My head was swimming, and my stomach was doing backflips. I tried to stay calm, but I was being hugged—hugged—by Eric Evans! This was the best moment of my life! I felt like I wanted to cry, laugh, and maybe vomit all at once. The swing between devastation and elation was disorienting, but I didn’t mind. I just hung onto Eric tighter.

He pulled back and grinned at me, looking beyond excited. “I can’t believe you did that, Camilla! You fixed it!”

“Yeah, I guess I did,” I breathed.

“I was sitting here thinking that all was lost, and I’d never get my final paper out, but then you came in and saved the day! You’re amazing!” he said, still grinning at me.

He was looking right into my eyes, and he hadn’t stepped back after hugging me, so we were standing close—nearly nose to nose. And then something strange happened. His eyes dropped down to the lower half of my face, and his smile slipped just a little as something passed silently between us. It was small but electric, like a current moving through a wire, and the air around us seemed to crackle with energy.

And then, before I could even start to think about what it had been, he leaned in and kissed me.

I was so shocked I didn’t move for a moment, then—quickly—I kissed him back.

He pulled back, and his green eyes sparkled as he looked down at me. “You know, Camilla, I never realized until this moment how beautiful you are.”

Before I could stop myself, I giggled. Then I clapped my hand over my mouth and tried to take a deep breath. “Thank you,” I said weakly. “Um, you too.”

Shit. Okay, that was idiotic.

But Eric didn’t seem to mind. He smiled again. “Hey, will you come to the cookout with me?”

The cookout?! With Eric?!

All I could do was nod.

He nodded back. “Great. Then it’s a date. Now let’s get this cursed paper to the printer before anything else happens to it.”

I laughed nervously and watched as he took his seat again. He flipped through the pages again, making sure everything was there.

“Were all your changes saved?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at me.

My heart was still beating hard, but I leaned over him so I could double-check the changes I made.

“Yeah, all there,” I said breathlessly.

“Great,” he muttered, and uploaded the pages to our printing program.

When the paper was “put to bed,” as Eric liked to say, I grabbed my backpack, muttered an awkward goodbye, and headed out of the school and back toward the field. This had basically all happened because of Jonah, and I had to go fill him in.

But he was nowhere to be found when I reached the bleachers. Austin either. The Sprit Day committee was in the middle of the relay races, so everyone was cheering on the teams, but I turned my back on the race and went looking for Jonah.

I searched the crowds of students and then—on a sneaking suspicion—checked under the bleachers. And there he was, making out with Austin in the dimness.

Walking over, I crossed my arms and cleared my throat. They didn’t notice. So I coughed—loudly. “I’m standing right here,” I said.

Jonah pulled away from Austin and peered over at me. “Hey, Camilla, you know I love you, but we are going to have a talk about boundaries in the near future.”

“Screw boundaries, I have come to report some very important news!” I said excitedly.

“Did you get the pages back?” Jonah asked.

“Yes, but that’s not the news. Eric kissed me!” I squealed.

Austin looked surprised. “Eric Evans? The nerd with the great ass?”

“Yeah,” Jonah confirmed. “Camilla is obsessed with him.”

“Really?” Austin asked, his eyes going wide.

“Is this real?” Jonah pressed. “Like, this really happened? Because the last thing you told me was that he was pissed at you about the paper. Are you sure you didn’t just fall down and hit your head or something?”

I glared at him. “No! It’s real. I did what you said and found a code to fix the program. I got the files back, and he hugged me, and then he kissed me!” I said, bouncing on the balls of my feet. “And that’s not all. He asked me to the cookout—like as his date!”

Austin gasped in a gratifying way and clapped his hands together. “Camilla! That’s incredible. But we have to plan. What are you going to wear?”

I opened my mouth to answer Austin, but I stopped when I saw a strangely sour expression twisting Jonah’s face.

I turned to him, confused. “What’s going on with you? Why aren’t you happy for me?”