Lily spent the entire day pretending she wasn’t nervous.
Unfortunately—
She was a terrible actress.
By seventh period, she had reread the same paragraph in her textbook six times without understanding a single word.
Because Noah Carter had asked her to walk with him after school.
And the worst part?
He’d sounded nervous too.
Which somehow made everything infinitely more terrifying.
Jason noticed immediately, obviously.
“You look like you’re preparing for battle,” he informed her while spinning a pencil dramatically between his fingers.
“I’m studying.”
“You’ve been staring at the same page for ten minutes.”
Lily looked down slowly.
Right.
The same page.
Ryan leaned back in his chair beside Jason.
“To be fair,” he said calmly, “Noah does have the emotional intensity of someon
