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he stuffed his hands back in his pockets. “My soccer coach told me that.”
    “Thanks.” She giggled.
    Josh Hotz made her feel better than a fresh blowout.
    “Ehmagawd, I’m thirty seconds late! Hand me that yellow folder. The one on the top of the stack.” Alicia quickly adjusted the knobs and dials and slipped on the big headphones.
    Josh did what he was told, then leaned against the gray-carpeted wall and admired her while she got to work.
    “Good morning, BOCD, and welcome to the first day of school. It’s Tuesday, September eighth, and here are your daily announcements. Boys, your locker rooms are the ones with the big sign that says BOYS on the door. So no more barging into the girls’ locker rooms and pretending it was an accident.” Laughter erupted from the New Green Café. “The Tomahawks’ soccer meeting will be held in room sub-C5 at four this afternoon, and this year’s captain is Derek Harrington.” Alicia felt a pang of sympathy for Massie, who had to sit there and listen to everyone applaud ex-Derrington. “And this year’s captain for the Sirens is
Kristen Gregory
!” More applause. “Auditions for this year’s Christmas show,
The Wizard of Claus
, will be held next Monday, so drama mamas, start practicing your audition songs. And for those of you sharing lockers, Principal Burns and Dean Don apologize for the inconvenience and promise it will be taken care of by tomorrow. This has been Alicia Rivera for BOCD news. I heart you.”
    Josh burst into a round of applause. “You’re a natural.”
    Alicia grinned on the outside, and her heart leapt on the inside. Could he be any more ah-dorable? More than anything she wanted to share every detail of their secret rendezvous with the NPC. But the boyfast ruled
that
out. And if you couldn’t brag about your crush to your friends, what was the point of having a crush?
    Or friends?
    “What’s this?” Josh asked, leafing through a red folder he had plucked out of the plastic hanging file sorter on the wall.
    “It’s confidential.” Alicia snatched it away before he could read another word. “It’s got Principal Burns’s announcements in it.”
    “Killer! Hand it over. Let’s read it!”
    “We can’t.” Alicia held it behind her back.
    “Why not?” Josh tried to grab it. “Don’t you want the gossip?”
    Alicia giggled. His hunger for gossip was charming, and no doubt one of his best qualities. But they were in the
newsroom
. And here, gossip was known as a leak. And leaks were unethical in a big way.
    “Come on, lemme take a peek. I swear I won’t tell anyone.” He wiggled his pinky in her face.
    She giggled again. He was more irresistible than crème brûlée fro-yo.
    “Fine.” She turned her back. “But
I’ll
read it.”
    “Yes!” Josh punched the perfume-soaked air. “What does it say?”
    “Ehmagawd.” She scanned the ivory OCD letterhead, her left brow arched in disbelief as the alarming news whizzed by. “
Due to the dangerously high capacity
…” and “…
quaint overflow building
…” and “…
located in the back parking lot
…”
    “Ehmagawd.” Alicia slowly lowered the paper. “This is more shocking than the skull ’n’ crossbones clothing trend.”
    “What?”
Josh reached for the announcement, but she whipped it away.
    “Tomorrow at lunch they’re gonna announce that everyone at tables one through ten will be transferred to an overflow facility until BO can find a way to make more space.”
    “What kind of
facility
?” Josh air-quoted “facility.”
Awwwww. Luv him!
    “Doesn’t say,” she answered.
    “But you’re at table eighteen and we’re at three.” His warm brown eyes cooled with fear. “We’ll be separated.”
    Alicia paused. Maybe that would be a good thing. If she didn’t see Josh during the day, Massie would never find out they were talking. … But
not
seeing him every day would mean … well, not seeing him every day. And how depressing would
that
be?
    “I have an