— ” She pointed to a guy with brown hair and sunglasses, standing in a crowd of Keating girls. “Take Chip Jennings. He keeps a book in his dorm room with pictures — you know, pictures — of all the girls he’s hooked up with. If we ever catch you flirting with him, we’ll probably kick you off the team.”
Sadie wrinkled her nose. “Not my type. I hate guys who look like they take longer than I do to get ready.”
Jessica pointed to the football field, where the Graff team was stretching in orderly lines. “And that guy up front, number twelve? Brent Taylor. Grace went to a dance with him last year, and he totally slipped something in her drink. She woke up the next day and couldn’t remember anything that had happened.”
“Scary,” Sadie murmured.
“Oh, and not that he’s available, but we should probably warn you about Finn, too,” Jessica said. “He’s the biggest dick of them all. Well, not you know, literally. Ew.”
Brett frowned. “Finn’s not so — ”
Jessica cut her off. “He used to cheat on Thayer constantly, and he would never even admit they were really dating. Last year he dated like three other girls, then suddenly one day he and Thayer were back together, and they’ve been acting like Barbie and Ken ever since. Thayer of course pretends it never happened.”
“Jeez, who did he date? I’m surprised Thayer let them all live,” Sadie joked.
Both girls hesitated, until finally Jessica waved a hand. “No one you know. I’ll tell you later.”
“So, besides Josh, is there anyone who isn’t a complete douchebag?” Sadie asked, looking out over the crowd of minidresses and blazers.
“Meh,” Jessica said. “I’m sick of all of them.”
Brett smacked her on the arm. “Do not listen to her. There are tons of guys you might like, especially on the lacrosse team. Did you meet Stephen and Morris back there?” Sadie nodded, remembering two guys who mentioned they played defense. “They’re both pretty cool. And single. Oh! And then there’s Jeremy, the new guy.”
“Wait, what?” Jessica perked up. “Where?”
Brett pointed back to where Josh was sitting. Next to him was a guy with shaggy, dark blonde hair. He was sitting on the bleachers with his elbows on his knees, and he didn’t look like the rest of them, like he was carefully considering everything he did, right down to which side he parted his hair on. His blazer was stretched tight against his shoulders and Sadie could see the outlines of his biceps under the fabric. She felt excitement bubbling up in her stomach. Crap.
“Cute, right?” Brett said. “Josh told me he’s really good, too. He just transferred from some school in California. I heard his mom’s like, some major up-and-coming movie producer. She made that indie film everyone went nuts over last year about the guy who ate himself to death on live TV. Maybe you guys’ll have something in common?”
Jessica poked Sadie in the ribs. “Hey, if you don’t want him, I’ll take him. He’s fucking hot.”
Sadie bit her lip. “I guess he’s pretty cute.”
“Hey, the game is starting soon,” Brett said. “Do you guys want to sit with Josh and me?”
“Sorry, we promised to sit with the twins,” Sadie said. “But we’ll find you guys after, okay?”
“Cool, see you later,” she called, then jogged a few steps up the bleachers toward Josh and Jeremy. Jessica waved at Josh, and Sadie caught Jeremy’s eye. Brett said something to him, and he looked back down at them and smiled. Sadie quickly looked away.
She started toward the next section of the bleachers, where she could see Gwen and Trix sitting in a circle of blue blazers. Nice work, idiot. She resisted the urge to pound her fist against her forehead. She was the worst flirt ever.
“He totally smiled at you,” Jessica said, plopping down next to Gwen. “And you just ran away.”
“He smiled at us, not at me. I’m sure Brett was just talking about us being on the team or
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