Discipline

“I’m sorry!” She held her hands in the air. “But I’m telling you, some ass is all she needs to be less clingy. Then she’ll latch onto him instead of you.”

“That’s evil,” Harry said, aghast.

“But necessary,” Em replied.

As they went into their usual bickering, I tried coming to terms with the fact that I’d be going back to Woodhill by the end of the week. Or earlier. I hadn’t been back for nearly a year.

“Hey, Kels,” I called out. “When are you going home for Jake and Shawn’s graduation?”

She pried her eyes from her phone. “When are we going home, you mean?”

“Yeah.” Of course.

“Uh, are you being serious right now? I hope you took off from work because we’re supposed to all go shopping for dresses for your Mom’s party, and then we have a family dinner on Thursday night at Dieci.” Kelsey set her phone down on her lap when I blinked at her with surprise. “Nina, dummy. We have to be in Woodhill by tomorrow.”

~

Kelsey’s hawk eyes followed a blue Audi through the glass windows at Doreen’s, the tiny café that every Woodhiller flocked to for coffee, though it wasn’t particularly good and especially not for five bucks.

“Kill me. It is Logan Foster.” Kelsey turned from the window dramatically as Logan got out of his car.

“I don’t have bronzer on.” Paige Bower patted her cheeks in hopes of bringing color to her face.

Knowing that my friends weren’t home yet, Kelsey and Paige dragged me out to Doreen’s because “three always looks better than two.” The place is always crowded and full of people looking for small talk, but I went. It beat sitting at home and listening to Mom’s interrogations about Ben. “Are you two in a fight? You’re fighting, aren’t you? Oh, don’t fight! It’s just miscommunication if you’re fighting. Are you fighting?”

As Kelsey and Paige flip-flopped between giddiness and mortification, I looked towards the entrance where Logan was coming through. He still had the floppy surfer hair that Ke

lsey used to gush over junior year. It was all coming back to me. She’d crushed hard on this guy for the whole latter half of high school. I grinned to myself as I imagined Em in my ear, urging me to find a Woodhill boy for Kelsey.

“Hey, Logan!” I shocked the girls with my sudden call across the room.

“What are you doing?” Kelsey hissed, tugging my arm down so I’d stop waving. I did once I realized that I was pulling an Adriana.

“Sorry! You want to talk to him though, right?”

“Yes, but I wanted to think of something to say first,” Kelsey whispered hastily before flashing a sunny smile up at Logan, who now stood before our table. “Hi, Logan!”

“Hi, Logan,” Paige echoed.

“’Sup.” He nodded at both of them before turning to me. “Decker,” he said, drawing out my name with a big grin. “Man, I haven’t seen you in awhile. You look different.”

“Oh. Ha.” I smiled nervously. His tone seemed flirtatious right off the bat. Damn it, Logan. This wasn’t the plan. I pulled up my tunic so he’d stop staring at my chest.

“I like your shirt,” he said when he realized that I’d caught him looking.

“Kelsey made it!” I blurted, a little too excited about bringing the topic to her. “It took her like, five minutes.”

“Whoa. Good job, Kels,” Logan said, giving her a nod. “You must be a good sewer.”

Oh, Logan. He was a stoner of few words, but Kelsey swooned anyway.

“Thank you! I’m studying costume design. I used to do all the clothes for the plays, I don’t know if you remember,” she said. When he shrugged, she filled the silence. “What are you majoring in again?”

“English.”

Really? Bless his heart, that Logan. Even Kelsey couldn’t contain her surprise. “Wow! I… didn’t even know you liked English!”

That sleepy grin spread his lips again and he nodded at me. “Decker’s fault.”