Free Crushing by Elena Dillon

and his friends. I didn’t even acknowledge him right away. Then when I did, he acted like everything was totally normal. He stood right next to me the rest of the night. He got me drinks and didn’t talk or even look at Regina the rest of the night.” Laken scooted back in her seat and perused her manicure. “He actually didn’t even speak to any other girls that night. He’s been texting me practically every hour since. I’m only answering every second one, and I’m not making any for-sure plans with him this week.”
    The rules for IGIT dating were pretty strict once a boy started ignoring. We had discussed them at length as we watched other girls fall like dominoes to boys’ bad treatment. I had been worried that Laken was going to cave because I knew how much she liked Walker. But she hadn’t overplayed her hand, and I was proud. If I could be so smart in my personal life, I would be in good shape. Of course, it might help if I knew what I wanted.
    “I think that might have been a test you passed,” I told her. “Good job.” We fist bumped. She had beaten Walker at his own game.
    “I agree. You rocked it.” Veronica smiled. “Now, Miss Rory, what are you going to do? Dominic is practically foaming at the mouth, and I think hottie across the street wants you.” She raised her eyebrows at me.
    “I’m not sure there is anything to do about it. Dominic is such a great guy, and it’s not like he’s missing anything in the looks and personality department. I like him, and it would be so easy. He knows me and likes me anyway, you know? On top of that, my family loves him, and I wouldn’t have to fight them all to date him.”
    They both nodded.
    “But…?” Veronica asked.
    “I have no idea how Gage feels about me, but I know I missed him. And even though I knew him when we were kids, I feel like there’s a mystery there. I want to know what it is.”
    “Yeah, all of a sudden there’s a lot of mystery on Wynter. What’s up with that?” Laken agreed.
    “Speaking of, is there any news about Lindsay? I’ve been praying. Her poor family,” I said.
    “Nope. Nothing. They’re sure she didn’t run away. Her family is frantic. They’re having a prayer vigil tomorrow night at church,” Veronica said.
    “I’ll be there.” I sighed. “Do they need people to put out flyers or help with the search?”
    “I’m going to check it out at the church tomorrow, and we’ll come up with a way to help out.” Veronica was really good at planning and executing. I knew she’d come up with something.
    “Okay, that works. I better get back before they send out reinforcements. I hate this.”
    As we walked out to our cars I thought about Lindsay and her family. It made me sick to think of her out there separated from her family. I didn’t even want to think about the worst it could be. I really needed to stop complaining about my life.

Chapter 9
     
    The next day had less boy stress, but I was busy with school responsibilities. I had a meeting before school with Student Leadership, and we had tons to go over. We had discussed the Lindsay situation and had agreed to promote whatever search effort was going to be done. We wanted to be sure the school was doing whatever it could to help.
    I had to sell tickets at lunchtime for the upcoming Sadie Hawkins Dance, and I had a ton of homework to do after school since I hadn’t gotten anything done the day before. I was exhausted since I was having the nightmare almost every night now. I had only screamed loud enough to wake my parents once in the last few days. They’d been looking at me sideways ever since. My mom kept asking if I was taking my asthma meds, and my dad insisted on listening to my lungs with his stethoscope at random intervals. Annoying.
    Thankfully I pretty much ran from thing to thing all day, so I didn’t have time to worry about people’s feelings or who was mad at whom or any other drama that might be happening. I did notice the list