Ellie Sandberg would love to reinvent herself. When she earns a spot at an elite boarding school for young inventors, it seems like the perfect opportunity: A summer away from home, away from her overprotective parents, and away from the hopeless cr...
The blood races to my cheeks as I realize why he's here. I completely stole his jacket. He draped it around my shoulders as I sat shivering at the side of the pool, and I kept it on for my frantic flight back here to Fenmore Hall. Now it sits in a ball on my floor, tangled up with my disgusting shorts and t-shirt. I lunge to pick it up before he sees.
"Sorry!" I blurt, cringing as I hold it up to the light. No stains, miraculously. "I didn't mean to—I can get this dry cleaned."
"No, no." He takes it from me, shaking out the wrinkles. He sniffs at the lapel. "It's fine. Smells like..."
Like chlorine and humiliation?
He sniffs again, more deeply. Then he breaks into that grin of his, full of mischief. "Smells like a drowned bunny rabbit. Here, try it. It's nice."
He holds it out to me to smell for myself, but I stumble backward onto my bed. My hands rise to my face to hide my flaming cheeks, but I'm laughing through my fingers. "Sorry," I manage to whimper.
His perfect arms disappear inside the blazer's sleeves. "No problem," he says, as he tugs at the collar and fastens the top button. He glances toward my door. "I should probably go, though."
Oh right. The door. I point at it. "Are we going to get in trouble for that?"
His grin goes slightly crooked. "Nah, I took care of it."
"What do you mean, you—"
He cocks his head sideways, and his hair flops over, half-covering his left eye. (I thought my cheeks were red before, but this is getting out of hand.) "This is my third summer here," he tells me softly. "I know my way around."
I swallow. Something about the way he said that seemed...
He's not flirting with you, Ellie. I'm totally imagining it. Obviously. My eyes dart away from his, moving randomly until they come to rest on my desk. My glasses sit where I left them on the desktop. I move to pick them up, pretending to examine them so I don't have to meet his eyes again.
"Are they still working OK?" he asks.
The blue LED light glares at me, bright as ever. "I think so."
"Good." I can hear him smiling. "Because you picked the wrong choice last time."
My head jerks up. I suddenly remember the prompt when he approached me at the party.
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Mutual attraction? And then his avatar blew a kiss?
But that can't be. He clearly has a girlfriend. Eleanor. There's no way he—
No.
No no.
No no no.
I'm misinterpreting. Maybe Maddox didn't see the same prompt I did. He must have been prompted something different. Something where blowing a kiss would seem totally innocent and normal. Something like... Oh, I don't know...
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Right. And it was probably the other Eleanor standing behind me. Obviously.
"I should go," Maddox says as he turns to leave. "See you around."
"Bye," I manage weakly.
I go to shut the door behind him, and his soft voice floats back to me over his shoulder. His parting words throw my thoughts into a whole new disarray. There's no else in the hallway. No one else he could be talking to. And no mistaking the way his voice drops into the back of his throat, low and seductive.
"Next time, little rabbit... don't run away."
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