Playing Hooky with the Hottie - Maggie Dallen Page 0,14

he snapped away with a grin. “Gorgeous.”

I could feel heat in my cheeks and dropped my head. “I’m not gorgeous.”

He didn’t respond at first, too intent on his camera, but when he looked up, his eyes met mine evenly. “Trust me when I say you are.” He held up his camera. “The camera never lies.”

I widened my eyes in surprise—at the words, but also the sincerity behind them. I wasn’t sure I’d ever said anything with such earnestness.

“If Columbo doesn’t get you all hot and bothered, how about Matlock?”

And the moment of earnest sincerity was over.

I shook my head with an exasperated sigh. “What are you talking about?”

“You like those murder mystery shows, right? The old ones.”

“It’s not a crime,” I said.

“Nope, I used to watch them, too…” He grinned. “With my grandma.”

I rolled my eyes, but I was laughing.

“That’s it. Work it,” he said. “I knew it was the sexy Matlock talk that would loosen you up.”

I shook my head with a laugh. “You’re insane.”

“And you are cuckoo for crime shows. It’s all good. Whatever makes you smile, Hazey May.”

“Ugh. Stop calling me that.”

“Not until you tell me all about Murder She Wrote,” he shot back. “Come on. I know you’ve just been dying to share your love of J.B. Fletcher with someone. Now is your chance.” He dropped the camera long enough to waggle his eyebrows. “Show me that passion, Haze. Let your freak flag fly.”

I burst out in a laugh. I couldn’t help it. He was just so...so...weird. “You’re nuts, you know that, right?”

His answer was a lopsided smile behind his camera.

“Trust me, this is gold,” he said when he pulled back to look at something on his camera. He took another shot of me when I scowled. “You’re gonna thank me.”

By Monday at lunch, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to thank Will or kill him. It was a toss-up.

“OMG, you look amazing!” Emma gushed.

I dipped my head. “Keep your voice down,” I whispered.

Not that it would help. People were already looking to see what all the commotion was about.

“He’s a genius.”

“I wouldn’t say genius,” I muttered.

“I would. Look at you!”

I was looking. I was staring actually.

Don’t ask me how, but Will finagled his way into my social media accounts. Okay fine, he didn’t hack my computer or anything, but somehow at the end of the night, he managed to get my password from me, and...I still wasn’t quite sure how. It had involved teasing and laughing and a whole lot of smiles.

I frowned down at the screen.

Maybe he was a genius.

An evil genius.

All I knew was, my once boring, barely used Instagram account was now flooded with pictures and likes and comments and hashtags and…

I looked good.

“Told ya you were gorgeous.”

My head snapped up, and I found that Will had slid into the seat beside mine at the lunch table, forcing poor Charlotte to scooch closer to Max.

“You...you…you made me look…”

“Fun?” he finished, his brows arched. “Beautiful? Sexy?”

My mouth flapped open and shut, but no words came out. I was too shocked.

Yes. Yes, he’d made me look….all of those things. “It’s magic,” I finally blurted out.

He laughed, and my other friends started talking amongst themselves about these pictures that had suddenly shown up this morning.

“Not magic, just skill.”

My brows hitched up as well. “Skill in magic?”

He laughed, but...I hadn’t been joking. I wasn’t sure how else to explain these pictures. He’d managed to make me look like someone else entirely. He’d caught me mid-laugh with my eyes crinkled up and my head tipped back. He’d somehow made me look flirty and carefree and…

Nothing like me.

I was still thrown by what I’d seen. Like casting a glance in a funhouse mirror, it was me...but it wasn’t.

And I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.

“You’re welcome,” he said.

I blinked and straightened, all at once remembering my manners. “Thank you. I mean...I don’t know why you did this for me but…” I glanced back down at the photos that classmate after classmate had been commenting on all morning. “Thank you.”

He stood up and ruffled my hair, making me feel about eight years old before he walked away, and I was forced to take my ponytail out and redo it.

“Do you think it worked?” Lulu asked.

All eyes were on me. Even Max seemed interested in my answer. The secret that I had a crush was officially out. Emma, Max and I had gone over to Avery’s house to help her with her health baby assignment, and Emma had spilled