt Price,” Darla said.
    “No!”
    Cecily looked horrified and rightly so. Wyatt’s width exceeded his height and he had a habit of throwing things at people in outbursts of anger. A cool name like Wyatt was truly wasted on him.
    “It’s just a game,” I told her. “No one is saying Wyatt Price is truly your destiny. Besides, don’t we all really make our