Free Least Likely to Fall in Love by Cheryl Harper Page B

then forced her hands away from it again.
    “Got an A.” Her tone of voice said that they both had known she would.
    Lindy slumped in her chair. While she wracked her brain for another topic, she rolled her shoulders and did her best to relax her neck. “Okay. You don’t want to talk about that. What would you like to talk about?”
    Maddie stared holes in her jacket. “How did you know my dad in high school?”
    Why this moment had never occurred to her when she’d come up with the brilliant idea to bring in her yearbook, Lindy had no clue. Showing Maddie pictures of her own awkward years was only supposed to prove that she knew what she was talking about, not stir up old hurts.
    She should have kept a firm grip on the book. Of course, that would have had no impact on the fact that she and Ryan were on the same damn page.
    She prided herself on her intelligence, but she could still pull some bonehead moves.
    “We were in the same class. That’s all. I didn’t know your dad well. There were almost two hundred kids in my graduating class. We were part of different groups. You know how that is.” Lindy did her best to deliver it all with a breezy, lighthearted tone that sounded one-hundred percent natural.
    When Maddie frowned as she considered the answer, Lindy wasn’t sure she’d pulled it off.
    “When you were bullied, what happened?”
    Lindy licked her lips. There had to be a way out of this tight spot. “We aren’t here to talk about my experience today. I’d rather hear about yours. Have you had any more trouble with Rob or Blake this week?”
    Maddie waved her hand. “No, no trouble. Rob waved at me in the cafeteria on Wednesday. That’s never happened before.” She wrinkled her nose. “That kid Eric’s been a bigger nuisance. He sits with me at lunch now. I think he’s flirting.”
    Lindy wanted to do a victory dance. Boy talk was easy. And diverting. “Are you flirting back? He’s kinda cute, right?”
    Maddie shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’m not trying to.”
    “How come?”
    Maddie snorted. “I don’t want to be one of those fake girls, you know? Even if he is the first boy to treat me like anything other than a cootie carrier.”
    Lindy laughed. “Well, flirting because you like somebody back isn’t fake at all, is it? Plus, it’s fun.”
    Maddie’s lips twitched. “Maybe.”
    Lindy rolled the pen on her desk. “So, Rob and Blake are treating you better. Do you see other instances of bullying around the halls?”
    Maddie straightened in her seat. “You aren’t going to ask me to name people, are you? Because I don’t—”
    Lindy shook her head. “Nope. Unless you want to. I just want us to talk about what the right response to bullying is. Not just for you, but everybody.”
    Maddie relaxed against the chair again. “I know, I know. If you see something, you’re supposed to say something. But I… Most people are afraid that the bullies will just turn on them.”
    Lindy nodded. “Sure, but you know who shouldn’t be afraid of bullies? Teachers. Do you think people who see something should be afraid to talk to teachers?”
    Maddie said, “Some people are.”
    Lindy hated that answer. “I wish there was some way to fix that. Bullying was bad enough when I was a kid, but today it’s like… It’s just dangerous. Life and death sometimes.”
    Maddie’s lips twitched but she didn’t say anything.
    “It’s one thing to be afraid to flirt with somebody because attracting any attention is scary. It’s a whole different thing to be afraid of death.” Lindy glanced out her grimy window and waited for Maddie.
    “I’m not afraid to flirt because of last week. It’s just… I don’t know how to do it very well.” Her eyeliner-free eyes were serious. She looked entirely too young to be worried about flirting and boys, but there was no way on earth Lindy would say that out loud.
    Lindy smiled. “I wasn’t talking about you, but the thing about flirting is that