Free Kiss with Cherry Flavor (Grover Beach #4) by Anna Katmore Page A

shoulders.
    “Hey, Tony!” Nick shouted. “Can you bring the girl a lollipop? I hear she’s having withdrawals already.”
    Next, I felt Nick’s breath against my cheek as he whispered, “If Mitchell kills me for this later, it’s all your fault.”
    “Not mine. Simone’s,” I hissed back.
    Tony pulled a lollipop out of the candy jar on the counter and came over to us. He didn’t say a word but tossed a lollipop on the table. It bounced with a hard clicking sound, and I caught it in my lap. It was cherry flavored. Chancing a shy look at Tony’s face, I croaked a hoarse, “Thank you.”
    He didn’t reply. As he turned on the spot, ready to head off again, Alex asked him something about their trigonometry class, but I couldn’t listen in, because Nick bumped against my shoulder then.
    “Hey, Finn Girl, are you cheering at our soccer game on Saturday?”
    I dragged my gaze away from Tony, looking helplessly at the other girls. We ’d talked about it once this week, but apart from Allie and another girl called Teresa, none of us felt ready for it. And then I’d missed the practice yesterday.
    “Are you girls going?” I asked them.
    Simone shrugged. Lisa shook her head, looking as uncertain as I felt. “I don’t think so,” she said. “I can hardly keep the steps in my mind.”
    “I say we skip this one and cheer at the next game,” Simone suggested. “ But we can go watch the game together.”
    “Just what I thought,” I agreed.
    “Ah, shame.” Nick leaned back and pouted in a very unmanly way. “I really wanted to see you dance. I heard it looks”—his pout turned into a smirk—“ hawt .”
    I laughed. “Who said that?”
    His lips sealed for once, Nick glanced at Tony, who still stood next to Alex. I followed his gaze. An awkward silence stretched between the guys. Slowly, Tony’s lips curled in the parody of a smile. “Thank you, Nick .”
    “You’re welcome,” Nick replied, looking all smug and happy.

CHAPTER 6
     
     
    THURSDAY AND FRIDAY were quiet. Thank God. I needed the time to calm my nerves after what had happened with Tony. Ignoring him—or rather not looking at him at school when my mind seemed permanently fixed on him still—became easier and easier. Susan said he was staring at me a lot during lunch. As long as he didn’t talk to me, I didn’t care. Well, that’s what I told myself anyway.
    There would come a day when I would probably speak to him again. Maybe even hang out with him and have fun, like I had with the others. But for now that day was shoved far into the future , when I knew I could do all this and wouldn’t have to fight the impulse to throw myself at him.
    I was also grateful for a timeout from Chloe. There were no jibes from her for the rest of the week. Whew. I could breathe again.
    But she was so silent, it started to scare me. I didn’t trust her one bit. Especially after what Tony had told me about her—how scheming she could be. I kept a wary distance.
    On Saturday, I got up early, because the girls and I had a plan. The Bay Sharks would go up against the Rabid Wolves at two thirty. And we intended to wear our school’s colors for the game.
    Since boring slacks and a blue tee didn’t seem like enough, we’d decided to first go shopping together, then meet the guys before the game and borrow some old jerseys from them. Shortly before noon, I came back home with stone-washed blue jeans I got from H&M, a brand new pair of dark red tennis shoes, and a matching bandana in my bag. All I needed now was a spare jersey from Nick, which he’d promised to lend me on Wednesday at Charlie’s.
    After I showered and dried my hair in a saucy style, making the ends stand out, I slipped into my new clothes, topping them with a gray tee for now. Downstairs, I twirled in front of my aunt.
    “You look great. I love those shoes!” she exclaimed. “Did you just get them?”
    “Yes. All my friends got the same ones. To support our school’s soccer