Free Sass & Serendipity by Jennifer Ziegler Page B

semicircles.
    “What about you, Daff? Who have you been messing around with?” she asked. Or rather, demanded.
    “Um … no one right now,” Daphne replied. Then she laughed. Not because it was funny—just to keep things light and make some extra noise.
    “But isn’t there someone you like?” Lynette went on, one eyebrow now higher than the other.
    “Well, yeah …” Daphne hunched slightly.
    “I bet it’s the new guy,” Rachelle Waverly said. “I saw her waving at him in the hall today.”
    “And Walt said they were totally flirting at Hawthorne’s Barbecue,” Sheri added.
    Daphne just stood there, grinning stupidly, hoping that steam wasn’t rising from her face. She hated that they were talking about her as if she weren’t there. And she hated that they knew about her feelings for Luke. Not that it was a secret, necessarily, but there was no way they could understand how special her relationship with him was—or would be. She didn’t want them to twist it and spoil it with their small talk.
    “You mean Luke?” Lynette seemed completely reinvigorated with this news. “Oh, my god! He’s, like, so preppy. I thought he was gay.”
    “He came from a prep school!” Daphne said, a little too quickly and loudly.
    Lynette held out her hands in mock surrender. “My bad. Obviously you would know whether he was gay or not.” She cracked up. The rest of the group started laughing hysterically.
    Daphne giggled for the sake of solidarity, even though she didn’t think it was funny. And frankly, she didn’t really understand the comment.
    “Look, there he is.” Megan Denson pointed across the courtyard. Daphne’s and seven other pairs of eyes followed her finger. Sure enough, there was Luke, standing next to the flagpole. He was rummaging through his backpack, pausing every now and then to glance around at the people scurrying past.
    He’s looking for me
, Daphne suddenly realized.
He’s pretending to be busy while looking for me
.
    It was the sweetest thing ever.
    “Mmm. He really is cute,” Lynette said, making her voice low and provocative. “So glad to hear he likes women. If you’re worried, Daff, I’d be happy to make sure.”
    Again the group of girls burst out laughing.
    “Ha, ha. No, that’s okay,” Daphne said with a lame chuckle. “Ha, ha, ha.”
    “You should go talk to him, Daff,” Rachelle said tauntingly.
    Daphne couldn’t help grinning. “Actually, we sort of have plans. So … bye, I guess! See y’all tomorrow!” She shouldered her book bag and walked away.
    She knew they would continue to talk about her after she left, distorting her and Luke’s special connection and making it into something crude. But she couldn’t worry about that right now. Right now she was just dizzy with joy at the sight of him.
    It was almost scary how Luke had become so important so quickly. To think that only a week earlier she’d been walking these school corridors, totally clueless about his existence. She’d eaten her meals without composing cute text messages in her head. And she’d lain in bed without wondering what he was doing and whether he was thinking of her, too.
    This had to be true love. No other guy had ever made Daphne feel this way. All her other crushes had been stupid and babyish. But this felt real. Important, even—as if she were fated to be with Luke. She wouldn’t be surprised if it was inscribed on an ancient scroll somewhere.
    She crossed the courtyard in a few bounces and landed at his side. “Hi!” she said.
    Luke looked up at her and smiled. “Hi.”
    “Whatcha looking for?” She pointed to his backpack.
    “My cell phone.” His forehead creased into a helpless expression. “It always ends up at the bottom.”
    She giggled. “You expecting a call?”
    “Maybe. I don’t know. It’s not like I’ve met a lot of people so far.” He grinned a rather sad, lopsided grin and Daphne instantly felt foolish. Why did she have to ask him such a stupid