Free The Boyfriend Thief by Shana Norris Page B

long moment of uncomfortable silence. He nodded back toward the direction of the den. “Come on, you don’t have to go to work already, do you? We can get a little more work done on our project and I promise not to match you up with anyone. Please?”
    He clasped his hands together under his chin and looked at me with pleading, puppy dog eyes. I didn’t have to be at work for almost another hour, but I made a big show of looking at the time on my phone before answering him.
    “Okay,” I said. “I can stay for a few more minutes, if you’re going to be such a baby about it.”
    Zac pumped his fist in the air in a celebratory motion. I laughed as I followed him back toward our study area, while he bounced down the hall ahead of me.
    But still, I noticed he never did answer my question about the state of happiness in his relationship.

Chapter 8
     
    “Any other new business?” I asked, my gaze scanning over the few remaining members of the math club. Math club wasn’t exactly one of the hot school clubs to join, and the membership had gradually decreased over the years. It had gone down again this past school year, with two people moving away and one getting kicked out after being caught cheating on his algebra mid-term. While the math club might overlook cheating in history or English, we seriously frowned on cheating in a math class. Kind of defeated the purpose of being in the math club.
    Since the school year was only five weeks away from being over, no one was paying attention in our meetings anymore. The air conditioner in the classroom where math club had been assigned to meet never worked right and even with all the windows pushed as wide as they would go, heat blanketed the room. Everyone more interested in constructing paper fans than in listening to anything I had to say, except for two girls who were obviously texting each other.
    No one ever respected the math club president. I sighed and started tidying up my notebook and pen.
    “I have new business,” Hannah, who was seated on my right, spoke up. My vice president pushed back her chair, making a screech loud enough to wake the freshman sleeping in the back row, and stood, clearing her throat. “As you all know,” she started, “I am in the running for junior class queen.”
    “Not this again,” Molly moaned. She stuffed her notebook into her bag and scowled in my direction. “I’m not taking notes on this, by the way.”
    I shrugged at her, indicating that I didn’t care. Junior class queen wasn’t exactly official math club business.
    Hannah tossed her shiny brown hair over her shoulder. “Anyway,” she said, ignoring Molly’s groans, “the voting begins on Wednesday. The jars will be placed in the front hall that morning. Look for the one with my picture, of course.” She flashed a bright smile around the room as if someone were taking her picture at that moment. One thing Hannah had always been good at was buttering up the crowd with her sweet act.
    “Remember how the voting works. Each nickel, dime, and quarter counts as a vote for the candidate, but each penny will take away one vote. All of the money will be collected by the student council and used for projects to improve our school next year. So please, gather up all those coins hiding under your couch cushions and get ready to vote for the candidates that represent the best of our school’s integrity, intelligence, and ambition. Thank you.”
    Hannah sat down primly, as if she had delivered a rousing speech to her constituents. It was hard to tell if anyone had even listened, judging from the fact that people were still texting, sleeping, or else packing up their bags in anticipation of the meeting’s end.
    “Thank you, Hannah,” I said in an even tone. It was hard being nice to her, but rumors of a war between the president and vice president would cause a scandal in math club.
    On the other hand, that could raise interest in the club and up our membership...
    A thump on