Chapter Nine

Amber

After a quick check-in with Mom and Dad, I raced up the stairs and cracked open my laptop.

Newly fueled with tacos and green tea, I was ready to see if I’d gotten any questions on the site that Sabrina had plastered all over social media.

I tried not to let myself hope, but even if I had one question, it would be a success.

One deep breath and a few clicks later, and I nearly fell out of my computer chair.

“A thousand views?” I spoke aloud, cracking the silence in my room.

And…

Two hundred and twelve comments?

I leaned back in my chair, gaping at the screen.

Excitement rushed through my veins so fast my fingertips shook. I quickly read the first comment, and then the next and the next.

Most of them were people cheering me on or giving me a big hell yes to the site. Some were more vulgar—like RedSoxFanForLife3897 who’d left fourteen comments about how he’d like to find out just how much I really knew about sex, emphasizing that he could teach me more than I’d ever dreamed. I rolled my eyes at most, but some were downright stomach turning.

And really…I hadn’t come up with a solid plan on how to answer the questions. Honestly, I hadn’t expected this response. Hadn’t expected this many people to write in.

I swallowed hard, forcing myself to keep reading, assuring myself that when the question came, I’d know what to do.

A good portion of comments were people asking my real name, promising me they’d never tell anyone.

I was on my third green tea by the time I reached comment one hundred and eighty-three, still searching for the question I thought would need immediate attention.

There were a few I’d starred to come back to and contemplate, but there hadn’t been one that gave me that aha! feeling. And with the traffic growing by the second—up to three thousand views in the span of the three hours I’d been reading—I needed my first actual blog to be noteworthy.

Sharp. Funny and smart and helpful.

If I blew the first one, no one would ever come back to ask more questions, and then not only would I not help anyone, but I would also lose the challenge between Dean and me.

Another hour and I swore my eyeballs were going to fall out. I only had six hours before I needed to be up for school, and finally knew I had it when I read commenter number two-hundred-and-one’s question.