Read Girl Code for Free Online Page A

liked him as a person.”
    He rolled his eyes in response. Moments later, he pulled into a spot a short distance from Rico’s house. Involuntarily, I tensed up and fiercely gripped the door handle. I tried swallowing the large lump that had formed in my throat, but it remained steadfast.
    “Why are we back here?” I choked out, eyes wide and wild.
    “If I don’t take care of this now, Rico will have the entire school believing something happened that didn’t,” he said harshly, but then he froze. He looked over at me, looking grim and unsettled. “What did happen, Tabitha?” he asked tentatively in a whisper. His eyes flickered down to my hands where they held my shirt together. “Was it…something you…wanted?”
    “Did I want to drunkenly lose my virginity at a house party?” I snorted. I felt tears falling from my eyes once again. “No, that isn’t something I wanted, Pesciano.”
    Leo’s eyes widened. He looked both shocked and pissed off at the same time. “You lost your vi—”
    “No,” I said, cutting him off. “But…almost,” I whispered. “I guess. Maybe.”
    I angrily wiped at my tears. I blamed the constant crying on the alcohol. I felt very sober, but I knew that biologically speaking, it was impossible.
    Leo used the sleeve of his Mercury High Football sweatshirt to wipe tears off of my cheeks. I wanted to bat his hands away and snap at him for touching me, and give him the same bitter attitude I had been giving him for months, but I didn’t. I accepted the gentle gesture and said nothing about it.
    “What are you going to do?” I asked him as he began to open his door.
    “I’m going to convince him it is in his best interest to not start any rumors about you,” Leo growled.
    He threw open his door and jumped out before I could object. I started to also get out, but he instructed me to stay in the truck.
    “I’m not staying in the truck,” I snapped. I struggled with the door as Leo walked around the front of the vehicle. I was turned in my seat, prepared to climb out, but he blocked my exit. He suddenly seemed so much older and bigger than his fifteen years.
    “Stay in the truck,” he said so harshly that I froze for a moment. A muscle in his neck bulged and his hand curled tightly on the inside door handle, centimeters from my own hand.
    My tremoring voice dropped to a whisper. “You don’t have to go in there. It’s just me. I’m not worth whatever trouble you’re about to get into.”
    Our eyes locked. It was a movie moment, for sure. If I didn’t dislike him only hours before and if my best friend was not his girlfriend, I would have leaned forward and kissed him. The compulsion was so intense that my fists balled in my lap. The hunger to press my lips to his both thrilled and frightened me at the same time. I remembered thinking about him as Rico kissed me and I was hit with regret and shame so deep that I could choke. Leo wasn’t mine to want to kiss, or to think about during my first kiss. He was Leslie’s, and I never coveted anything she had, nor was I about to start. Just thinking about his mouth was just as good as breaking the code.
    “I don’t know why you would believe that you’re not worth it—” Leo’s soft voice washed over me as he firmly pushed me back into the truck, “—but you are. Just let me be your hero for the night. You can thank me later.”
    He reached up and gently pushed loose strands of hair off of my cheek. I trembled slightly. Warmth spread down my spine as another shiver hit me when his fingers grazed down my face and onto my neck. I hated the way he was making me feel. I hated that I liked it. I hated that he was being so gallant and I hated how relieved I felt to have him on my side.
    “Why are you doing this?” I repeated in a barely audible voice.
    Surprisingly, a sly smile appeared on his face. “I’m the only one allowed to raise hell in your life. I don’t like to share that with anyone else.”
    “You are really