earth was I here? What turn had my life taken that I was going to a party on a Friday night...with popular, fun-loving Will Lansing?
So he could take pictures of me?
For the internet?
I was officially in the Twilight Zone here, and the worst part was I still wasn’t entirely sure what had happened. At some point, the night before, while my teammates had been celebrating our victories, my friends and Will had been steamrolling me into this ridiculous plan.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come?” I asked, turning back to face them.
They pushed me forward. “We weren’t invited,” Lulu reminded me.
“You’ll do great!” Emma added.
“But what about Avery?” Our outgoing friend loved parties. Surely she’d—
“She’s knee-deep in taking care of a baby and trying to woo her crush, remember?”
“Okay, fine, what about Max?”
Lulu shot me a look. Max had a thing about popular people, and a lot of the swim team fell into that category. She’d probably sit in a corner making snide comments all night.
“What about Charlotte?”
Emma arched her brows. “Really?”
Charlotte was as shy as they came. If I didn’t do parties, she had nightmares about them. “Simone?”
Emma rolled her eyes. “Wild guess here, but I’d say she’s probably spending her Friday night with her new boyfriend.”
I cursed under my breath, and Emma pushed me again so I was stumbling to the door. “The sooner you go, the sooner it’ll be over,” she said.
“Maybe you’ll even have fun!” Lulu said.
I cast her a quick frown, and then the door was thrown open. Will Lansing.
He looked just as easygoing as ever, like standing in my doorway was something he did every day of the week, and this was no big whoop.
It was no big whoop, I reminded myself. This wasn’t a date, just a...a…
I had no idea what to call it.
But even knowing it wasn’t a date, my stomach churned at the thought of being alone in a car with Will, at being at a party with Will.
At being with Will. Period.
He made me uncomfortable. Not scared. It wasn’t like I thought he was a perv or a sociopath or something, he was just… Will Lansing.
His eyes moved over me from head to toe, a dark lock of hair in his eyes like always, making me want to shove it aside or just snip it off with some scissors.
“You look good,” he said with that small perma-smile that made me flinch.
What did that smile mean?
“Um…” I thought about telling him ‘you look good too’ but felt super stupid saying it. I mean, he did look good in jeans and a gray graphic tee that looked like it came from one of the trendy stores in the mall, but I still felt too embarrassed to speak it aloud. “Um…” I said instead. Because saying ‘umm’ over and over wasn’t awkward.
“Can I talk to you for a sec?” I turned to Emma as I said it, and before she could respond, I tugged her away from Lulu and Will, down the hall to our kitchen. My parents were out on a date night, and my sister was with her friends, so we had the house to ourselves.
“What’s wrong?” Emma asked. “This is supposed to be fun. You’re gonna show your Hottie McHotpants just how fun you can be.”
I cringed because...I didn’t know where to start.
“Please don’t call him that.”
She bobbed her head, her grin never fading. “No more McHotpants. Got it.”
“I think we need to revise this plan.”
She narrowed her eyes with suspicion. “Because you don’t have a crush on Hottie Mc—Hottie anymore?” She recovered nicely, I’d give her that.
“No, because…” He’d be there! Justin would be at this party. And he’d see me there with Will doing...well, whatever it was WIll thought he was going to do to get great Insta-worthy photos for yours truly.
Emma gripped my biceps and gave me a little shake. “Man up, Hazel Daly. Will is offering to help you—”
“But why?” I asked. That had been bothering me for twenty-four hours now. I didn’t trust him. More than that...I didn’t get him.
“Does it matter?” She shrugged. “Have you seen his photos in the newspaper? He’s a freakin’ genius with the lens. Every girl in our school would love to be his muse.”
She drew out the word ‘muse’ and fluttered her lashes, making it sound even more absurd.
I sighed. “Be serious.”
“I am!” She straightened to her full height...which was still much shorter than me. “The guy offered to do something nice. I say give him a chance.