Free Candid (True Images Series) by Michelle Pennington

my notebook. “Come on. I’ll walk with you.”
    “But you always go the opposite way. You’re going to be late!” I protested.
    “I can make it. Don’t stress.”
    So I didn’t worry about it anymore because I definitely needed the moral support right then. When we got there, Lee said he’d see me next hour. I watched him walk away with a long, quick stride, still amazed at the changes in my world since this morning. The last thing I wanted to do right then was focus on trigonometry. Unfortunately, I had a test.
    Fifty minutes later, I turned in my test right before the bell rang. I felt pretty good about it. I had studied hard last night, and focusing on the problems had actually helped to relax me. They were way less complicated than the other problems that had found their way into my life.
    When I got to the yearbook room, Lee was standing in the hall outside. He was facing the bulletin board looking at the poster I’d put there on Monday. Some creep had poked holes in Tyson’s eyes and enlarged his nostrils with ink so that he looked like a weird mutant pig.
    “ Hmmph ! That’s nice,” I said, taking it down. “Oh well, it’s served its purpose.”
    “Did you get many people to follow your blog?” Lee asked as I crunched the poster into a wad. He looked oddly satisfied as he watched the destruction.
    “More than I even expected, and this is just the beginning.”
     “And Tyson was the best you could come up with to build up your followers?”
    “What’s wrong with him?”
    “Nothing, I guess. I barely know the guy. He doesn’t talk much.”
    “Exactly. He’s so quiet that nobody pays much attention to him even though he’s so good looking.”
    “Well, you obviously paid attention to him. What’s so good looking about him anyway?”
    I shot him a look that clearly said “What are you talking about?” before I grasped that his posture was more rigid and his expression slightly antagonistic. Our relationship had undergone a subtle change between friendship and whatever we were now, and it felt strange to realize I had such an influence on his emotions.
     Thinking quickly, I said, “Well, you have to admit that even though he’s not quite in your league when it comes to looks, he’s got a certain all American charm. He’s also photogenic, so when I got this awesome picture of him, I couldn’t help taking advantage of it. It’s kind of an experiment,” I admitted reluctantly.
    “What kind of experiment?”
    I was relieved to see his shoulders relax, but I hesitated over how much to tell him. I mean, just as he cared what I thought of him, I was anxious for his good opinion. My image experiment wasn’t a terrible thing to do or anything, but I didn’t exactly have pure motives over it either. After today, I was determined to dethrone Jordan as the queen of Haskins High. Finally, I said, “To see if I can change people’s image with photography.”
    “Hmmm. Did you ask Tyson if he wanted you to change his image?”
    “No, but he’s such a nice guy that he deserves to be popular.”
    “If he really is a nice guy, that’s the last thing he deserves,” Lee replied dryly. “Hey, since you’re into experiments, I wonder if you’d be interested in doing one to test Mr. Greeley? ”
    “What for?”
    “To see if he’ll talk to your mom about us.”
    “But there can’t be an us , remember?”
    “Oh, there’s an us , even if we can’t put a label on it. So, about Mr. Greeley, are you in? It could help you figure out if he’s dating your mom.”
    “That depends on what you want to do.”
    He leaned closer and murmured, “We could go into class holding hands.”
    Wow, he had a fabulous voice and he’d never spoken to me with that deep, chocolaty tone before. It made me feel all quivery. Maybe I was an idiot to hesitate, but I was concerned. “If anyone else saw us and word got around, forget Mr. Greeley, my mom might hear about it. In fact, she definitely