A Good Boy Is Hard to Find (The Naughty List #3)(45)
Author: Suzanne Young

“It’s fine, Tessa.” But he didn’t sound fine. He sounded annoyed. “I’ll see you tomorrow in school then.” And he hung up.

My eyes stung, and I put down my phone. I was losing my mind. Joel was my boyfriend! I shouldn’t be accusing him of things he didn’t do. And I shouldn’t be avoiding him. And I definitely shouldn’t still be thinking about how wonderful Aiden smelled when I kissed his cheek.

Wow. I was falling apart.

Ding Dong. I looked up at the sound of my doorbell. Butterflies fluttered as I wondered if Aiden had come back. I left my crutch leaning against the table and hopped to the door, swinging it open.

“Hey, Prez.”

“Chloe.” At this point, I wasn’t even surprised to see her. “I have a major bone to pick with you—like femur-sized.”

“Okaaay. Well, first, this is going to sound insane.” She brushed her long blond hair over her shoulder and shifted her weight to her left hip. “But I’m here to apologize.”

“You’re right. That does sound insane.”

“Can I come in?” she asked.

I looked behind me into the house, debating. She could be like a vampire. Once I let her in the house, she could enter at will. I smiled to myself, picturing Chloe turning into a bat and flying away.

“Fine.” I hopped aside and watched as Chloe strolled into my house, heading for the living room couch as if she owned the place. I sighed and shut the door.

I gathered both crutches and made my way into the room with her. Sitting down across from her in my father’s recliner, I tried to cross my leg over my cast, trying to look calm. “Why are you really here?” I asked.

“I told you. I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For accusing Aiden. I just bumped into him, by the way. God, he’s still so hot.”

“Ahem.”

“Sorry. Anyway, I just saw him filling up at the gas station, and he told me that he was just leaving your house. Nice.”

“Nothing happened with me and Aiden.”

She smirked, obviously liking my denial. “Didn’t say it did. Wow, paranoid, much? Anyway, I told him that I’d thought he was the one who tried to ruin the SOS, but he set me straight. Told me who he thought it really was.”

I flinched, partly embarrassed. “And?”

“You’ve got a problem. I’m pretty sure he’s right. Your new boyfriend totally sold you out. And I think I can prove it.”

I was waiting for the irony police to bust in at any moment. Chloe—of all people—helping me. “How?”

She batted her eyelashes innocently. “I might have hacked into someone’s e-mail.”

I gasped. “Whose?”

“Joel’s. And Blaze’s.”

A thought occurred to me. “And mine?”

Her snide look seemed to falter. “Occasionally. But now that we’re on the same team, I won’t do it again.”

“You read my personal e-mails!” I couldn’t believe that little snake. Then again, it was great that she knew how to hack. Still! My e-mails were private! “Wait, was that how you always knew where Aiden was?”

“Um … yup.” She didn’t look apologetic. “Are we going to dwell, Tessa, or do you want my help?”

I wanted to dwell! Deep breath. I needed to pull myself together and hear Chloe out. Maybe afterward, I could construct an appropriate punishment. “Okay,” I said. “What did you find?”

She leaned back into the couch and picked at her fingernails. “Blaze may have mentioned something about a meeting tonight—nine o’clock in the field house.” She grinned. “Wanna spy?”

My stomach twisted with anxiety. “Chloe,” I closed my eyes, scared of her answer. “You were wrong about Aiden last time. Do you really think it’s Joel? If you’re wrong and he finds out that I investigated him, he’ll hate me.”

She was quiet, but when I opened my eyes to look at her, she didn’t have her usual witchy expression. Instead, she shrugged. “Let’s go on a mission and find out for sure—he’ll never even know.” She grinned deviously.

“But I can’t get hold of Leona,” I said.

Chloe laughed. “She’s out with Chris. I saw them tonguing over at Cavallo’s.”

“We don’t say, ‘tonguing,’ Chloe. Making out is more appropriate. Wait. They were making out?”

“Sure were. Really going for it, too. Apparently, they’re back together.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. This girl had the pulse of the entire school. She was like a ready-made James Bond character—albeit an evil one. But a talented one nonetheless.

“And, yes,” she added. “I read their e-mails to find out what happened. They got back together earlier this afternoon. He forgives her. She misses him. Yadda yadda.”

“Whoa.” I couldn’t believe that Leona hadn’t called me immediately following her reconciliation. Then again, I knew what it was like to get swept up in the moment. Good for her!

Chloe flipped her wrist and glanced at her watch. “Look, there’s a meeting in, like, a half hour. Do you want to go or not?”

I bit down on my lip, unsure of what to do. I really wanted Leona or even Izzie’s opinion on this. Just then, Chloe stood up, looking me square in the eye.

“We’re teammates now,” she said more sincerely than I’d ever seen her. “I’m all in on this, Tessa. Sure, I may have hated your guts—pretty passionately—but I’m over all that now. I’m a Smitten Kitten. I’ve memorized the effing handbook. So if you’re ready to put the past behind us and rebuild our team, then I’m here to do it with you.”

Her eyes were twinkling, determination painting her cheeks pink. I couldn’t believe I was about to do this. I couldn’t believe I trusted her. “You said, ‘effing.’”

She smiled. “Told you I memorized the handbook.”

I nodded with a short laugh and watched as Chloe held out her hand to help me up. In some alternate universe, we may have always been friends. But here and now, this was a start. And I was scared as heck about it.

But I took her hand anyway.

To the Wildcat’s Den Editor:

I must take exception to Mr. Jimenez’s comments to the editor on October 10th. I understand his frustration with being caught cheating in the girls’ bathroom last year, but to be honest, it’s his own dang fault! It is irresponsible for him to blame others for his own adulterous actions.