The Magnolia League - By Katie Crouch Page 0,70

odd smells waft from the pipes and vents. Hayes’s house, however, is filled with gleaming, polished wood and freshly washed linens. Each piece of furniture is precious, polished to a gleam, and carefully arranged. You get the feeling that Hayes’s mom spends every moment painting, upholstering, or waxing. Like, the dog’s bed matches the tea towels, which match the doormat that matches the toilet paper holder, and I’m fairly certain none of that is an accident.

I wander down the blue plaid hallway into the yellow-and-red kitchen. Saffron… where would that be? Tentatively, I open a cabinet and peer inside.

“What are you looking for?” My heart leaps into my throat.

“Thaddeus!” I slam the cabinet door shut quickly. “I thought you’d be at lacrosse.”

Immediately, I’m horrified. Now he’ll know that I’ve totally memorized his schedule.

“I skipped today. I need to study for my calculus test. Unlike you girls, I actually study for things.” He gazes at me quizzically. “You look different lately.”

“It’s nothing. I just straightened my hair.”

“That’s it?” He steps back and looks me up and down. I have to admit, even though I don’t believe in the power of expensive clothes, I’m pretty happy to be wearing these awesome jeans right now.

“Well, I’ve been… riding my bike a lot.”

“Huh. Well. Listen, about the other day… I’m really sorry about your mom. That’s all I wanted to say. I can’t imagine what that loss must feel like. My mom’s a crazy Martha Stewart wannabe, but I’m glad I have her. Anyway—I’m sorry.”

“Thanks,” I say, my face growing red.

“Alex, hurry up,” Madison snaps as she enters the kitchen. “We’ve only got an hour. Oh. Hi, Thaddeus.”

“Hey,” he says to her. He opens the fridge as if he’s looking for food, then frowns. “Sorry I forgot to call you back about that thing.”

What thing? They call each other?

“Sure.” She looks at us. “I’m glad to see you both here, actually. There’s a rumor I want to clear up.”

“What?”

“Well, Thad, word on the street is you have a little crush on Alex here.”

My face heats to a thousand degrees.

“Madison—”

“So, my question is, what’s the holdup? If it’s true, don’t you think you should ask her out already?”

Thaddeus, clearly mortified, doesn’t say anything.

“I mean, she looks great, doesn’t she?”

“You know I can’t, Madison. She’s…”

I feel tears searing the edges of my eyes. So, I’m not good enough for Thaddeus. Just like Reggie.

I turn and leave the kitchen, heading to the porch. I know I’m supposed to help Hayes with her love spell or whatever, but now the tears are seriously coming down. I wipe them away angrily. First, I’m dumped by Reggie because I’m too fat. Now Thaddeus obviously thinks the same thing. Or something like that.

Not my type, man. Too chubby. Too weird.

I run down the porch steps to my bike, hop on, and begin pedaling away.

“Alex!”

Thaddeus is following me down to the garden.

“Alex, wait!”

He catches up to the bike and reaches for the handlebar. I swerve too quickly, falling on the drive. Crushed oyster shells bite into my hands.

“Crap!”

“Are you okay?”

“Leave me alone.”

“Alex, you need to understand,” Thaddeus says, holding out his hand to help me up. I brush it away, but he grabs me roughly under my armpits and yanks me up. “I promised myself I’d never date a Magnolia again.”

I look at the ground. My knee is bleeding. “You didn’t think I was too fat? Or too ‘out there’ or something?”

“No. I think you’re cool. I like that you’re different.”

Wait. Whaaaat? This is a complete one-eighty from what I thought was happening. This guy is a total high school god, and he likes me. Me.

“Um… I…”

Thaddeus gently puts his hand on my shoulders, then leans closer and looks into my eyes. “Alex,” he says, “you know I like talking to you. But this is the part where you shut up. Okay?”

Oh. My. God.

I nod. And I realize that, up in heaven, my mom must be cooking up a hoodoo spell of her own in my honor. Because just then—miracle of miracles—the hottest guy in school—no, on the planet— leans in and kisses me.

25

Okay, so. Life is now officially awesome.

I don’t think I’m overstating even a little when I say that the past month—it’s been exactly thirty days since Thaddeus first kissed me—has been the best in my existence, if not the history of the world. Just looking at the guy makes me so nervous that I want to throw up. Yup, he’s that good-looking. And cool. I love how he just