Free Ask the Passengers by A. S. King Page B

say.
    “You’re just going to have to be a gentleman and wait your turn, dude. Plus, it’s a sober party… and in an hour, I’m hooking you up, right? So, that’s, like, two strikes against you.”
    “Yeah,” Jeff says. “I guess.” I can sense his skepticism. It’s a seed. But it’s there. I want to distract him before he waters it or lets in any sunlight, so I kiss him on the cheek.
    Outside, a half hour later, he has me pinned up against his car and is trying to get his tongue in my mouth, and I choose to nuzzle into his neck instead. I accidentally find the spot where he must have slopped on his nasty cologne, and my eyes water instantly. I have to keep myself from gagging.
    Kristina yells for me to hurry and I kiss him on the ear, say good-bye and squeeze out from under him right before he squishes me that tiny bit too hard. Which is creepy and makes me promise myself never to fake-date him again.

17
WE HEAR THINGS.
    “DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING you want to tell us?” Kristina asks from the front seat as we drive to Atlantis the long way because we have some time to kill.
    “No.”
    “We hear things,” Justin says.
    “Will you guys stop saying that? If we all believed what we hear, then you two would be screwing each other in the backseat right now. And there’d be barking. But that’s not true, is it?”
    “You seem so distracted lately,” Kristina says. “We just want to help.”
    I sigh. I’m sick of lying, so I pick something true to say. “Ihate that I’m lying to Jeff like this. It feels wrong. I think Claire would be fine with you guys covering for me. You could tell her that you’re trying to find me a soul mate at the movies or something. It would totally work.”
    “We could do that,” Justin says. “But that’s not what we’re asking.”
    “Yeah. I’d be happy to do that. I mean, that’s what friends do, right? And we’re best friends,” Kristina says.
    “Which is why you should tell her,” Justin says.
    “Because something is up, and we know it,” Kristina says.
    Oh, God. I feel like this is the worst time ever to tell her anything. She’s been mad all week about it, and she doesn’t even know what
it
is yet.
    She turns around in the passenger seat, and she looks at me. I look at her. She isn’t smiling. “Dude. What the hell? You know everything about me! You’re my best friend,” she says. “Aren’t you?”
    I’m speechless, which makes me look more like something is up.
    “Seriously. What the hell is up?”
    “I—I can’t tell you.”
    She gets concerned. “Are you okay? Did something bad happen?”
    “God no. I’m just—oh, God. I don’t know. I’m—kinda seeing someone. So this whole Jeff thing isn’t going to work out.”
    She tilts her head. The look on her face is a mix of girlish excitement and some sort of pain. “Who is it? That guy from your humanities class? What’s his name? Kyle? Ken?”
    “Holy shit, no. Clay? Blerg. No. Not a guy. I mean—”
    “Not a guy?” she says. “Not a guy.” She stops and looks more pained than excited. “Not a guy?”
    “I don’t know,” I say. It’s only hitting me now how hurt she’s going to be about my keeping this a secret.
    “Dude—you don’t know who you’re going out with?” She hits me nicely on my arm. “Oh, my God, Astrid! Just tell us!”
    “I don’t know. I’m still not even sure, I don’t think. I mean, how do I know?”
    “It’s not a guy?”
    I shake my head.
    Justin hoots. “Dude! You’re one of us!”
    I keep shaking my head, and I add a shrug, but I’d be lying if I told you that his excitement and invitation into
one of them
isn’t making me cringe. Because I’m not in this to be a member of some club. I’m not going through this so I can lock myself in the
one of them
box.
    “So, you’re questioning?” she says.
    “I guess.”
    “If she has a girlfriend, she’s not questioning,” Justin says.
    “Shut up,” Kristina says. Then she turns back to me.