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Paul shakes his head. “I’m fine. Just…you know, catching up with Riley. I’m happy for you guys.” He takes a step back, but his eyes are flipping back and forth between us like we’re a riddle he can’t solve.

“Thanks. Though you can’t be as happy as I am.” Nathan squeezes my side again. “I was going to grab some pizza. Do you want a slice, babe?”

Babe?Okay, we need to work on nicknames, but I’m too grateful to care right now. I nod eagerly. “Yes, I’m starving. Later, Paul.”

We don’t wait for him to respond. Nathan releases me, but only so he can slide his hand into mine. Our fingers intertwine and it feels odd. The last person to hold my handwas Paul and his hand was wide and soft. Nathan’s hand is cool and slim, his fingers longer than Paul’s.

We walk toward the pizza station, not saying a word until we’ve put a good amount of distance between us and Paul.

“Okay, I have to admit, that was pretty fun.” Nathan chuckles. “Was that okay?”

My heart is about to thump out of my chest, but in the same way as when the curtain has just fallen after a show and I know I nailed the performance. “That was amazing. You’re amazing.Thank you.”

“No problem.” His grip on my hand loosens. “Do you want to stop holding hands? Or will that look suspicious if Paul’s still watching?”

I glance around. I can’t see him, but I’m not taking any chances after what we just pulled off. “Let’s keep going for a little longer. If you don’t mind.”

“I don’t. I’m not actually in second grade anymore—Iknow you don’t have cooties.” He points ahead of us. “Iwasgoing to grab a slice of pizza. Do you want one?”

I nod. “Sure.” I’m still too dumbfounded to think clearly.

He glances at me, his face worried. “So…it was okay that I came over like that? I saw Paul talking to you and I figured it was my call to action.”

“It was perfect.” I shake my head, my whole body tensing as I remember what Paul said. “He’d just accused me of making up the whole thing with you.”

Nathan gasps sarcastically. “He’s smarter than he looks.”

“It doesn’t matter if he’s right or not. It’s the principle of the thing,” I say under my breath. “You don’t just outright accuse someone of that! Not unless the whole purpose is tomake them sweat and admit to being a total fool. And the way he did it too…as if he’s such a good guy, checking on me. Ugh.” I spin to face Nathan, making him stop. “You’ll keep this up with me, right? For a while?”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

“You are. That’s a good point. Howareyou here?”

“We have the same lunch period, Riley,” he replies, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“We do?”

“Yeah. We’ve had the same lunch for the last two years. I sit over there.” He points across the cafeteria, and I find Anthony, John, and Lucas all openly staring at us.

I gape at him and back at the table. “Huh.”

I can’t believe I’ve never noticed them before. Hoshiko and I do tend to be in our own world when we’re together, though.

We step up to the counter and each get a slice of pizza. Then we look at each other, as if realizing at the same time that we don’t know what to do next. Flirting at the game shop is one thing, but being at school is something totally different. I hadn’t thought about the implications. Do we need to eat at the same table now? Should we be walking the halls hand in hand? Giving each other longing looks and kissing when the teachers aren’t around? At least we don’t have any classes together so we don’t need to worry about how that’s going to work.

“Actually, let’s sit here for a second.” He motions to the end of an empty long table. “I wanted to talk about something before, but then we got interrupted at the store.”

We both sit and I pick at my pizza.

“So, if we’re going to keep this up for a bit, maybe we should talk about the…um, rules of it all. Like, what’s okay and what’s not okay to do.”

I shake my head. “What do you mean?”

“Like when we held hands. And when I had my arm around your waist. We never talked about whether that kind of stuff was cool or not.”

I lean back in surprise at his thoughtfulness. “Nathan, if I didn’t know you better, I’d think you were being considerate.”

He rolls his eyes. “Oh, don’t worry, you still annoy me, but I’m not a jerk. I don’t want to do anything that’s going to make you uncomfortable.”