Kiss and Break Up - Ella Fields Page 0,2

whites of my teeth, and exhilaration coursed through me.

“Let’s cut it all off.”

Mom sucked in a shocked breath, the magazine slipping and almost falling to the purple painted concrete floor.

Suella grinned, then immediately got to work.

As blonde curls tumbled, splashing onto the ground around Suella’s knee-high black boots, my slick hands slowly unclenched, relinquishing the grip on my phone.

While Mom was waiting for her color to be rinsed, I decided to head to the newsstand to find the latest issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today.

The breeze kissed my legs as I stepped outside, my new hair bouncing around my shoulders. Suella had dried the curls into soft waves, and the absence of the heaviness that typically fell over my back and shoulders had my lips curving.

Outside the poster smeared shop, I waited for two guys I recognized from school to pass, who barely paid me any notice, nothing unusual there, then quickly took a selfie.

Inside, the scent of magazines caused my chest to flutter, and I waved to Rich behind the counter before scurrying over to the craft section.

With a magazine in one hand and my phone in the other, I paused as soon as I heard the latter beep.

Willa: I’m sorry, I think you have the wrong number.

Daphne: Right?! Talk about a lame case of who the hell are you and what have you done with my friend?

I texted back, trying to contain my smile as someone crept behind me in the otherwise empty aisle.

Me: CRAZY! I feel like a brand-new person.

“Hey. Peggy, right?” a deep voice asked.

I almost dropped my phone, pivoting slightly to discover a broad, hard chest. My eyes zoomed up, and the face of Byron Woods stared down at me.

“Uh, yeah.” I laughed the type of nervous laugh that made me want to smack myself. “That’s me.”

What did he want, and why was he smiling at me?

His bright whites held my attention. So much so, it took me too long to notice the smooth lips around them moving.

“I’m sorry, what?”

He chuckled. “I said, I just passed you outside, but you must not have seen me.”

“Oh, my bad.”

“I didn’t want to go all stalker on you, but …” He seemed to be flushing a little. “There’s a party this weekend at Wade’s house. Ah, so I just thought I’d see if you knew about it.”

I lowered my lashes, shifting. “I do now.”

“Right.” He ran a hand over his close-cropped hair, huffing out a laugh. “I guess what I meant to say is, it’d be pretty cool if I saw you there.”

My stomach dipped, and my hand grew clammy around the glossy cover of the magazine. He was asking me out? Maybe? I didn’t know. All I knew was that Byron was cute in that boy-next-door kind of way. Okay, cute was probably an understatement. He was tall, muscular in all kinds of lovely places thanks to being on the lacrosse team, and had deep brown hair and biting green eyes.

And, as far as I knew when school had let out, not single.

“Don’t you have a girlfriend?” I blurted, immediately cringing.

“Not anymore.” He eyed my phone, which was hanging precariously between my slippery fingers, as if he was contemplating asking for my number. “So I’ll see you Friday?”

All I could do was nod and watch him swagger outside to where his friend Danny was waiting.

Not anymore.

What did that even mean?

Panic mixed with excitement, and unable to pinpoint which one was winning, I fired off another text.

Me: Emergency meeting required. Meet me at my place tomorrow.

Peggy

“He and Kayla apparently broke up like two weeks ago after she was caught making out with some college guy at a party.” Willa took a sip of soda. “Pictures everywhere.” Setting her can down, she flipped some of her long, wavy brown hair over her shoulder and started fiddling with the box of lace.

Mom was at work, which was why I’d waited to hold this little gathering until today even though I’d been desperate.

It was hard enough to deal with Dash, who’d persistently said I was acting weird when I’d gotten home yesterday and logged on to play Blitz.

I’d brushed him off, but he wouldn’t be kept in the dark long.

The way he had to pry into every facet of my life infuriated me. Nothing was sacred. But when it came to him, he’d look at me like I was crazy if I ever dared to ask about what he was doing or who he’d slept with.

“That’s gotta suck.” I spun the