Free Don't You Wish by Roxanne St. Claire

actually get that. What about the conch?”
    Jeez, I gotta do this. Still, I fake like I’m reading a text on my phone.
    “The conch, Ayla?”
    I glance at him, caught by the glint in his dark eyes. “If it mattered so much to you, why didn’t you read the book?”
    “ ’Cause I’m a science geek. Do this, and when you’re stuck in chem later this year, I’ll return the favor.”
    Except I’ll be in Pittsburgh and he’ll be a dream I had once.
    “Wrap it up, class!”
    “It’s a symbol of order, leadership, and power.” I click to the text that just came in.
    Ryder: i need answers!
    Me: not now
    I hit send before reality hits me. He’s not sexting, he’s trying to cheat. Jeez, I’m dense. I turn to look at Ryder, but the teacher is already collecting papers, and my boyfriend looks madder than hell.
    Annie wouldn’t cheat, but Ayla? From what I know of this girl already, yeah. Of course she’d give her answers away. Most kids do, especially the cool ones.
    Mr. Brighton passes Ryder and his partner—ironically, the kid who heckled my butt—giving them a look of disgust when he picks up a blank paper. When he reaches us, he takes Charlie’s paper and reads it, nodding.
    “Well done, Mr. Zelinsky.”
    “I had help,” Charlie says.
    Mr. Brighton raises his eyebrows in a silent
Yeah, right
, but Charlie tips his hat back a bit and angles his head toward me. “I really did have—”
    “It’s okay.” I stop him with a hand to the arm. “Team effort.”
    Brighton nods and moves on, the silence behind him suddenly uncomfortable. Then the bell rings and I snag my bag.
    “Hey,” Charlie says as I scoot away. “Thanks.”
    I manage a totally disinterested look. “Forget about it.”
    “I had you all wrong,” he adds, with a smile that’s surprisingly sweet.
    “No, you didn’t,” I assure him. Then I escape into the hall before Ryder can catch up with me.
    I try to blend into the student traffic, but it doesn’t take long before I realize that
blending in
is no longer part of my daily life.

CHAPTER NINE
     
    The minute I leave fourth period, I’m flanked by Jade and Bliss. A few others trail like a wake behind me, but my right and left are instantly bookended by besties.
    “Ryder is pissed beyond description,” Bliss announces. “He’s epileptic.”
    “He’s epileptic?” I couldn’t tell that.
    “I mean he’s just crazy furious with you.”
    I frown at her. “Do you mean apoplectic?”
    “What
ever
,” Bliss shoots back. “He’s not happy.”
    I shrug, but inside I’m kind of disappointed, and a little mad at myself for blowing it with the hot boyfriend before I’ve even gotten to know him. I’ve been kind of hoping to wake up having had at least a moderate dream make-out.Considering how real this whole thing is, I might be able to convince Lizzie to count it.
    A funny twist squeezes at my gut, the same one that’s been annoying me all day.
    Considering how real this whole thing is
.
    When is it going to
not
be so real?
    “Oh, don’t look so upset, Ayla,” Jade says, shouldering me toward a bank of lockers. “Bliss is exaggerating.”
    “I am not.” Bliss leans against the locker right before I open it, crossing her arms and flipping back some blond hair, revealing sizeable diamonds in her ears. Stolen, no doubt. “We cut third together and he told me.”
    I smell a whiff of pot on her, although her eyes are bright. In my school, popular girls don’t get high during the day, just stoner kids do. But this isn’t my school. This isn’t even my life.
    Which doesn’t stop me from wanting to know everything Ryder said.
    “What did he tell you?” I ask, nudging her to the side so I can get to my locker.
    “Ryder and I talk about a lot of things, Ayla.” There’s an unmistakable challenge in her voice. “You know we’ve always had a special friendship.”
    I give her an incredulous look, trying to decipher exactly what that means. “How special?”
    Bliss gives a