Read Zarr, Sara - Sweethearts for Free Online

I needed to get out of there and do something, find him. Sitting and waiting for something to happen was the worst kind of torture. Steph saw me. I knew it when her eyes met mine with a questioning sort of look. Then Ethan's story was over and he was sitting again and Steph opened her mouth. I looked down, expecting to hear something like, "Ethan, did you know Jenna just jacked your keys?" But what she said was, "We haven't had a movie night since school started. When can everyone come over? My dad just put in surround sound for the flat-panel." I got up to throw my trash away and slipped the keys into my sweater pocket. When I returned to the table, I collected the rest of my stuff. "I left something in my locker... have to get it before fifth." Steph stood. "I'll come with you." She ran her hands through her hair while Freshman Dave watched, mesmerized. "If that's okay." I couldn't exactly make a scene about it, so I said sure, she could come, and thought quickly about what I'd tell her when she asked why I'd swiped Ethan's keys. "I want to take his car to get washed and detailed." I sorted stuff from my locker into my backpack -- what I needed for homework, what I could leave. "As a surprise." "Nuh-uh. Jenna Vaughn would not cut class to do that. I know you." I faced her. "Sure about that?" Her eyebrows went up and her lips curled into a smile. "Sex? Sex! You're taking his car to run home, spread flower petals all over your bed, and chill the champagne. You're finally giving it up. Today. Right after school. Does he know? Let me help set it up. Please please please." "Steph." I closed my locker and started down the hall. "Sorry to disappoint you, but that's not it. I just have to do something." "Something you don't want Ethan to know," she said, following me. "Something that's worth ruining your flawless attendance record for. Come on, Jenna, let me in on it. I don't want to go to class, either. We'll have an adventure! We haven't had one in a long time. Not since flamingo flocking sophomore year..." I stopped walking. The postlunch hall crowd was starting to thicken, as much as any crowd could thicken at Jones, and I wanted to get out of there. Alone. But I also didn't want Steph to get mad and blab to Ethan. And ... I was about to cry. In public. Which was something I strictly did not do anymore. "This isn't like that," I said, my voice starting to wobble. Crybaby. Just hearing the name in my head was enough to keep the tears from coming. "This is something serious. I don't even ..." "Okay. It's okay. Come on." Steph took me by the elbow and led me down the main stairs, out the building, to the student lot. Before I knew it, she and I were both sitting in Ethan's car. "Let's go," she said. "You can trust me. I promise." In a brief moment of good sense, we ended up driving to my house to get my car, then I followed Steph in Ethan's back to the school lot, where we left it parked in the exact same space it had been in. "What about the keys?" I asked as Steph got into the Escort. "I put them on the ground, right behind the front tire. He'll figure he dropped them this morning." I looked anxiously toward his car. "What if he doesn't find them? What if someone else finds them first?" "Relax, Jenna. What will be will be." She rolled down the window and draped her arm out as we drove away from the school. It was warmer than the day before by at least ten degrees. "So. Where are we going?" "I don't know." We got onto North Temple and headed away from town. I hadn't thought this far ahead, and definitely hadn't thought about having someone else with me. Being in motion and out of school made me feel marginally better, though now I gnawed on my cuticles as I drove slowly, scanning the streets for anyone who might be Cameron. This was difficult, given that the picture I had of him in my mind was frozen in childhood: the big eyes, an often-worn striped T-shirt, a Norman Rockwell swoop of dark hair. I almost ran a red light, slamming