The Trouble with Dating Sue (Grover Beach Team #6) by Anna Katmore Read Free Book Online Page B

curious eyes did I realize I wasn’t behaving quite like myself this morning.
    “Why are you grinning? Can’t wait for your extra lesson later?” she asked with a knowing look.
    I cleared my throat. “Always looking forward to seeing you, Parker.”
    Lauren gave me her You want in my pants? smirk and slowly traced the bold letters on the textbook in front of her with her pen. “I hope you’ve been a good boy and studied your grammar.”
    Oh, I’d been a good boy, and studied really hard. “My brain is so full of Spanish crap, I was dreaming of it last night.”
    “Full of crap? Yeah. Spanish? I doubt it.” She giggled, then we both fell silent with the rest of the class as Mrs. Sanchez entered the room and greeted us with her ever so cheerful, “ ¡Buenos días! ”
    After class, I headed off to the cafeteria for lunch while Lauren went to gym for one more period before her lunch break. At the buffet, I met Cody Giles and Tyler, and immediately we started hollering and plotting how we were going to kick some Clearwater High ass when they came for the game on Saturday.
    Sitting down in my usual spot at the basketball table, my glance swept the room for another try at catching Susan Miller with the geek squad. Again, there was no ponytail among those kids. Well, actually there were several, but not the one I kept an eye out for. Eating the apple first, the only item on my food tray that wasn’t dripping with fat and mayo, I leaned back, stacking my feet on the empty seat beside me. It was reserved for Rebecca, but she hadn’t shown up yet.
    “Where’s your much prettier half?” I mocked Tyler, tossing one of the French fries next to the burger on my plate, hitting him right on the forehead. He was lucky the thing wasn’t dipped in ketchup. His answer didn’t register, however, because my gaze caught on a girl standing near the seated crowd around my brother. Nervously, Susan Miller twirled a strand of her ponytail around her finger and gave him a small smile.
    As she wiggled her fingers at him and headed off, I expected her to walk to the food counter and get something to eat, but she sauntered empty-handed across the cafeteria to the table farthest away from ours. The one also known as the soccer table. What in the world was she doing there?
    “Ow!” I winced when something stung my left eye and tore my attention away from Susan taking a seat. The grape that rebounded from my face hopped away on the floor. I rubbed my sore eye, considering fishing the pickle out from my burger and starting a food fight with Tyler for catching me off guard. But one of the lunchroom monitors had just walked past our table, saving T-Rex from a pickle attack. My clean record of no detention in my senior year couldn’t be ruined with something as stupid as gooey food hitting the wrong person.
    Taking a bite of my burger instead and stuffing a handful of fries into my mouth, I listened to my friends with only half an ear. Ninety percent of my attention was nailed on the soccer table. The Bay Sharks had never interested me much, so it was probably normal that I’d never noticed the bunch of girls sitting with Ryan and his team. Of course, I assumed they were team members’ girlfriends, but how did Little Miss Sunshine fit in with the gang?
    A brief conversation she was having with Alex Winter made everyone at that table burst out laughing. The sound drifted to us from the other side of the room. Sue turned a horrible shade of pink. Okay, it wasn’t really horrible but quite sweet for a girl. She busied herself peeling a kiwi and chopped it into bite-sized pieces.
    I wondered what they found so funny.
    And then I wondered why I actually wondered …
    That girl was on my mind way too much these days, and no one but Ethan was to blame for it. I couldn’t even enjoy my burger without sneaking peeks at her every so often. This wasn’t just weird, it was annoying, especially when another grape hit me in the face.
    “Dude, are you