Free Deceived by Julie Anne Lindsey

He winked playfully. “Hey, was that Austin?”
    I scanned the horizon. There was no trace of my mystery man. As nice as he’d been in private, he still didn’t seem to want to be seen with me in public. My heart cracked. What was wrong with him? The fact that Davis had called him Austin and not Brian reminded me that I’d never found out whether Davis was a first or last name. Until I did, I refused to direct any name his way. If I started calling guys by their last names, where would it end? Would I be slapping them on their rears every time they walked away, too?
    “Bell’s going to ring. I’ll walk you.”
    I lifted my backpack and turned in the direction of the growing crowd at the fountain.
    “So, was it Austin?”
    “Yeah. Do you know anything about him? Like who his roommate is or how he ended up here?”
    Davis slowed. Concern covered his face as if I’d hurt his feelings.
    “We’re both new, so I wondered. Umm.” I chewed on my lip.
    His face relaxed a little.
    “Where are you from?” I gave my most encouraging smile. Davis’s stocky build and messy blond hair practically screamed all-American guy. If I’d ever imagined having a boy next door, he would’ve looked like Davis.
    Davis told me about his lacrosse scholarship. His family lived in Pennsylvania, owned a small carpet company, and hoped to give him a better education than they could afford. He was in the running for a scholarship to Yale in the fall if he kept his grades up and stayed out of trouble. A very normal scenario.
    I approved.
    “Elle!” Pixie’s voice squealed from a closing distance. The second person in ten minutes to chase me down, and the third in an hour to seek me out. Not normal. She ran full speed toward me. Smack! She whipped my shoulder with her notebook. “Why did you leave? I had a ton of stuff to tell you this morning, and you weren’t there. I love our morning routine, and you ditched me.” She looked sincerely offended.
    “Sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. I missed you, too.” I hugged her. “I definitely won’t do it again.”
    She looked me up and down and then pulled her mouth to one side. “Fine. I forgive you then. I hope your little escape was worth it.”
    Oh, it was definitely worth it, but I couldn’t talk about that yet.
    “Hey, Davis.” She raised her coffee into the air. “Looks like you found her.” Her eyes moved to mine.
    “Yep.” I raised my cup.
    She smiled wider somehow.
    Kate arrived a minute later. Our little circle grew until the bell rang. When we all moved toward the front doors, Davis fell back a step and tilted his head toward mine.
    “Come on,” Kate whined.
    To my surprise, Davis waved her on without him.
    “You want to come watch practice after school?”
    “Sure.” Who said that? No, I didn’t want to watch practice after school. My new school would be the death of me. I sucked down the black coffee, still hot from being covered, and scalded my throat. “Thanks for the coffee,” I choked.
    Davis smiled like he’d won a prize and headed in the direction of his homeroom.
    I didn’t hear two words my Trigonometry teacher spoke. I wrote frantically in my journal the entire class period. I wrote a heading: “What stinks?” The list covered an entire page before my mind drifted to my mother. Truth be told, my mother’s absence had never sat well. I had no closure and no answers. I understood Dad’s heartache but not his reluctance to share her memory with me. All I had left were shreds of childish memories and whispers of her voice, long muted by years of her absence. The fact that I had no other family to ask about her made the hole in my heart bigger. Having anyone in the world who had loved her as I had and was willing to remind me of her would’ve helped. I had no one. When the bell rang, I anchored my feet to the floor. I had to act casual. Shake off things not worth dwelling on and focus on those I had a chance of learning.
    Three minutes later, I