But Willow has every reason to be stressed, since she has so much on her plate. On top of helping her parents out financially by working almost every weekend, she’s also trying to get an academic scholarship and spends crazy amounts of hours doing schoolwork.

Beck reaches over with his free hand and steals a handful of crackers from the bag on my lap. “Eat before you sleep,” he says to Willow, offering her the crackers. “You’re too skinny.”

Willow opens her eyes and takes the crackers from Beckett. “Thanks, Beck. I don’t know what I’d do without you sometimes.”

“Probably laugh less.” He gently pinches her in the side before nuzzling against her.

“That’s not fair,” Wynter says to Beck with her lip jutted out. “You’re always nice to Willow and Luna, but all I get from you is being called a spoiled brat.”

“That’s because Will and Lu don’t call me a rich douche all the time,” Beckett mutters. “Nice people get treated nicely.”

I internally grimace. What is with all the nice comments getting thrown in my direction today? My guilt is starting to give me a stomachache.

“I guess I kind of see your point,” Wynter muses thoughtfully, but then her mood fizzles as her gaze darts toward the school. “Oh, boy. Here comes drama.”

I track her gaze to Grey heading in our direction. That lazy smile spreads across his face when he notices me looking at him, and my heart betrays me by fluttering in my chest like a lunatic.

“What a cocky asshole, just like every other damn jock in this school,” Wynter mutters, glaring at him. “He just sees some girls looking in his direction and automatically thinks we’re checking him out.”

She might be wrong, considering I was just kinda, sorta ogling him. Call it a bad habit since tenth grade that I haven’t been able to break.

“Hey, I’m a jock,” Beck says. “And I don’t think like that.”

“You’re not a jock,” Wynter insists. “You just play sports.”

Beck tips his head, slides his sunglasses down, and looks at Wynter. “What’s the difference?”

“Jocks are sports guys who hang out with other sports guys and obsess about sports and think they’re so awesome because they can throw and kick a ball,” Wynter explains. “You, my friend, hang out with a bunch of weirdoes who don’t ever want to hear about any of the sports you play. See? That’s how much we love you. Enough that we haven’t let you fall into the jock mold.”

“Gee, thanks.” Beck shakes his head in disbelief.

“You’re welcome,” Wynter replies, beaming. “And you say I never compliment you.”

“Hey,” Grey says to me, interrupting the conversation.

Ari, Wynter, Beck, and I all look up at him, while Willow remains asleep on Beck’s arm. Some of Grey’s confidence diminishes from our scrutinizing gazes.

“Are you lost or something?” Wynter points at the school. “The gym’s that way.”

“I know where the gym is.” Grey shoots me a quizzical glance and I shrug.

Wynter crisscrosses her legs then rests back on her hands. “So why aren’t you there? That is where all you jockheads hang out all the time, right?”

“Be nice,” I beg Wynter. “Please.”

“Why? He and his steroid friends aren’t nice to anyone other than Dixie, Mixie, and the ditz squad.” Wynter looks at Grey with her brows raised, challenging him to argue with her.

Grey seems the slightest bit amused, the corners of his lips twitching. “If you’re talking about the girls on the cheerleading squad, then I think their names are Dixie and Pixie, not Dixie and Mixie.”

“You’d know better than I would”—Wynter folds her arms across her chest and pins him with her best sassy smirk—“since you’ve probably screwed every single one of them.”

Ari chokes on a mouthful of food while Beck grumbles, and Willow bites down on her bottom lip to restrain a smile while keeping her eyes closed.

Grey lifts a shoulder. “I guess you’d know better than I do since you seem to know everything about me.”

“You said you needed to talk to me?” I say to Grey as I leap to my feet.

His gaze sweeps across my friends before landing back on me. “Can we talk somewhere more private?”

Wynter mouths, “Privately? No way.”

I turn my back on Wynter and gesture at Grey. “Yeah, sure. Lead the way.”

“Be careful, Lu. Don’t let him try to charm you with his jock good looks,” Wynter hollers as Grey and I start across the grass toward the center of the quad. “Remember tenth grade.”

My cheeks heat. I love Wynter to death, but she really needs to stop saying every single thing that pops into her head.

Grey remains silent as we make our way around the people eating lunch on the grass. I catch people gawking at us and cringe when we pass by Piper Talperson, Grey’s girlfriend for the last year.

Grey has stuck to his type over the years, and Piper fits it impeccably: a popular cheerleader with curves. Her hair and makeup are always flawlessly done, and she wears the latest fashions. Honestly, she reminds me a lot of Wynter; only, Wynter has more of an edge to her style and is a hell of a lot nicer.

Looking annoyed, Piper stands up from the bench she’s sitting on and pushes her way over to us. “Babe, where are you going?” she asks Grey, snagging the sleeve of his shirt to stop him.

Grey stops in his tracks, casting an uneasy glance at me as he faces her. “I just need to talk to Luna about something for class,” he explains to Piper.

“Oh, hey, is it Luna?” she says like she just noticed me standing there and has never met me before.

“Yeah.” I force a smile, even though I’m not a huge fan of Piper.

She’s not that nice of a person. I’ve seen her do a lot of cruel things, like openly mocking the other girls in our gym class, calling them fat and ugly and flat chested—yeah, the last one was directed toward me. She also loves to gossip, and I’ve seen her destroy many people’s reputations by outing their darkest secrets.

Her lip curls before she zeroes in on Grey again. “I thought we were going out to lunch together.” She tucks a strand of her long, brown hair behind her ear and flutters her eyelashes as she peers up at him.

“I told you I couldn’t today,” Grey says, sounding tired.

She juts out her bottom lip. “But you’ve been saying that every day since the beginning of the school year. I’m getting bored of staying at school for lunch.”

“Then why don’t you leave campus with your friends?” Grey slips his arm from her hold. “You know you’d be happier if you went with them, anyway.”

“Why are you being such a dick?” She glares at me like somehow it’s my fault.

Not wanting to get involved in their drama, I tell Grey, “I’m going to go wait over there.”

Grey nods, seeming relieved. “Yeah, okay.”

I take shelter in the shade and mess around with my phone while casting glances in their direction. At first, they seem like they’re having a heated argument, but then Grey gives her a kiss and walks away with a smile on his face.

I find myself wondering what it would be like to have a boyfriend. I’ve never had the opportunity to date anyone I’ve liked. I’ve never even kissed a guy. Well, unless you count the time Ari, Wynter, Willow, Beck, and I played spin the bottle and I had to kiss Beck. It was painfully awkward to say the least, and the two of us couldn’t even look each other in the eye for a month. After that, I put a ban on playing any more kissing games with the four of them.

“Sorry about that,” Grey apologizes as he approaches me.

“No worries.” I put my phone away and follow him as he rounds the side of the school and back to where no one hangs out. It’s also where Piper and the rest of Grey’s friends can’t see us.

He doesn’t say anything right away, staring at the parking lot to our right where the teachers usually park their cars. I spot Ms. Belingfutor, my Biology teacher, taking a smoke break out by one of the cars, and for some reason, that makes me giggle.