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I brushed ainst her cheek "I know"

"I… I kind of wanted to kiss you then"

"You did kissback to the time ithin the atriu otten carried away myself "Well I wanted to kiss you even before that When ere pretending to make out"

The small amount of blood that she had in her cheeks rose to the surface, giving her face a cute pale pink glow She sot me a bit hot and bothered"

We ain, and then she sat back down in her seat

"Are there lots of people our age in The Shade?" she asked

"Yes," I replied "There are lots of people of all ages in The Shade It’s kind of a place for everyone"

"You must be the hottie of the island"

I rolled my eyes It would be a lie to say that it wasn’t a constant effort to keep girls at bay back ho that I was interested in boasting about or letting on to So I chose not to respond to her comment

"And what about you, beautiful? I was surprised when you told ht that you’d be the target of all the boys in your class"

She shrugged "I guess I don’t make myself very approachable And I’ve had faet asked out, I’d never really have felt stable enough to commit myself much… You, um, you’re the first boy I’ve ever kissed"

"Wow… I, uh, wouldn’t have guessed if you hadn’t told lad that she had toldthat I didn’t take lightly

"You said that your brother is autistic," I said "Is that the ‘fa to?" I hoped that my question wasn’t intrusive I didn’t want to pry into soenuinely curious

"Well, my dad has been… kind of an asshole, shall we say He’s actually in jail right now He’s been sentenced to ten years"

"Oh I’ to be sorry about," she said "It’s just life… He put a real strain on our finances before he left, andfor a while to care for all of us, including a disabled nineteen-year-old So I got into the habit of working a lot to help out My grandfather, he’s comfortably wealthy, and has often offered s have been aard between them… Anyway I don’t want to bore you with my sob story"