Page 20 of Ask No Questions

I was about to say no, but Mckayla sat up and put her elbows on the table looking directly at him. “Gage Vance knows her and doesn’t like her.”

“How have you already gotten on Vance’s hit list, Aubrey?” Mike seemed more angry than shocked which didn’t make much sense.

“I met him at the bonfire, kind of, I was just trying to introduce myself.”

“It doesn’t matter. We’ll make it clear that he is to stay away from you, deal?” He waited for me to agree before standing. “Well, enjoy your lunch, ladies.” He winked as he walked away with his pack following.

I whispered to Talia, “Is Gage a criminal or something?”

“Not exactly. He’s just the type that causes trouble, especially for good girls like you.”

I stared at her. What did that mean? None of them seemed like they were going to give answers anytime soon. Maybe I just had to figure it out myself.

Yearbook turned out to be more of an excuse to walk around than it was a class. I saw why Mckayla was so excited about me being in there with her. We were able to go anywhere on campus for fifty minutes every day as long as we had one of the school cameras with us. She told me that she would usually get one or two people called out of class so she could ‘interview’ them for one of the pages. It would easily be my favorite class this semester. Once we checked in with the teacher, Ms. Gonzalez, we were free to go. Mckayla was giving me the grand tour, snapping a few random photos so we seemed legitimate, when we ran into Tucker.

“Ladies! No need to sneak around to find me. I’ll come whenever you call.”

“Gross, Tuck. We’re just taking photos for the yearbook, actually.” Mckayla held up the camera.

“Well, why don’t you come in and watch the basketball team practice? I’m sure you could always use more pictures of me.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. I thought she was going to start a fight. “False. We have everything we need. We’re going to the science labs. Come on, Aubrey.”

I followed after her as she gave Tucker another glare just for good measure, but he just laughed. I didn’t know if Mckayla was joking or not about the science labs, but I was hoping she was. I did not want to spend this free period smelling weird chemicals or watching people dissect animals.

She was serious. We were walking through the science hall when I suddenly realized why. We were stopped outside a chemistry lab where Sean Elliot happened to be the teacher’s aide. I gave her a side glance, smiling as she knocked on the door to get his attention. Sean looked up and had a comical look on his face when he saw Mckayla trying to get him to come over. She wouldn’t look at me as he made his way to the door, so I just observed.

“Hey, Sean, we have a question for the yearbook we were hoping you could answer.” We do? “We want to get some cool shots of experiments and projects that are happening so I––I mean we––were wondering if you knew when the dates are that we should come for those.” Did she just stutter? Who was she?

“Sure, Mckayla.” His blush was coming in full force. “Just wait for a minute, and I’ll go get a syllabus for you.”

As he hurried back in, I turned to her without speaking, just waiting for her to explain. She didn’t. She shot me one glance and turned back to the door, bouncing on her feet a little.

Was she actually nervous? Before I could ask, Sean came back out and explained when the best days would be before excusing himself back to the class. We started back to our room since the class period was almost over, and I waited until we were outside before stopping her.

“Want to explain that to me?”

She flipped her hair and pretended nothing freaky had happened two seconds ago. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, please! Mckayla, you were practically drooling at his feet! You like him! Wait, no, you love him!” I was smiling like a loon as I figured it out.

She was serious when she looked at me.

“I do not love him, Aubrey. I was simply partners with him once upon a time.”

“So why did you seek him out? You could have asked the teacher or found out in your own science class.”

She pursed her lips and stared at her shoes. “Seeing him today brought all my stupid feelings back. I kind of got jealous when I saw you two walking together. I thought maybe you liked him.” She met my eyes, and I realized she wanted confirmation. I shook my head, and she continued with a soft sigh. “I’ve tried to forget about him, but I can’t help it. He’s so cute and sweet and funny, but he’s from a different world. He’s super smart and cultured. He would never be interested in me.”

I knew I shouldn’t have, but I burst out laughing. It was the most absurd thing I had ever heard. Mckayla was self-conscious and insecure because of Sean! He loved her. I saw that after one glance between the two. I should have mentioned this, but Mckayla saw me laughing and stomped off before I could tell her. I ran to catch up to her before she hated me for mocking her.

“Mac, I’m sorry! I wasn’t laughing at you for liking Sean. It’s just so ironic because I can tell he likes you too! You should have seen the way he looked at you during lunch. You should really consider asking him out or something. I saw a poster about winter formal, and its ladies' choice, right? That’s the perfect opportunity for you guys!”

She stopped and spun around. “You don’t think it’s ridiculous that I like him? You don’t think he’s out of my league?” She dropped her head back. “I’ve been so nervous to tell anyone because I thought they would laugh at me, like you just did, but I really do like him! Do you think he would say yes to me?”

She looked so sad and hopeful I just had to hug her. We laughed as I promised her he would.

“Now you just have to decide who you’re going to ask! And you better be quick. It’s only like three weeks away, and some guys already have dates.”