Free Second to No One by Natalie Palmer

get something to eat.”
    “Eat?” I said flatly. “It’s almost eleven.” I glanced down at the stale rice noodles laying on my plate. “And I’m stuffed.”
    Kit jumped in. “The diner in town is open. You can just get hot chocolate or something.”
    “No way,” Drew said with a strict, motherly tone. “Lauren’s mom would freak if we left.”
    “She wouldn’t really know.” Lauren rocked on her heels. “She’s working the grave shift tonight at the hospital. She won’t get off until three. As long as we’re back by then…”
    My jaw dropped. Sweet, respectable Lauren actually wanted to go? And Drew, of all people, was acting like the mother duck. I felt everyone’s eyes on me as though I had the final say, and somehow the power I felt, the power to make the final decision, made me turn into a different person than I ever knew I was capable of being. Then I heard myself say, “I could go for a hot chocolate.”

Chapter 7
    “I f you’re not going to order anything to eat, you can sit yourself outside.” The big, hairy waitress whose name was apparently Denise, bounced on her hip and glared Lauren in the eyes.
    “But I’m not hungry,” Lauren protested. “I don’t even have any money. I just came along for the ride.”
    “Does this look like a taxi to you, little missy?”
    Lauren’s face turned red. “Little missy? You can’t—”
    “It’s okay,” Kit interjected. “She’ll have a blueberry waffle.” He looked at Lauren sternly. “It’s on me.”
    Denise jotted the final order on her notepad and huffed away from the table.
    “She can’t force me to order anything!” Lauren continued after she was gone. “This is a free country!”
    Drew was resting her head against the vinyl booth and was typing something into her cell phone, “She just wants tips, Lauren. Can you blame her?”
    “Who are you texting?” I asked, leaning over her shoulder to get a better view of her phone. The five of us were scrunched into a booth that should have only sat four.
    “Bryce,” she said matter-of-factly. “I feel like I’m the fifth wheel on this double date.” She eyed Kit and Lauren who were flirting endlessly across from us, then at Trace who had his arm draped over the back of the chair behind me. “He’ll be here in ten minutes.”
    Bryce was the new guy that Drew was dating. They met in the cereal aisle of Wal-Mart a few days before, and now they were practically a couple. I had no idea how Drew did it—a new guy every week—I could barely keep up with her. “He’s driving here all the way from Highlands?” I asked skeptically.
    “It’s not that far. There’s no traffic at this time of night, and he was already at a party on the north end.” Drew sent her final message, then stuck her phone in her pocket.
    Soon a tiny bell sounded over the front door of the diner, and all five of us instinctively turned to see who was coming in. I thought maybe it was Bryce getting here freakishly fast. But my heart skipped a beat when I saw who was actually coming through the door. There were three slightly familiar faces from school—a couple girls I knew only as junior cheerleaders and a guy that played every sport available at Franklin High. But the last person to enter was the last person I expected to see at a diner in town at eleven o’clock at night. The last person to enter was Jess.
    Before I could digest his presence, I felt a sharp kick against my shoe. “Ow.” I grimaced and looked across the table at Lauren who was staring at me with wide eyes.
    “Did you see who just came in?” she whispered between locked teeth. “I’m dying!” She said slightly louder, “I’m dying!”
    “Calm down,” Drew said coolly from her end of the booth. “It looks like he’s here on a date.” Drew glanced at me for a nanosecond, which forced me to peek over the empty booths toward Jess. She was right. It definitely looked like the group was paired up. The nameless jock was with the