“Hello? Yes, this is Alexandra Sackett.” Alex put her hand to her right ear to muffle the sounds of the food court. “Yes. I—I did? I did? Oh my gosh, thank you! Yes! Yes! Yes, I will! Thank you! Bye!” She clicked off her phone and stared at it in disbelief.
Her friend Emily Campbell had paused in mid-sip of her raspberry smoothie. “What’s going on, Alex? Who was that?”
Alex clutched her phone with both hands as though she expected it to leap away from her. “I won,” she said quietly. “I won?” Her voice grew stronger. “I won!”
“That is so awesome!” squealed Emily, bouncing up and down in her chair. “Congratulations! Um, what did you win?”
Alex took a breath and composed herself. She looked at her friend, her green eyes shining. “That was the assistant to Marcy Maxon, the TV reporter.”
“Marcy Maxon! I totally know who that is! She’s a celebrity! Why did her assistant call you?”
“I won the essay contest, Em! The one for KHXA’s ‘Tomorrow’s Reporters Today’ series? I wrote an essay, and Marcy Maxon’s assistant just told me that I was selected to be a kid reporter. I get to write, produce, and star in a feature story, and it’s going to air next Sunday night! She said to check my e-mail, because they’ll be sending me all the details.”
“Alex, that is absolutely and completely amazing!” said Emily. “Everyone in Ashland watches that segment! I’ve never known any of the kids who’ve done it, though. I can’t believe I know you!”
Alex beamed at her friend. She loved that Emily seemed so genuinely happy for her, and it was fun to hear Emily’s enthusiastic words in her pretty Texan drawl. Ever since Emily’s best friend, Lindsey Davis, had started spending most of her time with her boyfriend, Alex and Emily had grown even closer.
Emily leaped out of her chair and came around the table to give Alex a big congratulatory hug.
“What are we celebrating?” asked a voice behind them.
Alex slackened her grip on Emily and turned to see who it was. She gasped with surprise.
Luke Grabowski was standing right there between their table and the smoothie counter. He looked impossibly gorgeous in a faded black T-shirt and khaki shorts. Behind him were two of his friends that Alex didn’t know. The three of them were holding paper cups from a fancy coffee place across the way, and Luke had a book under one arm. Of course he has a book with him, Alex thought. He was not just beautiful; he was also smart. And funny. And nice. In short, perfect.
Luke was her twin sister Ava’s tutor. Alex had had a crush on him from the moment she’d first met him, but no one in the world knew it, she was positive. Well, except maybe Emily and Lindsey, because she might have mentioned to them that she had a huge crush on a high school boy.
“Oh, hi!” she said, but her voice came out all squeaky. She didn’t dare look into his gorgeous blue eyes, so instead she focused her gaze on the coffee he was holding. Drinking coffee was such a high school thing. She’d never really liked it much, but she immediately resolved to add “try coffee again” to her to-do list.
“So did you guys just win the lottery?” Luke prompted. “We heard the squealing across the food court.”
Alex giggled. She raised her eyes to look at Luke, and then quickly looked away, overcome with bashfulness. She wasn’t usually at a loss for words. On the contrary, Ava often told her she talked way too much and too quickly, but there was something about being in the presence of a crush that made her shy and awkward. And Luke was simply too handsome to look at for too long. It was like staring at the sun or something. But she recovered enough to introduce Emily.
“Nice to meet you, Emily,” Luke said, his voice as smooth as melted chocolate. “And this is Pete, and that’s Brandon. We were just loading up on caffeine before we hit the books.” He held up his cup of coffee. “But tell us what the big celebration is all about,” he said.
“Oh, ha-ha,” said Alex. “It’s no big deal.” She tried not to blush, although she knew she must be turning the same shade as Emily’s smoothie.
Emily stepped up and saved her. “No big deal? Yeah, right! It’s a huge deal! I was congratulating Alex because she just won an essay contest! She’s going to be a kid reporter for KHXA. Marcy Maxon’s assistant just called her!”
“Wow!” said Luke. He put an arm around Alex’s shoulder and gave her a little squeeze. She gulped.
“Awesome!” said Brandon.
Alex felt herself flush even more deeply. She couldn’t think of a thing to say, but she knew that it was her turn to speak. Her eyes landed on Luke’s coffee. “So, um, how’s your coffee?” she asked. Lame, lame, lame. What a dumb, stupid, idiotic question.
“I haven’t tried it yet,” said Luke. He took a sip and made a face. “It’s actually awful,” he said, after swallowing with difficulty. “I think they gave me someone else’s order. It tastes like there’s pumpkin spice or something in here. They put pumpkin in everything this time of year!”
“I love pumpkin spice!” said Alex quickly, and then mentally kicked herself. What if he thought that was babyish or something?
“Here, have it then,” said Luke, handing his cup to her with an easy grin. “I’ll pick up a more manly drink on my way out.”
“Thanks!” said Alex. Say something, say anything, keep the conversation going. “So, are you enjoying the book you’re reading?” she asked.
“What book? Oh, this?” He held it up for them to see the cover. The title was Circuitry.
Alex had no clue what circuitry was.
“It’s scintillating,” said Luke with a grin.
Scintillating. He had such a huge vocabulary! And obviously he loved circuitry, whatever that was. Alex made a mental note to study up on the subject.
“Well, congrats again, Al. See you soon.”
And he and his friends ambled off.