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“Who says I was joking?” she asked. “His banter with you is totally filled with sexual tension.”

“Gross, Hayley. Now, next time he talks to me, that’s all I’m going to think about.”

She grinned. “I’m just saying it how it is.”

“Maybe we could just put a muzzle on him?” It wasn’t the worst idea I’d come up with for dealing with Cole.

Hayley laughed and bumped her shoulder against mine. “Sounds kind of kinky.”

I shook my head, laughing with her as we started toward class. The bell rang as we entered the English room. The day was only just beginning, and yet I was ready for it to be over. It didn’t help that when I sat down, there was a small square ballot form waiting on my desk.

“Vote for your True Love contestants!” was scrawled across the top of the page, with one box allocated for the male vote and ten boxes for the female.

I scrunched the paper up into a ball and sat back as the others in class scribbled away on their voting forms. This competition was ridiculous. I just couldn’t believe I was the only one in the school who thought so.

2

Cole

Madison Matthews was my kryptonite. Anytime I got near the girl, I managed to turn from Superman into Clark Kent. Only my version of Clark Kent seemed to be a raging asshole. I always said the wrong thing around her, and even when I said the right thing, she took it the wrong way. I couldn’t win, and I’d almost given up trying.

Almost, but not quite. It seemed like the only way I could get her to interact with me was by being a jerk, so I’d resigned myself to the role a long time ago. I wasn’t ready to let it go. Not if it meant I didn’t get to speak to her at all.

I sat diagonally behind her in English, watching as she glared down at the voting form she’d just scrunched into a tiny ball. Her scowl was quite cute, in a way. Only Madi could get angry at a piece of paper.

“Stare at that paper any longer, and it’s going to burst into flames,” I said, leaning forward on my desk so she could hear me.

She turned in her chair, and the deadly laser beams that had been narrowed on her voting slip became focused on me. Despite the hate-filled glare, I found myself tuning out for a second as I stared into her grey-blue eyes. They were the color of a swirling ocean in the middle of a thunderstorm, and every time she narrowed them on me, it always took me a moment to snap back to attention.

“Leave me alone, Cole,” she replied.

I wasn’t ready to leave her alone though. I never was. “Did you vote for me?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at her.

“As if I want to watch you sleaze over a bunch of poor girls.”

I sat back and placed my hand over my heart. “Oh, Matthews, you wound me.” I lowered my head and pretended to wipe a tear from under my eye, but I was surprised to find that underneath my act I genuinely felt slightly hurt by her comment. Did she really think I was a sleaze?

“Yeah, you look inconsolable,” she replied.

“Want to know who I voted for?” I asked, forcing a grin back onto my face.

“Nope.”

“Of course you do,” I replied.

“No, I’m really not interested.”

“You sure?” I asked, holding my voting form up for her to see.

She gave an exasperated sigh before focusing on the form. I could almost see the moment realization struck her. Her cheeks turned red, and her eyes looked like they wanted to explode from her skull.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she asked, her angry gaze flickering back to me.

I laughed, delighted by the reaction. I glanced at the page, pretending to look thoughtful. I’d only written two names down: Madi’s and mine. I’d also decorated the page a little. “You think the love hearts are too much?” I asked in my most serious tone.

“You can’t submit that,” she said, reaching out to grab it from me. I was too fast though and quickly moved it out of her reach with another grin.

“Sure I can. I can vote for whoever I like.” I placed the form down on my table, the smile on my face growing bigger. I was enjoying this way too much.