Free The Secrets of Boys by Hailey Abbott

observed.
    What had gotten into her? And what would Eric do if he knew? He was all wary before when she was hanging out with an old friend like Joe. One look at the way she was salivating over Zach and he’d probably hire a private investigator to follow her around and make sure she wasn’t doing anything sinful.
    “I’ll be an absolute angel, I promise,” Zach assured her, and she felt a small surge of disappointment.
    “Tell me about the rest of this exhibit.” She reminded herself once again that she had a boyfriend. This would just be for educational purposes, she decided. “Madame Briand’s been going on and on about how French everything is, but you seem to know a lot more about the art itself.”
    “I’m hardly an expert.” Zach’s smile seemed to stir the gooey oatmeal her insides had become. “But I can maybe tell you a few things.”
    Cassidy was relieved to let Zach play tour guide, and he seemed happy to finally get to spout some of the knowledge he’d picked up trolling the museums in Paris.
    Cassidy only hoped he wouldn’t catch on that she was staring at him more than at the paintings. As they talked, he led her through a glassed-in atrium and out a side door to a wide green lawn filled with large, modern steel sculptures.
    “Where are we?” she asked. “Won’t Madame Briand notice we’re missing?”
    “Believe me,” Zach assured her, “Madame Briand wouldn’t notice if her head was missing from her shoulders. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a good teacher, but man, is she flaky!”
    “She is?” Cassidy hadn’t noticed. Maybe because she spent all her time in class imagining Zach with his strong, perfectly toned arms around her.
    “Why do you think they have me there? I help her keep all the students’ names straight, and after she grades your papers, she gives them to me to hand back.
    It’s because she can’t keep track of who’s who. Half the time she calls Cecilia by your name.”
    “No!” Cassidy gasped in mock horror.
    “Yes!” Zach rolled his eyes. “It hurts me too.”
    “Well, I’m not surprised, really,” Cassidy said. She imitated Cecilia’s high-pitched whine. “Because my parents have taken me to independent film festivals all over the world and I want to live in twelve countries simultaneously when I grow up, which should be like five minutes from now because I’m so mo-ti-vated.”
    Zach’s easy laugh rang out over the garden as he sat down on an intricately carved wooden bench under a willow tree and patted the empty seat next to him.
    Cassidy hesitated a moment, then joined him. If she were an inch closer, their thighs would be touching. Not that she noticed or anything.
    “So why did you decide to spend your summer doing this?” Cassidy was genuinely curious … about everything there was to know about him.
    “Because I can.” Zach shrugged. “I needed something to do, and this gives me college credit and a place to live. It sure beats going home.”
    “Home?” Cassidy asked.
    “Oklahoma.” Zach winced. “Not exactly an intellec-tual hotbed. I was happy to get out.”
    “I guess France was about as far away as you could get.”
    “Exactly.” Zach laughed. “Man, Oklahoma was completely not my scene.”
    “So what’s your scene?” Cassidy asked. “Paris?”
    “Anything new,” Zach said. “I loved Paris because when I first got there, I wasn’t fluent in French, so I had to learn to read people based on their faces instead of what they said. It taught me a lot.”
    “That must have been so weird,” Cassidy mused.
    “Living in a foreign country where you don’t even speak the language.”
    “It was great.” Zach’s eyes glittered. “I’d just spend hours wandering the streets, getting totally lost and suddenly coming out on something so beautiful, like a park or a building or a sculpture garden.”
    “That must have been incredible.” Cassidy sighed. “I wish I could get lost sometimes, but I’ve lived here my whole