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I put the thoughts of s aside and I reminded myself of how she reacted when I flirted with Gretchen and re in to ot out of ate, then sat as I waited for her to make an appearance

I felt the shift of ate "Glad to see youhe was referring to Gretchen, I answered, "I’m pretty sure you can’t call her a lady, but I haven’t seen her yet Frankly, I’ures out that she and I don’t have the sao well"

"And what is your agenda for tonight?" he asked, suspiciously

"Things with Claire have changed a little since we talked I ran into her after school and we had an interesting…let’s say interaction I think I almost had her"

"What do you mean you think you alet rid of Gretchen tonight," I bragged

"I think you’re wrong about that," he infor about me and Claire? "How do you know? You weren’t there"

He hesitantly answered, "Dude…I hate to break it to you but Forbes said that tonight was the night for hi, but I needed confirmation "What is that supposed to ht"

"I assu about tapping it tonight then that ood inforiven herself to him In fact, I loved it and it ured out at all

"I wish you the best of luck if Claire is into you, but be prepared for Henderson’s wrath because it won’t be pretty if you take his girl Especially if he thinks he’s finally about to get what he’s worked on for so long," Dane warned

I looked across the field, hts of the bonfire standing with a sroup of friends next to Forbes and Payton "I would be disappointed if his wrath was anything less than ugly"

Claire’s eyes caught mine and she smiled When I returned her smile, I watched hers suddenly disappear as I felt a hand onnext to me

Dane took Gretchen’s arrival as his cue to leave and said, "I’ll catch up with you guys later"

I had hoped to talk to Claire before I got stuck with Gretchen Of course, I had no such luck "Been here long?" she asked

"Nah, just got here about five ht stand h it wasn’t even a remote possibility and totally unaware I would have in a heartbeat if only the right girl had asked o for a ride?" she propositioned with a suggestive tone

Wow, she wasted no tiirl had a turbo charged sex drive "I’ out here for a while You want a beer?"

"Sure," she said, her voice drenched with disappointment by et drunk, then pass out and leave rab us a couple Be right back"

I grabbed a cup and began to fill it with beer for my date as I saw Claire walk toward me When she stopped by my side, I said, "Hey, Princess, need a refill?"

She shed as she said, "Yeah, I’ll let you fillfor irl and you have everyone fooled But you know that already, don’t you?"

She grinned ht have reement "Nope, you don’t have me fooled Maybe you did a little at first, but it didn’t even last a whole day"

"Why is that? People that have known me my entire life can’t see me for who I really aed me"

"Maybe we’re more alike than you know"

She looked around for eavesdroppers, then said, "I need to talk to you alone, but not right now"

There they were; the words I was dying to hear "Okay What cha got in mind?"

"Give me at least half an hour, then watch for ht over there," she said as she pointed out the area where she would be

"Okay, I’ll meet you there," I said before we parted ways and I returned with Gretchen’s beer

She began her interrogation as soon as I returned "What did the Miss Goody Goody have to say to you?"

"Nothing you’d care to hear," I replied dryly, which wasn’t a total lie