How Sweet It Is by Kate Perry

mum is waiting for me.”
    “Okay, great,” Hunter said, standing, too. “Maybe we can talk about it tomorrow. I have ideas.”
    She had ideas, too—scientific ones that had to do with biology and sex education. Her face warmed, and she mumbled something that he could take however he wanted before she hurried out to the front to look for her mum.
    Viola wasn’t there, but Rowdy was. As she approached his car, he got out and came around to open the door for her. “Your mom’s running an errand, so you got me, kid.”
    She pretended to sigh like it was awful, but she was relieved on the inside. She got in and felt herself relax.
    “But your mom said she’d be home shortly after us, so you won’t have to put up with me for long,” Rowdy said as he started the car. “Tell me about your day. Anything exciting happen? Any catfights?”
    “No catfights. School’s pretty boring.” Except for the thing with Hunter Vicks, which wasn’t actually anything except a figment of her imagination. She frowned at the passing scenery.
    “Good thing you’re almost done.”
    If she didn’t fail. She flipped the worn edges of her notebook, thinking of Hunter and how disappointed he was going to be when he found out how stupid she was.
    Although maybe she could kiss him before he found out, so at least she’d have that to live on for the rest of her life. “Do you think someone would be willing to kiss me?” she asked.
    “Not for thirty more years they better not,” Rowdy replied instantly.
    She rolled her eyes again. “Good thing you’re not my father.”
    “I’m pretty much your uncle though, so I still get dibs on beating up any punk who comes near you.”
    Chloe faced him. “Have you kissed my mom?”
    “Jesus, Clo. Of course not. She’s my friend, and she’d probably smack me upside the head.” He glanced at her like she was mental. “Your mom is great, kid, but she doesn’t have feelings for me.”
    “But you know how to kiss, right?”
    “Of course I do.” His chest puffed up. “Have you been talking to MacNiven? What did that knucklehead say?”
    She shook her head. Her aunt Titania was engaged to Ian MacNiven, a former football star. That was how they knew Rowdy: he and Ian were best friends. “Ian didn’t say anything. I’m just wondering how someone learns how to kiss someone.”
    Rowdy stopped the car abruptly, right in the middle of the street, and faced her. “Is there a boy?”
    Cars honked behind them. Chloe looked back. “Rowdy, I don’t think you’re supposed to stop here.”
    “Answer the question.”
    “There isn’t.” Not really, anyway.
    He stared at her but then began to drive again. “You know you can talk to me anytime, right? And I really won’t beat the boy up.”
    “You won’t?”
    “Not unless he deserves it.” Rowdy tugged on her hair.
    She huddled in the seat, ducking her chin into her scarf to hide her smile. Then she said, “I wouldn’t have minded it if you were my dad, even if you did threaten my boyfriends.”
    He laughed.
    There was no sign of her mum when they arrived home, so they went to the kitchen to get a snack. She was pretty sure Rowdy could eat a horse and still be hungry after.
    They were eating Fran’s shortbread with milk when the front door slammed. “Chloe! Are you home? I have a surprise for you,” her mother yelled.
    A surprise? Chloe froze, exchanging a look with Rowdy. She didn’t like surprises.
    “Chloe!” her mother yelled again, this time followed by a high-pitched yip.
    That sounded like a dog. She looked at Rowdy.
    “Uh-oh,” he said, sliding off his stool.
    Together they walked out to the foyer. She stopped in her tracks, not sure what she was more shocked with: the dog chewing on its leash or her mother, who looked completely not like her mother.
    Chloe was used to how beautiful and put together her aunts always looked, but her mother had always paled next to her sisters. Not that her mother wasn’t pretty. She was. But