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Alyssa handed it to him.

He scanned it. “These are the hours you’re with me, Alyssa. We have two classes together.”

“Lucky me,” she said sarcastically. “I’m surprised you even remembered my name.”

“I didn’t. It’s at the top of your schedule.”

“Hey!” she laughed. Alyssa had the sudden urge to smack him.

“What? I’m being honest.” Laughing, he returned her schedule and asked, “What are you doing after class?”

“Not talking to a guy who can’t remember my name, that’s for sure.”

“Ouch, you wound me,” he joked. “Hang out with me. Let me make it up by showing you around town.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t know you?”

“But that’s how you’ll get to know me, by hanging out with me,” he stated obviously.

A low chuckle rolled off her lips. She couldn’t help it.

“Well, here we are.”

When they reached the classroom, they both faced each other and locked gazes. John loved a quick witted girl, especially when she was easy on the eyes. “Thanks for walking me to class. At least I won’t be late for this one.”

He winked. “See you around, sugar.”

The first half of the day passed quickly, and by noon Alyssa found herself in the dining hall. She hated being the new girl. She should have been used to it by now, but she wasn’t. New school, new friends, new everything.

Quickly grabbing a bottle of water and a bag of chips, Alyssa made her way outside. There were groups of students scattered about, sitting under the overhang laughing and chatting away. They were in their own worlds, and she felt like an outsider peeking in.

Alyssa sighed when she found her new lunch spot—a thigh high wall of red bricks other students were sitting on. She sat down near the corner and leaned back against the brick wall staring up at the cloudless sky for a moment.

Georgia was a much slower pace than in California, but she was slowly finding that she liked that aspect. Bringing up her legs, she uncapped her water and took a sip, then pulled out a map along with her schedule. Alyssa had gotten lost on her way to another class earlier in the day and walked in late. She wanted to try and avoid that if she could, so she began studying the map, trying to memorize a route.

Most days John left in between classes to grab lunch with his friends, Jace and Ford. They would pick up fast food and bring it back to the dining hall to eat or wherever they felt. Parking his truck, they jumped out and made their way to the courtyard as Ford was telling him and Jace about a prank Ford’s little brother wanted help with.

“Just hear me out before you say no. We round up a bunch of cows, like twenty cows, and sneak them into the school. Gather as many frogs as we can and dump them in there. Some stray cats and dogs, drop some dead fish in the air vents, too. Then we wait and watch from a distance the next morning.”

“Where the fuck are we going to get twenty cows from? And no offense or anything, but I don’t want to get rabies as we’re trying to catch some stray animals for your brother.” Jace deadpanned. “Seriously, how many do you think we could find in our small town?”

Ford ignored him and continued. “We could use some Gorilla Glue on all the locks except for one door so no one can get in that day.”

“You gave this some serious thought, haven’t you,” Jace asked Ford, and he nodded.

“You guys are crazy. There’s no way this could work. Not to mention, Ford, your brother could get expelled. You guys are on your own with this one.” As fun as it sounded, John was going to sit this one out.

“My parents have so many cows that they would never notice, say, ten missing,” Ford chimed in. “We can pluck a few from all the farms my parents have and the rest we could probably buy.”

John sipped his Coke and actually gave some thought to Ford’s crazy ass idea. It could possibly work, but before he could think about it further, he spotted a pretty blonde with legs for days.

John didn’t know what had gotten into him, but there was something about Alyssa that made him want to get to know her. The instant he saw her he had to go to her. She looked alon

e and down sitting by herself.