Kissing the Shy Guy - Stephanie Street Page 0,23

to look at, but kept that thought to myself. “I don’t think she was there out of the goodness of her heart.” I remembered her screaming at the sky. “She seemed frustrated and ready to leave by the time I got there.” I’d seen her checking the time on her phone several times.

Jordan shuddered. Asher put his arm around her. “I’ve never thought about Jenna having a life outside of school,” she said. “Like having parents or siblings.”

Bash laughed out loud at that. He’d been keeping quiet behind his drums, tapping a steady beat with his hands on his thighs. “What? Did you think she crawled out from under a rock every morning to show up at school and torment the masses?”

Jordan shuddered again, but this time with a grin. “Something like that.”

“She looks too good to live under a rock,” I added helpfully.

Jarom shot me a scandalized look. “You think she’s hot?”

I shrugged, silently ordering myself not to blush. “I don’t know, but with all that makeup and shiny hair, she must live somewhere with a shower.”

Jarom continued to stare as if he didn’t know me anymore, but Jordan grunted grudgingly.

“You’re probably right. But it’s still weird. I mean, a family means there is someone in this world who loves her, and that’s just,” she broke off and shook her head.

“Unbelievable,” Jarom finished helpfully.

“You guys are mean,” Asher said, pulling Jordan closer to his side. She nuzzled her face into his neck. Speaking of weird, I still hadn’t gotten used to the school’s resident tomboy cozying up to anybody, let alone my friend. Jordan Parks was the most intimidating girl I’d ever met. She played for the boys’ hockey team, and before Asher came along, none of the guys at school were willing to take a chance on her.

Lucky for Asher.

“You only say that because you don’t know her like we do,” Jarom insisted.

“I don’t know her that well, either. Except what I hear everyone else say.” And what I’d learned myself over the last week.

Jarom stared at me again. “You know she’s going to make your sister’s life miserable, don’t you?”

I shot him a look. Obviously, he’d heard about Laura and Josh. “I can’t blame Jenna for being upset about that.”

Asher glanced between us wearing a confused expression. “What are you guys talking about? Who’s your sister? And why is Jenna upset with her?”

“Laura. You know? That girl from choir,” Jarom explained.

Asher still looked confused. “Laura? She’s your sister? But her last name isn’t Smith, is it?”

I shook my head. “No. We don’t have the same last name. She’s my half-sister. Same mom, different dad.”

“Wow. I had no idea.” Asher blinked, then focused on me again. “But what does Laura have to do with Jenna?”

Jarom answered for me again. “Josh Miller dumped Jenna for Laura and Jenna’s pissed.”

“He didn’t just dump her. He dropped out of this prestigious scholarship program that he and Jenna had been working on for months. Just left her without a partner weeks before the competition.”

Asher shook his head, whistling low under his breath. “Wow. What a jerk. I mean Josh, not Laura,” he hurried to say.

“Dude, it’s messed up,” I told him, thinking Laura was a jerk because she’d insisted Josh quit. “My older sister, Diana, competed for that scholarship. It’s a big deal. I can’t believe Josh did that to her. Whatever, he didn’t want to be Jenna’s boyfriend, I get it. But dropping out of the scholarship this close to the performance? That was a jerk move.”

“I don’t get it,” Jordan put in. “Why can’t she just find another partner?”

“I’m sure she can. But who? Especially this close to the competition.” It would take hours and hours of practice on top of everything else she might have going on.

Everyone made sympathetic noises, but then the conversation moved back to music. We’d graduate in a little over two months. A week after that, we were scheduled for a show in Nashville with Carly. I’d met Asher’s mom once before when she visited him and asked to hear us play. It was then that she’d invited us to come on tour with her. We all knew we weren’t good enough to play with Carly Ryan. This about her spending time with Asher and we all knew it. But we’d be idiots to turn down an opportunity like that on principle.

“First thing, we need to figure out our setlist. Mom said we’d do three songs, but I want to have six ready.” Asher shuffled