Collin had handled being around me pretty well. I mean, there was a brief awkwardness at the beginning of the evening when we all met at my house, but nothing like what I thought it would be. I guess my dad was right. For the most part, Collin managed to avoid talking to me at all by playing with his phone.

Alyssa seemed to enjoy herself. I could tell she wasn’t too impressed with her friend from the orchestra class, but he was nice. I think they were one of the only other couples who actually danced to a few songs.

I was so busy with Jordan in the back of the gym that I really didn’t see much of anyone else at the dance. We did all get together and have our picture taken at the very end, which was cool. I was glad I would have something to remind myself of morp.

“Chloe?” My mom knocked on my door. “You’ve got a phone call.”

“Come in,” I called as I sat up.

“Here.” Mom handed me the phone. “Don’t talk too long, okay? We’ve got chores today.”

“All right.” I nodded my head. I waited until my mom had left the room before I said, “Hello?”

“Hi, beautiful.” It was Blake.

Unprepared for his deep voice, I couldn’t contain the shudders that sizzled down my back. I was a little stunned that he still had the same effect on me.

“Hi. Long time no talk,” I improvised.

“Miss me bad?” he teased.

What does he want? “Nope, not as bad as you wish I had. So what’s up?”

“Knowing how much you despise Taylor, I thought you’d be interested to learn something new about your friend Alyssa, something I learned last night.”

Alyssa? “Is it good or bad?”

“Bad.”

My chest tightened up. “Bad? What do you mean?”

“I mean it’s not good. It’s bad.”

“Blake!” I almost shouted. “Get on with it.”

“I know why Zack broke up with Alyssa.”

I gasped. “You do? Why? What happened?”

“Taylor.”

“Excuse me?”

“Taylor. Taylor broke them up.”

My mind raced with a hundred questions, but I only managed to get two out. “What do you mean? H–how do you know?”

“He told me last night when he came to the hotel after some dance.”

“He told you?” I couldn’t believe it.

“Yeah. Well, okay, it was more like he told Zack. But I could hear every word.”

“How? What did he say? How did it happen?”

“Well, he came in fuming last night. I guess the dance didn’t go like he thought it would. I don’t know. But after his normal rude greeting to me he stomped into his dad’s office and slammed the door.”

I frowned into the receiver.

“Then he came right back out again,” Blake continued, “demanding to know where his dad was. I told him he’d left hours ago and pointed out it was after 11:00 p.m. Taylor seemed really surprised at the time. He even started to laugh.”

He started to laugh?

“After a few seconds, he calmed down a bit. He told me he was looking for his cell phone. He asked if his dad had left it with me or if he’d taken the phone home with him. I told him I hadn’t seen it. Then he stomped back into his dad’s office, and this time he left the door open as he dialed Zack’s number from the office phone, which is how I overheard what he said to Zack. Taylor was totally going on and on about how good it was that Zack had broken up with Alyssa, and how it was a good thing Zack took his advice and listened to him about breaking up with her.”

“But why?” I moaned. “Why would he do that? Did he say?”

“All I could make out from the conversation was that Taylor didn’t like Alyssa. And he definitely didn’t think his friend Zack should, either. After that Taylor must’ve realized the door was wide open because the next thing I heard was it slam shut. About twenty minutes later, Taylor stormed out of the hotel and drove away.”

Oh my gosh.

My heart nearly stopped for Alyssa—my friend who almost always defended Taylor. My friend who would never say a bad word about anyone. To be so insulted by him, and to Zack, of all people. It was horrible. No, it was worse than horrible. It was malicious.

“Chloe?” Blake’s voice on the other end of the phone startled me. “Are you all right?”

“Yes. I’m fine,” I replied. “I’ve just got a headache all of a sudden. I’m going to go, okay? Thanks for letting me know. Bye.” I hung up the phone before I had even heard Blake’s answering farewell.

I began to pace in my room, trying to figure out why Taylor didn’t like Alyssa. Weren’t we all sort of friends? He’d always been nice to her. How could someone be so nice to someone’s face and then so utterly cold behind her back? And to ruin a relationship—that was beyond anything I could bear. The nerve. Taylor Anderson is such a chicken butt!

All at once, the room began to close in on me, and I wanted out. In a fury, I changed from my pajamas into jeans and a T-shirt. I grabbed my slip-on Vans and jacket from the closet and headed out of my bedroom.

Within seconds, I slammed the front door behind me, then ran across the street to our neighborhood park. It was pretty much empty, thank goodness, apart from some boys playing baseball in the adjoining field. So far it was still too early in the morning for little kids to venture outside in late January.

I walked over to my favorite swing and plunked down on it. Then I took off my shoes and watched my feet as they squished in the cold sand. It was really cold sand, but I didn’t care. The sand wasn’t any colder than my heart felt.

Alyssa. Poor Alyssa. Why her? How could Taylor not like her? She is the sweetest, nicest, most wonderful girl in the world. It isn’t fair. She deserves so much better than I do.

“Chloe?”

Jolted from my musings, I looked up into the beguiling blue eyes of Taylor Anderson. I wondered if I was imagining things. “You?” was all I could get out.

“Sorry.” I watched Taylor’s lips move, but it took a moment to comprehend what he was saying. “. . . parked at your house . . . came over when I saw you—”

“Oh.” My voice cracked, and all I could think was, What is he doing here?

“Are you okay? You don’t look so hot.” Taylor’s concern for me frustrated me more.

I was okay until you showed up. “I—I’m fine.” To prove it, I went to stand up, but I had forgotten my shoes were off and I tripped over them in the process. Had it not been for Taylor catching me, I would have landed in an unflattering heap at his feet. Again.

He chuckled in my ear as he wound his arms around me. The side of my face was pressed into his coat. His cologne began to tickle my senses. “Are you sure you’re okay?” His breath stirred the fine hairs above my ear and warmed my cold cheek below it.

He gave such an impression of strength and security. Had I not known what a villain he was, I would’ve been tempted to stay in his arms forever. “Excuse me,” I mumbled as I detached myself from him. Almost as an afterthought I added, “Thank you,” once we were apart.

Taylor stepped back so I could pick up my shoes. In silence, he watched as I sat back on the swing and brushed my feet off before slipping the Vans on again. Then I dusted my hands on my jeans and stood up.

What do you want? I thought, unable to get my mouth to say the words. He just stood there and watched me. Fine. Don’t talk then. In my irritation, I moved away and stood by the large row of steps that led to the slide. I looked out at the boys playing baseball. There were so many things I wanted to tell Taylor, but not now. I needed a few more days before I went all postal on him. Right then I really didn’t want to talk to anyone, least of all him. Maybe he’ll just go away if I ignore him.

The silence loomed for several minutes, and soon I wondered if he had gone. I refused to turn around and see. In fact, my back was still to him when he finally spoke.

“Chloe, I had to come see you.”

I stiffened my back and raised my head in defiance.

“I’m going crazy here,” he said in a frustrated tone. “I can’t sleep, I can’t concentrate in school—everything’s a mess. Listen, I don’t know who that guy was you were dancing with, but please, you’ve gotta hear me out.” I heard a faint mutter and then a ragged sigh before Taylor half whispered, “I—I love you.” It was like a dam had burst. In the next breath he was louder, much louder. “I do. I have loved you from the first time I saw you stomp away from those bleachers three and a half years ago. And trust me, I’ve tried to get over it, always moving on to new girlfriends, pretending like you meant nothing—like I wasn’t in love with you—but I can’t do this anymore. You’re the only girl I want. Chloe, I need you to go out with me.”

In shock, I stood rooted to the ground, facing the same playing field Taylor faced. I knew I had to say something. I lowered my head and contemplated my hands for a moment before I bravely squared my shoulders. Slowly, I turned toward him. He still stood by the swing. His raw uncertainty disarmed me a little as his anguished eyes searched mine for an answer. I knew at that moment that Taylor thought he loved me. But he didn’t, not really. He has never loved me, I decided. He just loves the idea of me—of having the one girl who doesn’t worship the ground he walks on. But I couldn’t love him. I wouldn’t love him. With a deep breath, I braced myself.

“Taylor, thank you.” There, that sounded good. “But no.”

For several long moments, he stared at me, obviously confounded. At first, I wasn’t sure he had heard me. Finally, he spat out, “That’s all you’re going to say? That’s it?” He moved a step closer to the swing and yanked its chain toward him. “You’d think that when a guy bares his soul to a girl at least she would give him a proper reply. Not some stiff, harsh, monotone rejection.” His anger was evident as he punctuated each adjective with a jerk of the swing.

Disgusted, I put my hands on my hips. “Proper reply? You mean yes, right?”

“I don’t care what answer you give. Just give me a reason. If you actually have one, that is.”

“Are you kidding me?” I said furiously. “I was only trying to be nice. You want to know what I really think about you? Fine, let me spell out all my reasons. First off, Taylor Anderson, what makes you think I would ever consider becoming the girlfriend of the guy who has crushed one of my best friends? Zack and Alyssa. Can you say it wasn’t you who broke them up? And that you told—no make that commanded—Zack to leave Alyssa?”

Taylor looked confused, then angry. “You better believe I broke them up. I take care of my friends more than I am able to take care of myself. At least I was able to stop him from falling for someone who couldn’t care less about him.”

Jerk! Imbecile! Moron! “But that’s not all!” I blurted. “You know it isn’t. What about Blake Winter—Wilder—your own cousin?”

“Blake? How much has he told you?”

“You tried to get him fired. You’re a jealous, attentionseeking jerk who would try to undermine his own cousin, just so you could have what you wanted, just to make sure no one shared your spotlight.”

“Wow! So that’s what you think of me?” Taylor shook his head. “You don’t really know what’s going on, and you don’t even care. You know why? Because you’re a fraud, Chloe Hart. Yep. You go ahead and stand there and think how much better you are than the popular crowd, but you know what? You’re just as bad as they are. We both know that you’d rather die than admit the only thing stopping you from going out with me is that I’m popular. The next time you’re out somewhere flinging accusations at people, check your double standard first.”

“My double standard?” Look in the mirror, buddy! I stormed up to the swing. It was the only thing separating us as I looked up into his face. “Taylor, you are the most conceited, rudest, most arrogant boy I have ever had the misfortune of meeting. I would never in a million years go out with you. Even if you had never hurt Blake or Alyssa, you’d still be a smug, manipulating jock with no regard for anybody else’s feelings. Never mind morp and getting me to ask you just—just so you could humiliate me. When I first moved here I saw what a complete jerk you were, thinking you owned everything and everyone. Well, you don’t own me, and you never will. I deserve someone much better than you!”

The air positively crackled as the hollow reminder of my words echoed around us. Taylor slowly scanned my face, his eyes a dull gray. I cannot begin to imagine what emotions he saw there.