Rumor Has It (Rumor Has It #1)(30)

I cringe the moment I read Emma's text. Of course, her friends hate me. If someone did that to one of my friends, I'd hate them too. But I force myself to look on the bright side. She texted me in the morning. Even if it was to tell me her friends hated me, she still thought of me. Sure, not so much how I wanted to be thought of by her, but I’ll take what I can get.

I keep racking my brain the entire day, trying to think of how I'm going to win her over. Even if she doesn't hate Texting Me, she dislikes him thoroughly. And me—Carter—well that's clear. She absolutely does hate me. To make this work I have to win her over on both fronts, but I have to make sure Carter is winning her over more.

Seeing her walk into history, I still don't know what I'm going to do. She looks over, and I avert my eyes so that I won't be ‘checking her out' again. She takes her seat, and I just sit there, trying to think of something. I spend the entire class half paying attention and the other half thinking what I can do. I know I can't just walk up to her. I did that, and it was horrible. I have to find an opening.

When the bell rings, I start to put my book in my backpack and see her leave class. Walking out, she heads to the east wing, so I motion to Matt that I'll catch up with him and follow her from a distance. I know, creepy and a little stalkerish, but an idea is starting to form. She's going to the art building, so she probably has art for her last class. If that's the case, I can ‘accidentally' run into her after school. I've already seen her sketchbook, maybe I can comment on that? There's only one way to find out.

When the bell rings at the end of class, I tell Matt to cover for me at practice in case I'm late and rush to the other end of campus, still unsure if this is a good idea or not. I'm not even sure if I'm going to time it right, but I'm hoping since it's her last class, and she likes art, it will take her a little more time than usual to leave.

Turning a corner, I watch as a few students leave the room. Gritting my teeth, I stay back for a minute, hoping I haven't already missed her. Then she walks out, and a bucket of nerves dumps into my stomach. Letting out a deep huff, I walk quickly to catch up with her.

“Hey, Emma,” I try to say, but it comes out as a cough.

“Carter?”

“Uh, yeah.” I rub the back of my neck, trying to shake the jitters, but failing miserably.

“Hey.” She stares at me, waiting for me to reply.

“Hey. Um …” I look around for something—anything—to talk about, completely forgetting my idea of mentioning her sketchbook. “So, um …”

“You okay?” She lets out a chortle.

“Yeah.”

She looks around and then back at me. “Did you need something or …?”

“Oh, right.” I snort at myself. Yeah, this is going great. “Sorry. Yeah, I just wanted to apologize. For the other day.”

“What?”

“You know, for disturbing you, or whatever. I seemed to piss you off pretty bad, so, I’m sorry. I hope your friend made it better.”

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Why did I mention that when she thinks I stood her up?

She frowns, looking at the ground. “He didn’t show up.”

“Oh.”

She shoots me an annoyed look. “Don’t say it like that.”

“No.” I shake my head, waving my hands. “Seriously, I didn’t mean to say it … however it sounded. Sorry.” I suddenly have a new idea, but I have to tread lightly. “That’s an ass move.”

“Hey, I said—”

“No, I know. Sorry.” I hold up my hands.

She still likes him. Me. Okay, that’s a good sign. Now I just have to start changing the tracks to me me. I point at her arm, where I see spots of red and purple paint. “What’s this?”

“Uh, paint.”

“No, yeah. Right.” I chuckle, trying not to sound too oblivious. “Of course, I know that’s what it is. So, you just got out of art?”

“That’s why there’s paint on me, Carter.”

“Right, yeah.” Damn, this is going to be harder than I thought. “You know, you’re really good.”

“What?” She gives me a cautious leer.

“I saw your sketchbook, at lunch that day. It’s good.”

“Oh, thanks.”

Okay, no sarcastic comment. I’ll take that as a win. I have to get out of here quickly before I screw it up and she starts hating me again. “Okay, well, I gotta get to practice. But, yeah, I just wanted to apologize.”

"Okay," she says, but it comes out low like she doesn't understand what's happening.

I give a half-grin and turn to leave, feeling like I finally did something right. Sure, I have a long way to go, but this is the first step. Now, I just can’t screw it up along the way.





Chapter 22





Emma





The entire day goes by without any other texts. After school, and after the weird interaction with Carter, I almost decide to text Baller but then think better of it. He screwed this up. If he wants to keep talking, then he’s going to have to make things better. But as nightfall comes around, I’m even second guessing that, still not receiving any texts.