Free In the Spotlight by Liz Botts, Elaina Lee

laughed.
    “My older sister dragged me here and then disappeared with some guy,” I said. “What about you?”
    Josh shrugged. “Some of us guys from the team were out celebrating, and we weren’t ready to go home yet. Mark knows the guy hosting, so we came over here.”
    “What were you guys celebrating?” I asked, feeling slightly stupid for not knowing.
    “That I got the lead in the musical,” Josh grinned.
    “Oh, right,” I said, feeling even stupider. Why wouldn’t he celebrate that with his friends from the basketball team? They were his friends after all.

    We shuffled around in the crusty snow, listening to the laughter and music from the party. I noticed that Josh was wearing hi-‐-top shoes. What was this, 1987? Okay, maybe that was a little mean. I’m sure plenty of girls found him ridiculously hot. Yes, he was ridiculously hot. I was trying not to notice that, though, because he was also still irritating me from the rehearsal that afternoon.
    “How’re those rewrites coming?” I asked a bit snarkily.
    “Oh, great,” Josh said enthusiastically. “I really think I’ve found my voice.”
    We lapsed into silence again. Finally, I said, “Well, I think I’m going to go find my sister’s car.”
    “I’ll walk with you,” Josh said.
    “No, really that’s okay,” I started to say.
    Josh interrupted, “I don’t let girls walk alone at night. It’s just not safe.”
    “Well…okay. Thanks,” I agreed.
    We started walking down the block where I thought Harlow had parked the car. The only problem was, I didn’t seeing it. I stopped under a streetlight and tried to get my bearings.
    “You know, I could take you home,” Josh offered. “That way your sister will still have a way home too.”
    I laughed rather bitterly in my opinion. “She won’t be going home tonight.”
    “Oh,” Josh said. He paused. “I can still take you home. It’s not a problem. I didn’t really want to go to the party anyway.”
    Something in his tone irked me. Was anyone this much of a goody goody? I mean, I was like the queen of purity and wholesomeness, and his flawless, good guy act was too much for me. Not that his image was really that squeaky clean. He had the reputation of being something of a player among the cheerleaders, and I had heard that he had a penchant for skipping school. Not exactly hardcore badass, but still not as good as he was being since I’d encountered him.

    “Are you seriously going for the knight in shining armor routine? I’m not some damsel in distress that needs to be rescued.”
    I frowned at him as I wrapped my arms tighter around myself.
    Irritatingly, Josh laughed. “I really didn’t want to go to the party. And I promise I have no desire to rescue you.”
    I made an unintelligible noise that sounded something like
    ‘blergh’, and turned away trying in vain to find Harlow’s car. It was still nowhere to be seen. Sighing, I turned back to Josh. “I guess a ride home would be nice.”
    Josh laughed again. “Great,” he said. “My car is this way.”
    I followed him down the street with my hands shoved deep inside my pockets. What was it about this guy that tripped me up so much? I was sure I was blushing furiously, and for some reason that made me even madder at Josh.
    We got to his car, and he actually opened the door for me. I didn’t know whether or not he was mocking me with the whole chivalrous knight in shining armor thing or if he had just been raised well. As I settled into the passenger seat, I had to admit that it was really nice to have someone do something like that for me.
    Josh climbed into the driver seat and got the heat going right away. “So where do you live?” he asked.
    I gave him directions, and he pulled out like he knew exactly where he was going. Apparently, he was even good at navigating a town he had only lived in for six months. I still got lost occasionally. How annoying.
    My house was still blazing with light when we pulled