Chapter 4

My best friend had seen all of it.

Grinning, she leaned toward me again.

“What about you, Nora? When I mention the two of them, who's the first person you think of?”

I'd always been slow about these things. I'd never even considered whether I liked someone.

But for some reason, when she asked, the first face I saw was Connor's.

It made sense. I'd known him longer.

Ethan hadn't transferred to our school until third grade. He was more mature than we were, good at school, quiet, and careful about everything he did.

At first, he even intimidated me a little. A few times, I'd run into him on the corner and turned around and fled without daring to say hello.

Connor, by comparison, had been much easier to approach.

So many girls at school liked him. His backpack was always full of love notes on colorful paper.

He showed them off to us more than once. He was especially determined to make me look.

“Nora, do you know who wrote me this one?”

I shook my head honestly.

“Her name's Chloe. Prettiest girl in the next class. She's gorgeous. I even filled her water bottle for her once.”

“Oh,” I said, understanding. “Is she really that pretty?”

Connor glanced at me and grinned even wider. “Really. Like, ridiculously beautiful.”

I blinked, intrigued. “Then I want to fill her water bottle too!”

His smile stiffened. He ground his teeth and turned to Ethan.

“What about you? School's been back for two months. Gotten any love notes?”

Ethan was reading. He looked up, glanced at Connor, and settled his gaze on me.

“No. Nobody's trying to date me. I haven't pursued anyone either. I'm friendly with the girls in class, but that's all.”

I wasn't clever enough to work out what he felt when he said it. But he was looking at me.

Connor looked even more pleased with himself after that. I had a vague feeling Ethan must be disappointed.

So I secretly wrote him dozens of anonymous love notes and stuffed them all into his backpack at once.

He never showed off a single one.