Road Trip with a Nerd - Stephanie Street

Chapter One

Mallory

Tears filled my eyes as I stared at the message on my phone screen. My heart ached while my brain struggled to come up with an explanation for what I saw—a photo of my boyfriend kissing my best friend—an explanation other than the obvious.

My boyfriend had cheated on me with my best friend.

It was a mistake. It had to be! Matt wouldn’t do this to me. We were M and M, Matt and Mallory. Meant to be. And what about Livvy? We’d been best friends since kindergarten. Why was she kissing my boyfriend?

I’d only been gone five days. Five days ago, Matt kissed me. Just before I left for my last trip to Nationals with the Future Business Leaders of America. I hadn’t even planned on attending this year since it took place after graduation. I’d been twice before, each of the summers after my sophomore and junior years. But Mr. Richards, the club sponsor, talked me into it.

Right now, I wished Mr. Richards was around so I could give him a piece of my mind because it looked like my five days of taking economics tests and presenting marketing plans had cost me a boyfriend!

I couldn’t do that, however, because Mr. Richards had already left for the airport. Along with the rest of the students from my high school.

I should have been with them, but instead of going home, I would be spending the next two weeks with my sister Jenny, a student at the University of Utah. We were supposed to be exploring my college options while my parents were on a cruise.

But Jenny was stuck in traffic on her way to pick me up at the hotel. Mr. Richards had been beside himself, pacing and glancing at his watch as we waited for my sister to arrive to pick me up. He wasn’t supposed to leave me at the hotel by myself. But he and the other students were going to miss their plane home to Indianapolis if they didn’t catch the shuttle to the airport. I reassured him Jenny was on her way. I was eighteen, after all, and perfectly capable of sitting in a hotel lobby for half an hour by myself. He finally relented—it was that, or everyone would miss their flight—leaving me with strict instructions to text him as soon as my sister arrived.

But that was before the text.

Screw visiting colleges. I couldn’t stay in Salt Lake now.

I had to find out what exactly was going on between my two-timing boyfriend and my back-stabbing best friend. And since neither of them would respond to my text messages or answer my calls, I knew I had to get home.

But how?

It was too late to fly with the rest of my group. I could call a taxi or wait for another shuttle to the airport. I didn’t really have enough money to pay for a ticket, especially not a last-minute ticket.

I’d just pulled up an internet browser on my phone to explore my options when I saw him.

Grant Baker.

Probably the biggest nerd in our graduating class. What in the world was he still doing at the hotel? Why hadn’t he gone to the airport with everyone else? How was he getting back home? And more importantly, did I have the guts to go and ask him?

I shook my head. No way!

Glancing over again, I bit my lip.

Seriously? Grant Baker? It couldn’t have been someone else? Anyone else.

In the thirteen years I’d known Grant, we’d maybe spoken a handful of times. We had classes together, FBLA and Science Club. Otherwise, I didn’t know anything about him, except he’d graduated Valedictorian of our class. Although, he’d declined to make the customary speech at the actual event. To be honest, he was intimidating. I didn’t know anyone else as smart as him. He seemed to know everything about everything.

While I sat debating whether or not to follow him, Grant turned his head and our eyes met. I wish I could say something magical happened, and he swooped in like a knight in shining armor to rescue me. But instead, his brow creased, his steps stuttering before changing direction almost as though his feet moved against his will as they brought him toward me.

“Mallory?” His deep voice carried across the hotel lobby where I’d taken up residence.

I smiled as though we were best friends. We weren’t. We didn’t have any friends in common. In fact, I couldn’t think of a single person at our high school Grant associated with