He opens my door, stopping to kiss me before he lets me in. I sigh deeply. I really do enjoy kissing Bruno.
“She’s nice,” he says.
“Um, she’s meaner than a bag full of squirrels and twice as nuts.”
He laughs.
“What’s so funny?” I ask.
He turns the key in the ignition. “You. I don’t think I’ve heard you insult anybody in a few days. Are you saving up for a special occasion?”
Now it’s my turn to laugh. “Maybe. It’s almost Homecoming after all.”
“Good. I like to watch you get all wrath-y. Just, you know, not on me.”
I smile until may face hurts.
When we get to school Bruno walks me to my locker as usual, only he’s acting weird, jumpy.
“What got sprinkled on your granola today?” I ask, turning the combination lock.
He steps back and when I open the locker it’s full of flowers. Not roses or carnations or anything as mundane as that, but it’s full of tall, white daisies.
I pull out the bouquet and inhale deeply. I love daisies. They’re my favorite flowers.
“How did you know?” I ask, already suspecting the answer.
Carlos walks up from behind, his hand in the air.
“He called in back up last night.”
I stare at Bruno. “When did you have time to put these in here?”
He shrugs meekly, “I got up early and did it this morning.”
“Then you came all the way back to my house to pick me up?”
I’m so stunned, I’m not even sure what to say when he grins sheepishly. Looking back down at the flowers I see a little card tucked into the flowers. Pulling it out I read it.
For the prettiest girl I’ve ever met.
Love,
Kyle.
It’s so strange to see that he’s signed his first name it takes a second to click in. For as long as I have known him, everyone just called him Bruno. I never even thought to ask if he would prefer something else.
Stepping in close I wrap my arms around his neck.
“Thanks, Kyle. I love them.”
He blushes wildly and I reach onto my tiptoes to kiss him. The bell rings, jarring us apart.
He brushes his hand over my hair, kissing me on the jaw.
“See you at lunch.”
Coach Mason stops me after first period to give me a list of the teachers chaperoning for the dance.
“Thanks. I’ll pass this onto the Dance Committee,” I say tucking it in my bag.
He tilts his head, looking at me quizzically. “Is everything alright Zoe? I can’t help but notice you seem a little distracted lately.”
I frown. “No, everything is good. Why? Are my grades slipping?”
“No, I just noticed, you seem to have come into a new group of friends this year.”
“Yeah,” I say, trying not to sound irritated at his keeping me so late. “They’re great.”
“You know, we have grief counselors available to students still struggling with what happened to Kaylee.”
Okay, this is just getting weird. Am I sending off some kind of pathetic, crazy chick vibes? Or worse, had he somehow overheard me talking to Logan yesterday after class? God, he probably thinks I was talking to myself.
“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind,” I say with a smile and rush out of the room.
As soon as I step foot in the hallway, my group of friends are there waiting. The girls are all taking turns cooing over the flowers and the guys are giving Bruno—no Kyle—a hard time.
I turn to my poor, embarrassed boyfriend and plant a kiss on him.
“So, I was thinking, I know everyone calls you Bruno, but would it be okay if I just call you Kyle from now on?”
I ask loudly, making sure the rest of the group hears me.
He smiles. “Sure, if you want.”
He bends over, plants a kiss on the tip of my nose and leads me out to his truck.
I don’t see Logan at lunch, which worries me more that I’d like to admit. We opt to skip the pizza today for Chinese and I’m glad we do. Any more pizza and I’m not going to be able to squeeze myself into that red dress anymore.
“So, what do you have going on tonight?” Bruno asks as the waitress hands out our plates.
“I’m kidnapping her,” Cassidy says with a mischievous grin.
Bruno glances over at me and I bat my eyelashes innocently. He sighs. “As long as you bring her back.”
“Where are you two going?” Becca asks curiously.
I glance up at Cassidy, who is looking at me like she’s trying to swallow the giant foot in her mouth. I give her a subtle nod.
“Dress shopping for Homecoming,” she answers, stuffing a fork full of rice in her mouth.
Becca stares at her silently, her face surprised.
“Do you want to come?” I ask, an open invitation to the table. It’s kind of a hollow gesture since I know for a fact that she, Madison and the twins have cheer practice tonight.
“I’ll go,” Darla chimes in, making me almost choke on my noodles.
I force a smile. “Great. Meet us after school.”
Just what I need, a two hour car ride with my new boyfriend’s jilted ex. Then again, maybe I can use her to my advantage.
There’s no reason to think the day could get any better. Logan still hasn’t shown up, I’ve been accosted twice by grief counselors trying to convince me to come share my feelings about Kaylee, and mom frantically texted me when the police showed up at our door with a search warrant for the necklace I already told them they could come get. I sigh deeply, watching from my desk, as the final minutes of last period tick away.
Beside me, Leena taps her pencil on the edge of her desk impatiently. The sound makes my eyeball twitch as I fight the urge to lean over, rip the pencil out of her hand and shove it up her—
The bell rings and I’m out of my desk like a shot, homicidal thoughts float away as I step into the hallway and see Bruno already waiting for me. He’s leaning against the lockers, twisting the lacrosse stick in his hands absently as he chats with Becker. The impulse to walk over and push my way between them is strong, making me wonder at what point I’d already decided on his guilt. Maybe it isn’t fair. But the sight of them together, laughing, makes my skin crawl. Luckily, before I can charge over and make a scene like a neurotic freak, Cassidy walks over, folding herself into Becker’s arms. He hugs her tightly and lowers his head to kiss her. My stomach lurches.
Then Bruno catches sight of me and holds out his free hand, which I take without hesitation, letting him draw me against him.
“Hey. How was class?” He asks warmly.
I swallow hard. The decision to tell him the truth was sort of made for me. In a town this small, no secret stays buried for long.
Lowering my voice I whisper, “I need to talk to you for a minute. Privately.”
He nods, his face going from joy to abject fear in a matter of seconds. We cross the hall and I pull him into Mr. Mason’s empty room, closing the door behind us.
“I need to tell you something,” I begin slowly. He takes a seat on the corner of Mr. Mason’s oak desk.
I straighten my shoulders, squaring off to him, my arms folded across my chest. “The police came to my house today. They had a search warrant.”
I wait for him to say something, trying to gauge his reaction carefully. His expression falls, then recovers quickly, a smile lighting up his face.
“Zoe, you scared the living shit out of me.”
I feel my eyebrows crease. “What?”
He hops off the desk, locking his arms around my waist. “I thought you were dumping me.”
“Why would I do that? Never mind. It doesn’t matter. But seriously, the police questioned me about Kaylee’s murder because I had been up at The Tower and they found my blood—“
He holds up a hand. “Blood?”
I hold out my palm. The scratch is deep and still ugly, but I’d taken the bandage off and never put another one on.