Page 15 of I Don't Need Your Love

He scoffs. “You don’t ‘just hang out’ with the Parker twins. They want you, dude.”

“Both of them?”

His brows lift. “You complaining?”

“No. Not at all. But do they expect like…commitment? That’s not my thing.”

“Commitment? At our age?” He snorts. “Yeah, right.”

I think about Carly. She’s the type of person who would want commitment, even at our age. But why am I thinking about the girl who hates me when there are twins who were all over me tonight?

Still, as I take a shower and climb into bed, Carly is the girl on my mind, not April or Avery.

***

As I walk through the hallway after breakfast the next day, I stop in my place when I spot the red-headed beauty hanging something on the bulletin board.

Placing my hands in my school uniform pants pockets, I make my way over to her. She’s placing posters on the board and on the walls and some lockers as well.

Bending closer as she tapes a paper to a locker, I read, “Feel the dance bug? Want to be part of something wonderful and fulfilling? Join the new dance club! Tryouts are this afternoon in the gym. Hope to see you there!”

She smells good, like shampoo or something. It’s a smell I remember from when we were kids, except it smells better now.

Why in the world am I thinking about her smell?

Carly glances up, and as soon as she realizes it’s me, she yanks away from me. “What the heck are you doing?”

“Wanted to see what you were hanging up. Hmm. Dance club tryouts? So you still dance, huh?”

She narrows her eyes at me. “Yeah, I still dance. Why do you look so shocked?”

“Not shocked. Impressed. That you stuck with it.”

“Well, I’m not a quitter.”

“No, you definitely aren’t.”

She looks at me, then away, then at me again. “Did you want something?”

I study the words on the poster. The letters are all glittery and it looks like she spent a lot of time on it. “Seems corny.”

“What?”

I shrug. “This whole dance club thing.”

Her eyes flame. “It’s not corny. Don’t you know there are dance competitions where you win trophies? And we perform at school sports events.”

I tilt my head to the side, letting my hair fall over my eyes. “Yeah, I know that. Corniest part of halftime.”

Her eyes flame even more. I don’t agree with anything I’m saying. I love that she’s passionate about something. But ruffling her feathers is just too much fun.

“Get away from me, jerk.”

I stay exactly where I am. “Calling me a jerk isn’t nice.”

“Calling dance club corny isn’t nice.”

I bend close to her ear and whisper, “Since when do you care what I think?”