A raucous choking noise emerged from Dennis’ throat, and Michelle noticed the half-eaten Twizzler in his left hand. Rachel rubbed his back sympathetically, checking on him as he proceeded to cough a lung up.

  “Are you okay?” Michelle asked.

  “Just fine,” Dennis coughed out.

  She turned back to Caledon, whose frown seemed almost offended.

  “No way,” he said. “What kind of person do you think I am? We have an agreement.”

  Beaming at him, she stepped closer. “Right? I knew you’d think the same way as me!”

  They were totally not like other couples.

  Michelle wanted to say that aloud, but the memory of those annoyed stares she’d gotten from Caledon’s friends earlier at lunch gave her pause. While she would absolutely mean it in a superior sort of way, maybe it wasn’t wise to express it in front of them.

  “Why would you even ask that?”

  “My friend was trying to scare me. I want to make sure we’re on the same page, you know?”

  “Well, that’s one direct way to ask about it.” Dennis finished drinking from his water bottle and fumbled to close it. “Not sure girls usually ask their boyfriends if they’re going to get dumped like that, but okay.”

  Rachel gave her a pitiful gnce, the kind of gnce that said Michelle was sorely cking in critical-thinking skills and truly needed to rethink her life choices. “And, anyway, even if the answer was yes, who would be stupid enough to say that?”

  Michelle wasn’t sure if she felt more insulted by the look or annoyed that she actually made a good point.

  As he resumed eating his Twizzler, Dennis said, “Retionships are about trust. You’re going to have to take each other’s word for it.” He paused. “But for your ‘retionship’, it’s not like you need it, so do whatever you like.”

  “You sounded almost wise at the beginning, but then you finished talking and I realized that I shouldn’t take any of your advice,” Michelle said.

  With a loud chortle, Caledon slung his arm over her shoulders and pulled her along. “Agreed.”

  As it turned out, Caledon was on his way to check out the bouldering club that Dennis and Rachel were in. Their school had a climbing wall which was utilized on occasion during gym csses for basic rock-climbing and bouldering lessons, but people who weren’t eager about the experience were allowed to go for a few ps around the gym instead after attempting to climb up a couple of holds. Michelle had been one of those, so she’d only ever touched the climbing wall a few times.

  Since her friends were all meeting up with their boyfriends after school as they always did nowadays, Michelle had nothing better to do at the moment and decided to tag along.

  According to Rachel, she had joined the club st year to follow her boyfriend. Due to her fear of falling, Dennis frequently had to encourage her during club activities.

  “I just wanted to be with him,” Rachel expined with a bashful expression.

  Michelle nodded as if she understood but secretly wondered why on Earth she’d choose a club she was afraid to participate in. There was no way she’d ever do that even if all her best friends were in that club.

  When they arrived, there were people already doing warm-ups. Some others were ying crash pads on the floor, aligning them to the climbing wall. A couple of guys were cing up their shoes and reaching their hands into little bags.

  After changing into gym clothes and coming out of the locker rooms, they were led by Dennis and Rachel towards the gym corner crowded with bags, sliding his own gym bag off his shoulder.

  At least ten girls were gathered in one cluster at a significant distance from those warming up on the glossy gym floor, but they were close enough for Michelle to assume that they were club members as well. Strangely, despite being dressed in athletic attire like everyone else, they merely stood there, looking around like they were waiting for something. A few more people strolled into the gym with a zy gait.

  “Wow, that’s a lot more people than I expected,” Michelle said, sweeping her gaze around to do a mental headcount.

  Gently dropping his bag to the ground, Dennis knelt down and unzipped it. Rachel followed suit, pulling out a pair of bck and orange climbing shoes.

  “We aren’t that big. There’s only about twenty of us.” He gnced around. “Some of them aren’t even here yet.”

  Doubtfully, Michelle reviewed the scene before her. “Aren’t there at least twenty here already?”

  “What?”

  Dennis simply raised his head in bewilderment. Then he followed her gaze, which was flicking between the group of girls and the people scattered before the climbing wall, and exhaled a snort of derision.

  “I forgot they were even here.”

  “Who are they?”

  “Oh,” Caledon said suddenly. “Are they those girls you mentioned before? The ones who are here to look at Augustus?”

  Michelle must have heard him incorrectly. “Excuse me, what did you just say?”

  “Yeah, you got that right.” Dennis’ entire face twisted into a grimace. “Even his name sounds pretentious.”

  “Isn’t that kind of mean?” Rachel said, chastisement in her tone. “There’s another Augustus in our grade who’s perfectly fine. What if his feelings get hurt?”

  “Babe, the other Augustus isn’t even here right now. He’s not going to know.”

  “Who’s Augustus? Is he a super hot coach who comes in to supervise you guys?” That was the only logical assumption she could make.

  Dennis’ grimace merely deepened. “Since when has our school ever hired an external coach for tiny clubs like this? We’re lucky to even have Ms. Enfield as our advisor.”

  She thought about the answer, but he didn’t give her more than half a second before speaking again.

  “It’s that guy there.” He jerked his chin in the direction of some guys scattered at the right side of the climbing wall. “The one wearing the dark gray shirt.”

  “There are five guys wearing a dark gray shirt.”

  Handing her gym bag over to Dennis, who then began walking towards a corner of the gym where the wall was lined with gym bags, Rachel said, “Yeah, but there’s only one girls would drool over. Look again.”

  Michelle gnced back skeptically at the guys strapping harnesses onto themselves. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Caledon doing the same.

  Seeing that Dennis was now out of earshot, Rachel looped an arm around Michelle and whispered, “It’s the only hot guy there.”

  “Oh.”

  She was right. There was only one guy out of everyone there wearing dark gray whose shirt fit him like a glove, tapering along his broad shoulder muscles and showing off his toned build. Without even being able to see his face yet, she could see why girls would appreciate looking at him.

  “Hey, I thought you weren’t supposed to call other guys hot.”

  Rachel raised her chin to stare Caledon down with steel in her eyes. “Caledon, I was talking to Michelle. Could you please not eavesdrop on us?”

  “Wha—” Looking wrong-footed, he goggled at Michelle and then back at Rachel again. “But you acted like I was the worst when I said another girl was cute… And I wasn’t talking to you then either!”

  She’d never seen that silly gape on Caledon’s face before. It turned his usual easygoing eyes and idback smile into a fbbergasted gre as if he was being sndered. Michelle couldn’t stop the burst of ughter from escaping her throat. With a silent accusation in his eyes, he turned to her.

  “Michelle, aren’t you going to back me up here? You’re my girlfriend.”

  Michelle scratched her head. “Uh, sure. But Rachel didn’t say that to Dennis directly. The thing you’re not supposed to do is tell your boyfriend the other dude is hot, I think.”

  “Or say it in front of your boyfriend,” Rachel supplied.

  “Right?” She nodded her head seriously. “I remember that’s what you guys said. So I’m not sure that applies here.”

  Rachel pulled Michelle closer with a smug gleam in her eye. “You’re such a fast learner, Michelle! That’s right, that’s right. It doesn’t apply here.”

  Just then, Dennis returned. Rachel pulled away from Michelle to scuttle up to him. Caledon cast her a disbelieving gnce that clearly indicated he felt wronged. She shrugged and lifted her hands, turning her palms upwards. It was his friend’s girlfriend after all. He’d have to take it up with Dennis if he had a problem with it.

  “So those girls aren’t in your club?”

  “Nope,” Dennis said. “They’re here for sole the purpose of cheering on one guy.”

  “And, um, admiring him.”

  He shot Rachel a dubious gnce. “That’s putting it nicely.”

  Michelle let out a long sound of realization. “They’re fans.”

  The disgusted expression Dennis gave her made Caledon ugh.

  “I’ve really got to see what he’s like.”

  “You will,” he replied grimly.

  LotteStarburst